AT&T advances school turnaround efforts

United Way’s efforts to turn around local high schools with high dropout rates had a big win this month thanks to AT&T. The communications company awarded a $1 million contribution to the United Way for Southeastern Michigan Greater Detroit Area Venture Fund. The Fund was created to support our school turnaround efforts, which are targeting the 30 schools in our region that have dropout rates of 40 percent or higher.

The Venture Fund is a $10 million initiative and is unique because labor and school leaders, as well the corporate and philanthropic community, are working together to tackle the falling graduation rates our region faces. United Way will act as the fiduciary, which signals our new direction as we increasingly focus our efforts on the specific needs this community faces.

"We were pleased to present United Way with the largest gift we’ve ever given of this kind in Michigan," said Gail Torreano, president of AT&T Michigan. "We are proud to be a catalyst for the Venture Fund, and hope AT&T’s contribution will inspire many more companies and individuals to come forward and contribute to support our local students who are the future leaders in Michigan."

The Fund will financially support partnerships between high schools and proven educational intermediaries who will work together to create small, personalized learning environments. Schools will be invited to submit a School Turnaround Proposal to apply for the grants, which will be renewable for up to five years and overseen by an intermediary identified by each school.

Our work is based on best practices from other turnaround efforts across the nation. Other cities have shown that urban school districts, union leadership, and community members can work together and transform large, failing high schools into smaller, successful ones. The Venture Fund will incentivize those partnerships and best practices to turn around schools in Southeastern Michigan. Main strategies of The Venture Fund include changing conditions in the schools, building capacity for the schools, and creating clusters for teachers and school leaders to collaborate and learn from others.

AT&T and United Way made the announcement on the first day of a two-day school turnaround forum, Conversations with Intermediaries, held at Lawrence Technological University on August 4 and 5. Other supporters of our school turnaround efforts and The Venture Fund include AFT Michigan (AFL-CIO), and the Skillman Foundation.

For more information, log on to www.oned.org.

Millions in unclaimed tax credits await metro Detroiters

More than 67,000 people in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb Counties still haven’t claimed their Economic Stimulus Payment (ESP). This amounts to more than $20 million that residents in our region are entitled to. United Way and the Regional Asset Building Coalition (RABC) are working hard to ensure people claim their refunds and bring important assets to our region.

United Way’s Agenda for Change focuses on the building blocks for a good life, which includes helping people earn an income that can support themselves and their families. One of our strategies to achieve this goal is to help people access financial resources through tax credits and refunds like the ESP. The more financial resources individuals have at their disposal, the better able they are to save and move toward net wealth by paying down debt.

The federal government awarded the tax-free ESP during the last tax season to stimulate the economy. Citizens were entitled to between $300 and $1,200 depending on eligibility and have until October 15 to claim the payment.

UWSEM's Research Department has taken information supplied by the IRS at the ZIP code level and created two maps that show the distribution of unclaimed benefits across the tri-county area. The first map accounts for all non-filers, while the second focuses on just those persons 65 years and over, since three out of every five of those not yet applying are age 65 or older. The City of Detroit (including Hamtramck and Highland Park) accounted for 18 of the top 20 ZIP codes for number unclaimed. Six ZIP codes (48235, 48227, 48221, 48238, 48214 and 48203) had 1,500 or more persons who have yet to claim their ESP. The two ZIP codes outside of Detroit were 48180 in Taylor and 48141 in Inkster.

Currently, the RABC is planning events throughout the region to help people claim their stimulus payments. In addition, United Way 2-1-1 is providing all callers with information about claiming their stimulus payment. If you are one of the thousands of people who haven't claimed the ESP, get the money you're entitled to by attending one of the events listed below.

August 25
NAACP – Detroit Office
8220 Second Ave., Detroit 48202
10 a.m. – 3 p.m.

September 3
The Detroit Zoo
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Now - through September 30
(the following locations are by appointment only)

Accounting Aid Society’s Osborn Neighborhood Tax Center
13560 E. McNichols, Detroit 48205(inside Matrix Human Services building)
Monday – Wednesday
9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
(313) 245-5220

Accounting Aid Society’s Southwest Neighborhood Tax Center
7000 W. Fort St., Detroit, 48209
Wednesdays & Thursdays
9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
(313) 554-2884

Kurt's Corner

Region leads in falling home values

Over the past several years, homeowners in Southeast Michigan have been feeling the effects of decreasing home values. The glut of unsold homes -- many put on the market as the result of job loss and a subsequent move out of this region – coupled with the foreclosure crisis, have served to drive down the value of our homes. Homeowners who must sell are finding that they cannot get out of the house what they still owe, unless they have been in the house for a number of years or made a large down payment at the outset. Property tax bills, while showing a decreasing assessed value, are often still going up thanks to the Headlee Amendment. This is seen as “adding insult to injury” and homeowners, as well as legislators, are fighting to make sure taxes cannot increase unless assessments increase as well.

The Standard & Poor’s Case-Shiller Home Price Index is one measure of home values that allows us to compare Detroit to other major regions in the country. The S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices measure the residential housing market and allow us to track changes in the value of the residential real estate market in 20 metropolitan regions across the United States. These indices use the repeat sales pricing technique to measure housing markets. First developed by Karl Case and Robert Shiller, the methodology collects data on single-family home re-sales, capturing re-sold sale prices to form sale pairs. The index family consists of 20 regional indices and two composite indices as aggregates of the regions.

The index for May 2008 was just released and the results for the Detroit metropolitan area[1] are not good. The index value for 2008 was 92.61, the lowest it has been since 1999. This means that the current value of homes in Southeast Michigan is at the same level as it was nine years ago, posing a problem for homeowners who had hoped to grow their investment. While home values have decreased in the other 19 markets that are measured, none has dropped as far. The graph and accompanying chart portray the housing value indices for the four Midwestern markets – Chicago, Cleveland, Minneapolis and Detroit – from May 1991 through May 2008. The indexes for Detroit and Cleveland reached their high points in 2005, while housing prices in Chicago and Minneapolis continued to increase in value for one more year. The drop for each, between their respective highs and May 2008’s index, are as follows:

• Chicago – 10.0 percent
• Cleveland – 10.7 percent
• Detroit – 26.1 percent
• Minneapolis – 17.8 percent

Table 1. S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices for Midwestern Metros, 1991 - 2008

Figure 1. S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices for Midwestern Metros, 1991 - 2008

A little housekeeping

The information above is just a sampling of all that United Way's research department has to offer. As United Way's director of Research, I have always seen my task as one that presents the facts. We are not here to gloss over anything or to paint the numbers as worse than they are. We're here to present a real look at the statistics that make up our region and how they apply to community issues -- in both positive and negative ways.

In the near future, the re-design of our Web site will allow the Research Department to have a more regular presence. We will be presenting weekly facts and maps that you will be able to use, whether it's to improve your service delivery, incorporate in grant applications, or just throw out in casual conversation. We're here to provide useful information for your personal and professional interests.

Some of these facts will mirror the depth of the economic crisis we face in southeast Michigan, while others will show that all is not lost. We'll let you know when we're up and running and I invite you to visit often and make comments and suggestions.

Give

It's campaign time!

United Way's annual campaign is gearing up. If your workplace runs a United Way campaign, find out when it will occur so that you're prepared to get involved in the campaign activities as well as make your contribution. If you aren't part of a workplace campaign, but would still like to support United Way's work in Education, Income and Basic Needs, simply make an online donation here.

Advocate

Sign up to advocate

Advocacy is an important component to change. By becoming an advocate you can use your voice to influence our elected officials and community leaders. At United Way, we're always looking for people to join our advocacy ranks.

To be a part of the movement, click here.

Volunteer

Help kids succeed

Kids are headed back to school next month, and Operation ABC is gearing up to help them read. If you've signed up to volunteer, but haven't yet attended training, there are opportunities to do so in September. You must have your DHS paperwork cleared before being able to attend a training or be placed in a school for the fall. For more information, or for help getting all of the steps completed, contact Laura.Stanton@LiveUnitedSEM.org.

If you know of someone who would be interested in joining the volunteer efforts, please forward this information. They can register to volunteer here.