About NEOCH
The Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless (NEOCH) is a non-profit coalition of service providers, housing activists, members, and homeless people. The reason that we are called a "coalition" is because we bring together diverse interests such as religious groups and homeless people along with social service providers under the common goal of finding solutions to homelessness. NEOCH stands poised to take on an exciting, yet challenging new role within the community and continue as the primary resource for homeless advocacy in Northeast Ohio.
Lisa Thomas, Sister Mary Frances Harrington, Rev. George Hrbek, Pat Tomcho, and Catherine Lowe founded NEOCH in 1988 as the successor to the Emergency Shelter Coalition. A nine-member Board of Trustees governs NEOCH.
Under the guidance of its passionate nine-member Board of Trustees, NEOCH has outlined five strategic objectives through 2012. Housing, Civil Rights, Education, Health Care, and Employment are the main areas of policy and advocacy work for the Coalition over the next 24 months.
NEOCH activities, in partnership with the homeless, include the publication of a street newspaper, co-sponsorship of the Stand Down service fair, staffing for service and outreach collaborations, coordination of the Homeless Congress, improving and expanding access to services, sponsorship of the Homeless Candlelight Vigil, protecting the right to vote by homeless people, publication of various Street Cards, and construction of a host of educational and advocacy activities.
We are regularly updating this website with information about NEOCH, homelessness, and poverty in Greater Cleveland. You can find the new items added to the website here. If you have suggestions for improving the site, please send us those suggestions here.
Photos on the Front Page of the Website
Current Slide Show are photos from professional photographers who have done work for NEOCH. They include David Hagan, Karen St. John Vincent, Charles Hurlburt, and a show that NEOCH did back in 1993. There is also an image of Brian Henke playing the guitar who just organized the Woodchopper's Ball.
Previous Slide Show: Nearly all the photos on the front page of the website from earlier this year are taken from our two Grapevine Photo Project graduates. Between 2006 and 2007, the Ohio Department of Disabilities funded a project in which currently homeless people were provided cameras and they took classes on the use of the camera by three professional photographers. The images on the front were all captured by the 11 artists who graduated from that class. Graduates include Toni Anderson, Tony Emory, Cheryl Jones, Cindy Miller, Sabrina Otis, Jerome Pleasant, Howard Singleton, Pleasure Simmons, Gary Waterbeck, Barbara Winder, and Larry Whittig. Both Teri' Horne and Kevin Cleary also participated and contributed as staff members. We have a Movable Wall that travels around to various church congregations featuring the work of the Photo Project artists.
