Housing Court Insider
Cleveland Housing Court added Chris Ball and Valentina Pass to its team Nov. 15, 2021. Ball is the new Director of Communications, and Pass is the new Chief Social Worker.
Ball is the spokesperson and media contact for the court, led by Judge W. Moná Scott. Ball can be reached at 216-664-6918, email ballc@cmcoh.org. And follow on social media: Twitter: @CleHousingCourt. Instagram: clehousingcourt. Facebook: @clevelandhousingcourt.
Ball served as Managing Editor of FreshWater Cleveland in 2019 and 2020. He spent 20 years at The Plain Dealer as a Copy Editor and Writer. For 15 years, he also wrote a weekly DVD review column for the PD and Cleveland.com. Ball has written or edited for various publications and media companies, including Crain Communications, the Sun Press, Small Business News, the Cleveland Free Times, the Cleveland Edition, Corporate Cleveland Magazine, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Northern Ohio Live, the Lorain Morning Journal, and the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram.
A resident and native of Cleveland Heights, Ball graduated from Hawken School and Oberlin College.
Pass takes over as the Chief Social Worker for the court. She can be reached at 216-664-3864, email passv@chcoh.org.
Pass will advocate for Housing Court litigants by seeing if they qualify for social services and referring them to appropriate community providers; coordinating and assisting with crisis intervention and de-escalation; seeking providers for those who don’t qualify with current agency partners; assisting court employees with social service concerns; and assessing outcomes to help improve service provisions and court operations.
“My passion is advocating and being the voice for individuals who can’t speak up for themselves,” Pass said.
Pass spent the last 2½ years as a Victim Witness Advocate at the Cuyahoga County Prosecutors Office. She began under a grant for a cold case sexual assault task force, where rape kits were retested for DNA and reinvestigated, leading to some cases being prosecuted. She spent six months on the SAKI task force and was promoted to working with current cases for the Major Trial Unit, General Felony Unit, Juvenile Homicide Unit, and Sexual Assault Unit. Previously, Pass worked at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Illinois as a Fact Witness Coordinator.
Pass graduated from Harris Stowe State University in St. Louis with a BS degree in Criminal Justice, with a concentration in Juvenile Justice. She recently graduated with an MS degree in Psychology from Tiffin University, with a focus on clinical and behavioral psychology.
