Right Now Downtown

Jim Rose, Outreach Specialist for Capital Crossroads & Discovery Special Improvement Districts, was honored on Monday by the Community Shelter Board with their Hero Award. The Hero Award is presented to those who have made significant contributions through their work toward ending homelessness.

“We are honoring Jim because he has gone above and beyond his job expectations to help the Community Shelter Board with outreach and determining the issues with street homelessness as it pertains to the Central Point of Access,” said Michelle Heritage, Executive Director of the Community Shelter Board.

In his role as Outreach Specialist, Jim works in the downtown area to help connect individuals in need to those services required to move them into long-term permanent housing. Depending on the individual’s situation, Jim helps them connect with emergency shelters, medical providers, mental health services, employment programs, housing agencies, and emergency services, and offers help with identification documentation and more.

“I am like a walking Yellow Pages,” explains Jim. “Capital Crossroads & Discovery SIDs do not provide direct housing, I do not employ people, I am not a healthcare provider, but I get homeless individuals in touch with the right people and agencies that do, and advocate on their behalf.”

“I would not be able to help as many people as I have without the support of a lot of outside agencies.”

Jim knows that the downtown community is generous and wants to help with the problem of homelessness. If you would like to help to solve the problem of homelessness, Jim encourages you to do the following:

Do not give money to panhandlers. Many panhandlers are not homeless and are already connected to one resource or another. Often the money you give goes to “extracurricular” items that are not covered by those resources.

If you would like to give money, consider finding an agency to support with money or time. Jim recommends checking out The Street Card, a resource produced by the Columbus Coalition for the Homeless, an all-encompassing document listing agencies, drop-in centers, medical providers and more. It can be found at columbushomeless.org.

“If you give a dollar to a panhandler on the street, he could use it to buy a cup of coffee,” noted Jim. “That same dollar given to Faith Mission could almost feed someone an entire meal.”

Capital Crossroads & Discovery Special Improvement Districts are proud of Jim’s many successes in helping individuals in need, and congratulate him on his Hero Award.

CCSID Highlights Ambassador Efforts

Ben Barker, Operations Manager for Capital Crossroads and Discover SIDs, is proud to recognize the hard work of the Outreach Team and the Clean and Safe Ambassadors.

“There is so much to be said for the entire program,” said Barker.  “The Outreach Team is always looking for new ways to extend services to those in need, and the Clean and Safe Team and the Special Projects Division exhibit such professionalism.  I continue to expect great things.”

There are two Ambassadors whose hard work and dedication deserve special recognition.

Ambassador of the Quarter:  Gil “Carlos” Pilier

Capital Crossroads congratulates Gil “Carlos” Pilier on his promotion to Utility Ambassador.  In this position, he will be cross trained to handle the wide variety of services offered by both Capital Crossroads and Discovery SIDs.  This will ensure that he is qualified to substitute for other Ambassadors when they are out, as well as provide services with the Special Projects Team.

Carlos is a valuable member of the Capital Crossroads team and this assignment demonstrates our confidence in his work ethic and ability to handle a variety of duties.  In recognition of his hard work and abilities, Carlos was also named the Ambassador of the Quarter for the first quarter of 2010.

Ambassador Spotlight and Winter Warrior:  Paul Denmark

Capital Crossroads recognizes Paul Denmark for his hard work and willingness to help whenever and wherever needed.  Paul is currently working as a Team Leader, but he makes himself available to take on other duties, such as leading a shift or tackling special projects.  For example, Paul took on maintenance of the bikes used in the Bike Patrol Program.

Due to his willingness to charge into the elements during Columbus’ especially harsh winter to ensure that downtown pedestrians could safely pass through the crosswalks and bus stops throughout the district, Capital Crossroads created a new award with Paul as its first winner.  Congratulations to Paul for earning the first ever “Winter Warrior” award.  Mother Nature never stood a chance!

SPEECH SPEECH!

Have you seen the Street Speech newspaper vendors, hawking their wares on downtown corners?

If you’ve purchased a paper, you already know what it’s all about.

If you’ve walked on by, here’s a risk-free chance to learn a little more about the newspapers and the program.  As it turns out, the publication is the best education that one slim buck can buy.

Street Speech is published by the Columbus Coalition for the Homeless.  The vendors you’ve met are local homeless people.  They are participating in a program that blends education and employment:  selling the newspapers offers work experience and it generates a little income.

The sellers aren’t the only ones getting an education.  As readers, we can learn valuable lessons too.  According to Coalition member and Outreach Specialist for Discovery Special Improvement District, Jim Rose, “Some of the articles are from national sources, some are locally written.  A number of authors write from the perspective of being homeless – or formerly homeless, while others take advocacy positions.”

Its diverse content makes the newspaper especially interesting – so much so that the group has increased distribution exponentially.  Only 400 copies of the first Street Speech were printed; these days the group turns out 8,000 – 10,000 copies per month.  Each vendor invests twenty-five cents per copy, and sells them to patrons for one dollar.

You can support the program by buying a copy of Street Speech, and there are many other opportunities to get on board with the Columbus Coalition for the Homeless.  Their great work is possible only with the help of many volunteers.   To learn more, check columbushomeless.org.

For many tenants, workers and visitors, the Capital Crossroads Clean and Safe Ambassadors are the face of downtown.  While the ambassador program is operated out of the Capital Crossroads SID offices on Fourth Street, it is managed by an outside business specializing in SIDs and clean and safe services.  Since the beginning of January, a new, locally-based company has taken over the contract: Ohio Support Services.

Since the SID’s inception, the clean and safe program was overseen by a national company called Block By Block.  Though Block By Block had done a commendable job, in 2009, the CCSID and Discovery SID boards determined that a request for proposal should be made.  This was done to ensure that the SIDs were indeed getting the best service possible for the best price.

Nine proposals were received, and four companies were chosen to interview, two local and two national.  Ohio Support Services, a local company with experience providing clean and safe services for a number of downtown buildings, eventually won the contract.

“After studying the proposals and going through the interview process, the boards decided that, all things being equal, they would like to go local,” explained Lisa Defendiefer, Downtown Safety Coordinator.  “Block By Block did a good job, especially when we were getting the program off the ground, but the property owners definitely saw the value in supporting a local company.”

Because OSS’s offices are local, it has freed the Capital Crossroads Operations Manager and Operations Supervisor to be out on the street more, working directly with the ambassadors and the public.  In addition, OSS provided security in buildings throughout the downtown; these relationships have served to improve the network of security offered by CCSID.

The boards were also impressed with OSS’s president, Scott Tucker, who is committed to downtown and cares about the community.  He has a history of giving back, and has been actively involved in ASIS, an organization that helps train security officers to be top of the line employees.

The good news for downtown tenants, residents and workers is that you won’t really notice the difference.  While the change improves function within the CCSID offices, the services provided for both cleanliness and safety on the streets will remain the same.  In addition, both OSS and Block By Block worked together to smooth the transition, so CCSID was able to retain more than 95% of the ambassador personnel.  One change is the new CCSID Operations Manager, Ben Barker, who was previously with OSS as a security manager at the Grange Building. 

“OSS received hundreds of applicants for the position and eventually narrowed the field to two highly qualified candidates.  Cleve Ricksecker and I sat in on the final interviews and were definitely struck by Ben’s depth of security knowledge, enthusiasm, confidence, and love of new challenges,” added Defendiefer.  “A change like this could have been tough on the ambassadors, but they have handled it well.  OSS has just done a great job with the details of the transition; it’s been pretty seamless.”