I was able to help strengthen our existing social enterprise, Street Speech, by making a Secret Shopper Survey.  This survey will involve trained volunteers going out in the community where the vendors sell their papers and interacting with them.  The two reasons we are doing this is to make sure that the vendors are adhering to the Code of Conduct because we have received complaints from companies about inappropriate behaviors and to determine the level of sales professionalism.  Ultimately, we could use this information to help establish grants.  For example, 90 percent of our vendors were able to successfully explain Street Speech to customers.

This week I went to Dogwood Glen, a supportive housing unit funded by the Community Housing Network.  Since one of the workers at the Columbus Coalition for the Homeless (CCH) is a resident manager there he gave us a tour.  It was a real nice facility that allows individuals in Franklin County with severe and persistent mental health issues live independently.   Unfortunately, the waitlist is closed.  However, I would like to thank the Columbus Foundation for funding it.  Photo attached.

CCH had their monthly board meeting this week.  We discussed the long wait list for individuals to get into the shelter.  Earlier this week the number was close to 100 individuals actively seeking to get into shelter and being denied.  Since part of our mission is to “…advocate on behalf of homeless persons and organizations that serve them” we felt that it is necessary to attend a Columbus City Council meeting and express our concern.  The City is one of the funders to the Community Shelter Board, which funds the shelters in Franklin County.   Therefore, members from the CCH and I will be informing the city council members on Monday evening that more money needs to be allocated to building additional shelters.

David