Partnership brings digital books to kids
Schools, library to share electronic material
Students in Columbus City Schools have a lot going for them lately.
Chromebooks have been widely distributed to each student who needs one.
And a new program called the Columbus Promise was announced this month that will allow graduates of Columbus City Schools to attend Columbus State Community College for free.
Now, a lesser known partnership has been formed between Ohio's largest school district and Columbus Metropolitan Library to share electronic materials.
Most public schools have their own libraries, rooms for age-appropriate books and learning materials. But the new program aims to increase students' access to digital books and audiobooks by combining digital reading resources from the library and the schools into a single computer application.
“This really removes a lot of barriers for those who can't get to libraries,” said Cathy Mason, Columbus Metropolitan Library's digital buying lead, who is responsible for purchasing digital materials for the library's 23-branch system.
“All they have to do is tap on a button, click on our library and they're off and running,” she said.
This partnership and its Sora app are made possible by Overdrive, the digital reading company that serves both the library and schools. The app is used extensively in schools, allowing kids to browse and download materials for school projects or just pleasure reading.
to be able to find like a warm meal anywhere. It’s stressful, and it’s really upsetting,” Whissen said. “There’s times when his depression and mine as well are really bad. It feels like we’ve hit a wall that we’re never going to get past, like we’re stuck in a dead end.”
Their luck changed when Perry County Metropolitan Housing Authority came through with a two-bedroom apartment in Roseville just in time for Thanksgiving.
Their story illustrates how rural homeless residents struggle to find help. In Perry County, a homeless coalition has been working for 15 years to change that. But attempts to build a homeless shelter in the county have been met with resistance from some public officials.
Lending a helping hand
Crooksville Police Chief Rodney Walters worked with Whissen and Cook to find housing, writing a letter to the county housing authority to help certify that they were homeless.
Amber Nesselrotte, a community health worker with Integrated Services in New Lexington, walked the couple through the steps of housing applications and address verification to get them in queue for an apartment.
“Lack of affordable housing in the county is a big issue, and we don’t have a shelter either, so that’s a big barrier,” said Nesslerotte.
For 15 years, various social service organizations have teamed up to help homeless residents as part of the Perry County Housing Coalition.
Between 40 to 50 members of the group meet monthly. The group includes representatives from churches, mental health and substance abuse agencies, job and family services and organizations with connections to funding for housing.
Initiatives include providing emergency shelter to those in need, but, most recently, the group is working to establish a more permanent solution.
“The problem is, we don’t have anywhere to put them other than a hotel, and that’s not really appropriate,” Juvenile and Probate Court Judge Luann Cooperrider said.
She led the charge in New Lexington after seeing one of the kids she knew from court walking out from under the Water Street Bridge with a grocery bag in hand.
At that point, he had aged out of the system and was fending for himself on the streets.
Cooperrider said she sees homelessness among the children she serves far too often, averaging two or three per month.
With $7.2 million in federal funding granted to New Lexington and Perry County through the American Rescue Plan, the housing coalition is proposing a plan to commissioners that would create the county’s first homeless shelter.
The group has already raised $12,000 on its own to help establish a shelter.
The housing coalition is depending solely on Perry County commissioners for supplemental assistance since New Lexington village council has opted to use its $240,000 allocation on a new storm sewer system.
“There’s never going to be a better time in the next 20 years,” Clarissa Reynolds of Hocking, Perry, Athens Community Action said during a meeting last month between the housing coalition and county commissioners. They don’t want to live in their cars,” she said.
Some who are homeless camp on private, state, and federal land.
Reynolds said it’s not uncommon to see a tent pop up along country roads or to find people living behind the bowling alley.
Many live in dilapidated and abandoned trailers without heat or running water.
“Couch surfing is a big thing in Perry County,” Reynolds said. “They just look for wherever they can lay their heads.” .
New Lexington Village Council President Jim Welsh is one who often takes in people searching for a place to stay.
He has had up to 10 people living with him in the past.
“I understand the need for housing. I do. I truly do,” Welsh said.
Welsh said he introduced Habitat for Humanity in Perry County and helped build several houses.
“Are you going to upset some folks? Sure. Are you going to help more people? Sure,” he said.
While Welsh understands the views of the housing coalition and the need to have a shelter centrally located to the social services provided in New Lexington, he said he is torn on the issue.
Resistance in the village
Over the summer, New Lexington council passed legislation that creates tight restrictions for a homeless shelter in the village.
The ordinance has received scrutiny from the National Homelessness Law Center (NHLC) and the Housing Not Handcuffs campaign of the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty. Representatives of the two organizations allege in a letter to New Lexington Mayor Trent Thompson and members of council that the village’s legislation on homeless shelters is unconstitutional.
“Outright prohibiting homeless shelters in New Lexington does not address the needs of people experiencing homelessness in New Lexington. Instead, it only serves to separate unhoused people in New Lexington from service providers, makes it less likely for them to obtain permanent housing, and leaves
New Lexington open to future litigation,” wrote Eric Tars, legal director of the NHLC and Rajan Bal, manager of the Housing Not Handcuffs campaign.
In passing the legislation, council created a “homeless overlay zone,” which limits shelters to areas of New Lexington zoned as industrial, central business and commercial.
The administrator of the shelter would then have to apply for a permit through the village before receiving approval to establish the shelter.
“Considering the context surrounding this discussion, we are concerned that no homeless shelter would ever be approved in New Lexington, and that zoning regulations would be overly restrictive for the purpose of preventing the construction of a homeless shelter,” Tars and Bal wrote.
Due to the tight restrictions, the housing coalition is considering shelter locations in New Lexington’s industrial park and at the Perry County jail, which will soon be relocating, leaving the current building empty.
During the meeting with the Perry County Housing Coalition and county commissioners, concerns were expressed by county commissioner Scott Owen and New Lexington council member Dan Bethel. Both have backgrounds in real estate.
Owen stated that he is concerned with the impact a shelter would have on neighboring property values.
The ordinance also places demands on how a homeless shelter can operate. It limits the facility to just eight beds, when representatives from the housing coalition foresee 10 to 12 beds being needed.
Members of the housing coalition explained that not only does having a shelter help partner agencies assist homeless clients more easily, but also opens the door to funding they currently can’t access.
In the state’s eyes, Perry County doesn’t have homeless residents because there isn’t a shelter in town. Therefore, the county loses out on funding.
The entire county is disregarded from the annual statewide count of homeless individuals.
Sarah Stebleton, a case manager and outreach specialist at who works for Lutheran Social Services of Central Ohio, explained that once a homeless individual is rehoused, 75% to 91% of the time they remain housed.
Had Cook and Whissen had access to a shelter, they believe it would have been an easier process for them to get housing.
“I’d really hate for anyone to have to go through what we were going through living in our car,” he said. cmholmes@gannett.com 740-450-6758
Twitter: @cmholmesgannett