As the calendar has turned to 2023 and the policy focus shifts to state and county budgets, it is important to reflect on what was a very busy 2022 for The Council On Older Persons (COOP). COOP is the last remaining advisory group from the predecessors to The Center for Community Solutions, the Welfare Federation...
Cuyahoga County Council HHSA Meeting Passes Two Contracts related to DCFS
The Cuyahoga County Health, Human Services, and Aging Committee met on March 8 to discuss two contracts. Both contracts pertained to the Division of Child and Family Services. Both contracts pertained to the Division of Child and Family Services. The first contract was a second one-year extension of a Master Contract with several health and...
Eight Cleveland Community Champions to know in Black History Month
Placing an in-depth focus on community is one of my favorite tasks. Meeting people and learning about their efforts to make our collective lives better honestly feeds hope. In recognition of Black History Month, I invite you to meet some amazing Community Champions. There were no algorithms, in-depth searches, or analyses for this list. Our...
Cuyahoga County HHSA Committee hears three homeless services contracts
In advance of the unveiling of the Cuyahoga County Strategic Action Plan for Homelessness, which took place on March 15, the Cuyahoga County Health, Human Services, and Aging Committee met on Wednesday, February 22 to hear three contracts, all related to the Office of Homeless Services. Lutheran Metropolitan Ministries The first contract was an award...
Community partners key to equity in mpox vaccine access
Last fall, we watched friends and loved ones face the outbreak of an infectious disease that was then called monkeypox (now referred to by the less stigmatizing term “mpox”), fearing a repeat of the pattern of restricted resources, misinformation, and medical mistrust that hits hardest in Black and Brown communities. Fortunately, we already had a...
Showing our work: does Community Solutions use ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is a powerful language model developed by OpenAI, capable of generating human-like text based on input prompts. It has been used in a wide range of applications, from generating news articles to creating personalized responses in chatbots. However, despite its impressive capabilities, ChatGPT has several limitations that must be taken into account when using...
Village of Healing: Where Black Moms Matter
Upon making the decision to prioritize improving the dire maternal and infant health crisis our state is facing, Community Solutions committed itself to ensuring said efforts are rooted in the lived experience of the families and professionals in our communities. Thus far, these collaborations have come in a myriad of forms, including engaging with practicing...
Cuyahoga County Health, Human Services, and Aging Committee Address Multiple Contracts
The Cuyahoga County Health, Human Services, and Aging committee reconvened on September 21, 2022 after a lengthy recess. Because of the break, the county had to hear and consider several contracts, some of which required lengthy presentations and review. The following is a summary of those presentations. Additionally, several of the funding proposals would be...
Building Intentional Disability Community
The way we interact and connect with other people has been continually changing since early 2020. With the abrupt onset of COVID-19 many of us physically isolated ourselves from contact with anyone outside of our immediate living space. We collectively learned how to meet virtually and socialize in ways that did not require sharing air....