Foundations, teachers, parents aim to model DPS on what works
BY CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY and ROBIN ERB
FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITERS
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100306/NEWS01/3060358/-1/WEATHER0802/A-plan-for-Detroit-schools&template=fullarticle

In less than a decade, public schooling as we know it in Detroit could be transformed. In what one think tank calls the biggest educational movement since the state adopted a charter-school law, a group of local foundations has teamed up on a $200-million plan to start 70 new schools for Detroit kids.

Led by the Skillman Foundation, the group expects to announce details of its education plan on Thursday.

One organization, Michigan Future Schools, already was given enough money to start up seven new high schools through 2012, with a goal of opening 35 new high schools in all by 2018. The first school is to open in the fall.

The plan to replace low-performing schools with high-performing ones apparently has the support of Robert Bobb, the emergency financial manager for Detroit Public Schools. The district got a $50,000 planning grant from Michigan Future Schools to study the feasibility of a new science and medical high school.

"If we can do this, it's a game-changer," said Lou Glazer, president of Michigan Future Inc., a nonpartisan think tank that started Michigan Future Schools. "Most of the schools Detroit kids go to -- whether it's charter, DPS or a suburban school -- are not quality schools. We want to change the whole system."

The plan, reaction

The group is planning to offer start-up funds to attract organizations and educators capable of opening high-quality public, charter or private schools in Detroit or neighboring suburbs accessible to Detroit students.

What's driving the initiative is low achievement in many of Detroit's public and charter schools. About half of the high schools on the state's draft list of the lowest-performing schools in Michigan are in Detroit Public Schools, in addition to some charter schools.

"This is definitely not about trying to replace the Detroit Public Schools," said Tonya Allen, vice president of program for the Skillman Foundation, a nonprofit that has invested millions in Detroit-area schools. "It's about figuring out how we scale up as many good schools as possible. It's about trying to replicate what we know works."

The group expects to release details of its education plan on Thursday.

It sounds good to parents

But already parents say the idea sounds worthwhile.

David Smith, a short-haul truck driver, said his 11-year-old son, Kyle, has struggled in the three schools he has attended, one a DPS school, the other two charter schools.

Since his sixth-grader did his best work at a DPS school, Smith said that any new school should be part of the existing district.

Still, the idea of new schools is exciting because it would re-energize students, teachers and parents.

"It's like getting a new car. You take care of it. You wash it," he said. "It would attract new students and parents."

DPS is on board with the part of the plan that calls for 35 new high schools. It was granted $50,000 to study opening a new science and medical high school.

"To dream, plan and actualize a quality high school where students thrive academically and graduate prepared for success in college can serve as a model for new school development throughout the city and beyond," said Barbara Byrd-Bennett, chief academic and accountability auditor for DPS.

$13 million committed

Four of the foundations that have joined the partnership -- Skillman, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Kresge Foundation and the McGregor Fund -- have already committed $13 million to Michigan Future Inc., an Ann Arbor-based think tank that plans to start up 35 of the 70 new schools as college preparatory high schools.

That initiative, called Michigan Future Schools, plans to ultimately raise $38 million more to help open the schools by 2018. The $13 million will be given to educators who apply for and get the grants to open the first seven high schools by 2012.

The first grant -- $850,000 -- was given to the Detroit Edison Public School Academy to open a high school this fall.

Michigan Future wants to fund schools that follow a similar model to that of the University Preparatory Academy. To win a Michigan Future grant, applicants must be able to prove their school will graduate at least 85% of students, send at least 85% to college and provide a counselor to help at least 85% of graduates get a college degree.

The organization was involved in starting University High in Ferndale and wanted to do more, an official said. The new high schools will be small -- 500 students at the most -- and located south of 12 Mile Road and east of Telegraph Road so that Detroit students can easily attend them.

"We don't care if they're public, charter or private," said Lou Glazer, president of Michigan Future Inc. "As long as they can convince us it's going to be quality."

A look at the future

Doug Ross, founder of the University Preparatory Academy charter school and a new charter school that opened a campus in the Detroit Science Center last fall, said the plan represents the future of city schools.

"Making the old ones better doesn't work," Ross said. "They need to be closed and new schools created by people with track records."

The Skillman Foundation has been leading the Excellent Schools Detroit effort, which convened six community meetings since the fall and surveyed about 600 residents on problems and solutions to the city's educational crisis. The group includes such organizations as United Way for Southeastern Michigan, Think Detroit PAL, New Detroit Inc., Detroit Regional Chamber and the Detroit Parent Network.

Talks about the education plan -- prompted by Skillman -- were under way in December when the sobering test results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress were released, said David Campbell, president of the Detroit-based McGregor Fund, one of the initiative's major supporters.

Detroit's students had tested the lowest of any district in the U.S.

Though they were "devastating news," the scores also added to the urgency, Campbell said.

"We recognize the educational outcomes for Detroit kids need to be improved if we're going to make progress in economic development and in reducing the need for human services," he said.

A focus on the educational foundation for metro Detroit children, in addition to the collaboration from so many different sources, will mean sweeping and lasting change under the new plan, said W.K. Kellogg Foundation spokeswoman Joanne Krell.

"This is a measured, intelligent approach to transforming education in Detroit. I think there's a lot of good reason to look forward," Krell said.

Waiting on specifics

Both Campbell and Krell declined to discuss money or specifics of the plan.

Otis Mathis, president of the DPS board, said he had not heard about the plan until contacted by the Free Press late Friday, but said he was not surprised.

The attention to DPS's woes has drawn plenty of plans and ideas. But as in too many of those plans, the DPS board once again had been left out of those discussions, he said.

Contact CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY: 313-223-4537 or cpratt@freepress.com

Labels: Educational_Preparedness, InTheNews

http://www.theoaklandpress.com/articles/2010/02/28/news/local_news/doc4b89d90ab9506778471377.txt

The United Way for Southeastern Michigan's Regional Asset Building Coalition is offering free tax preparation assistance to low-income individuals and families.

Three tax assistance sites are open, through April 10, in Pontiac at the following locations:

• Accounting Aid Society at Lighthouse Community Development, 46156 Woodward Ave. Hours: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Closed on April 3. E-File available by appointment only. Call 248-920-6200.
  
  
• Accounting Aid Society at Oakland Livingston Human Service Human Service Agency, 196 Caesar Chavez. Hours: 5 to 8 p.m. on Wednesdays; 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays. E-File available in February only.
  
  
• Accounting Aid Society at Pontiac Consumers Energy, 1030 Featherstone. Hours: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays.

In addition, the coalition, in partnership with the Wal-Mart Foundation, provides a online tool for individuals who earned less than $58,000 in 2009 to prepare and file state and federal income taxes themselves, free of charge. To access this tool, known as The Beehive, visit www.myfreetaxes.com/sem. An e-mail address is required to take advantage of this service.

For additional free tax preparation sites throughout metro Detroit or more information, visit www.michiganeic.org/freetaxprep or call United Way at 2-1-1 or 800-552-1183.

- Special writer Leah English

Labels: Financial Stability, InTheNews

By Sherri Welch
http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20100228/SUB01/302289992

United Way for Southeastern Michigan's food navigator program is part of a three-pronged approach to meet the rising need for food in a depressed economy.

United Way is using a report completed last summer by Minneapolis-based McKinsey & Co. as a guide.

The report, funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Kresge Foundation, projects that by 2013 one in four people living in Southeast Michigan won't have enough food. It also identified a current gap of about 120 million meals and projected demand would outpace supply by about 300 million meals by 2013.

Based on the report's recommendations, United Way is focused on three goals:

• Increasing the number of people registered for public benefits.
• Increasing the capacity of the local nonprofit food distribution system.
• Advocating policy changes that will make more people eligible for benefits.

Currently, about half of the emergency food coming into the region is through public programs such as free lunches, food stamps and the Women Infants and Children program. Friends and relatives of those in need contribute another quarter of emergency food assistance.

Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan and Oak Park-based Forgotten Harvest distribute another 6 percent of the total emergency food coming into the region — about 45 million pounds per year at last count.

"Clearly our strategies are around the best ways to eliminate the gap," said United Way President and CEO Michael Brennan.

Bank of America recently made a $400,000 grant to United Way to help fund its efforts to improve access to benefits.

The Michigan Association of United Ways is developing a Web site — supported with a $275,000 grant from the DTE Foundation — to serve as a portal for eligible Michigan residents to apply for benefits and reduce the amount of public benefits currently left on the table, Brennan said.

Aligning with another study recommendation, United Way last year designated $600,000 over three years to develop additional client choice pantries, which look and operate much the same as a grocery store and offer longer hours of operation.

United Way also is overseeing grants targeted to the pantry network for purchasing food and improving access to it, Brennan said.

The agency is also chairing a local board that's overseeing more than $2 million in federal funds from the Emergency Food and Shelter Program to support local efforts to feed and house needy people.

Sherri Welch: (313) 446-1694, swelch@crain.com

Labels: basic needs, food, InTheNews

By Sherri Welch
http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20100228/SUB01/302289994

The United Way for Southeastern Michigan plans to launch a pilot program in March to embed "food navigators" in school districts in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties to make free and reduced-cost meals more accessible to needy students.

The program also hopes to increase the number of students registering for existing programs.

The state of Michigan requires districts with needy students to offer free and reduced-cost lunch programs and to offer breakfast programs if more than 20 percent of students enrolled qualify for the programs.

But no such mandate exists for making after-school snacks, suppers and summer meals available to students, said Bill Sullivan, director of the 2-1-1 health and human services hot line for United Way.

Offering other free meals "is at the will of the school or district. Schools are relying on their own assessment of need and their capacity to provide those programs," he said.

Parents often are unaware of free meal programs, and for some, illiteracy prevents them from filling out applications to enroll their children in the programs.

Union rules and unwillingness among some administrators and teachers to offer free meal programs at the start of the school day, rather than before it, also presents challenges at some schools, Sullivan said.

"Schools ask where they would get money to staff the (free) meals, keep the lights on, or bus the students home," he said.

The money to develop and run free meal programs at schools is reimbursable from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, he said.

"But throwing money at the problem isn't the answer. I think it's about introducing new ways of (schools) doing business," Sullivan said.

Enter the food navigators.

United Way plans to hire four people to serve as food navigators by March and another six by the end of the year, Sullivan said. The navigators will help set up free meal programs at schools that express readiness to put them in place, Sullivan said.

They also will be called on to help willing schools and districts shift their breakfasts to the beginning of the school day, rather than before it, so more children get fed.

"We want to help so that kids who are hungry can be fed. We think the food navigators will help schools achieve this, and by doing so ... permanently (change) the system."About 290,000 children in the tri-county area are eligible and most are receiving free lunch, Sullivan said. But less than a third of them are getting free breakfast.

Research shows that offering breakfast to all students in low-income districts at the beginning of school day decreases tardiness and absenteeism and improves performance, said Madeleine Levin, senior policy analyst at the Food Research and Action Center, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit working with United Way.

According to FRAC, 81.5 percent of schools in Michigan provide a breakfast program.

"But the problem is it's harder for kids to participate in breakfast than in lunch because ... the buses would have to get there on time," Levin said.

There are also other barriers to participation, she said.

"Kids that walk to school in Detroit may want to hang out in the school yard with their friends rather than eating breakfast...What we have been promoting with United Way in Southeastern Michigan is for schools to establish that breakfast program at the beginning of class," for all students, Levin said.

The work is fraught with issues, Levin said.

"Any time you make a change in a school building, there's going to be a little resistance; you're going to have to change the way people do their jobs, such as janitors and the cafeteria folks.

"It takes a little bit of getting used to, but in the end everyone thinks the effort is worth it because kids benefit so much," Levin said.

United Way's food navigator approach is laudable, she said.

"The schools really need help in these tight times. This is a wonderful public-private partnership."

FRAC is also working with United Way to encourage more schools in low-income areas offering after-school snacks, supper and summer meal programs.

"There are other organizations like health departments and YMCA and YWCA that can do the programs in the summer with (fewer) hurdles."

Sherri Welch: (313) 446-1694, swelch@crain.com

Labels: basic needs, food, InTheNews

By Sherri Welch
http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20100226/FREE/100229892

The Southeast Michigan Regional Foreclosure Intervention and Neighborhood Stabilization Collaborative this morning launched a new Web portal to provide homeowners with a single source for foreclosure prevention and assistance.

Convened by United Way for Southeastern Michigan in 2008, the collaborative was charged with developing a regional solution to the foreclosure crisis.

The collaborative has 40 members including representatives from: the Detroit Office of Foreclosure, Prevention and Response; Wayne County; Detroit Local Initiatives Service Corp.; Southwest Housing; Greenpath Inc.; Michigan Mortgage Lenders Association; Fannie May; Detroit Real Estate Brokers Association; Charter One and Michigan State University's-Wayne County extension.

In 2009, there were more than 65,000 foreclosures in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and Washtenaw counties, and only about half of those former homeowners sought foreclosure prevention assistance, the collaborative said.

Based on technology created by Wayne County, the new Web portal at http://www.fightmortgageforeclosure.com/ creates a standardized approach to foreclosure prevention assistance that improves the efficiency of staff and organizations offering assistance, which will enable counselors to assist more homeowners, the collaborative said.

The online Web portal is designed to connect homeowners facing foreclosure with the best services to assist them and to track delivery of those services and outcomes, with a goal of helping at least 30 percent of those calling for help to avoid foreclosure.

It also has the ability to track homeowners through each stage of assistance to ensure that people do not fall through the cracks, the collaborative said.

Labels: Financial Stability, InTheNews

Labels: Financial Stability, InTheNews

By Sherri Welch
http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20100226/FREE/100229866

National poverty experts will be in Detroit Tuesday, March 2, to discuss ways to cut the poverty rate by one percent in the country’s largest 51 metropolitan areas over the next two to four years.

The daylong series of presentations at United Way for Southeastern Michigan was sparked by CEOs for Cities research that identifies $13 billion in public benefit program savings from just a one percent drop in the poverty rate in those regions.

Chicago-based CEOs for Cities is a nonprofit network of businesses, nonprofits and mayors dedicated to building the next generation of great American cities.

The poverty research is part of a larger CEOs for Cities study, “City Dividends,” which identifies $166 billion in economic benefits from decreasing poverty rates and increasing college degree attainment rates by just one percent. It also proposes decreasing the number of miles driven by each person by one mile per day.

CEOs for Cities plans to present the recommendations from the daylong, Detroit summit at a strategy session in New York later this year and on its Web site.

United Way also plans to make the recommendations available on its Web site.

Labels: Financial Stability, InTheNews

From WDET News
http://wdet.org/article/four-counties-team-up-to-fight-foreclosure

The United Way is teaming up with four Southeast Michigan counties to help prevent foreclosure.

Wayne, Oakland, Macomb and Washtenaw Counties are joining the United Way to form the Southeast Michigan Regional Foreclosure Intervention and Neighborhood Stabilization Collaborative. Through the use of a new website and 2-1-1 phone service, homeowners can get help navigating the foreclosure counseling process.

Charles Pugh is Detroit City Council President. He was facing a foreclosure during last fall’s election. Pugh says families need to come forward and get help… no matter how embarrassed they may feel.

“You have to come forward. I think part of the fear and embarrassment is what keeps people from seeking help. And let me tell you, there’s nothing more embarrassing than having your business on the front page of the paper. So, that will not happen to most families.”

In 2009, 1 in 27 homes in Southeast Michigan were in the foreclosure process totaling about 65,000 homes.

Labels: Financial Stability, InTheNews

Originally published February 2010
ASE's Everything People
http://www.aseonline.org/images/everythingpeopleFebruary10.pdf

By Joe DeSantis and Mary E. Corrado

An Eagle Eye Interview With Mike Brennan of United Way for Southeast Michigan

All HR professionals know why they need to care about social issues in their communities. There is a widely accepted business case for good corporate citizenship, particularly when the social issues are extreme, as they are today in Southeastern Michigan. Persistent and high levels of unemployment in a region, and the fallout from that unemployment-widespread poverty, failed school systems, failed local governance-eventually bounce back on local businesses, especially in the long term. Clearly, social awareness and good corporate citizenship are sound long-term business strategies.

Yet we all sense, down deep, that the business case isn't really enough; there needs to be more to it than that. Thankfully, there is. In the end, the best business people care about social issues not just because it is good business but also because they are human. When they are surrounded by human suffering and they have the wherewithal to do something about it, the simple human impulse to act, or at least support those who act, kicks in.

We are seeing that impulse deployed on a massive scale today in Haiti. But the earthquake in Haiti was a traumatic event that made the travails of that destitute country unimaginably worse all at once. Here in Southeastern Michigan, the troubles have had more of a creeping character, going from sad to grim to desperate incrementally, over the course of a full generation or longer. No earthquake here; instead a corrosive, metastatic disease that over time has claimed the lives, both literally and figuratively, of people and institutions as well.

That is why we have organizations like United Way for Southeastern Michigan. About 3½ years ago the Eagle Eye interviewed Mike Brennan, United Way's CEO. At that point in time, United Way had just made a strategic decision to become more than simply a collector and dispenser of funds, and head cheerleader, to various human service agencies in the area. The social problems were becoming too acute. United Way decided it needed to identify the most acute problems in the area and put its hands more directly on them by more aggressively "aligning resources with needs," as Mike put it. They decided it was time to lead from the front, rather than merely supply financial wherewithal and encouragement from behind.

Last month the Eagle Eye sat down again with Mike and invited him to update us on how things have gone since then, when, as he told us, United Way "bet the farm" on adopting a new leadership role and making it work.

Brennan: Four years ago we bet the farm on the direction of the organization. We took two 100-year-old organizations, dissolved them, had 150 Board members resign, formed a new one and seated a new 30-member Board in a mission that said we are going to define success not by how much money we raise but by how much progress we make on key social issues.

We had always been in a kind of a call-and-response mode, where you simply aggregate financial resources and distribute them to a set group of non-profits. But what was happening was, first, the value proposition of that was not enough in terms of attracting financial resources, and second, we weren't seeing measurable progress on key social issues in our community. We were finding that simply taking financial resources and forwarding them to non-profit organizations that did good work is not a very efficient way to effect social change. You have to take a more holistic approach.

I have long viewed United Way not as a charity and not as a recipient organization, which is how it has been most defined. I view United Way as a leadership organization. And when we put money into something, it should be something that gives us the ability to get things done.

Now, are we interested in growing the private contributions that are given to the community through the United Way? Absolutely. We work every day on that. It is a piece of the puzzle. But what we are betting the farm on is more actively aligning those resources with what we know to be the community's most urgent social needs, and measuring our success by whether or not we see changes in those conditions.

Where has this new approach taken you?

Brennan: Once we decided on that strategy, we went about the task of finding out what was most important in the community. We did a large survey of residents in the tri-country area, basically asking, of all the things that we could put energy into, what would be most important to you? Where do you think we could make the greatest progress? And out of that, along with looking at best practices across the country and interviewing other stakeholders, we formed our Agenda for Change. That agenda centered around three issues: education, financial stability (i.e., building financial assets in families), and third, basically a safety net.

On the education front, we really landed on two areas. One is early childhood development, meaning having kids ready for school by age five. Do you know that 80% of your mind was developed by age three? There is no more powerful place where you can put your dollars than early childhood development. For every dollar you put there, you see $17.00 on the other end of the line in reduced incarceration rates, better health metrics, etc. But we found that early childhood development is the least organized area of the community and of the state. We felt we could go about that in a better way, and today we have five Early Learning Centers established around the area, designed to give caregivers in the home access to early childhood training materials, early childhood tools, ageappropriate reading materials, and so on. The idea is to better prepare childcare-givers to change the quality of childcare that is taking place in the home.

The other area is high school graduation rates. Do you know that in just the tri-county area, there are 30 high schools that have dropout rates of 40% or more? Now, map that in your mind... Where did you map it? The fact is that one-third of those schools-ten of them-are outside the city of Detroit. There is a 20/10 split going on there. We've got a really important initiative that we've put in place to help address that issue.

Regarding family financial stability, as you have families going from the old economy to the new economy with the huge workforce displacement that we have had, there are fundamental capabilities that are simply missing in households and individuals and in communities. We can bring those to bear for families if we organize and work better together. For us, financial stability is families going from negative net worth to positive net worth. Our work in this area is about finding the best ways to help individuals and families navigate their financial framework in a better, more meaningful way and a more productive way.

Let me just give you an example-in the state of Michigan we have $900,000,000 that gets left on the table every year. This is public benefit money that is available to individuals who qualify for it but fail, for various reasons, to access it.

And then there is the safety net. The last time we talked, we had relatively recently put in the 211 help line. I think the most important development with the 211 of late is that it has documented a very clear shift in the need priorities of our callers. In an earlier study we had identified that there were about 600,000 people in the tri-county area who are "food insecure," meaning they know where one meal is coming from, but they don't know where the second or third meals are going to come from. We projected that number to grow to 900,000 by the time we get to 2011 and 2012. For 3½ years running, the number one reason people were calling into the 211 was for utility assistance. But then, two quarters ago, 211 data confirmed for us that a shift had happened. The number one reason people are now calling in is for food.

If someone asked me eight months ago to describe the local food system, the carrying system of food that comes into a community, I-and I would consider myself fairly knowledgeable on the topic-I would describe probably first and foremost the Gleaners, Forgotten Harvest, pantry systems, Focus Hope, Salvation Army, etc. One of our critical learnings was that of all the food that gets distributed to those who need it in the region, the food distribution system that I just described represents about 7% of the total; 50% of it comes through public benefit, federal benefit mostly, things like Food Stamps, women and their children (WIC), free and reduced lunch, breakfast programs. Another 20% is just the informal network of friends and family and neighbors that just help one another. So 7%, 50%, 20%, and then you had this gap. We estimate about a 120,000,000 pound gap of food on an annual basis.

You can improve the 7% part. We are working with great partners like Gleaners and Forgotten Harvest and others. We learned from the 211 data that instead of bricks and mortar, we needed to run a more mobile strategy. So we partnered with Ford Motor Company, which has given us five transit vehicles that can run 24 hours a day and move an extra 2,000,000 pounds throughout the region. But if you are going to make a really significant impact, you have to improve this uptake of the state and federal benefit, this 50%. And so as I said, you have $900,000,000 of untapped resources every year in that public benefit; the same thing was true on food access. We had pretty good penetration of individuals using things like food stamps but, for example, breakfast programs that are available to children at schools, in some cases only have an 8-10% take up rate. So you can impact a lot of families, a lot of kids, by just improving that.

When the new economy hits its stride, Michigan employers will need to draw their workers from Michigan's own citizenry. You can only import so much talent, and you cannot survive in the long run without a well-supplied pipeline of top-notch local talent. It means that Michigan's educational system has to prepare Michigan's students for employment in the new economy. It is not news that, on the whole, the state's K-12 schools are not meeting that challenge right now. United Way has targeted a particularly devastating aspect of the problem, drop-out rates, and begun a concentrated, cooperative initiative to do something about those rates, starting with three of the most troubled high schools in Southeast Michigan.

Brennan: Over two years ago we invited the 30 high schools that had that low performance to a Turnaround Summit. These were basically 30 drop-out factories. We brought in the very best turnaround agents in the country. These are intermediaries that specialize in working with large high schools to improve their performance from graduation rates of 20%, 30%, 40% to 60%, 70% and 80% and above. The Gates Foundation has put a lot of money into a whole range of intermediaries. We invited in the highest performing group, a group called the Institute for Student Achievement (ISA). ISA is a consulting group that works specifically with large high schools, typically in urban areas where there is high density of poverty, to change the performance rate.

These are people with a proven track record and a proven methodology. We introduced them to these 30 non-performing high schools. We also went out and raised $5,000,000 and created a Detroit Venture Fund, which is private money raised to be invested in the intermediaries to work with the high schools.

We invited the 30 schools to apply for a grant out of the Venture Fund that could be used to purchase the services of the intermediary. In essence, we would take Venture Fund money and give it to the intermediary, not to the school, to work and partner with the school. About a dozen schools applied and out of that, five got selected and three are on the clock right now. So, we have Cody and Osborn in the city of Detroit and Melvindale High in Melvindale. These are schools that spent a year getting ready-you can't just flick a switch at a school like Cody, with 2,000 kids, and all of a sudden be in a ready state.

In each of these schools we moved from one school to four academies, each one targeted to specific interest areas like technology, health, etc., and instead of one principal over 2,000 kids, you now have four principals, each over a class of 100. So, the incoming (current) class is just 9th grade, next year it will be 9th and 10th grade, the third year it would be 9th, 10th and 11th grade, the fourth year it would be 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th. At that point Cody as a single entity of 2,000 students will be gone and there will be four academies standing there, all inside the physical plant that was Cody High School.

Currently there is still a principal over the upper school, but over time that is just going to phase out.

Each academy principal had the right to choose the teachers for his or her school, working with the union.

That is part of the deal. They had to have the buy-in from the union, to allow the principals to select their teachers, in order to sign on with the intermediaries. Yes, there was a lot of turnover among teachers, but that was part of the arrangement. Today, all the teachers at Cody and Osborn are all members of DFT (Detroit Federation of Teachers, the teachers' union in the district).

One really important aspect of this is that Robert Bobb is a close partner in this project. When Mr. Bobb spoke to United Way Board 60 days ago, he said that what he saw going on at Cody and Osborn is what he wants going on in every high school in the city of Detroit. So, he is very supportive of the work. From the get-go we have had the administration, we have had the principals, we have had the union involved with it, and we have had parent networks involved, because that is the only way you get to a changed result.

That is the proof of concept here-that Robert Bobb wants to accelerate this concept into the other Detroit schools.

Now, these are not charter schools, this is not a charter strategy, it is not just a turnaround strategy of the DPS, it is the collective. It is not just having a Robert Bobb, who is probably a once-in-a-generation leader to arrive in that role, but you have to also have community organizations like United Way, and champions like Skillman Foundation (which has been on our Board for 20 years) and the Detroit Parent Network. Changing the education of our children requires a full community response. And that is complicated work. But it does us no good for us to say "Boy, this is really complicated, it is really hard." So what. That is our job.

We wanted to know if the national United Way organization has adopted the same approach that the Southeast Michigan organization has.

Brennan: Yes, we have adopted this strategy at the national level as well. Remember that I spent several years with the national-that is where I came from. We have been very intentional nationally on a transformation effort, aligning resources against set targets. You could go to a lot of United Ways and you would see the same kind of realignment taking place. I think, though, most United Ways would agree that our work here in Southeast Michigan has been bolder, and there is a rigor in how deep we are going. It is not just like a rewrap of the old organization; I mean we dissolved the old organization, so it has been a robust change here.

In all of this, what has happened to the annual campaign that we are all so familiar with?

Brennan: Of course we continue to run our annual campaign. And we are eager to widen it and expand it. We have about 100 non-profits that are funded partners for us. But the difference today is that those partners are aligned against the change result. So, one of the shifts that happened four years ago is that instead of asking what the agencies need, the question that now comes down into the center of the table for our Board is "What does the community need?... Let's get clear about that, and let's get clear about the strategies that we think can accomplish it, and then let's find the very best partners that can help us accomplish it." So the partners, the 100 non-profits that we work with today, help us get to this change condition. In the old days we used to refer to the process as "suck and blow'" where you "suck" in the resources as through a straw and then aim the straw at someone else and "blow" those resources to them. No more of that; today the agencies we work with are aligned in terms of impact on the issues that are most critical to the area.

You know, when someone is entrusting us with a discretionary dollar, my job is to make sure that it is the most impactful gift they can ever give. If we can't say that, then they should give the dollar somewhere else. But I say it now, and you have heard me say it publicly, I really don't think there is a more powerful gift someone can give right now than to the United Way, and if you do know of where there is, then I would say give the money there and the only thing I ask is tell me where that is, because then I want to go learn from that. But if I were to walk you through a 211 center, if I were to walk you through the work that is being done to put more food on the streets for individuals, if I were to walk you through a Center for Working Families, or a turnaround at a high school, or one of our Early Learning Centers, you would be able to see that your investment helped drive that. I don't believe there is another place where you could give your discretionary dollar that could come close to that.

Labels: basic needs, Educational_Preparedness, Financial Stability, InTheNews, Michael_Brennan

Originally published February 2010
ASE's Everything People
http://www.aseonline.org/images/everythingpeopleFebruary10.pdf

By Dona Ponepinto, Guest Contributor

Tax season can be a stressful time for everyone. From understanding all of the forms, to gathering all the necessary information and worrying over what you
might owe, it is a headache few enjoy.

Yet, for many Michigan workers, tax time also means an opportunity to significantly increase their household income, and employers can help them take advantage of it without incurring any additional employment costs. For employers and their employees, it is a clear, straightforward Win-Win.

At United Way for Southeastern Michigan, we believe that all families should have the tools and resources to become financially stable. That means the ability to make a livable income, to save, and to build assets. Every day, we're working with key partners in the government, nonprofit and corporate arenas to make this a reality.

Interestingly, a key first step to financial stability for many families lies in their annual income tax return. Tax credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) can add thousands of dollars to a household's income. The EITC is a refundable tax credit offered at both the state and federal levels for working individuals and families. The credit allows taxpayers to reduce the amount of taxes they owe and, in most cases, provide a refund. Either way, it translates into more disposable income in the taxpayer's pocket.

This year's federal tax credit ranges between $450 and $5,650, depending on family size and household income. In 2007, the average federal tax credit for Michigan residents was $1,975. The Michigan EITC, a separate credit from the federal EITC, provides an additional tax credit of 20% of the taxpayer's federal credit.

The additional money workers receive is often used to pay down debt, meet basic needs, or save for the future. It is a fact that the EITC lifts more families out of poverty than any other federal aid program.

Not only does the EITC help individuals and families, but its benefits extend to employers and the community as a whole. For employers, the EITC presents tremendous opportunities. It offers an incentive to work and provides a chance for individuals to significantly increase their disposable income without having to receive an increase in pay. In a difficult economy where pay raises are no longer the norm, this is critical to helping families continue to meet their needs.

At a community level, the value is seen in the millions of dollars pumped into the local economy. The economic impact on neighborhoods and cities is felt as refund recipients pay bills, invest in their homes and neighborhoods, and purchase goods and services.

Unfortunately, there are still millions of EITC dollars left unclaimed each year. Estimates show that approximately 25% of eligible taxpayers do not claim the EITC because they do not know they are eligible or they do not understand its benefits. That translates to approximately $220 million that is left unclaimed across the state of Michigan.

Our state legislators are making strides to increase awareness and the amount of tax credits workers receive. HB 5296, a bill introduced in the Michigan House of Representatives late last year, would require employers with five or more paid employees to provide information about the EITC to their entire staff. The bill would also provide tools to help organizations effectively communicate to their employees about the EITC and its benefits. It has passed in the House Labor Committee, and is currently making its way through the House. If passed, this bill would go a long way in educating workers about this important income booster.

Labels: Financial Stability, InTheNews

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100202/NEWS05/2020333/1318/More-people-struggling-to-stay-warm-taxing-agencies&template=fullarticle

Labels: 2-1-1, basic needs, InTheNews

BY KRISTEN JORDAN SHAMUS
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100131/COL26/1310348/1025/FEATURES/Cold-reality-intrudes-on-warm-family-scene&template=fullarticle

Darkness swept over the house and in an instant, our kids were screaming.

The power had gone out, and the peace went away along with it.

Without electricity, we had no working nightlights or CD players or white noise machines to soothe our girls as they drifted off to slumberland.

I cursed the timing. Ten more minutes, and they would have been sleeping soundly, without ever knowing we lost power.

I tried to comfort the girls while my husband hunted for flashlights.

A shrieking Sarah had to be lifted from her crib.

"Momma's here," I said to her older sister, Julia, crying in her bed one room over. Then, I began to sing so both girls could hear me.

That began a marathon of repeating the words to the most comforting hymn I could conjure in 10 seconds or less.

Julia sang, and Sarah did, too.

As the minutes stretched into an hour, I worried about what we'd do if the darkness lasted much longer.

With temperatures outside in the 20s, surely our home would grow cold quickly. We couldn't keep the kids overnight in a house without heat.

Even as I held a 28-pound bundle of warmth in her fleece footy pajamas, I started to notice a chill in the room.

I could hear my husband tromping around downstairs. A Police Department dispatcher told him it was an emergency outage, and that we should have electricity within the hour.

Soon after, both of our little angels finally nodded off. Then, as quickly as it disappeared, electricity was restored. I could hear the warm air from the furnace whooshing through the ducts as the lights flashed on.

But as I grew cozy again, I could not help thinking about other parents who bundle up their children every night, trying to protect them from the cold inside their own homes. The people who can't pay skyrocketing utility bills and have to put their kids to bed without the comforts of night lights, music and warm air flowing from the vents.

That's an unsettling reality for an increasing number of metro Detroiters in this bad economy. The thought of it makes me shiver.

If you or someone you know is in this situation, you can call DTE Energy at 800-477-4747 to get help.

"We can't emphasize enough that people should give us a call as soon as they realize they can't make a payment or get into financial difficulty," DTE Energy's spokesman Scott Simons told me.

Several options are available, from payments plans to the assistance of nonprofit organizations such as The Heat and Warmth Fund and the United Way to state aid for low-income people for heating bills.

If you're in a position to help, you can donate to THAW online at www.thawfund.org or by calling 800-866-8429 or mailing a check to The Heat And Warmth Fund, 607 Shelby St., Suite 400, Detroit 48226. The United Way may be reached at uwsem.org or by calling 313-226-9200. Checks also may be mailed to: United Way for Southeastern Michigan, 660 Woodward Ave., Suite 300, Detroit 48226.

Contact features editor KRISTEN JORDAN SHAMUS: 313-222-5997 or kshamus@freepress.com

Labels: basic needs, InTheNews

Shareable.net
http://shareable.net/blog/building-we-space-in-michigan

We've highlighted many examples of open office plans that try to encourage collaboration and democracy in the workplace, from an innovative office design in Utah to the open plan of Menlo Communications in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Shareabe.net reader Annemarie Harris writes to tell us about yet another exciting open source office in Michigan:

I work for United Way for Southeastern Michigan. As you may be aware, United Ways throughout the country are in a phase of transformation, changing their business model from one that primarily advances workplace campaigns and one that fosters social change in a collaborative way. We don't necessarily control how social change occurs, but rather, we serve as the platform for the community to foster and achieve social change, on behalf of all.

Click here to continue reading.

Labels: 660Woodward, Annemarie_Harris, InTheNews

Posted by TIME.com Tuesday, January 26, 2010 at 2:16 pm
http://detroit.blogs.time.com/2010/01/26/will-teach-for-america-come-back/

Teach for America, which came blazing into town in 2002 and promptly quit the city two years later, may be bracing for another shot at Detroit. “All eyes are now on Detroit,” says Ify Offor, vice president of new site development for the organization, which places college graduates and professionals in low-income school districts to teach for two years. “There's leadership that wants to take on this issue of education reform.”

Offor says he has met with officials in Governor Granholm's office, along with the Detroit Federation of Teachers and the United Way. “Our goal is to simply make Detroit a center for education reform and Teach for America is an integral part of that reform, as the place to come to do the very best work,” says Michael Tenbusch, vice president of education preparedness at United Way of Southeastern Michigan. As for the union, Offor's aim is to ensure that relations get off on a better foot than they did last time, when the Detroit Public School was facing budget issues and beginning to lay off certified teachers—creating resentment toward TFA members who had not completed Michigan's long and arduous certification process. (Tenbusch of the United Way successfully pushed the Michigan legislature to pass a bill allowing for a quicker certification process in certain cases.) With the lack of support, Teach for America had no choice but to finish its two-year commitment until 2004 and then withdraw.

If TFA does come back to Detroit, don't expect it to have a major impact. Start with the numbers: TFA had 35 teachers back in 2002. DPS employs a total of 6,000 teachers. Furthermore, TFA has a host of critics. Some contend that it's little more than a pit stop for Ivy League grads looking to boost their resume before moving onto their corporate careers. Former TFA teacher Nate Walker says that what he calls the organization's “number-driven” approach, which is focused on raising test scores, is too limited to deliver major change. Walker is one of many Detroiters working on alternative charter schools. His, called the Boggs Educational Center, would place more emphasis on having the kids create student portfolios and self-reflections, and apply skills taught in class to real‑life situations. “The models that we're working on, they build community,” says Walker. “We value kids for who they are and whatever they do regardless if they decide to go to Harvard or be a plumber.”

Still, DPS needs whatever help it can get. Detroit's fourth- and eight-graders recently scored abysmally on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a standardized exam that measures math, reading, science, writing, the arts, civics, economics, geography and U.S. history. “As we look at the low NAEP scores for Detroit's children, it is clear that this is a problem that we can and must, in fact, address,” Offor says. “We look at Teach For America as one critical source of talent in helping to address this problem.” —Mariem Qamruzzaman

Mariem Qamruzzaman is a life-long resident of metro Detroit and a 2009 graduate of the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor. She has written for the Detroit Free Press, South Bend Tribune, and worked for Michigan Radio. Currently, she is freelancing and volunteering with non-profit organizations.

Labels: Educational_Preparedness, InTheNews, Michael_Tenbusch

http://www.hometownlife.com/article/20100121/NEWS24/1210589/1027

Approximately 90 Madonna University students and staff members - the largest group yet - volunteered their time and talents Monday at community organizations throughout Metro Detroit in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

This was the fourth consecutive year that the Livonia university partnered with the University of Michigan-Dearborn, United Way for Southeastern Michigan, Lawrence Tech University and Henry Ford Community College for this day of service. United Way staff recruited the agencies where students served and assisted Volunteer Solutions in creating and maintaining the extensive online volunteer database.

Madonna student volunteers worked with the following community groups: Beyond Basics, Bridging Communities, Child Help, Fish and Loaves, Gleaners Community Food Bank (Detroit and Warren), Habitat for Humanity, Ruth Ellis, Salvation Army (several locations), Stanford House and Van Dyke Schools (McKinley and Kennedy elementary schools).

Labels: InTheNews, Volunteering

BY MATT HELMS
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100119/NEWS05/1190331/1001/News/His-dream-lives-on&template=fullarticle

Metro Detroiters gathered in song, marched and pitched in with community service Monday to celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Members of City Year Detroit, an AmeriCorps program in which young people sign up for a year of community service and mentoring, teamed up with 650 students and other volunteers at 13 projects across the region.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm, whose daughter Cecelia, 19, is a City Year volunteer in New Orleans, said at a morning rally that the day's message is that it's within everyone to make change in their communities.

"Truly, the greatest acts of courage and change have been from the most unexpected places," Granholm said.

Among the programs was a spruce-up and mural painting at Detroit's Osborn High School by members of City Year, the United Way of Southeastern Michigan, students and others.

Young volunteers also put together bags of toiletries for Freedom House, a Detroit group that provides temporary shelter for refugees.

Eunique Worthy, 12, of Detroit said she was glad to help make the kits, which included soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste and other necessities, and to learn that something so simple could be of help to people in Haiti who might emigrate to metro Detroit to escape the earthquake damage.

A friend's memories

The keynote speaker at Southfield's 25th annual Peace Walk Celebration to honor King was the son of the late Ralph Abernathy, widely considered King's closest friend.

Kwame Abernathy, 38, of Atlanta said his father was just 26 and King 29 when they organized the historic bus boycott in 1955 after Rosa Parks' arrest for sitting in the whites-only section of a bus.

"They went door to door on a Friday night to ask all blacks to protest her arrest by not riding buses on Monday. The word spread like wildfire," Abernathy said.

"For 381 days, no one (who was African American) rode the bus in Montgomery, Ala. Through rain, darkness, people organized car pools, did whatever they needed to do to not ride the bus ... and that's how the modern civil rights movement got started."

Abernathy said his father and King were "jailed together over 60 times." He said their churches and homes were bombed. And Ralph Abernathy was "on the balcony during the assassination, rode in the ambulance ... signed the death certificate and officiated at the funeral of Dr. King."

He said they were "special men (who) answered their calling when the alarm rang" in 1955.

"Will you answer the call when the alarm rings?"

Holding on to King's beliefs

"Hold On," they sang in multipart harmony, recreating a spiritual that consoled slaves in antebellum days.

The song, performed by the Achievers Ladies Ensemble from Detroit School of Arts, enchanted a crowd of 170 people gathered for a breakfast to kick off the 10th annual celebration of King Day at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit.

The song tells how slaves labored during the backbreaking work of tilling soil, holding on tightly to the plow and a faith that better times waited.

"That's what Martin Luther King did. He held on and made it through for us," said Keyandra May, 16, a Detroit School of Arts junior.

The Rev. J. Drew Sheard of Greater Emmanuel Institutional Church of God in Christ in Detroit challenged Americans to refocus on achievement rather than status, commenting that some young men would rather be noticed for hanging shiny jewelry "around their necks, but not a diploma on their walls." And he scolded lax and highly sexualized behavior in society.

"I know we marched for freedom," said Sheard. "Is this the type of freedom he envisioned?"

Remembering the struggle

Dreams, scribbled on cutout paper white doves, adorned a board at the Farmington Community Library on Monday.

"Peace on Earth." "May all have food, water, shelter and love!" "Civility!"

In celebration of King, more than 150 people marched a short distance Monday from Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Farmington Hills to the library for a program of performances and speeches.

For Curtis Higgins, 15, of Canton, the action of marching was a way to recognize the civil rights struggles.

"It shows that you ... actually care a lot and you believe in the things that he said," Higgins said.

A march in tribute

Several hundred people gathered Monday morning outside King High School in Detroit for the school's first annual Tribute March.

As the school band played "We Shall Overcome" and King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech blared from large speakers, hundreds walked on a 2.3-mile route around the school.

Justyce Morton, 8, held a sign: "The legacy lives." Her mother, Kenthia Morton, of Detroit said her son's sign means, "we have followed through on Martin Luther King's dream, where we can all be united and equal."

The march was the idea of Deborah Jenkins, who has been the school's principal for five months. "I couldn't understand why we had a school named after Dr. Martin Luther King and we didn't have a march emanating from here in Detroit," Jenkins said. "I'm trying to educate and unify our young people, so they understand that you don't have to resolve conflict with violence."

Staff writers Bill Laitner, Patricia Montemurri, Gina Damron and Jeff Seidel contributed to this report.

Labels: InTheNews, Volunteering

By Patricia Montemurri Free Press Staff Writer
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100118/COL35/100118027/1319/Detroit-and-the-office-of-the-future&template=fullarticle

When Leslie Andrus arrives at the office, she doesn’t plant herself at a conventional desk or in a cubicle.

Some days the corporate relations director for United Way for Southeastern Michigan may choose a spacious booth with banquette seating and a second-floor sunlit view of downtown’s Campus Martius, akin to a setting you might imagine for a trendy restaurant. But recently, she sat at a different booth on another floor, overlooking Cadillac Square.

“I do try to sit somewhere different every day,” says Andrus, 28, of Livonia. “I didn’t want a permanent desk at all. I like the idea of being able to sit in a different place.”

Andrus is among 100 United Way employees who moved last May from a narrow, 12-floor building to the renovated, cutting-edge quarters in downtown Detroit’s First National Building.

Two-thirds of United Way's 100 employees don’t have permanent desks; instead they choose to work at a range of booths, tables and open cubicles. Even the CEO, Michael Brennan, doesn’t park himself at a formal desk or a corner suite, but chooses from the array of booths and tables spread across 2.5 floors.

It’s an office arrangement known as free-range or hotelling, and the workplace gurus at Grand Rapids-based furniture manufacturer Steelcase say the United Way’s workspace represents the office of the future.

Jeff Block, a senior consultant in design strategy for Steelcase, the nation’s leading office furniture maker, says United Way’s arrangement is one of the first such designs of its kind in the Detroit area. Steelcase itself has test-run the design in parts of its headquarters, and expects more firms and agencies to adopt the alternative approach.

“Nobody’s done anything to the extent that Mike Brennan has done in terms of looking at space differently,” says Block. “He realized that giving everybody a workstation, which would sit vacant much of the time because they were in meetings or outside of the office, didn’t make sense."

At the end of the day, it’s hard for most organizations to make that dramatic a change,” said Block. “It’s a change in the culture, as much as a change in the space.

With the move, United Way is saving $300,000 annually in maintenance costs. The United Way offices are laid out over two floors, which also includes a mezzanine. Parts of the ceiling and the walls are exposed, revealing cornice work from the building’s original 1920s-era construction.

“In every location, you see the new tied to the old,” says CEO Brennan. “I describe this a Class A office space, loft living and urban ruins” all in one. Brennan gestures toward the bank of windows and the view below. He calls it the “front porch of Detroit” as he gazes down upon the bustle of Campus Martius.

There are sections of islands of glass-walled cubicles — known as fishbowls — with room for a desk and a chair, where staffers can park themselves. There are large banquettes alongside the expansive windows. If a staffer without a dedicated desk, feels the need for enclosure, there are cubicles with doors available.

People don’t need conventional offices to get their work done, says Dave Lathrop, director of research and strategy for Steelcase and an expert on future trends in the workplace.

He says the United Way’s office redesign taps into a growing and global office movement. It represents how the workplace is adapting to the instant anywhere, anytime connectivity made possible by technology.

“Allocating all of our real estate to individual spaces makes less sense than it used to in a world that’s all about collaboration,” says Lathrop.

A Steelcase survey last year found that 69% of firms surveyed were using alternative work strategies – such as allowing employees to work from home and hotelling. They expect those arrangements to grow, as a way for employers the costs of maintaining real estate and office buildings.

Without a desk, Andrus says she’s learned to become less paper-dependent, which helps eliminate unnecessary paperwork, and rely more on technology. She, like other desk-less employees, each has access to one drawer to keep files.

“It makes me rethink do I need a hard copy of this. Do I really need this?” says Andrus.

Every staffer has a landline phone number, and they can log into that phone from any location, including their cells. They also have laptop computers.

At their old headquarters, at 1212 Griswold, staffers were spread out over 12 floors, and it wasn’t unusual to go months without seeing various employees, and communicate via phone and e-mail.

Rebeca Torres, 35, an accounting manager, has an assigned desk because work keeps her in the office five days a week. But Torres says the overall environment gives her a sense of spaciousness and mobility.

“I’m not glued to my desk,” says Torres. “And because we do so much collaboration, I often find that I’m not at my dedicated workspace. And that’s one of the things I like about this building is that we have so many options.”

Kira Putt, 28, the United Way’s regional coordinator of student engagement, often works with campus groups away from the office three days a week. She doesn’t miss having photos on her desk. If she wants to show off a shot of her dog, she beckons a coworker to glance at her laptop.

“It’s not so much what I miss,” says Putt. “The benefits are that I’m much more organized. And it gives me an opportunity to be a lot more green, because I use lots less paper.”

Contact PATRICIA MONTEMURRI: 313-223-4538 or pmontemurri@freepress.com.

Labels: InTheNews

Mark Hicks / The Detroit News
http://www.detnews.com/article/20091228/METRO/912280317/1409/METRO/Mom-of-4-struggles-to-take-kids-to-doctor-without-a-car

Detroit -- Lucretia Hatchett has dealt with many obstacles in the last two years, but among the largest is lack of transportation.

The 33-year-old is unemployed, searching for work and struggling to support her four children -- some of whom are asthmatic and require frequent hospital visits.

Together, the family relies on city buses to travel, but the cold weather is worsening her children's health.

"I have trouble getting around," Hatchett said. "I don't want to be out catching a bus, but that's what we have to do. I have no other way. ..."

In hopes of finding assistance and expanding her options, she recently called United Way for Southeastern Michigan's 211 helpline.

United Way is one of several The Detroit News works with in Helping Hands, which links low-income residents with aid during the holiday season.

Each week, The News is spotlighting some of the area residents in need.

Hatchett has worked at a variety of jobs in the area, most recently as a hotel janitor. But she was laid off in 2007 and had to take unemployment benefits.

When those ran out, she was forced to drain her savings to care for her family.

She now receives assistance from the state Department of Human Services but is able to cover just the basics. Meanwhile, bills pile up.

"Nothing has been shut off. It could happen, though," she said. "I'm behind and I owe a lot."

Since August, Hatchett has been participating in a Michigan Works! Agency Work First program, receiving training and searching for jobs several times a week. But, she said, "I still haven't been able to get another job."

Others facing tough financial situations are also turning to 211 for help and links to resources.

United Way's 211 call center, which was launched in 2005 and maintains a database of some 23,000 regional services and programs, has seen a surge in calls this season. Director Bill Sullivan estimates more than 40,000 referral calls have come in the last two months.

The top request remains food, but "we've seen a steady rise of all types of calls," Sullivan said.

Fallout from a shaky economy has driven the spike.

"The unemployment rate is the one common factor for the increase for all service requests," Sullivan said. "We expect that they will continue to rise. ...There's a whole other group whose benefits have expired, and they have nowhere to turn."

Callers with multiple issues can be linked with service agencies specializing in certain areas, including furniture.

"If they have a resource that can help someone, they're in our database," Sullivan said.

"When you look at the maze of services that are out there, and how you have to get to them, it's crazy. (With 211), they don't have to go through that. In one phone call, you can learn it all to get directly to the services you need."

Sullivan also warns those seeking help to be "honest about what their needs are."

"We're in an era when the needs you have are likely to be greater than they were a year ago," he said.

"We understand that. We anticipate that, and therefore we commit ourselves to help these people."

Hatchett is brushing up on her interviewing skills.

"It's hard for her, but she's doing the best she can," said her sister, Felicia Hatchett. "She's doing a lot to get her resume intact so she can get a job and take care of the kids. It would help for them to have a ride to get to the places she needs to."

Labels: 2-1-1, basic needs, InTheNews

Daniel Howes
http://www.detnews.com/article/20091225/OPINION03/912250350/Failures--champs-for-Mich.-in-2009

And, lo, in the still hours before the Christmas holiday, the call went out to all those in the office not yet gone and making merry: Who are the Best (and Worst) in Big Mitten Business, 2009?

There are politicians and CEOs. There is the boss of a school system and one of a nonprofit, each heading organizations struggling to stay afloat in an economy eviscerated by job losses, flat-lining incomes and record home foreclosures. There are corporations made to look good or bad by the decision-making that few, if any, would claim as their own.

Herewith, the Best (or not) in Michigan Biz Awards, '09:

• Good Government: To Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson and his "wildly unpopular" deputy, Bob Daddow, for their refreshing honesty and foresight in dealing with the financial implosion that is the public sector in Michigan today.

They budget three years out; they make clear-eyed revenue estimates; they understand economics; they accounted for the county's retiree health care liability and moved new hires to defined contribution plans.

Best of all, they tell the truth about the strained finances of their patch and the worsening situation in Lansing. They offer reasonable, if politically difficult, solutions -- which makes just-the-ugly-facts Daddow less popular than he ought to be.

• Horatio Hornblower: To Ford Motor Co. CEO Alan Mulally, who seldom misses an opportunity to toot his horn about how well the Blue Oval is doing, how it is building profitable "growth for all," how it is operating in the black in every region of the world.

Truth is, Ford's steady rebound this year is one of the brightest spots in an otherwise bleak landscape for Michigan business. The Blue Oval's products are solid, quality is world class, U.S. market share is rebounding and the impending sale of Volvo Cars marks one more step in the turnaround.

• Forgotten but not gone: To Kwame Kilpatrick, the disgraced former mayor of Detroit who can't just leave, pay his debt to the city and stay gone. No, we have to endure more small-beer courtroom drama, share the details of plastic surgery for the missus, hear of his "love" for Detroit.

At what point do we -- the news media, the public, Detroiters -- opt to afford him the same attention most others get in the local courts? That would be the pleasure of giving him no attention at all.

• Simplicity in Brevity: To General Motors Co., the once lumbering corporate behemoth that sped through bankruptcy in some 39 days; cut four also-ran brands; appointed three CEOs in nine months; reversed months of multilateral, transnational negotiations over its European operations in about five minutes.

Gone is GM's trademark deliberation. Here to stay is a brisk decisiveness not seen in this town since the last time Compuware Corp.'s Pete Karmanos mounted a hastily reasoned defense of Kilpatrick.

• Rocket Man: To Michael Richards, the short-timer who led GM's Buick-GMC division for less than two weeks, giving new meaning to the term "revolving door."

Considering that B-GMC goes through bosses at the same rate as GM, think there'll be another change before too long?

• Throw 'em Under the Bus: To the U.S. Treasury Department, which solved GM's costly Delphi problem by dumping the pensions of the supplier's salaried retirees onto the American taxpayers, even as the feds made sure GM's retirees -- union and salaried -- were made whole.

Even worse is that so many of the Delphi folks now revising their expectations downward spent years working inside GM alongside those who've been spared the same fate.

In Bailout Nation, who you are is as important as who you know.

• Stand-up Man: To Robert Bobb, emergency financial manager for Detroit Public Schools. Seldom, in business or political circles of this town and its state, has a single individual made more progress in unwinding the ugliest, most corrupt dysfunctions of a failed institution.

• Stand-up Man II: To Michael Brennan, president of United Way for Southeastern Michigan.

Here's an out-of-the-box thinker who has the guts and vision to take the case of his organization directly to the public, to use numbers and examples to show how Michigan's "lost decade," culminating in the Angst of '09, affects so many among us.

And it reminds the rest of us what we have to be thankful for.

dchowes@detnews.com (313) 222-2106 Daniel Howes' column runs Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

Labels: InTheNews, Michael_Brennan

BY JEFF SEIDEL
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
[http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091220/FEATURES01/912200458/1025/Features/Food-desperation-on-the-rise&template=fullarticle]

A child sits on a school bus, his stomach gurgling. He didn't eat breakfast. The bus pulls up to an elementary school in Oakland County. Only a few people at school know that this child gets a free breakfast and lunch paid by the government. They might be his only good meals of the week.

In Taylor, a man stares into his refrigerator and sees a little milk at the bottom of the plastic gallon. He decides to save it for his grandkids and go to a food pantry for the first time in his life.

In Roseville, a single mom with three kids goes shopping, searching for deals, using coupons, buying in bulk, trying to stretch every dollar.

These are the faces of hunger. Some suffer in silence. Others know how to get help.

Hunger is a symptom, like a fever that comes with the flu. The causes are countless. Unemployment. Underemployment. Drug abuse. Mental illness. Credit card problems. Health problems. Just bad luck.

Hunger is so complex and so vast that nobody can put an exact number on how many people in Michigan are struggling, although no one disputes the problem is growing. Food insecurity affects 700,000 in southeast Michigan, according to United Way.

The problem is deeper than the people in line at soup kitchens. The people in need could be your neighbors.

More turn to soup kitchens, federal programs, friends

Melissa Cristodero, a single mom of three, refuses to let her children go hungry.

So, she makes choices and doesn't pay some of her bills so she can feed her kids.

Cristodero has a part-time job, but she is slipping closer and closer to the streets. She is several months behind on her rent, her washing machine is leaking again, and her car tires are bald. She's afraid to drive in the snow, she has two cavities that need filling, and she has no idea how she will pay this month's electric bill or phone bill or water bill.

Cristodero, 30, of Roseville works a few days a week as a waitress at a coney island. She wants to work more, but nobody is eating out, she said.

In early December, a friend loaned her $500, which kept her afloat for a few weeks.

This is one of the under-the-radar solutions to the hunger problem facing many metro Detroiters. United Way for Southeastern Michigan estimates that 25% of people in need of food get help from friends and family. By comparison, formal food distribution networks, such as shelters and food pantries, handle 6% of the people in need.

But help from friends and family could begin to diminish if more people in Michigan get into economic trouble.

"I only have a couple of friends," Cristodero said. "Three close friends, and they are broke, too."

As the unemployment rate in metro Detroit has climbed, the need for food has increased dramatically, experts say. One in eight people in southeast Michigan face hunger problems, according to United Way.

Cristodero, who has a GED and is on Medicaid, gets $450 a month in government food assistance. She is not alone. Her family gets some of the 1 million meals a day the government provides to people in need in southeast Michigan, according to Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan.

Cristodero stretches every penny she gets, spending an entire day planning for the month, buying bread from outlet stores and putting it in the freezer.

"You have to look for all the sales and get as much as you can," she said. "That doesn't last a whole month. I'll go to a grocery store, like Kroger and Meijer, and look for the best deals and stock up for the whole month; trying to make things last is the hard thing."

Food is scarce by the end of the month.

Her twin 9-year-old boys qualify for free lunches through the National School Lunch Program, and Cristodero said that gives her a big savings.

"I don't even buy lunch meat," Cristodero said. "That would be all the food right there."

Eleven days before Christmas, she still had no idea what she was going to get her kids for presents.

"I already bought them their coats, so I told them that's part of their Christmas," Cristodero said as she started to cry. "One or two presents. I told them, when I get my tax money, I'll buy them whatever they want."

She stopped talking and tried to compose herself. Alex, her 2-year-old son, climbed onto her lap and gave her a hug.

"It's OK, Mommy," he said. "Don't cry."

Children comprise about one-third of those in poverty in the region.

Cristodero said she feels hopeless.

"I just hope for the best. I'm really stressed. ... I'm just depressed because it's hard right now. I'm not a depressed person. You just have to find a way, and that's what I usually do."

A full-time job would solve her troubles. That's true for many people in the state. About 21.5% of part-time workers say they want to be working full-time, according to a Gleaners report.

Cristodero has applied for a factory job. "It's not what I want, but it would be a regular income," she said. "It's like a plastics factory, I guess. Waitressing is not a good job to work at right now. People don't tip well. They are broke."

She is thinking about moving out of state, perhaps to Maryland or Florida.

"If I had a magic wand, I'd get a house that is paid for," Cristodero said. "I'd have no house payment. I'd put money in the bank" for her children, "so they don't have to live like this. And go to school and get a good job. If I had a wand, I'd help everybody who had this problem."

'I want my mom to have food'

A kindergarten teacher at Eisenhower Elementary School in Southfield talked to her class about the difference between wants and needs.

"Is there something you want for Christmas?" the teacher asked a 5-year-old student.

"I want my mom to have food," the child responded.

Of the 341 students at Eisenhower, 236 get free or reduced lunch through the National School Lunch Program.

"Our hot lunch program is absolutely important," Eisenhower principal Gretchen Pitts-Sykes said. For some of the kids at the school, "this may be the only meal they receive."

The program provided meals to 30.5 million American children in 2008, taking an important role in the fight against hunger. In southeast Michigan, children receive 250,000 free or reduced-price school lunches every day.

"We know kids come to school hungry," said Ken Siver, deputy superintendent at Southfield Public Schools.

The number of children in the district who qualify for free or reduced lunch has skyrocketed. In 1999, 28% of the students qualified. Now, that has grown to 53.5% of its 8,500 students.

And the numbers keep rising.

Last month, 30 new families applied to join the program. "We are now at an all-time high," Siver said.

Serving those in need

When you see homeless people on the street, should you give them money?

"People hold up signs: 'I will work for food.' But that's nothing but scams," said Robert Brewer, who lived on the streets of Detroit for years. "They can get food anywhere. That's one thing about Michigan. They got places where you can eat, and homeless people know that."

Brewer and his wife, Kimberly, were homeless for five years, smoking crack, selling drugs and eating at soup kitchens.

"You can live on the streets forever and not go hungry," Robert Brewer said. "You can't go hungry in Detroit, from downtown to the east side to the west side. They got plenty of people who come down and help you."

One of the most popular places to eat is the Capuchin Soup Kitchen, which serves 2,000 meals each day at two locations in Detroit. Jerry Smith, the soup kitchen's executive director, agreed with the Brewers. Food is available to those who need it in Detroit. The trick is getting to it.

"Detroit is a big place, and transportation is a big problem," Smith said. "For the majority of people we serve, nothing is new. We have been here 80 years in good times and bad times. It's not like there is this big surge now when the economy has tightened up."

The Brewers are now drug-free -- they are tested twice a week -- and have cleaned up their lives. They are living at Grace Centers of Hope, a shelter in Pontiac. Each year, it serves more than 127,000 meals.

Robert, 42, is a mentor at Grace, while Kimberly, 31, does the laundry and works in the day care. They credit the center for saving their lives.

The Brewers said that when a homeless person is given money, it is usually spent on alcohol or drugs.

The better option, they said, is to give money to organizations.

Giving to others

After she retired and her seven children grew up and moved out of the house, Lillian Newsome wanted to find something to do -- something to help people.

"Lord," she prayed, "lead me somewhere."

About five years ago, she saw an advertisement in a church bulletin to work in the food pantry at Gilead Baptist Church in Taylor, where she is a member.

"As soon as I saw it," Newsome said, "I signed up."

The pantry helps 40 to 50 families every week.

"You just feel so good helping," said Newsome, 80, who retired in 1989 after working for 25 years in the cafeteria at Ford Motor Co. "Sometimes, I get choked up because the stories they tell you. The other day, a woman came in and she has seizures. She couldn't drive and had to have somebody else bring her in. She was just so sweet. You really hear some touching stories."

Most of the people who come into the pantry say they can't put food on the table and pay their bills.

"So many are laid off," Newsome said. "The other day, somebody came in and said, 'I'm still working, but I got my hours cut back and can't make it.' "

The only requirement to receive food at this pantry is to show identification.

Each person who visits Gilead gets three bags of food. Cans of tuna fish. Peanut butter and jelly. Pasta and soup. Some of it was donated by members of the congregation and the rest came from Gleaners. The food bank collects and distributes food to more than 400 places in the region.

Gleaners served 43,750 families in November, an increase of 3,251 families since the month before.

"There is no question, more people are using pantries," said Gerry Brisson, the senior vice president of advancement at Gleaners. "A lot of times, people think that hunger is a problem that never goes away. But it's not the same people. When you help somebody by giving them food, over 70% of them, a year later, they won't need emergency food."

A few years ago, most of the people using this pantry were elderly. But now, volunteers see more working families and unemployed people.

Newsome said she feels a strong connection to these families.

"I was in that place one time," Newsome said. "My husband was laid off and we had seven children. I was really hurting. I know what it was like. We used to get cornmeal and butter, stuff like that. We got that for a couple of months. It was right around the holidays, and I know what they are going through."

Newsome's job at the pantry is to greet people and make them comfortable. She calls them "customers."

Early this month, a 54-year-old man walked into the pantry feeling sad, ashamed and embarrassed to visit a food pantry for the first time.

"I'm not going to let them go hungry," he said, pointing at his daughter and grandchildren.

He said his wife works at a store, but they still struggle to put food in their refrigerator.

"There is nothing there," he said. "I got a couple eggs, a little bit of milk, and I save that for the kids and their cereal."

The man picked up three bags of food, thankful but still ashamed.

"I feel like I'm not worthy to be here," he said. "I feel bad about myself, so to speak. But it's here to help you, and I'm grateful for that. I really am. I'm very thankful, very grateful. Believe me, it helps."

Newsome smiled long and hard, waiting for the next person to come through the door.

Contact JEFF SEIDEL: 313-223-4558 or jseidel@freepress.com

Labels: basic needs, food, InTheNews