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Speak United Blog
New job posting: Director, Workforce and Economic Development
The Director improves lives within southeast Michigan by playing a leadership role in strategy development in the areas of workforce development, financial education and management, income supports and wealth building. The Director will oversee the launch, development and/or growth of several existing projects, including but not limited to: the Greater Detroit Centers for Working Families network, the Detroit and Southeast Michigan Fund for Innovative Workforce Solutions, and the Individual Development Account (IDA) initiative. Click here to learn more.
New job posting: Program Officer, Workforce Solutions
Under the general direction and guidance of the Director of Workforce and Economic Development, the Workforce Solutions Program Officer will have responsibility for the coordination and management of all aspects of the Detroit and Southeast Michigan Fund for Innovative Workforce Solutions (the Detroit Fund). He/she will play a major leadership role, guiding the Initiative to ensure that it meets its strategic goals. Click here to learn more.
Doing our part to promote Detroit
We’re all a bit tired at United Way these days, but it's the good kind of tired. The kind of tired you feel after seeing a job well done or a lofty goal met. After all, we just hosted 1,300 colleagues from around the world for United Way of America’s Staff Leaders Conference (SLC) held in Detroit, May 12-15. A job well done, indeed. Click here to continue reading.
Live United at the Detroit Free Press / Flagstar Marathon
Training for the Detroit Free Press/Flagstar Marathon on October 18? Consider making United Way your charity of choice and join a community of runners committed to making a difference. All you have to do is make a small donation when you register for one of the marathon events, which include a 5K, marathon relay, half and full marathon runs and competitive walks. Click here to learn more. Labels: monthly enewsletter
Time for Detroit to follow Obama's lead on education
President Obama said Monday that he wants to close down 1,000 schools and reopen them with a new principal and staff in each of the next five years. Such a bold move is an extension of the game plan that the U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, employed as CEO of Chicago Public Schools, in which he closed failing schools and opened new ones through a competitive process with higher standards and accountability. Duncan was in Detroit Wednesday at the United Way’s national conference, and talked about what states can do to win hundreds of millions of additional dollars to close the achievement gap. As part of the stimulus legislation, Duncan was given authority over $5 billion in discretionary funding– an astonishing amount of money in comparison to the $17 million that his predecessor had before him. It’s intended as a lever for transformation—not just “school reform”—and he intends to use it. [ Click here to continue reading] Labels: Educational_Preparedness, Michael_Tenbusch
2-1-1 On the Go! Update
Dang…it's been a while. Things have been pretty busy at 2-1-1 On the Go!. Our organization went through some major changes, which shook things up a little bit, but now that we're all settling in again, things are starting to normalize. [ Continue Reading] Labels: 2-1-1, 211onthego, John_Azoni
Run away with us
Get out your running shoes to support United Way. We are a featured charity for this year's Detroit Free Press/Flagstar Marathon, scheduled for Oct. 18. When you register for one of the events, select United Way as your charity of choice. Individuals who make a donation of $25 or more to United Way through the marathon will receive a Live United jersey to wear on race day. Give today!
Celebrate mom with United Way & Clear Channel Radio!
 How does your mom make a difference? Join United Way for Southeastern Michigan and Clear Channel Radio as we honor our metro Detroit moms this Mother's Day. Click here to tell us how your mom Lives United today.
Then, join us at 12 p.m. on Saturday, May 9, at 8 Mile and Dequindre - where Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties unite - to celebrate great moms everywhere. Learn from your mother... Live United. Nominate her today.
Neighbors4Neighbors Web Tools Help Unemployed Workers Help Themselves
PRESS RELEASEMedia contacts: - Laura L. Rodwan, (313) 226-9484 or cell, (313) 477-2750, lrodwan@sbcglobal.net
- Cara I. Belton, (313) 226-9484 or cell, (313) 520-8454, cara.belton@liveunitedsem.org
- Nicole Casal Moore, News Service, (734) 647-1838, ncmoore@umich.edu
- Jay Jackson, School of Information, (734) 763-0074, jacksonj@umich.edu
United Way partners with the University of Michigan to create online discussion forum and widget; an innovative tool for connecting the unemployed to one anotherUnemployed workers have a new tool to help them find the resources they need to get through difficult times. Created in partnership between the United Way for Southeastern Michigan and the University of Michigan School of Information, Neighbors4Neighbors is an interactive online program that uses social computing technology to connect unemployed workers with each other. Neighbors4Neighbors is an interactive online application that helps people help each other deal with unemployment. People who visit N4NMichigan.org can get and give advice on the things that matter when someone loses a job. The application has two components, an online discussion forum that lets people share advice with each other, and a “widget,” or online program, that allows users to add their own comments to partner web sites that have information for people who are unemployed. Questions and comments that are created on partner web sites via the widget will be mirrored on the Neighbors4Neighbors discussion forums. Neighbors4Neighbors is a project of Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm’s Keep Michigan Working Task Force. Michael Brennan, president and CEO of United Way for Southeastern Michigan, is chair of the task force’s community outreach committee. "These are tough economic times in Michigan, and Neighbors4Neighbors offers an innovative way to address the problem of unemployment in a non-traditional way. Service providers in our region are currently overloaded with requests for assistance in this time of economic crisis,” Brennan said.
“Neighbors4Neighbors is a program that helps people help themselves right away—and eliminates the wait. This collaborative online resource and community discussion forum will be a catalyst for leading social change in the region.". Neighbors4Neighbors is the result of a successful collaboration between United Way and the University of Michigan. In pooling resources and talents, the two organizations have developed an innovative way to tap informal networks, allowing unemployed workers the power to communicate with one another in real time. U- M School of Information professor Paul Resnick is the primary architect of the Neighbors4Neighbors website. “This site demonstrates an efficient, low-cost application of social computing,” said Resnick. “Many websites already aim to help unemployed workers find information or job leads, but they don’t have a way to connect everyone who is visiting the page. Neighbors4Neighbors pulls people and information together to create a community.” The widget enables all service and community-based organizations to add a “commenting feature” to the web pages of their own sites. (See below for more information on how to link). Michael Hess, an adjunct lecturer in the School of Information, is the developer of the widget. School of Information master’s students Meico Whitlock, Jeremy Canfield and Kathleen Ludewig also contributed. “The widget is another rapid response to crisis from the School of Information,” said Martha E. Pollack,” dean and professor in the School of Information. “This project demonstrates how the School of Information continues to live up to its motto of ‘connecting people, information, and technology in more valuable ways.’ For more information:
About United Way for Southeastern Michigan
United Way for Southeastern Michigan mobilizes the caring power of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties to improve lives in measurable and lasting ways throughout the region. The organization is led by a diverse group of volunteers from business, labor, government, human services, education and the community. United Way provides opportunities to invest in the metropolitan Detroit community through its annual Campaign, and is a leader in convening partners to impact local residents each year by increasing economic self-sufficiency, protecting children and youth at risk, strengthening families, empowering neighborhoods and communities, and promoting health and wellness. Additional information is available at www.LiveUnitedSEM.org
About University of Michigan School of Information
The School of Information (si.umich.edu) is internationally recognized as a leader in educating information professionals and in conducting research into the fundamental role of information and information technology in society. Faculty explore the many ways in which information is created, collected, managed, preserved, accessed, and presented, applying multi-disciplinary perspectives to discover new knowledge about the interplay between people, information, and technology. The work of SI faculty can be found in numerous Web 2.0 applications, such as reputation and recommendation systems. The School is the premier institution studying and using technology to improve how people work together in virtual collaborations. The incentive-centered design approach to system development was created at SI. In addition, SI researchers continue to be instrumental in raising awareness of the importance of cyberinfrastructure as a national asset and have helped elevate it to priority status at the National Science Foundation.# # #
Labels: basic needs, Financial Stability, Neighbors4Neighbors, Press_Releases, programs and initiatives
Changing a can't do mentality
I bring this up in light of the firing of GM CEO Rick Wagoner, a generous supporter and friend of the United Way. The Wall Street Journal ran an editorial this morning by Paul Ingrassia, their Detroit Bureau Chief, who claims that two painful experiences in Mr. Wagoner’s early years shaped his decisions for years to come. The first was a strike regarding the amount of work done in an 8-hour shift at a metal stamping plant in Flint that lasted 54 days and cost GM $2.2 billion. The second was his decision to close the Oldsmobile line when he became CEO in 2000. By announcing his decision first instead of making a quiet buyout effort, he began a lengthy process that took GM four years to complete and cost $1 billion. The result, according to Ingrassia, was: There was a can’t do mentality that accepted too many brands, too many dealers and too many workers as immutable facts of life that could only be changed slowly and gingerly, if ever. When I read these words, I can’t help but think of the state of public education in our region, and whether five or 10 years from now the same will be said of our collective leadership: There was a can’t-do mentality that accepted too many failing schools, too many work rules, and too many layers of bureaucracy as immutable facts of life that could only be changed slowly and gingerly, if ever. Yes, we have made mistakes. And we have more than our share of pain. Teacher strikes. School closings. Takeover boards. How much longer will we allow the pain of our past to keep us from the promises of our future? Arne Duncan, the U.S. Secretary of Education, is coming to speak at the United Way of America’s conference in Detroit in May. He now has $5 billion in discretionary funding for states and cities that are doing the most to close the achievement gap. When he gets here, will he meet a group of leaders and teachers with a can-do conviction that we can close the achievement gap? The money is in his hands, but the decision is in ours. Labels: Educational_Preparedness, Michael_Tenbusch
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