2009: Year in review

	Students, volunteers unite for MLK Day of Service Students and Volunteers from the University of Michigan-Dearborn, Madonna University, Henry Ford Community College and Lawrence Tech University join United Way for Southeastern Michigan for a day of service in honor of the late Martin Luther King, Jr. Over 400 volunteers served at 20+ sites, packing meals, cleaning neighborhoods and showing, first-hand, what it means to Live United. Donate to United Way now and help send volunteers out into the community on MLK Jr., Day, and every day of 2010!
	Advocates travel to Capitol Hill On Feb. 11, 200 community leaders stormed Capitol Hill to advocate on behalf of United Way priorities including The Calling for 2-1-1 Act. 2-1-1 reaches approximately 234 million people (over 78% of the total U.S. population) in 47 states and the District of Columbia. Yet, additional funding is needed to connect millions of Americans. Donate to United Way now and help 2-1-1 improve its service in Southeast Michigan!
	Young adults Live United at Alternative Spring Break United Way helps young adults Live United by offering a way to spend Spring Break volunteering. Sponsored by Deloitte, the 2009 United Way Alternative Spring Break program sent hundreds of young adult volunteers to make a difference in communities across the country, including Detroit. Donate to United Way now and help to improve the quality of life in metro Detroit through volunteerism!
	Early Learning Communities expand with the help of the NCAA In March, the National Collegiate Athletic Association made its first ever legacy program grant of $250,000 to United Way for Southeastern Michigan to help fund the establishment of four early childhood learning program sites. The NCAA Final Four was long over in April, but its legacy to Detroit is just beginning. We expanded the ELCs to serve residents in two Detroit neighborhoods: Southwest and Brightmoor. Donate to United Way now and ensure that children enter school ready to learn!
	$30 million in tax credits returned to metro Detroit Tax season wrapped up in late April. By May nearly $30 million in tax credits were returned to local residents, due largely to IRS-certified volunteer tax preparation sites operated by the Regional Asset Building Coalition, which United Way created to help families become financially stable. Donate to United Way now and help metro Detroiters overcome the cycle of poverty and become financially independent!
	2-1-1 serves as the official information line about the H1N1 virus This summer, the H1N1 Influenza reached pandemic status. Through it all, 2-1-1 was on hand to serve as a resource for information about the flu. Call center staff participated in disaster response training. Donate to United Way now and ensure that 2-1-1 continues to be prepared to assist our region during future emergency situations!
	Summer lunch program expands to feed hungry children When school is in session, about 135,000 kids in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties receive free breakfast and/or lunch based on need. However, when school is out, many of those children go hungry. As a first step to combat the growing hunger crisis in southeastern Michigan, United Way worked with local partners to expand the free summer lunch program to feed over 6,000 kids during the summer months. Donate to United Way now and help increase access and availability of food for our region's residents!
	Requests for food reach #1 for the first time In August, CNNMoney.com reports that, as the area's economy worsens, the food crunch is intensifying, and spreading to people not used to dealing with hunger. As middle class workers lose their jobs, the same folks that used to donate to soup kitchens and pantries have become their fastest growing set of recipients. Calls to United Way 2-1-1 triple and, for the first time ever, food is the number one reason people are calling. Donate to United Way now and help increase access to basic necessities, like food!
	Supporters rally for Michigan school reform Over 2,000 advocates rallied at the Michigan state capitol, calling for changes that would make the state more competitive to win federal Race to the Top funding. Additionally, over 1,000 college students e-mailed their legislators on the 9/11 Day of Service in support of reform. This, Coupled with a late-year push by United Way and other supporters, historic education reforms are headed to Gov. Jennifer Granholm for signing. Donate to United Way now and help ensure that our voices continue to be heard in Lansing and in Washington!
	Venture Fund launches first investments Hundreds of high school freshmen in Detroit and Warren entered a more supportive learning environment this academic year with the help of United Way. These environments include nine "small schools" and three learning communities, launched as part of the first round of investments made by The Greater Detroit Education Venture Fund. Donate to United Way now and help turn around our poor performing high schools!
	United Way named a 2009 Crain's Best-managed Nonprofit finalist United Way for Southeastern Michigan was selected as one of the 2009 Best-Managed Nonprofits from Crain’s Detroit Business. This is a huge honor for us. In a year marked by an exceedingly tough economy, our organization has been faced with meeting increased community need with shrinking financial resources. Donate to United Way now and rest assured that your gift is being invested in an organization that you can trust!
	Early Childhood Investment Corporation gives $2.8 million to United Way Our ELCs expanded again, thanks to the Early Childhood Investment Corp., who awarded us a $2.8 million grant. With the grant, United Way plans to expand the free training it provides for childcare providers through the ELCs. Donate to United Way now and ensure that children enter school ready to learn!
These are just a few examples of the successes of United Way and the needs of our community in 2009. To read more, visit our news page and/or read our 2009 archived electronic newsletters.

Mom of 4 struggles to take kids to doctor without a car

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."

Failures, champs for Michigan in 2009

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.

Hunger: Food desperation on the rise in metro Detroit

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

Digital meet 'n' greet: Mike T.

Click here to read the other posts in the Digital Meet 'n' Greet series.

"Walk faster."

That's how my interview with Mike Tenbusch began.

He had ten minutes between back-to-back meetings, a lunch to finish, more than his fair share of emails and phone calls to return and thousands of kids to graduate from high school. The only time he could squeeze in for an interview with me was while walking between meetings. And it was when Mike began to answer my first question that he stopped, mid-sentence, asked me to walk faster, and then promptly picked up where he left off.

Mike is clearly a man with no time to waste.

Mike is United Way for Southeastern Michigan's Vice President of Education, working to ensure that kids enter school ready and that they stay in school. He'll be the first to tell you that everything he does, he does with the mind-set of serving the kids first. It's up to you to decide if he's talking about the thousands of metro Detroit school-aged children that aren't getting the education he knows they deserve, or if he's talking about his three kids at home – the kids that he makes a point to eat dinner with and read to every night (along with his "lovely" wife), no matter how busy he is.

And, just in case I haven't made it clear, Mike is very busy. Always has been... [continue reading]

Noel Night, Mayor Bing, and words from nearly 50 years ago

The following was written by United Way SEM's President and CEO, Michael J. Brennan, on his Facebook page shortly after the 2009 Noel Night.

Noel Night in Detroit's mid-town was an energizing evening. Food, culture, entertainment,and learning swept over all walks of life in this pocket of Detroit. Traffic was backed up, shops were full, and sidewalks were spread with a collection of friends and strangers. There was a buzz and genuine joy in celebrating the many offerings of the season. I heard frequently, "Isn't it great to see Detroit so busy!"

The answer is yes.

Clearly, there is an emerging momentum forming in the mid-town area. Talk with the owner's at City Bird, Motor City Brewery Works, the Green Garage...and you will here about a story of restoration and renewal. These champions, along with many others, are shaping a community within Detroit that represents what many aspire for the greater urban setting.

There are many puzzles that face Mayor Bing and every other individual that is playing a role to the future of the city. One of the central puzzles is how do you get a city of 139 square miles and a population around 800,000 generate the vitality felt during Noel Night. Most experts today would share they a city must have sufficient dense concentration of people.

Hence, the re-imagining of Detroit that is taking place today must practice an important leadership duality: bold vision that moves others to action while nurturing the small sprouts of development that is leading towards that future state. Leaders will need a fierce commitment to the long view (20 years as Mayor Bing describes: http://bit.ly/7uSXkw) with a concentration and focus on building momentum with short term wins.

Leadership, courage, and commitment to the long haul will be essential elements of the 20 year journey Mayor Bing describes. This is not new, overnight, or without past valiant efforts. But the brutal fact is we are living in the time of consequences for the decisions made 100, 50 and 20 years ago. What was the diagnosis 50 years ago?

Take a look at a view written by Jane Jacobs (http://bit.ly/7tZq2D) in her book The Death and Life of Great American Cities in 1961. That is right, 1961, several years before the ever defining riots.

"It (Detroit) is ring superimposed upon ring of failed gray belts. Even Detroit's downtown itself cannot produce a respectable amount of diversity. It is dispirited and dull, and almost deserted by seven o'clock of an evening." pg. 150

"Thus researchers hunting the secrets of the social structure in a dull gray-area district of Detroit came to the unexpected conclusion there was no social structure." pg. 68

"Detroit is largely composed, today, of seemingly endless square miles of low-density failure. pg.204

There were great leader's in this city, region and state 50 years ago when this was written. Yet, we never made the decisions necessary to put the city, region and state on a sustainable path. And as Jane Jacobs said in her book, "...it is too bad it is so; too bad for the people who live there now, too bad for the people who are going to inherit it in future out of their lack of economic choice, and too bad for the city as a whole."

I recognize this is nothing much new for those who have lived in and loved this community. My point here is this: the twenty year walk to a city of sustainability and health will rest on the many decisions being made NOW. The two vital levers in my view is education(which will have to be a different article) and a sustainable land use strategy. The courage to re-imagine and act on moving the 139 square mile footprint of the city from "seemingly endless square miles of low-density failure" to one of high density mix use areas similar to the emerging mid-town of Detroit will be a legacy worth passing on.

Related links:

• Michael Brennan on Facebook
• Michael Brennan on Twitter

Detroit Charter Schools: new accountability movement targets low-performing charter academies

Amber Arellano
http://www.detnews.com/article/20091215/OPINION03/912150310/Detroit-Charter-Schools--new-accountability-movement-targets-low-performing-charter-academies

As a black parent frustrated with the Detroit Public Schools, Chris White saw charter schools as the answer for better public education for Detroit's African-American and Latino families.

He helped organize charter schools. He worked hard to successfully convince black Detroiters to believe in them.

Now he has a very different mission: to clean up a charter system that he sees is as corrupt and troubled as the Detroit Public Schools.

"Charters have been reduced to being a decentralized system of fiefdoms that are not held accountable," says White, a leader of the city activist group, Coalition to Restore Hope.

White reflects a movement afoot in Detroit. Some foundations, non-profits, political leaders and grassroots activists are convinced rigorous academic accountability has to be made a part of all schools' governance and management systems to improve performance, including charter schools.

Detroit's charter schools have been like a younger sibling who has many of the serious problems of his older brother, the Detroit Public Schools. Big brother grabs so much attention that the young sibling of charters and their students often get ignored.

Detroit's devastating national test scores underscore the point. The National Assessment of Educational Progress reported last week that Detroit's fourth-grade math test score was the lowest among all big cities -- and not even close to the second lowest-performing city.

Charter schools performed just as poorly as traditional public schools in the city. A Michigan State University study of the latest state Michigan Educational Assessment Program test scores shows Detroit charter school student achievement is just as tragic. If Detroit charter students had taken the NAEP test, experts expect they would have performed just as badly, says Sharif Shakrani, co-director of the Education Policy Center at Michigan State University.

"I often hear Lansing lawmakers say we should close down the Detroit Public Schools," Shakrani says. "They are mistaken. The charter schools are also troubled. The quality problem in Detroit education is across the board."

That's why a coalition of city stakeholders -- from the United Way of Southeastern Michigan to the NAACP, to charter school leaders such as University Prep Academy's Doug Ross and a host of foundations -- are working to build public support for greater accountability among all schools.

Racial, capacity, challenges

The question they have delved into for months is: What has gone wrong with most charters?

While a few charter schools in the city are academically strong and financially well-managed, such as Detroit Edison Preparatory Academy, city leaders and activists cite a common concern about charter school corruption. White speaks for many when he says the same culture in the Detroit Public Schools is at work in charters. Some charter school developers see these academies as an opportunity to create jobs for their friends and families.

State charter leaders and authorizers also have expressed how difficult it is sometimes to close low-performing charter schools, especially when the schools' leaders use the issues of race and ethnicity to prevent shutdowns.

"I've watched charter operators who have been ordered to shut down due to violations, and they would open anyway and not tell the parents," says White, who helped found Detroit's charter Sankore Emerging High School Academy. "Then when the agency moves to shut them down, the leaders would say to parents, 'These white racists are trying to shut down your black academy. They don't care about educating black kids!' The families go nuts."

Capacity and competence are also big problems, says Carol Goss, president of the Detroit-based Skillman Foundation.

"Charters have greater autonomy, but they need great principals, great teachers, strong curriculum and instruction," said Goss, whose foundation funds both strong charters and traditional public schools. "Really, there is no one place to ensure the quality of charter schools or accountability in Detroit or in Michigan."

Will to change

Goss argues that New York City provides a model for more accountability. In New York, the Mayor's Office has an Office of Education that provides accountability and standards, and has the power to shut down chronically failing schools of all kinds.

White worries the city's corruption culture and tradition for selective enforcement of laws would undermine its accountability work. He is exploring the option of federal receivership for the city's schools.

What is striking is that, for the first time since the 1980s, Detroiters and Michigan education leaders are nearing a consensus about the problems and needs of urban schools.

Goss remains hopeful the perennially divided Detroit may come together around a comprehensive city education plan that the ExcellentSchoolsDetroit coalition will present to Detroit Mayor Dave Bing in February.

"For the first time, there's the right leadership, the alignment and the will," Goss says. " I think the community really wants change."

Amber Arellano is a Detroit News editorial writer who covers education policy. Find her columns at www.detnews.com/arellano. E-mail her at aarellano@detnews.com

Early Childhood Investment Corp. gives $2.8 million to United Way

By Sherri Begin Welch

The Early Childhood Investment Corp. has awarded a $2.8 million grant to United Way for Southeastern Michigan as part of $10 million in federal pass-through funding to improve the quality of early childhood care providers in the state.

ECIC is a public entity created in 2005 by Gov. Jennifer Granholm to coordinate an early childhood system for the state that would provide better access to professional development for providers of early childhood care.

With the grant, United Way plans to expand the early childhood provider professional development programs it launched in July, 2008.

“This is allowing us to fully cover Metro Detroit and increase the number of caregivers served, and ultimately, the number of children in their care,” said

Annemarie Harris, director, early childhood initiatives at United Way.

United Way will serve as one of 10 resource centers for early childcare providers in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties, providing them with ongoing training in first aid, CPR, early childhood development and other relevant topics through subcontract with a number of community agencies.

The centers will host training to help early child care providers meet state requirements, along with further professional development goals, Harrison said.

United Way currently is subcontracting professional development for providers from five community agencies: Starfish Family Services Inc., Southwest Solutions in Detroit, Detroit-based Development Centers Inc., Leaps & Bounds Family Services in Warren and Oakland County Childcare Council.

United Way plans to subcontract five additional community agencies to expand its training across the region.

The new state grant builds on $1 million United Way has secured for early childhood provider training this year from a number of foundations: Ford Fund, General Motors Foundation, High Scope Educational Research Foundation, PNC Foundation, Kresge Foundation, Max M. & Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation, Skillman Foundation and W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

DTE Energy, Employees and Retirees Pledge More Than $2.3 Million to United Way

DETROIT, Dec. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- DTE Energy employees and retirees pledged more than $1.6 million to the 2010 United Way Campaign – surpassing the amount they contributed to last year's campaign by $6,500. The DTE Energy Foundation provided an additional contribution of $750,000, bringing the total donation from the company, employees and retirees to more than $2.3 million.

"In spite of tough economic times, our employees and retirees truly stepped up to help those in need," said Anthony F. Earley Jr., DTE Energy chairman and chief executive officer. "Their continued generosity will make a tremendous difference in the lives of those in our community who are served by United Way agencies."

Employee and retiree contributions will be distributed to 34 United Way chapters throughout Michigan.

DTE Energy (NYSE: DTE) is a Detroit-based diversified energy company involved in the development and management of energy-related businesses and services nationwide. Its operating units include Detroit Edison, an electric utility serving 2.2 million customers in Southeastern Michigan, MichCon, a natural gas utility serving 1.2 million customers in Michigan and other non-utility, energy businesses focused on power and industrial projects, coal and gas midstream, unconventional gas production and energy trading. Information about DTE Energy is available at www.dteenergy.com.

SOURCE DTE Energy

This year, take on Santa's job

by: Nolan Finley

Sorting through my aunt's papers after her death, I came across a letter written to her 40 years earlier by my mother during our family's most wrenching year.

My father had been off the job for nine months because of a strike at the chemical plant where he worked. Our shelves were stocked with shiny tin cans of government surplus food picked up at the union hall. Dad hustled every odd job he could, and my sisters and I for a while were sent back to Kentucky to stay with relatives so my mother could go to work.

In the letter to her sister, my mother talks about our struggles, her embarrassment and frustration apparent in every line, and finishes by asking for a favor: Could she wrap and send a few Christmas presents for her three young children?

Reading it decades later, I was stunned. My mother was the proudest person I've ever known, and fiercely private about family business. I can only guess that the prospect of a bare Christmas tree was more upsetting than asking for help.

Of course, my aunt responded. The gifts she sent helped make Christmas a bright day in a dark year, just as it should be.

I've been thinking about that letter as Michigan approaches its most desperate Christmas since the Great Depression. How many parents in our recession-ravaged region are writing similar pleas? How many have resigned themselves to telling their children that, this year, Santa's been laid off?

Despair has spread to families and neighborhoods never touched before, says Michael Brennan, head of the United Way of Southeastern Michigan. Brennan says some once faithful donors are now calling the 2-1-1 line asking for assistance with food, clothing and shelter.

At the same time the need is exploding, resources are dwindling. Donations to United Way have dropped to $41 million, from nearly $70 million five years ago. The charity is heavily dependent on payroll deductions; fewer paychecks trigger the steep fall-off in donations.

Other charitable outfits are also coming up short as Michigan's 15 percent unemployment rate takes its toll.

But 85 percent of us are still working. Maybe we've taken pay cuts, but we've still got jobs; paychecks are coming in. Those of us who are still OK must dig deeper.

Have a few more bucks taken out of your check for United Way. Buy a newspaper from a Goodfellow. Drop off a turkey at a food bank.

Or maybe get more personally involved. Look around your neighborhood, your church, your school for families in need and adopt them for Christmas. Buy and wrap presents; cook them a holiday dinner; cover the heat bill.

Worrying about Christmas cheer may seem frivolous for families that can't pay the rent or buy groceries.

But it's the time of year when hard times hurt the most, and children are most acutely aware of what they don't have.

I'll give more this year to honor a mother who swallowed her pride to ask for help for her kids, and an aunt who gave it.

Nolan Finley is editorial page editor of The News. Reach him at nfinley@detnews.com. Watch him at 8:30 p.m. Fridays on "Am I Right?" on Detroit Public TV, Channel 56.

http://www.detnews.com/article/20091213/OPINION03/912130314/Finley--This-year--take-on-Santa-s-job

Hunger in Metro Detroit grows, but so does help

Food aid requests have more than doubled in a year
Santiago Esparza / The Detroit News
[http://www.detnews.com/article/20091211/METRO/912110392/Hunger-in-Metro-Detroit-grows--but-so-does-help]

Every month, more than 7,000 requests for food come into the United Way for Southeastern Michigan. And increasingly, they're coming from the suburbs.

Requests for food to its 211 telephone help line have more than doubled from 3,000 a month last year, putting a new face on hunger and further straining an already frayed network of relief agencies.

In a state that leads the nation in unemployment, job losses have many turning to charity to save money for mortgages or utilities, said Paula Thornton Greear, spokeswoman for Feeding America, an umbrella organization composed of nonprofit agencies.

They're folks like Linda Mills, 63, of Westland, who was among the hundreds in line Thursday at Open Door Ministry in Canton Township waiting for a week's worth of groceries distributed by a small army of walkie-talkie toting volunteers.

"This helps make ends meet," said Mills. "My husband is only working part time. I am having difficulty finding work. If not for this, it would be horrible."

Linda Woermer, 63, was among the first in a long queue of cars waiting for food. The retiree who uses a walker has mastered the network of food pantries in Metro Detroit, knowing by heart which ones are open and when.

"It makes all the difference," said Woermer of Westland. "Without it, my life would be pretty difficult."

The situation is expected to get worse once buyouts or other compensation run dry for laid-off workers, advocates predict.

Greear estimated that 4 million of Michigan's 10 million residents dealt with hunger last year. Nationwide, 49 million Americans, including 17 million children, don't know where their next meal will come from, according to federal estimates.

JP Morgan Chase Foundation officials are donating 34 trucks to 20 food banks across the nation, including Gleaners Community Food Bank in Detroit and Forgotten Harvest in Oak Park.

Officials made the announcement Thursday at Forgotten Harvest to underscore the region's need. Unemployment in Metro Detroit is 16.7 percent, above the national average of 10.2 percent. In Detroit, it's closer to 30 percent.

Unemployment in Metro Detroit is 16.7 percent, above the national average of 10.2 percent. In Detroit, it's closer to 30 percent.

"That is a critical, critical tool," said Kimberly Banks, president of the foundation. "We want to be where the people are. Without trucks, it would be difficult to do that."

At Forgotten Harvest, volunteers this year expect to distribute 18 million meals, up from 12.5 million last year. Gleaners expects to give 36 million meals, up from 22 million.

Every Thursday at Open Door Ministry in Canton Township, the parking lot fills with dozens of cars before distribution begins at 4:30 p.m. Hundreds make the trip during the three-hour distribution to receive 30 pounds of fresh fruit and vegetables, boxed and canned goods and meat.

Even registering for relief is a process that can take weeks, participants said. The nonprofit vets applicants based on need and family size.

"We joke that we are like McDonald's," said Steve Daar, 61, of Ypsilanti Township, who organizes the efforts with his wife. "There are a lot of needy families out there. We want to help them. We are blessed with a lot of really nice food."

He spoke outside a giant walk-in freezer inside a warehouse packed with boxes of food. Like a lieutenant commanding troops, Daar coordinated distribution Thursday as 50 volunteers guided drivers into three lines, where they were brought brown bags of food.

A few years ago, the needy would simply walk up and take what they were given. But the economy changed, prompting Daar to develop a mini-bureaucracy to feeding the equivalent of a small village in a few hours. This year, the nonprofit has distributed 1 million pounds of food, helping about 350-500 households a week.

"So many people need help, but we have been blessed to be able to offer them food," said Daar, a retired Ford engineer.

Open Door Ministry isn't the only charity rethinking distribution as demand soars.

Forgotten Harvest has spent the past nine years updating methods of collecting and distributing food. It now relies almost exclusively on grocers and growers for the food it gives away, spokesman John Owens said.

That means that trucks are sent at midnight to collect perishable food from restaurants that would otherwise be thrown away. On a recent visit to the Oak Park facility, Owens showed large boxes of potatoes and carrots bought for less than a dime because Forgotten Harvest would pick up the items.

"There is nothing wrong with the food. There was just too much produced," Owens said while showing plump tomatoes from Canada and large potatoes from Idaho. "We have to keep expanding to keep up with demand. The hunger situation has grown because of the economy."

sesparza@detnews.com (313) 222-2127