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To recognize and honor the collective efforts of the Central Ohio Hurricane Katrina response team comprised of the Community Shelter Board (CSB), The Ohio State University College of Social Work, FIRSTLINK, the Columbus Federation of Settlements, the Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA), and the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA).
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WHEREAS, Central Ohioans have opened their hearts and their houses to assist our fellow Americans in their time of need; and
WHEREAS, the evacuees of Hurricane Katrina have shown tremendous strength, patience, and resiliency as some have chosen to relocate to Columbus and begin to find new homes and stabilize their lives; and
WHEREAS, the Central Ohio Hurricane Katrina response team comprised of the Community Shelter Board (CSB), The Ohio State University College of Social Work, FIRSTLINK, the Columbus Federation of Settlements, the Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA), and the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) joined forces with volunteers to provide a range of housing and resettlement assistance to over 500 families of Hurricane Katrina evacuees; and
WHEREAS, Under the leadership of the Community Shelter Board we recognized the need to provide considerable support to the existing helping network if our community was going to respond in a timely and effective manner; and
WHEREAS, the OSU College of Social Work (CSW) organized and implemented the initial response by providing one-on-one assistance via the "Community Resettlement Advocacy Services." The CSW community of students, alumni, staff, and faculty responded to needs of the evacuees by identifying and training over 350 volunteers on just four days notice; and
WHEREAS, business, civic and faith based organizations have bee organized by FIRSTLINK and a host of volunteers to create a new "Adopt A Home" program. At last count we had over 33 households who had moved into a new home with many more families still in process; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS:
That we do hereby recognize and honor the collective efforts of the Central Ohio Hurricane Katrina response team comprised of the Community Shelter Board (CSB), The Ohio State University College of Social Work, FIRSTLINK, the Columbus Federation of Settlements, the Ohio Housing Finance Agency (OHFA), and the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) on this 14th day of November 2005.