The United Way for Southeastern Michigan blog

Metro Detroit pantries struggle to feed hungry

2010-03-12T11:55:00.004-05:00

Catherine Jun / The Detroit News

Sterling Heights -- Families across Metro Detroit, many facing hunger for the first time, are finding it difficult to navigate the limited hours and locations of the area's food pantries.

Since Atheer Mansoor lost his job more than a year ago as a truck driver for a cement company, he drives five miles from Fraser to Sterling Heights each month to a food pantry. He takes home tomato sauce, vegetables and peanut butter -- just enough free staples to keep his cupboards stocked until his monthly food stamps arrive.

The 57-year-old father says at times his car breaks down and he cannot make the trip.

"Sometimes I stay home. If I have problems with my car, I have to leave it. I can't fix it," Mansoor said.

With widespread unemployment, hunger is creeping into new corners of southeastern Michigan, stressing a food assistance network that has until now mostly flowed from the suburbs into Detroit. With new pockets of hunger, food agencies and pantries are racing to fill the gaps, but finding the solutions are not simple.

"It's a problem," said Russ Russell, chief development officer of Forgotten Harvest, a food rescue agency based in Oak Park. "We know where there are pockets that are in need and are new."

More than a third of neighborhoods in southeastern Michigan have limited access to a food pantry, according to a recent report by the United Way for Southeastern Michigan. Families have the farthest distances to travel to reach pantries in communities such as Wixom, Harrison Township and Southfield, the report said.

Riverwood Community Church in northwest Sterling Heights operates one of just a few pantries in that part of Macomb County.

Each month about 60 families leave with a carton of bread, rice, frozen meats and canned soup. That's double the number two years ago.

"In this area here, there wasn't much of a need," said Mark Frasard, head deacon of the church's ministry. "Now there is."

In the more rural parts of the county, pantries are even fewer and far between, said Sue Figurski, coordinator at the Macomb Food Program. "Unfortunately, they have to drive for everything."

The hours that food pantries stay open -- often during regular business hours -- also pose a challenge, especially to those who work and still need supplemental food help.

According to the United Way report, most food pantries in a section of Detroit operate Monday through Friday, and between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Food agencies say this is also common for suburban pantries.

"The more evening and weekend hours you have, the more you can serve working poor families," said Gerry Brisson, vice president for development at Gleaners Community Food Bank.

Part of the problem, however, is that most pantries are run out of churches and by volunteers with their own limited schedules, he said. And operating hours often need to be scheduled around other weekend and evening activities at the church.

"It's easier for most pantries (to operate) during the day when most people aren't at church," Brisson said.

But many churches try to accommodate individual pick-up requests after hours and on weekends.

About a year ago, Trinity Presbyterian Church began operating a one-day pantry on Saturdays in a parking lot at Haggerty and Ann Arbor Road in Plymouth Township. Eventually, it was relocated to the church, and a surprising number of families, 350 each month, turn out from Plymouth, Canton Township and Westland.

"We're (too) far west to have a pantry right here in our church," Ellie Schupra, outreach director, recalled thinking a year ago.

For working mothers like Margie Elrod, evening hours are essential.

The mother of three has become the sole breadwinner in her home since her husband lost his job at a plant nursery last fall.

"Now it's just me," said Elrod, who works as a retail manager in Canton Township. "I can't miss work. I need the hours."

After multiple calls to food pantries, she found one that was open one day a week at 6 p.m.: St. Dennis Parish in Royal Oak. With only one family car, Elrod drives there after work.

Like many food pantries, its hours are further limited because of its modest food supply. Last year, it served 2,064 households, a 60 percent increase from 2008.

Ron Woywood, who oversees the pantry, said the church doesn't have enough food to operate the pantry for more than one hour a week.

This year, food banks are responding by ramping up "mobile" food pantries -- one-day food distributions at parking lots or churches in the outer suburbs where pantries are scarce.

Forgotten Harvest now drives a refrigerated truck full of food to sections of Rochester and Royal Oak and West Bloomfield. Last year, Gleaners similarly distributed food from parking lots beyond Detroit, and plans to double the locations to 70 this year.

"It's a good short-term solution," Brisson said.

This has resulted in a much higher volume of food shipments to suburban and rural areas than in years past.

In 2009, Forgotten Harvest sent 840,000 pounds of food in 2009 to Macomb County, a 40 percent increase over the previous year. Similarly, Oakland County received 1 million pounds, an 85 percent increase from last. That is still far less than the 13 million pounds delivered to Wayne County and Detroit, but delivery to the suburbs is unprecedented.

"We're getting out there, but there are still food deserts for those in need," Russell said.

cjun@detnews.com (313) 222-2019

From The Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/article/20100312/METRO03/3120398/Metro-Detroit-pantries-struggle-to-feed-hungry#ixzz0hyy3bGp6

Monroe on a Budget: Metro Detroit pantries struggle to feed hungry

2010-03-12T11:53:00.001-05:00

From the Monroe On a Budget blog:

The Detroit Free Press has this report today: Metro Detroit pantries struggle to feed hungry.

This isn’t the typical “demand is going up” story about Michigan food pantries. The focus of this article is on the gaps in locations and convenient times for southeast Michigan families who are new to the social safety net.

A snippet:

More than a third of neighborhoods in southeastern Michigan have limited access to a food pantry, according to a recent report by the United Way for Southeastern Michigan. Families have the farthest distances to travel to reach pantries in communities such as Wixom, Harrison Township and Southfield, the report said. …

The hours that food pantries stay open — often during regular business hours — also pose a challenge, especially to those who work and still need supplemental food help.

Click here to continue reading.

Editorial: Detroit has an opportunity to produce high-quality schools

2010-03-11T20:04:00.003-05:00

Excellent Schools Detroit is a broad and diverse cross section of Detroit’s education, government, community, parent, and philanthropic leaders who have developed a citywide education plan to help ensure that all Detroit children receive the great education they deserve. Participants include Michael J. Brennan, Michael Tenbusch, and Kelly Major Green, United Way for Southeastern Michigan. To learn more, visit www.excellentschoolsdetroit.org.

From The Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/article/20100311/OPINION01/3110352/1008/Editorial--Detroit-has-an-opportunity-to-produce-high-quality-schools#ixzz0hv6VVVwy

The city's education leaders -- both public and charter -- have come together on a revolutionary plan that could rid Detroit of failing schools and assure that 90 percent of school children graduate and go on to college. We hope it will win overwhelming community support.

Today the city's major players in education, from Detroit Public Schools Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb to the Skillman Foundation to charter pioneer Doug Ross, will announce the details of the plan to close failing schools, replace them with high-quality schools and engage parents on the need for rapid and radical education improvement. The plan breaks down the barriers that have existed between traditional public schools and charters, and presents both with an ultimatum: Improve or lose support.

Bobb said as much in an interview with The Detroit News on Wednesday, noting that if the Detroit Public Schools doesn't fully buy into the reforms, the district could lose most of its students.

The plan is designed in part to attract long-sought-after national foundation funding to improve some of the worst schools in America. The coalition's leaders are setting the first citywide standards for both charter and traditional public schools.

Their new bar is a 90 percent graduation rate, with 90 percent of the graduates going on to college or trade school, and 90 percent of them not needing remedial training when they get there. It's ambitious, considering that more than 45 percent of current Detroit students don't graduate now.

It will take a huge commitment from a lot of people to make this plan work, and everything must go right. Here's what must

happen:

• The keystone is turning over responsibility for Detroit's schools to the mayor. Supporters say they will try to get a proposal on the ballot this fall that would dissolve the elected school board. If voters don't pass it, the plan will fail. Skillman Foundation President and CEO Carol Goss says she will not work with the school board. That is telling for a foundation president who has tried to help the school district for more than two decades. The state Legislature and Detroiters themselves must take responsibility for settling the governance question.

• Success also depends on recruiting good teachers to Detroit. Goss and others are recruiting Teach for America to bring its highly trained and motivated young teachers to Detroit, but faces opposition from the Detroit Federation of Teachers. The union must understand that if it doesn't climb aboard the reform train, its jobs will disappear. Bobb said Wednesday that schools where teachers block reforms will be replaced with charters or private academies.

• About $200 million is being planned to fund new charter and new Detroit Public Schools that meet the coalition's high standards. The habitual opponents to school closings must step aside. "We're saying, anyone doing business in Detroit needs to meet a high education standard," Ross said Wednesday. "Any charter operator that is not outperforming the Detroit Public Schools has no justification to remain open." A new group is in the works to pressure Detroit Public Schools, charter authorizers and the state to finally make good on closing chronically failing schools.

• Nothing works unless parents and the community support the movement. Parents must decide they will no longer tolerate schools that deny their children the education they need to succeed.

National foundations such as Soros and the Obama administration are expressing first-time interest in rebuilding Detroit education. This plan should help convince them the city is ready to change, that it is willing to shut down failing schools, and that it is able to sustain a commitment to reform.

Remaking Detroit Education

2010-03-11T19:56:00.002-05:00

Amber Arellano
From The Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/article/20100311/OPINION03/3110341/Remaking-Detroit-Education#ixzz0hv4Q0kzK

Radical new plan should address the city's 'education catastrophe.' Now feds, community, should make sure it happens.

Today Detroit's most powerful education players are outlining a dramatic new plan to transform the city's educational landscape -- and convince long-weary national foundations that the Motor City is, for the first time, worthy of significant investment in education.

Just reading that may have made you say, "Sure, I've heard this before, another plan big on promises -- and short on results."

However, this plan may just be the one that finally produces change.

For the first time ever, leaders from foundations to charter school operators have millions already dedicated to the new plan being released this morning by the Excellent Schools Detroit coalition.

They not only promise to drive the closing of chronically failing schools and open new high-quality schools. They also have thoughtful strategies already underway to build the infrastructure that has been long and desperately needed in Michigan cities to support radical improvements in student achievement.

And here's another thing that is unusual: they have committed funding -- and much more coming -- IF local leaders produce a compelling, united strategy and the beginnings of real change.

National foundations such as Soros and President Barack Obama's administration are expressing first-time interest in rebuilding Detroit education.

Today's plan is part of Reimagining Detroit, a larger effort spearheaded by the Kresge Foundation, the Skillman Foundation, and others to convince Obama and other national players that yes, Detroit can thrive again with proper leadership, a lot of time and new strategies.

New accountability

What makes this plan worthwhile are its ambitious strategies for greater accountability for both public and charter schools; and a focus on developing the infrastructure and talent that the Motor City has long lacked. The standards that the coalition is setting: a 90 percent graduation rate and college attendance rate.

"We are getting a lot of pushback," Skillman Foundation President Carol Goss said Wednesday. "But we have to push ourselves and our community. This is not about DPS; this is not about charters. This focuses on students."

The plan calls for mayoral control of Detroit's schools. The district's elected school board is one of the greatest governance failures in the U.S. Once a backer of the board, now Goss says she simply will not work with the board any longer. The state legislature needs to develop a backbone, quit trying to appease the school board's complaining cronies, and pass legislation to make that change happen.

Goss and others are also rapidly developing a pipeline to develop and support great teachers and principals -- both existing and external candidates -- as they are the drivers of all academic improvement. For example, they're furiously fundraising to develop a Principal Leadership Academy and bring the nonprofit Teach for America to Detroit as soon as this fall.

The plan intends to close failing schools and open new ones, regardless of their governance structure.

About $200 million is being planned to fund new charter and new Detroit Public Schools that meet the coalition's high standards.Backers of the plan are working to create new mechanisms for accountability and parental support.

A new group is in the works to pressure Detroit Public Schools, charter authorizers and the state to finally make good on closing chronically failing schools. The group will also work on parental engagement and responsibility.

Naysayers be gone

Sure, there are plenty of perennial naysayers. The Detroit Federation of Teachers, for one, refused to sign off on the plan. The union hates that it will fund the creation of more charters.

Their opposition seems hopelessly unrealistic. Charters have been gobbling up the public schools' market share for more than a decade. Clearly, protectionism isn't going to save the district nor does it improve its schools.

A smarter strategy: improve both charter schools' performance -- along with the traditional public schools -- and do what's best for children.

Another challenge: prodding the so-far-hesitant new Detroit Mayor Dave Bing to not just say he'll accept responsibility for the Detroit Public Schools if the community wants it, but to make the case himself for such a necessity. Children need it.

He has good political reasons to do so, too. Polling obtained on Wednesday showed 75 percent of Detroiters reported they disapproved of the school board when asked, "Do you approve or disapprove of the overall performance of the Detroit Board of Education?"

The poll was conducted last year by the Garin-Hart-Yang Research Group, a Washington, D.C., polling firm that interviewed 402 what were called "likely Detroit voters" by phone.

The new Excellent Schools Detroit plan should help convince both Detroiters -- and potential national funders -- the city's education sector is committed to real change now.

The community and funders should support this plan -- while also holding these education players accountable for their still yet to-be-seen full implementation and promised results.

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

Detroit plan targets failing schools

2010-03-11T19:42:00.004-05:00

From The Detroit News: http://www.detnews.com/article/20100311/SCHOOLS/3110440/Detroit-plan-targets-failing-schools#ixzz0hv3iEBQ2

Marisa Schultz / The Detroit News

Detroit -- A coalition of education leaders and foundations will unveil today a sweeping academic reform agenda that targets failing schools, calls for 70 new programs and launches a national effort to recruit principals.

The $200 million plan also aims to build community support this year to eliminate the Detroit Board of Education and make the mayor accountable for Detroit Public Schools.

Called Excellent Schools Detroit, the initiative will be introduced at the Detroit-based Skillman Foundation, which built the coalition of 15 organizations. Leaders of the groups said since Detroit's schoolchildren are so far behind academically, the city must improve the school offerings for children faster than any other city has done.

One significant aspect is the support the plan has from Detroit Public Schools officials and those running charter schools in the city. Both have been traditional competitors for students and funding, but Wednesday said they're working together for healthy competition and to offer choices to parents.

"What we like about the plan is that it's child-focused, it's not focused on whether or not the child is in a DPS school or a charter school," DPS Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb said. He added that he's open to chartering DPS schools, selling buildings to charter school operators and turning schools over to charter operators. "It has a very strong market-driven component to it."

The initiative's goal is to become by 2020 the first major city in the nation in which 90 percent of its students graduate from high school, 90 percent enroll in post-secondary education and 90 percent succeed in college without remediation.

"This is a historical moment in the city of Detroit," said Carol Goss, president and CEO of the Skillman Foundation.

It also calls for 70 new schools within the decade, from new school buildings to new operators in existing schools, that could be governed by charters, DPS and independent schools. Half the schools would be opened though Michigan Future Schools, a program of the Ann Arbor think tank Michigan Future Inc. to bring 35 college prep schools to the area. The effort, dubbed the High School Accelerator, already has netted $13 million in support to open the first seven schools within three years.

Detroit Edison Public School Academy, a K-8 charter school near Eastern Market, earned the first $850,000 grant and will expand to a high school this fall, said Michigan Future Inc. president Lou Glazer.

DPS also received a $50,000 planning grant to explore opening a science and medicine high school. One hurdle for DPS: to qualify the union must agree to outside hiring, to toss out seniority and to eliminate work rules at the school, Glazer said.

"The accelerator is the most important initiative in the city since the charter and public school of choice laws were passed 15 years ago," Glazer said. "This allows us to use those laws to a scale that will make a huge difference."

Other initiatives include the effort from the Detroit Federation of Teachers, which did not sign off on the plan but was engaged in the talks to develop it, to open its own school, as well as Doug Ross' movement called More Good Schools to bring nationally recognized charter school operators to Detroit. Also cited was the United Way's partnership with DPS that turned Cody and Osborn High Schools into nine new small schools on the same campus.

"This is a plan that hopes DPS succeeds but it can succeed even if DPS doesn't," said Ross, who founded University Preparatory Academy and who will open another charter school under the plan in the fall, called University Yes Academy.

Accountability is focus

Tantamount to the plan will be a new independent standards and accountability commission that will establish academic standards for schools throughout the city. The citywide commission will issue report cards on all schools to give parents clear information on what schools are making their marks.

While the commission won't have the authority to close schools that fail, it will pressure DPS, charters and private school operators to shut them down immediately rather than wait years for reform efforts to take shape.

Bobb is expected to announce 40 school closures next week as part of his long-term plan to reshape the district. "There will always be a place for a DPS ... though it may be a smaller system," Bobb said.

Other backers of the plan include Cornerstone Schools, Detroit Edison Public School Academy, Detroit Parent Network, Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce, Kresge Foundation, McGregor Fund, Michigan Future Inc., New Detroit, Think Detroit PAL, United Way for Southeastern Michigan and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

They've been meeting since 2009, spurred by the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) test schools that showed a sample of Detroit Public School students had posted the worst scores ever in the history of the national test and remarks by Education Secretary Arne Duncan that education in Detroit is a "national disgrace."

"We have to move quickly and more boldly than any other place in the county because we are so far behind," said Tonya Allen, vice president of the Skillman Foundation.

Effort to push recruiting

The coalition also will launch a recruiting effort to encourage the best educators to come here as well as develop a Detroit Leadership Academy to help educators launch schools.

"Parents have said many times they are fed up with the status quo," said Sharlonda Buckman, executive director of the Detroit Parent Network. "They want to see good schools for all kids and that hasn't happened yet. There's a lot of frustration out there on that and there's more mobilization."

Goss said for this plan to succeed the district needs one single point of accountability from the mayor's office.

"The mayor has indicated he would assume a role of sole accountability for the school system, with input from the citizens," said Edward Cardenas, spokesman for Mayor Dave Bing, who signed off on the plan. "He does, however, support a quality education for all students of all schools."

School board president Otis Mathis said data show the district was more successful before and after the last takeover from 1999 to 2005.

"No mayoral control has been successful anywhere," Mathis said. "Why would they want to take a failing concept and put it in Detroit Public Schools?"

Chris White, a DPS parent and co-chair of the Coalition to Restore Hope to DPS, said it's inappropriate to ask the mayor to take control over schools when the city is grappling with its own financial crisis.

"We're asking a surgeon to fix a car," said White. "The mayor can't run the city now and this has been a problem for quite some time."

mschultz@detnews.com (313) 222-2310

Reform details
This citywide education plan calls for giving Detroit students education options by:

Closing down failing schools immediately.
Opening 70 school programs by 2020, 40 of which will be open within five years.
Promoting strict accountability standards for all city schools and issuing report cards to publicize results.
Pushing for mayoral control of Detroit Public Schools.
Mounting a national recruiting campaign to encourage best educators stay or come here.
Pushing for 90 percent of students to graduate high school, 90 percent to enroll in college or postsecondary training and 90 percent to succeed without remedial education in college by 2020.
Source: "Taking Ownership: Our Pledge to Educate All of Detroit's Children" report

Coalition Introduces Plan for Detroit Schools

2010-03-11T19:39:00.002-05:00

MyFoxDetroit.com
RONNIE DAHL

DETROIT - Spend $200-million, eliminate the Detroit public school board and put the mayor in charge. That's the proposal under consideration for the future of Detroit schools.

15 different organizations are involved, including DPS, charter schools, as well as private schools. The focus of all of this is accountability. If schools don't perform, they risk being shut down.

As Detroit Public School students tinker with their robots for an upcoming competition, school leaders are working on reconstructing a whole new way to educate Detroit's children.

"We need to create centers of excellence for every child at every school in every neighborhood every day," said DPS Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb.

"Instead of the old, tired call for more reform... to make failing schools better. This plan calls for a replacement strategy," said Doug Ross with University Preparatory Academy.

The coalition is called Excellent Schools Detroit. The program would establish an independent watch dog commission to set city-wide standards for all Detroit schools. That includes not just DPS, but also charter and private schools. School that don't perform would be pressured to shut their doors.

"We can single out and force closure of poor performing schools. The city-wide group will also highlight and help duplicate the best programs and schools to create strong, educational options throughout the city of Detroit," Bobb said.

"For too long, much of the focus in Detroit has been on adults on issues like who has power, who doesn't, who gets to hand out jobs and contracts, who doesn't. Enough of that. It's time for children's interests to take center stage," said Carol Goss, president and CEO of The Skillman Foundation.

The goals are big. By 2020, the coalition wants to achieve a 90-percent high school graduation rate, have 90-percent of the students enroll in college or post-secondary training and open 70 new schools.

However, the plan is not without controversy. A major sticking point could be making Detroit's mayor accountable and doing away with the school board, a proposal that's not sitting well with current board members.

"What have we done so egregious as the Detroit Board of Education to be taken over? I would rather us sit down together and work together with the organizations, work together with the mayor," said Detroit School Board Member Tyrone Winfrey. "The voters in the city of Detroit elected us to this office, and I take this very serious from what I do."

The plan is very lengthy. You can review it by visiting www.excellentschoolsdetroit.org.

Coalition members say they need to act fast. They hope to implement this program by the end of the year, but you can expect the school board to put up a fight.

Michigan radio: Coalition Unveils Detroit Schools Reform Plan

2010-03-11T19:35:00.002-05:00

Visit Michigan Radio online for a podcast of this story.

ANN ARBOR, MI (Michigan Radio) - A coalition of Detroit-based organizations wants to make a fresh start with the city's failing school district.

The 200 million dollar reform plan includes closing and replacing at least 70 of its 172 schools and taking control of the district away from the elected school board.

Excellent Schools Detroit says it wants to transform everything about the city's schools -- public, charter and private.

The coalition is made up of 15 groups whose mission is to boost the city's high school graduation rate from 58 percent to 90 percent by the year 20-20.
It also aims to improve students' record-low test scores.

But first, it wants to persuade the public to essentially fire the Detroit Public Schools board and give control to the city's mayor, Dave Bing, by putting the issue on the ballot.

Mayoral control has been tried before -- from 1999 to 2006. It wasn't successful - the district was 200 million dollars in debt.

Otis Mathis is the president of the school board.

"That's an experiment that's been tried, and why would they want to use a failing concept, pretty much, and experiment with an old experiment on city of Detroit School kids," Mathis says.

Robert Bobb has been the district's state-appointed emergency financial manager for more than a year.

He says accountability is the key to a successful school district.

"The significant difference is that someone will be watching, so that in Detroit, where public education is the only out for literally thousands of our students, we'll have an organization that will determine whether a Good Housekeeping Seal will be placed on schools," Bobb says.

Excellent Schools in Detroit says only 58 percent of Detroit's public school students graduate from high school in four years. That number rises to 78 percent of public charter school students.

But the group says fewer than one in four of those students enrolls in college.
It also says many of the students who do go to college need remedial help to catch up with other students.

And while charter school performances vary widely from state to state, according to Stanford University, on average -- charter schools are NOT performing as well as their traditional public-school peers.

Carol Goss is president and CEO of Excellent Schools Detroit.

She says the city's students should not be allowed to attend inferior schools any longer.

"We intend to move quickly and boldly, because the city's children are so far behind, Detroit must improve its schools faster than any other city has done. The ground is shifting beneath us, whether we like it or not," Goss says.

The coalition will have to present its case to voters in order to get a referendum to take control away from the school board and give it to the mayor.

The plan also calls for bringing in new leaders and teachers, whether they're from Detroit or not.

Mark O'Keefe is with the Detroit Federation of Teachers.

"So while there's things in this plan that we do back, we don't support it 100%," O'Keefe says. "We don't necessarily view charter schools specifically as the be all, end all. We need better schools and I think that does underlie this plan. The idea that whether it's public, private or charter, students deserve good schools."

Doug Ross is with New Urban Learning Foundation. He says closing underperforming schools and replacing them is the only way to go. But the most important element is parental involvement.

"You have to take the initiative to go find the best school for your child. Big difference, new day," he says.

Before anything can happen, the coalition has to bring the public on board. And that may be its biggest challenge.

WXYZ TV: Group Details Citywide Education Reform Plan

2010-03-11T19:32:00.001-05:00

DETROIT (WXYZ) - Detroit's dismal high school graduation rate is the focus of a new community effort.

The Skillman Foundation is leading the charge for educational change in the city through a 200 million dollar initiative called Excellent Schools Detroit.

"The citywide education plan is designed to help all children, whether they happen to attend a traditional public school, public charter school, or independent school," according to Carol Goss, President & CEO of the Skillman Foundation. "The status quo is unacceptable and indefensible," she said.

The sweeping plan establishes a goal of a 90 percent graduation rate for high school students by 2020.

The plans also calls for at least 40 new quality schools by 2015 and 70 by 2020.

The group also intends to build public support to make the mayor accountable for Detroit Public Schools.

New plan for Detroit's educational standing

2010-03-11T11:12:00.001-05:00

Excellent Schools Detroit, a group of philanthropic organizations, politicians, educators and community leaders, is raising $200 million from foundations nationwide to replace failing Detroit charter and public schools.

Ideas, standards for plan detailed

2010-03-11T10:58:00.001-05:00

COMPILED BY ROBIN ERB
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20103110445&template=fullarticle

Excerpts from "Taking Ownership: Our Pledge to Educate All of Detroit's Children"

On what makes an

excellent school:

"Excellent schools have several core attributes, including strong leaders, excellent teachers, high-quality curriculum and instruction, and safe and supportive learning conditions that create a culture of trust, respect and academic achievement among students, teachers and parents."

On the status quo:

"Part of being bold means ending what does not work. Closing schools, even when they are not succeeding, is an emotional process. We understand that. But we also believe that the status quo is indefensible. Without dramatic changes, we won't be doing students any favors. And this citywide plan is about them -- and their futures."

On citywide standards:

"Students in Detroit attend more than 250 schools, which are governed by many different masters with differing expectations and results. The divided authority makes it too easy to fingerpoint and too hard to make the tough decisions that are needed to ensure every child is in a high-quality school. ...

"Each of these school governing bodies has different standards of success. They also have weak or no definitions for failure -- allowing chronically failing programs to stay open for years. This mishmash makes it impossible for parents to get credible, easy-to-understand information about which schools are helping students and which are not. They need that information to make good choices for their children."

On the new schools:

"When we say we want to open 70 new schools, we are not talking about needing to build 70 new buildings. We believe new schools can operate in old buildings. Our emphasis is not on facilities, but on what happens with the school program. For us, a 'new school' is defined as a new school program, which consists of effective teaching and learning, a culture of high expectations, a strong and new leadership team, a new rigorous academic program and a laser-like approach on student academic success."

On measuring

performance:

"Measuring the effectiveness of principals and other school leaders is difficult; years of service and levels of certification don't tell much. What matters most is the performance of their schools; great leaders do what it takes so that their schools perform at high levels. They drive change and innovation and build a culture of quality that helps attract and support excellent teachers. The current student achievement data alone underscore that not nearly enough Detroit public schools currently have effective leadership; or, if schools do have great leaders, they're hamstrung by bureaucratic rules that limit their effectiveness."

On mayoral control:

"DPS will not be able to make and sustain the necessary reforms without a single source of credible leadership and accountability. Specifically, we will help build public support for making the mayor accountable for Detroit Public Schools. He or she would appoint the superintendent/CEO, who would be responsible for the day-to-day operations of the schools, including budgets, staffing, and programs. The school board should be disbanded."

On an independent accountability commission:

"All city schools will be monitored by the citywide Standards and Accountability Commission, which will report on school performance and fiscal management. An outside watchdog organization such as this also will help monitor and limit any potential financial abuses of single-source accountability."

On developing a community schools initiative:

"There's no reason schools should close at 3 p.m. weekdays and on the weekend, and there are multiple reasons to keep them open. Using the school as the neighborhood hub to provide a range of services (such as arts, music, after-school programs, health clinics, mental health services, mentoring and counseling services) will provide students with the nonacademic supports they need to succeed in school. Plus, using these facilities to offer additional services that help parents, such as adult literacy and job training, also will pay off. Colocating city, school, and community services is an especially cost-effective strategy to combat city and school deficits."

Stephen Henderson: Excellent Schools plan a chance for all to step up

2010-03-11T10:46:00.002-05:00

BY STEPHEN HENDERSON
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

http://www.freep.com/article/20100311/COL33/3110406/Excellent-Schools-plan-a-chance-for-all-to-step-up

From Motor City to Education Mecca?

It's a mighty ambitious goal -- but also a huge opportunity for a community that has for far too long been content to merely acknowledge that schools in Detroit are a problem that's dragging down our entire region.

So why not go from aimless to aiming high -- to a 10-year plan to create a culture of learning in the city that's about standards and accountability for every student, regardless of where they happen to go to school.

For me, that's the meat of the message behind the ambitious school reform plans announced Wednesday by Excellent Schools Detroit, a consortium of very broad interests whose goal is to ensure that, by 2020, the city is graduating 90% of its kids and enrolling them in colleges or other post-secondary training programs where they can succeed without remedial help.

This group isn't singling out Detroit's public schools for failure. Or dwelling on the many charter schools that were launched as high-quality alternatives to DPS but have simply joined the ranks of the middling or deficient. This group isn't going to waste time faulting parents or teachers or unions or inept leadership.

Instead, Excellent Schools is saying the problem with education in Detroit is culturally systemic, a near-universal absence of high standards and the mechanisms to enforce them. It is rallying everyone around the goal of reversing that at every level, and building a network of schools -- public, charter, whatever -- that do much, much better by the city's kids.

Anyone want to say no to that?

Think, for a minute, about the mind-blowing cultural change this would be.

In a city where school reform has been bogged down in arguments over public versus charter or union versus non-union or management versus workers, Excellent Schools is focusing the conversation exclusively on academic rigor -- and distinction.

How it's identified. How it can be replicated. How standards can be devised around it and used to encourage schools that hit the mark while shutting down those that don't.

Yes, the group supports the idea of singular authority over public schools, concentrated in the mayor's office. And it has given up on the school board. But they're not waiting for the mayor to take control or the board to be dissolved. They're moving ahead with the nuts and bolts of actual school reform.

Their whole idea here is to get historically disparate educational interests to coalesce around a set of goals and principles that, from now on, will dictate policy and action. These are the rules. Everyone agrees to play by them, and be evaluated by their adherence to them. Those who thrive will be rewarded. Those who fail will be shuttered.

Carol Goss, CEO of the Skillman Foundation, deserves a heap of credit for putting this effort together, for pulling DPS emergency financial manager Robert Bobb together with charter and independent school operators like Doug Ross and Clark Durant, parent advocates such as Sharlonda Buckman and members of the non-profit community.

Goss works tirelessly behind the scenes on myriad issues, but she will need to step forward as the face that will drive this effort. In particular, Goss has to seize on the task of creating the standards and accountability commission that will do the goal setting for city schools.

This is also a challenge to Mayor Dave Bing, who until now has punted a bit on the governance question, saying he'd take control of schools if Detroiters want him to. Excellent Schools offers him a chance to jump more actively into the debate about both standards and governance.

The problem in Detroit education, for years, has been all of us.

Thanks to the plan laid out by Excellent Schools, there's a real chance that all of us can get involved in fixing it.

Stephen Henderson is editorial page editor for the Free Press and host of "American Black Journal," which airs at 2 p.m. on Sundays on WTVS-channel 56, in Detroit.

Rochelle Riley: Finally, a pledge we can believe in

2010-03-11T10:44:00.002-05:00

BY ROCHELLE RILEY
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST
http://www.freep.com/article/20100311/COL10/3110440/Finally-a-pledge-we-can-believe-in

That movement Wednesday was the earth shaking under Detroit.

The reverberations were from the release of a document years in the making and decades in the needing that calls for a major change in the way Detroit children are educated.

Hallelujah.

The report, "Taking Ownership: Our Pledge to Educate All of Detroit's Children," reads like a Declaration of Independence for this city's greatest treasures. It was signed by 24 people with money and influence, from Mayor Dave Bing to Think Detroit PAL CEO Daniel Varner. It included the heads of foundations ranging from Skillman to Kellogg.

What is most important about the 20-page outline of goals and standards and initiatives for Detroit children is what's missing.

There is no business as usual. There is no excuse for poor graduation and achievement rates. There is no school board. I could have cried with joy.
Wholesale change needed

The pledge, which focuses on children instead of workers and policy instead of politicians, outlines the possibility of creating -- in its own words -- the fastest-improving school district in the country.

The declaration calls for higher, consistent standards for all schools, whether public charter or public city. It calls for the creation of a Standards and Accountability Commission that not only will publish an annual report card on all schools, but publicly embarrass any school that is not doing its job.

The coalition that created the pledge has already lined up commitments from organizations across the country to come and help Detroit children -- who have gone so long without advocacy that people forgot that the district exists for them.

The declaration points out good schools in Detroit, such as Garvey Academy, where 100% of third-graders meet or exceed state math and reading standards, and University Prep, where 100% of seniors graduated in June 2008.

The pledge cites the academic catastrophe and how only 3% of the city's fourth-graders and 4% of its eighth-graders meet national standards and how only 2% of Detroit's high school students are prepared for college math.

Stop shaking your head. You know it's true.

We can no longer point at pockets of excellence, at bright and shining exceptions to what has become a rule in Detroit. We can celebrate the best, but we need more of the best.

And that can only happen with wholesale change.
Stay strong

What is happening here is no less important than Thomas Jefferson taking pen to paper and forging a charge for a new country that once was only an idea.

It is no less important than President Abraham Lincoln signing a document to change the way a country operated.

This declaration can ignite a movement that will be the greatest thing to happen to public education in Detroit since the invention of public education.

And it will take everyone stepping up in a way they haven't before -- including Mayor Dave Bing.

"Will there be pushback? Of course," said movement leader Carol Goss, who is CEO and president of the Skillman Foundation. "There are people who want to maintain the status quo. We are going to have to be strong enough not to let that happen."

She may have a potential ally in one of the biggest critics of any state effort to disband the school board: former board member and current state Rep. Jimmy Womack, D-Detroit.

"If the process to get there is legal and equitable, I can get behind it," he said. "I support giving the citizens of Detroit the right to vote for a viable option. If the citizens of Detroit opt to disband the school board, then I can support that."

Goss pledged to take the declaration to the churches, to the neighborhoods, to the streets. And she's urging parents to join her. The coalition already has held six community meetings where more than 1,000 people have gathered to hear the plan.

"Parents want this," she said. "At some point, it's going to be a street fight, so we need all the warriors."

Contact ROCHELLE RILEY: rriley99@freepress.com

A way forward for Detroit's kids

2010-03-11T10:37:00.005-05:00

EDITORIAL
http://www.freep.com/article/20100311/OPINION01/3110411/1318/

Imagine a world in which Detroit parents select from a menu of public, private and charter schools that promise to prepare 90% of their children for college, community college or professional certification -- a world in which trusted educators have established high academic standards and publish a yearly report card to let parents know which schools are meeting them.

That's the audacious vision that parents, educators, political and philanthropic leaders who founded Excellent Schools Detroit hope to realize by 2020 -- and to which five private foundations led by the Skillman Foundation have pledged $200 million over the next 10 years to replace up to 70 failing schools by 2020.

If the group has its way, both Detroit Public Schools and its rival charter school operators will soon face overwhelming public pressure to shutter schools whose students fail to master required courses and graduate. As such failing schools fall by the wayside, the group stands ready to replace them with new ones -- 40 within the next five years -- managed by "school leaders and/or school management organizations with a proven track record of success." Several such schools, including one launched jointly by charter school leader Doug Ross and the founders of Houston's highly acclaimed Yes Prep academies, are scheduled to enroll their first Detroit students this September.

The new group's plans include a public campaign to transfer authority over Detroit Public Schools from the current 11-member school board to the mayor's office -- the same governance scheme residents of New York and Washington, D.C. already have adopted to accelerate educational reforms in their cities.

Mayor Dave Bing has expressed a willingness to assume responsibility for DPS if Detroiters express a preference for mayoral control. The campaign undertaken by Excellent Schools Detroit is about as explicit an invitation as Bing is likely to receive, and it's critical that he becomes a more proactive champion of mayoral control at once.

But the real appeal of Excellent Schools Detroit lies in its founders' conviction that Detroit's schoolchildren can improve their lot even if Michigan's largest public school system falters on the road to reform. As Ross bluntly expressed it Wednesday, with Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb looking on: "This plan can succeed even if DPS does not."

Ultimately, the new group's success will turn on its ability to rally the community around loftier academic standards, to attract school operators capable of upholding those standards, and to persuade Detroiters to reject any school -- public, private, or charter -- that fails to meet them.

It's a tall order, but one that places the primary responsibility for transforming Detroit schools squarely where it belongs -- on the choices of Detroit parents and the leadership of the mayor in whom they've placed their trust.

Plan for Detroit schools: Ambitious transformation

2010-03-11T10:33:00.006-05:00

http://www.freep.com/article/20100310/NEWS01/303100003/Plan-for-Detroit-schools-Ambitious-transformation

Detroit could be 1st major city to have 90% graduate

BY CHASTITY PRATT DAWSEY and PEGGY WALSH-SARNECKI
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS

Releasing details of an ambitious plan to remake schools in the city of Detroit, a coalition of nonprofit organizations said Wednesday that it plans to push for mayoral control of Detroit Public Schools, set up an independent commission to grade every school in the city, including charters, and establish a goal of graduating 90% of kids from high school by 2020.

The group, calling itself Excellent Schools Detroit, announced last week that it planned to replace failing Detroit schools with 70 new ones and make a $200-million initial investment -- a plan unprecedented in scope anywhere in the country. The group has commitments from the Gates Foundation and other national groups willing to come to Detroit, said Carol Goss, CEO and president of the Skillman Foundation, a key leader in the effort.

• Rochelle Riley: Finally, a pledge we can believe in

• Stephen Henderson: Excellent Schools plan a chance for all to step up

• Members stunned by plan to disband DPS board

• Bing's still willing to take over -- as long as Detroiters approve

• Ideas, standards for plan detailed

• Editorial: A way forward for Detroit's kids

• Previous coverage

The move comes after Detroit kids posted the worst scores in the nation last fall on a national test measuring student achievement in math.

In an unlikely alliance, DPS emergency financial manager Robert Bobb and Doug Ross, an influential charter school founder, are supporting the efforts of the coalition, which planned to hold a news conference this morning.

"For us as a community, we can't afford to tinker, to be slow or to maintain the status quo," Goss said Wednesday. "We have to change educational outcomes for kids in Detroit."

Goss said achievement hasn't improved, despite a state takeover and elected school boards. The ambitious plan calls for eliminating the Detroit school board, recruiting stronger teachers and administrators, allowing the mayor to name a superintendent or CEO to run DPS and working with the district, charter school founders and others to close the worst-performing schools.

Commission to monitor every school

The group wants to form a Standards and Accountability Commission to monitor every school in the city, establish uniform standards and recommend schools that should close.

As those schools close, they would be replaced by new schools paid for from $200 million in grants provided by four foundations, led by the Skillman Foundation. The education plan, "Taking Ownership: Our Pledge to Educate All of Detroit's Children," is to be released to the public today. It is full of strategies to boost student performance. These are among the key components:

• Turning over control of Detroit Public Schools to the mayor.

• Abolishing the elected school board.

• Generating public pressure on DPS and charter school operators to close failing schools or programs.

• Using community resources to boost parental involvement and educate parents about the best options -- and best schools -- for their kids.

The group hopes to accomplish all of this by 2020 and to have opened 70 new quality schools along the way.

"I think we came to this agreement as a group, that we need to resolve this in Detroit, that the solution to education has to come out of Detroit," said Goss.

Role models

The plan uses as its models successful efforts locally and in cities such as New Orleans and New York. New York City's four-year high school graduation rate rose to an all-time high of 63% in 2009 after it launched a high school reform plan, according to the New York State Education Department, which released the data March 9. It rose from 50.8% in 2002.

For the plan to work, it will take more than money from the influential nonprofits: Skillman, W.K. Kellogg, McGregor Fund, and Kresge -- but also support from the community. Engaging parents, said Sharlonda Buckman, executive executive director of the Detroit Parent Network, is crucial. She said parents must be educated about the power they have to demand more of their schools.

Accountability

What makes this effort different than others is a push to create an independent watchdog organization called the Standards and Accountability Commission, or an advocacy group to educate parents and "embarrass and shame," leaders into doing what's right, Goss said.

In order to make sure parents are "smart shoppers" when it comes to education, the commission will publish report cards on all schools in the city -- those in Detroit Public Schools, charter schools and private schools.

Those report cards could be used by parents in deciding where to send their children to school. The commission will also help develop a single test to be used to measure all Detroit students, and keep an eye on how schools are handling their finances.

Also, under a school reform law passed in December, a state appointee will be placed in charge of the worst-performing schools in the state. And, the coalition wants to work with the state superintendent to create a plan specifically for a Detroit School Reform District for the worst schools in Detroit conduct a national search for a leader.

Excellent schools

The most concrete change the group will push is to support the opening of 70 city schools accessible to Detroit students -- in the city or nearby suburbs -- to replace poor performing ones. About 58% of students graduate from DPS and 78% from charter schools while fewer than 25% of those students enroll in college, according to research.

The new schools will be operated by groups or individuals with a proven track record of school success. The coalition will work with communities to identify their needs and help tailor new schools to those needs.

Even though the plan is not specifically focused on DPS, emergency financial manager Robert Bobb continues to make suggestions to improve DPS. They include transitioning DPS to a school system that begins with prekindergarten and ends with an associate's degree. Students in high school would be able to have dual-enrollment in community colleges. He also said he wants to remove students from grades where they are much older than their peers and educate them separately. And, he said, district demographers have projected a smaller district -- one with 56,000 students, compared with the 84,000 currently enrolled. Bobb said he'll release goals for the district next week.

Recruiting

Good leaders will attract the best teachers, according to the plan. To make sure Detroit schools have this type of leadership, the group's plans to find the best leaders already working within the city as well as mount a national recruiting campaign to find others.

A Detroit Leadership Academy will be opened to help train leaders, and work to give these administrators as much building autonomy as possible.

Politics

One of the group's first steps will be to build public support for a controversial issue -- mayoral control of Detroit Public Schools, which would mean the elimination of the school board. "The school board should be disbanded," according to the report.

Many Detroiters are still angry and disappointed after the state removed the elected board in 1999 for a mayor-appointed board. That system ended in 2005 with few academic success and a $200 million deficit.

The leaders of the Excellent Schools Detroit group know it could be tough to get Detroit voters to agree to mayoral control, but concluded that the governor and the state legislature shouldn't' get involved in this issue, Goss said.

The leaders of coalition started to meet and brainstorm after U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan visited last spring and called Detroit Ground Zero for public education.

Columnist Rochelle Riley contributed to this report.

Coalition lays out plan for Detroit students: 90 percent post-secondary enrollment by 2020

2010-03-11T09:58:00.006-05:00

By Ryan Beene
http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20100310/FREE/100319972

A coalition of educators, nonprofits, government and community organizations are vying to create a city-wide standard for K-12 education in Detroit, regardless of school governance, with the goal that by 2020, Detroit will be the first major U.S. city where 90 percent of its students graduate high school, go to college and lack remediation.

The group, called Excellent Schools Detroit, seeks to advocate close and replace failing schools with 40 new high-performing schools by 2015 and 70 such schools by 2020, while making public performance evaluations of all schools in Detroit based on a single set of criteria to parents and residents.

The plan, in essence, seeks to create a K-12 marketplace, where parents in the city can be empowered to select the best schools from a growing roster of educational options for their children by using standardized, objective evaluations of school performance.

“This report is not about the Detroit Public Schools and it’s not about charters, it’s about educating children and what it’s going to take for us to get to quality education and access to quality education for every child in the city of Detroit,” said Carol Goss, CEO of the Skillman Foundation.

DPS Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb partipated in the planning sessions for the report and “is fully supportive,” said Steve Wasko, DPS executive director of public relations in an e-mail. "The DPS plan is complementary, although in many cases sets even higher standards for our schools."

A key component of the plan would be a Standards and Accountability Commission to establish performance standards and issue an “annual report card” evaluating every school in the city based on those standards. The reports would be made available to the public. Schools that fail to meet performance criteria would recommend for dissolution and replacement.

“A part of that is educating and making sure that parents become good consumers and are choosing schools based on an objective set of criteria,” Goss said.

The group also points to mayoral control of the DPS, through an appointed chief executive, and disbanding the elected Detroit Board of Education is key reforming education in the city.

“We think that a single point of accountability for DPS will allow them to get to accountability faster and certainly for innovation to take root within their organization,” Goss said.

The marketplace factor is what, Doug Ross, CEO of New Urban Learning, says makes this plan to overhaul education in Detroit different from the many plans developed in the past.

“Those that went before essentially were imploring a monopoly, DPS, to do better. This one proposes substituting monopoly with a vigorous marketplace, and that’s a real change,” Ross said. “Because it’s a marketplace, this plan will succeed even if the DPS doesn’t.”

Achievements to be made by the end of this year include:

Establish a broad-based organization to advocate for the plan’s changes.
Create a Standards and Accountability Commission to set goals for every school.
Secure commitments from national foundations and leadership organizations to come to Detroit.
Initiate a citywide “community schools effort” to provide more non-academic support to students.

To read the rest of the report, click here.

Members of Excellent Schools Detroit include:

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing
Robert Bobb, DPS emergency financial manager
Carol Goss, CEO of the Skillman Foundation
Lou Glazer, president of Michigan Future Inc.
Shirley Stancato, CEO of New Detroit Inc.
Michael Brennan, CEO United Way for Southeastern Michigan
Sterling Speirn, CEO of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation
Rip Rapson, president of the Kresge Foundation
Sharlonda Buckman, executive director, Detroit Parent
Network
Greg Handel, senior director of workforce Development for the Detroit Regional Chamber
Clark Durant, founding chair, Cornerstone Schools
Ralph Bland, CEO, New Paradigm for Education and superintendent, Detroit Edison Public School Academy.
C. David Campbell, president, McGregor Fund
Doug Ross, CEO, New Urban Learning
Dan Varner, CEO, Think Detroit PAL

Poverty summit eyes job skills, more

2010-03-08T22:17:00.001-05:00

By Sherri Welch

Forty local and national experts gathered in Detroit last week to present their ideas for reducing poverty in the country's largest metropolitan areas over the next two to four years.

The daylong series of presentations, hosted by United Way for Southeastern Michigan, was sparked by CEOs for Cities research that identifies $13 billion in annual public benefit program savings from just a one percentage point drop in the poverty rate of the country's 51 largest metropolitan regions.

“Poverty very much can be a hidden problem in some areas,” said Carol Coletta, CEO of Chicago-based CEOs for Cities.

While Detroit's poverty level is well-known, it's not as well-known that the levels in other large metropolitan areas, such as Austin, Houston, Nashville, Los Angeles and Columbus, Ohio, are higher than in metro Detroit, she said.

In metro Detroit, a one percentage point decrease in the poverty level could yield $396 million annually in public benefit program savings, Coletta said.

CEOs for Cities plans to share recommendations from the poverty summit — available on its Web site at www.ceosforcities.org — with its national network of leaders during Strategy Session 2010, April 20-21 in New York. The top four recommendations by the poverty experts in Detroit last week were to:

• Reflect the purchasing power in poor neighborhoods and focus on accurate counts in the 2010 census to remove capital barriers to business investment in those areas.

• Invest in education and redesign the adult educational system to lower costs and serve adults better. Emphasize literacy gains for the lowest 20 percent income bracket.

• Provide training for middle-skill jobs to move people out of poverty and link job creation to an economic development strategy.

• Create choice and accountability in adult education and retraining, where the money follows participants and requires results from adult education and training programs.

United Way for Southeastern Michigan plans to use the group's recommendations to form its strategy for helping low-income families reach financial stability through efforts such as the Greater Detroit Center for Working Families.

United Way and Detroit Local Initiatives Support Corp are working with SER Metro-Detroit Jobs for Progress Inc. to operate the center.

“We're creating incentives ... for actions individuals (can) take that will create the greatest impact on their financial position,” United Way President and CEO Michael Brennan said.

Ultimately, a lot of what gets done in implementing the top recommendations for reducing poverty is going to depend on policymakers, said Lou Glazer, president of Ann Arbor-based Michigan Future Inc.

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

Kudos for community service

2010-03-08T17:25:00.000-05:00

UM-Dearborn has been named to the 2009 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, the highest federal recognition a college or university can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning and civic engagement

DEARBORN / March 8, 2010---The University of Michigan-Dearborn and its students are leaders in utilizing community service to impact the life, economy and culture of the metropolitan Detroit region.

That’s why the university has been named to the 2009 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll, the highest federal recognition a college or university can receive for its commitment to volunteering, service-learning and civic engagement. The award is administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service.

UM-Dearborn was honored for its annual Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Day, a collaborative effort that brings together hundreds of volunteers from the university, United Way for Southeastern Michigan, Henry Ford Community College, Lawrence Technological University, Madonna University, Oakland University and Oakland Community College.

“Our campus is known across the U.S. for the collaborative effort involved in MLK Day and the ability to mobilize more than 500 students and volunteers in the region,” said Jonathan Larson, who manages student programs in UM-Dearborn’s Student Activities Office. “We work for months to plan the event, so it’s wonderful to be recognized in this way and for the service we strive to provide to the metropolitan community.”

In addition, the UM-Dearborn was recognized for its participation in the United Way’s Alternative Spring Break program as well as the campus’s Civic Engagement Project, a program that nurtures action in the community while fostering a vision of higher education through academic service-learning courses and other faculty initiatives.

“Congratulations to UM-Dearborn and its students for their dedication to service and commitment to improving their local communities,” said Patrick Corvington, CEO of the Corporation for National and Community Service. “Our nation's students are a critical part of the equation and vital to our efforts to tackle the most persistent challenges we face. They have achieved impactful results and demonstrated the value of putting knowledge into practice to help renew America through service.”

####

About University of Michigan-Dearborn
The University of Michigan-Dearborn is celebrating its 50th anniversary throughout the 2009/2010 academic year. Founded in 1959 with a gift of just over 200 acres of land and $6.5 million from the Ford Motor Company, UM-Dearborn has been distinguished by its commitment to providing excellent educational opportunities responsive to the needs of southeastern Michigan. The university has 8,700 students pursuing undergraduate, master’s, doctoral and professional degrees in the liberal arts and sciences, engineering, business, education, and public administration. With a faculty devoted to teaching, and students committed to achievement, UM-Dearborn has been shaped by its history of interaction with business, government and industry in southeastern Michigan, and is committed to responding to the needs of the region in the future.

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Ken Kettenbeil
Director of Communications
PHONE: 313-593-5518

Jennifer Thelen
Public Relations Representative
PHONE: 313-593-5644

The Office of University Relations
Room 1040, Administration Building
University of Michigan-Dearborn

A $200 million rebirth for Detroit education

2010-03-08T11:06:00.004-05:00

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

CEOs for Cities: Where the work is

2010-03-08T11:01:00.002-05:00

Click here to read the original blog post.

All eyes are on Detroit, and so are ours. This week CEOs for Cities traveled to the Motor City to co-host the national Opportunity Dividend Summit with United Way for Southeastern Michigan, which serves a six-county area in what CEO Mike Brennan referred to as "the epicenter of the contraction."

Last year, Brennan and his 100-person staff experienced a contraction of their own when they moved from a 12-story office building to an edgy new space in downtown Detroit. In the process two-thirds of them gave up their desks. Now, instead of having cubes to call their own, United Way employees plug their laptops into cozy community workstations situated throughout their open floor plan office, which is indeed open and available for community use. Brennan says this not only reflects the way they do business but also frees his staff up to work "where the work is." He should know, as he is among those who made the change.

The Detroit Free Press profiled the space earlier this year, giving the concept a name (hotelling) and denoting it "the office of the future." For Brennan and his staff, it means saving $300,000 annually and still serving 400,000 callers a year through their vast 211 call center network.

Next time you are in Detroit, ask for a tour. You’ll want to move in or duplicate it in your own city, just like we did.

Detroit Community Rallies Around School Improvement Efforts

2010-03-04T20:29:00.006-05:00

From the Ed.gov blog:

More than 250 community leaders, government officials, educators, parents and students discussed turning around the Detroit area's lowest-achieving schools with Director of Community Outreach Alberto Retana at two local summits Feb. 24, hosted by United Way of Southeastern Michigan's Greater Detroit Education Venture Fund.
The visits were part of Retana's community engagement tour throughout the U.S. to strengthen grassroots support for transforming America's lowest-performing schools, and to inform communities about Title I School Improvement grant funding available for those efforts.
This spring, ED will award states a total of $3.5 billion in Title I School Improvement grants to turn around their lowest-performing schools. The funds will be awarded by formula to states, which will then make competitive grants to local education agencies (LEAs). Michigan is eligible to receive $135.9 million to turn around its lowest-performing schools.
Retana said that strong community support is required to ensure success of school transformation efforts.
"It's not enough to have funding, it's not enough to have charismatic leaders, and this is not just about opening another charter school," Retana said to the morning session's crowd at Detroit's Cody Academies. "It's also about community mobilization. We need a movement of people to stand up and say, 'we will no longer accept low expectations for our children.'"
Retana also brought a similar message to Melvindale High School in suburban Detroit. Both Cody Academies and Melvindale High School are undergoing turnaround efforts supported by funding through the Greater Detroit Education Venture Fund. Both sessions also included panel discussions with educators and students that generated dialogue about what is and isn't working with their respective transformations.

Click here to see pictures from both the Cody High School and Melvindale High School events.

File your taxes for free

2010-03-04T19:27:00.002-05:00

Did you make less than $58,000 last year? If so, you can file your taxes for free online. Check out www.MyFreeTaxes.com/sem

MIchigan Future: Charters for Adults?

2010-03-04T11:32:00.002-05:00

By Lou Glazer • on March 4, 2010

I attended a terrific conference this week – co hosted by CEOs for Cities and United Way for Southeastern Michigan – on reducing poverty. The mission was to identify local actions that can significantly reduce poverty over the next two to four years. In my presentation, unfortunately, I said we don’t know how to do that.

Nationally there are two areas that can make a big difference in reducing poverty in the short term: full employment and an expanded safety net. Both are powerful tools for large scale poverty reduction. Local efforts that can achieve at scale poverty reductions are hard to identify. Yes we should do whatever we can to boost job creation. But as I have written in previous blogs state, regional and local levers to do that are not strong. And yes we should build a regional transit system so that city residents – where poverty is concentrated – can access jobs in the suburbs.

Visit MichiganFuture.org to continue reading.

In Detroit: Kindergarten = Crowd Control

2010-03-01T14:33:00.001-05:00

From Annemarie Harris, Director of Early Childhood Initiatives

My son, Tommy, is 5 and in kindergarten at Monteith School in the Grosse Pointe School District. This week, I learned that the School Board approved all day kindergarten for all students, beginning in 2010-2011. That's a good thing - studies show that all day kindergarten improves academic outcomes for students beyond kindergarten. Grosse Pointe Schools isn't perfect, but it does provide a quality learning experience for children. Tommy is in a class with 22 other children. His teacher, Mrs. DiVirgil has an aide, Mrs. Farnsworth, who supports the classroom throughout most of the day. The children follow high curriculum standards (Tommy can count to 100 by 2!), time for play, specials (library, art, gym, music) and access to high quality learning materials.

Click here to continue reading.

One D editorial: Regional Transit Needed to Facilitate Help

2010-03-01T13:58:00.003-05:00

This editorial originally appeared on the One D editorial website at http://editorials.oned.org/2010/03/01/mike-brennan-president-and-ceo-united-way-for-southeastern-michigan-leadership-message/

True to our mission, the United Way's perspective on regional transit stems from access to help. Lack of adequate, efficient public transportation consistently hinders the efforts of the United Way and other community organizations working to assist people in need. As such, the lack of a comprehensive regional transit system has been a major barrier to the improvement of the health of individuals and families.

About 700,000 people in Southeast Michigan don't know where they will find their next meal. We receive calls into our 211 information referral help line from those looking for resources, including access to food. Many have children to feed, and are making decisions on whether to pay rent, utility bills, or to buy groceries. There are wonderful organizations in the area that can help them – but unfortunately many people have no way of getting to these places. If help is not near where people live and they don't have any access to transportation, we have a gap between the demand for help and the available helping resource. Regional transportation will bridge that gap.

Building that bridge requires regional collaboration. Communities in Southeast Michigan have traditionally favored self-interest over partnership. Metro Detroit is beginning to transform as a result of the economic challenges of recent years. A shift in consciousness is occurring, creating a willingness of individuals to work together and cooperate in ways that they never have before. That has birthed a different level of awareness about the strategic role mass transit plays to economic vitality and growth - attracting capital, development, and young talent. Communities are beginning to see what this investment will return.

Practically, we've got to tangibly demonstrate what rapid mass transit would look and feel like. We should have it underway and utilized in order for people to fully understand it. The best thing that we can do is ensure that the early projects that are in development, such the Ann Arbor to Detroit rail or the M-1 line, get launched and operational. It is tangible experience that draws people to imagine a bigger and brighter future. In using mass transit, they can imagine how it might be useful in their town, by their place of work, and they can envision it as a part of their everyday lives.

As transportation improves for everyone, quality of life increases. As quality of life increases, our region will be in a better position to ensure that citizens in need can receive the help they deserve.

Tax prep assistance available

2010-03-01T13:52:00.006-05:00

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

Food navigator program part of larger effort to close hunger gap

2010-03-01T13:46:00.004-05:00

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

United Way plans program to help schools feed more kids

2010-03-01T13:39:00.003-05:00

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

Foreclosure assistance Web portal for homeowners launches today

2010-02-27T16:12:00.002-05:00

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.

Initiative Launches a Portal for Detroit Foreclosure Assistance

2010-02-27T16:11:00.000-05:00

Written by Lani Shadduck
HULIQ.com

A new website designed to help users in Detroit to deal with foreclosures has launched today. The site, called FightMortgageForeclosure.com, connects underwater homeowners and those facing foreclosure with services to help them get on track and prevent foreclosure.

Michigan has been hit hard by the real estate market meltdown. Detroit is home to some of the world’s largest automakers and their downfall has meant that many Detroit residents are out of a job. This downward spiral has not only affected the local economy but also put many homeowners at risk of foreclosure.

The Southeast Michigan Regional Foreclosure Intervention and Neighborhood Stabilization Collaborative launched the website today. This was a result of a collaborative created by United Way for Southeastern Michigan who wanted to find a way to stem foreclosures in the area and help those in need.

The web portal was put together with technology from Wayne County which has faced a severe foreclosure epidemic. As many as 75,000 homes in Wayne County faced foreclosure in 2009 alone.

FightMortgageForeclosure.com offers education, counseling and intervention services. The site lets homeowners submit a foreclosure case online that includes household and income information. Once submitted, users will receive aid and information about what choices they have to prevent foreclosure.

Michigan as a whole currently has 1.38 million mortgage loans. More than 12 percent of those were 30 days or more past due. 4.56 percent were in actual foreclosure. Michigan ranks fourth in mortgage delinquencies. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, however, delinquencies across the nation have actually dropped.

Experts to meet in Detroit to discuss ways to cut poverty rate

2010-02-27T15:49:00.003-05:00

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.

WDET News: Four Counties Team Up to Fight Foreclosure

2010-02-26T17:26:00.000-05:00

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.

United Way bets the farm on its new role

2010-02-26T17:15:00.002-05:00

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.

At tax time, the EITC is win-win for workers and employers

2010-02-26T17:00:00.001-05:00

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.

National poverty experts gather in Detroit for unique dailogue on poverty

2010-02-26T16:14:00.004-05:00

Press release

Contact(s):
Julia Klaiber, CEOs for Cities
202.420.9451

Laura L Rodwan, United Way for Southeastern Michigan
313.226.9484 or 313.477.2750

Cara I. Belton, United Way for Southeastern Michigan
313.226.9484 or 313.520.8454

[DETROIT, MI] – National experts on the challenges of poverty will gather in Detroit March 2 at the invitation of CEOs for Cities and the United Way for Southeastern Michigan to engage in a renewed dialogue on one of the nation's most intractable problems.

The Opportunity Dividend Summit is aimed at capitalizing on research published by CEOs for Cities, a national network of urban leaders, that indicates a one percentage point reduction in poverty rates in the nation's 51 largest metropolitan areas would yield a $13 billion savings to public benefits programs. This "Opportunity Dividend" is calculated by direct savings to public programs such as Medicaid, food stamps and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF).

"The Opportunity Dividend Summit is bringing innovative thought leaders together to address the challenges of poverty and its effect on public benefit programs, and we are pleased to host this important event here in Detroit," said Michael J. Brennan, CEO and president of United Way for Southeastern Michigan. "The goal of the Summit underscores the commitment we share in exploring solutions to this critical issue effecting so many individuals and families in our region, and our nation."

In this one-day summit, national experts will present their best recommendations on how to achieve the Opportunity Dividend within 24-48 months using the unique Pecha Kucha method of 20 slides in six minutes. This format allows for a large number of good ideas to be presented succinctly and creatively, along with the rationale and evidence of their effectiveness.

"We urgently need to re-start the conversation on how to tackle poverty in America, and we need to do it in a way that grabs the attention of urban leaders," CEOs for Cities President and CEO Carol Coletta said. "We have to move from a recitation of the problem, stop treating urban leaders as non-actors in solving this problem and bring new energy to the task."

Outcomes from the Opportunity Dividend Summit will be presented to CEOs for Cities' national network of partners at its upcoming Strategy Session 2010 in New York City. Presentations will also be made available online by both CEOs for Cities and United Way for Southeastern Michigan for use by urban leaders and United Way practitioners nationwide.

The Opportunity Dividend Summit has been made possible by generous support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation and GMAC Financial Services/Ally Bank.

About City Dividends

The research behind the Opportunity Dividend is part of a larger body of work by CEOs for Cities called City Dividends, which calculates the monetary value of: increasing college attainment rates by one percentage point (Talent Dividend); decreasing vehicle miles traveled per person per day by one mile (Green Dividend); and decreasing poverty rates by one percentage point (Opportunity Dividend) in the largest 51 metropolitan areas in the U.S. The cumulative economic benefits of realizing the City Dividends are equal to $166 billion annually.

About CEOs for Cities

CEOs for Cities is a national cross-sector network of urban leaders from the civic, business, academic and philanthropic sectors dedicated to building and sustaining the next generation of great American cities.

Additional information is available at www.ceosforcities.org.

United Way for Southeastern Michigan

United Way for Southeastern Michigan mobilizes the caring power of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties to improve lives in measurable and lasting ways throughout the region. The organization is led by a diverse group of volunteers from business, labor, government, human services, education and the community. United Way provides opportunities to invest in the metropolitan Detroit community through its annual Campaign and is a leader in convening partners to impact local residents each year by increasing economic self-sufficiency, protecting children and youth at risk, strengthening families, empowering neighborhoods and communities, and promoting health and wellness. Additional information is available at www.UnitedWaySEM.org.

Changing Cody, a reflection on high school turnaround

2010-02-25T15:24:00.000-05:00

By Annie Dunsky, Corporate Citizenship & Corporate Affairs Manager, IBM

As the chair of Leadership Next's Educational Preparedness Committee, I am proud of the commitment we have made to United Way's High School Turnaround efforts. As a group, we've decided to focus our energy and time to support Cody High School, one of the five turnaround schools funded by United Way and the Greater Detroit Education Venture Fund. [Click here to continue reading.]

Detroit named a City of Service

2010-02-25T15:20:00.000-05:00

Detroit is making headlines again, this time for being a leader in volunteer service. The Rockefeller Foundation has awarded Detroit and nine other cities across the nation with the first Cities of Service Leadership Grant. This grant supports a Chief Service Officer who reports directly to the city's mayor and is responsible for leading local efforts to develop and implement a citywide plan to increase civic engagement and volunteerism. [Click here to continue reading.]

MLK Day is over, but the impact is ever-lasting

2010-02-25T15:17:00.000-05:00

It may have been over a month ago, but that doesn't mean it's old news. For the 16th year, United Way for Southeastern Michigan coordinated a community-wide day of service to honor Martin Luther King Jr. Day. In partnership with City Year, University of Michigan-Dearborn, Henry Ford Community College, Lawrence Technological University, Oakland County Community College, Oakland University, Madonna, and Wayne State University, we mobilized 1,400 volunteers. That group also includes employees from All State, American Express, and Chrysler who chose to spend their day off with us. [Click here to continue reading.]

Cheer on the Pistons while supporting United Way

2010-02-25T15:16:00.001-05:00

Support United Way's High School Turnaround Program with a night at the Palace of Auburn Hills on March 31. Bring your friends and family and watch the Detroit Pistons take on the Miami Heat. Tickets are $20 and half of the ticket price will help United Way purchase classroom resources for its turnaround schools. Click here to learn more.

United Way expands early education program

2010-02-25T15:14:00.001-05:00

United Way's Early Learning Communities (ELC) have already improved the care that 1,000 caregivers provide for approximately 4,000 children through the program's series of workshops and events. Now, with the help of the Early Childhood Investment Corporation (ECIC), that number will skyrocket. [Click here to continue reading.]

Yes He Can: 'One Can A Week' Program Inspires Imitators

2010-02-21T21:36:00.002-05:00

First Posted: 02-15-10 06:00 PM | Updated: 02-15-10 06:20 PM
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/15/yes-he-can-one-can-a-week_n_462827.html

Peter Norback took Barack Obama's campaign talk of hope and change to heart. He said it inspired him to launch a campaign to get his neighbors in Tucson, Ariz. to contribute just "one can a week" to feed the hungry.

"When President Obama got elected there was an attitude change," Norback told HuffPost. "When a sensitive guy came along and said we should be responsible human beings, that really hit a note in everybody and all my neighbors said, 'Yeah, we should do something.'"

While hope has turned to cynicism for many, Norback has kept the faith. Every Sunday since early 2009, he's spent four hours collecting cans and other goods from his neighbors. He delivers the payload to the Community Food Bank in Tucson. In 2009, he delivered more than 9,000 pounds of food.

"Some weeks people forgot, but he never forgot," said Community Food Bank development officer Pauline Hechler. "He has shown them he is going to be there week after week, so they do their part. They don't want to let him down."

Hechler said demand for food in Tucson had increased 40 percent over the past year. "It's unbelievable," she said. The food bank distributes enough food for 48,000 meals a day.

Norback documents his work in a weekly email and blog post. Last week brought the first rainy Sunday in the program's 57 weeks, and Norback wondered if everyone would still participate. They did.

"It just really, really surprised me," said Norback, a 67-year-old computer teacher. "It showed me that I'm going to keep on pressing on. It is affecting people, it's getting to them...Nobody called anybody. That means that I have to really be responsible. If you're really responsible, the citizens will follow you."

People are not only following Norback, they're imitating him in other cities.

"Peter's One Can A Week program was our inspiration when my son began a
weekly food collection for the veterans in our community," wrote Carol Reed of Wake Forest, N.C. in an email to HuffPost. "We stumbled across his blog on the Internet, and being former Tucsonans, it caught our eye. I wrote to Peter who sent all his materials which we adapted for what we are doing. Basically, every Sunday my son collects non-perishables from our neighborhood of about 65 homes. He started in late August, and has collected over 800 pounds of food so far. He delivers it to the American Legion Post where the veterans who are in need of assistance can come to receive it."

For anyone interested in starting a One Can A Week program, Norback's got a starter kit on his site. The United Way of Southeastern Michigan adapted the guide and is promoting the concept as well.

"Imagine if every household in your neighborhood donated one can of food, every week, to your local food pantry," says a message on the United Way's site. "Would anything change? Would there be less hunger in metro Detroit? If you look at the One Can-a-Week program created by one neighborhood in Tucson, Arizona, the answer is yes."

HuffPost readers: Is there a One Can A Week program in your neighborhood? Are you starting one? Tell us about it -- email arthur@huffingtonpost.com.

Kids loved kickoff of FREE Family Fun Days

2010-02-15T10:54:00.000-05:00

Panera Bread and United Way for Southeastern Michigan Team Up to Host FREE Family Fun Days every second Saturday of the month. I took the kids to the kickoff event at the Rochester location on Adams and they had a great time. (See list below for upcoming dates and locations.) The event was well run and the staff truly enjoyed being with the kids, and they were so incredibly kind and helpful. They read stories to the kids and helped them at each of the craft stations. All with smiles and genuine kindness.

Click here to continue reading.

Selling your home for charity

2010-02-08T11:35:00.000-05:00

They say that "charity begins at home," but in one family's case, charity began with their home. The family choose to sell their luxury home, downgrade to a home half the size, and give the profits to charity.

What could you give up half of to benefit the greater good?

Check out the story, along with commentary from United Way Worldwide CEO, Brian Gallagher, here: Selling your home for charity.

Detroit Free Press: More people struggling to stay warm, taxing agencies

2010-02-04T12:44:00.002-05:00

BY STEVE NEAVLING
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

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

Working just eight hours a week, Cynthia Caruthers can barely afford to keep her heat on for a few hours a day.

"I've never had anything like this happen to me," said Caruthers, 42, who lives with her 14-year-old son in Detroit and can't find a better job. "It's scary."

Caruthers is among an increasing number of metro Detroiters at risk of losing heat this winter because they either can't find work or are struggling with small paychecks.

Compared with last year, the problem this winter is particularly brutal: The number of unemployed residents rose 33%.

State and local agencies are responding with extra money and resources to help down-on-their-luck families pay their utility bills, but officials fear it won't be enough.

"This is not something we've faced before in the region," said Bill Sullivan, director of the United Way for Southeastern Michigan's health and social service hotline, 211. "It's pretty devastating."

150,000 at risk of losing their heat
Jim Lowe never thought it would come to this.

A self-employed construction worker unable to find work, the 42-year-old father can't afford to pay his heating bills for the first time in his life as the winter chill settles in.

Lowe received a shutoff notice at his Auburn Hills home last week and says he's unable to pay the $174 delinquent bill.

He worries about his wife and three children, ages 6, 11 and 15.

"It's definitely a wake-up call," says Lowe, who was in the Carolinas looking for work last week. "We're three months behind on all of our bills. I just pray this gets better soon.".

State and local agencies estimate an unprecedented 150,000 metro Detroiters are at risk of having their heat shut off if they don't receive help paying their bills. The number of people seeking state assistance so far this winter jumped 30% over last year at this time, according to the state Department of Human Services.

Officials blame the rise on metro Detroit's miserable economy that continues to cost people their jobs. Since last winter, unemployment rose 33% -- to 288,000 people -- for the tri-county area, according to state employment data.

Public agencies, nonprofits and faith-based groups are scrambling to find enough money to keep the heat on for as many families as possible.

But many fall between the cracks. Last year, for example, DTE Energy shut off utilities for 221,000 households because of delinquent payments, a 36% increase over 2008.

Experts expect another increase this year.

"Many people who are looking for help have never been in this position before," says Gisgie Dávila Gendreau, spokeswoman for the state Department of Human Services. "We're seeing a sharp increase in demand across the state."

In response to the demand and in an effort to curtail heating costs for lower-income residents, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services sent Michigan $74 million in emergency funds to add to an existing $283 million for energy assistance. Much of that money is to go toward helping residents weatherize their homes

Although some of that money is expected to help tens of thousands of families statewide, officials say it's far short of what is needed.

Wanda Goodnough is one of the lucky ones. She received state funding for help with her heating bill that reaches up to $600 a month. When she bought a century-old home in Mt. Clemens in 1996, she discovered it wasn't insulated. She has been unable to afford the installation.

"When I think of it, there is no way I could have made it through this without the Lord," says Goodnough, 43, who works as a cook at Macomb County's juvenile center. "God has blessed me."

The state's largest nonprofit for energy assistance, The Heat and Warmth Fund (THAW), is experiencing the highest demand for help since it was established 25 years ago. Volunteers are scurrying to raise more money.

"There is a much greater need than the current funding provides," says program director Karen Bitner. "We are in a very tough situation."

Unlike some states, Michigan does not require private utility providers, such as DTE Energy and Consumers Energy, to keep heat on during the winter for most residents who are behind on their bills. The energy providers, however, are not allowed to shut off power to senior citizens in the winter and must offer payment plans to lower-income people.

"This is a time of unprecedented need in our state, and we are committed more than ever to help our customers manage their energy bills," says DTE Energy spokesman Scott Simons. "There is no one that can tackle this problem alone. It really is a community effort."

As for Lowe, he says he plans to find help with his bills.

Contact STEVE NEAVLING: 586-826-7255 or sneavling@freepress.com

Cold reality intrudes on warm family scene

2010-02-01T13:29:00.003-05:00

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

Leadership Next advocates for education

2010-01-29T15:36:00.000-05:00

Before the holidays, a group of Leadership Next members and United Way staff traveled to Lansing to advocate for the education reform proposals championed by Leadership Next. The legislation and language that we advocated for was part of the Race to the Top reform package proposed by the Michigan Legislature in order to compete for a portion of the federal Race to the Top grant.

The legislation we advocated for includes mandates that allow the state to take over failing schools and language supporting alternative teacher certification.

Click here to read more.

Tax time offers a new way to give to United Way

2010-01-29T15:33:00.000-05:00

When filing your 2009 state tax return be sure to ask about Form 4626, which allows taxpayers to donate all or part of their 2009 tax return to the United Way Fund. The United Way Fund has been created to assist low to moderate income families in Michigan with basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter.

Click here to continue reading.

United Way takes a stand against hunger

2010-01-29T15:32:00.003-05:00

At this moment, 1 in 6 Southeast Michigan residents aren't sure where their next meal will come from. Not because they're trying to decide what restaurant to go to for lunch, or what to cook for dinner, but because they don't have the resources for more than one meal a day.

It's known as food insecurity, and it's affecting more and more people every day. In fact, it's anticipated that the number of food insecure residents in Southeast Michigan could grow to 1 in 3 by 2013.

In 2009, unemployment doubled in Southeastern Michigan, as the state and nation were hit with an increasingly bad economy. Calls to our 2-1-1 call center have quadrupled since its launch in 2005, and for the past few months, the top request has been for food assistance.

In response to these alarming statistics, United Way has formed an unprecedented public-private partnership with Bank of America and the Ford Motor Company Fund. Together, we are leading a regional effort to improve access to food through three strategies:

Click here to continue reading.

Get involved

Give
Join United Way in addressing metro Detroit's growing hunger crisis through immediate and long-term strategies that improve access to food in our region. Give today!
Advocate
School-based nutrition programs provide nutritious meals to kids in need, yet many still can’t access these meals. Advocate for policies that help kids take advantage of this important source of food. Advocate now.
Volunteer
Start a One Can A Week food collection program in your neighborhood and help your local food pantry feed metro Detroit's hungry. Learn more and get started.

Career opportunity: Special FINSC 211 Counselor

2010-01-29T15:25:00.000-05:00

Working in a fast-paced call center environment, the Special FINSC 211 Counselor is responsible to answer incoming telephone calls, assess the individual’s human service needs, and refer the caller to one or more service agencies. Makes outbound call-backs and follow-up calls. This position is needed in order to help with the overload of calls to 211 as a result of increased activity around foreclosure assistance.

Click here to learn more.

Shareable.net: Building "We Space" in Michigan

2010-01-29T14:14:00.002-05:00

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.

Everyday Leadership with Dan Mulhern: Corporate Volunteering

2010-01-27T14:43:00.001-05:00

In this podcast, Dan Mulhern is joined by Diana Kern (Vice President of Programs - NEW), Randy Dillard (Director of Volunteer Services - United Way [for] Southeastern Michigan), David Carroll (Vice President of Administration and Special Projects - Quicken Loans), and Tom Dekar (Regional Managing Principal - Deloitte).

Listen Now

REVIEW: Volunteering on MLK Day at Osborn HS

2010-01-27T14:17:00.002-05:00

Volunteer Jackie shares a reflection on her recent King Day of Service experience:

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said "Life's most persistent & urgent question is- What are you doing for others?" If you follow me on Twitter or receive my weekly newsletter, you know that I stress giving back to the community. So on this Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I decided that my son and I would volunteer with American Express, United Way for Southeastern Michigan and City Year Detroit to beautify Osborn High School on Detroit’s eastside.

Click here to continue reading.

Will Teach for America Come Back?

2010-01-26T19:08:00.004-05:00

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.

Michigan Realized $1 BILLION in Savings through Early Childhood Education

2010-01-25T23:37:00.000-05:00

Investments in school readiness over the past 25 years helped Michigan realize cost savings and revenue of $1.15 billion, according to the Wilder Research Study, "Cost savings analysis of school readiness in Michigan," commissioned by Early Childhood Investment Corporation.

Where did we see those savings? In K-12 Education ($221 million), Reduced Govt Spending and Increased Tax Revenues ($594 million), and Reduced Social Costs to Public ($347 million).

Career opportunity: Homeless Outreach Associate

2010-01-25T17:15:00.001-05:00

The Homeless Outreach Associate will own responsibilities encompassing ground-level work in assisting clients, analyzing data and monitoring program outcomes, and community-based job development. Click here to learn more.

Panera Bread Promotes Early Childhood Education in Metro Detroit

2010-01-24T20:20:00.002-05:00

Panera Bread is supporting United Way for Southeastern Michigan's Early Learning Communities program by hosting FREE Family Fun Days on the second Saturday of each month during the school year.

From 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. on select dates, children will participate in educational crafts and reading activities. While the children play, parents will have the opportunity to learn about the Early Learning Communities program and how to best prepare children for school. The events are open to all ages.

The Early Learning Communities is a network of neighborhood-based hubs providing free training and resources to parents and caregivers of children aged birth to five. Research shows that the first three years of life are critical to a child's ultimate success in school and in life, making it an important time to intervene to guarantee long-term achievement. The Early Learning Communities was started to ensure that all children enter kindergarten ready to succeed.

United Way for Southeastern Michigan is Panera Bread's Operation Dough-Nation® partner in metro Detroit. For all donations made to Panera's Community Breadbox, located near the registers, Panera matches a portion back to UWSEM.

Panera Family Fun Day dates and locations:

Feb. 13 | 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Panera location:
Rochester Hills, 2508 S. Adams Rd.
[Download a flyer: PaneraFeb.pdf]

March 13 | 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Panera location:
Southgate, 13665 Eureka Rd.

April 10 | 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Panera locations:
Dearborn Heights, 26580 Ford Rd.
Sterling Heights, 36808 Van Dyke Ave.
Livonia, 37091 Six Mile Rd.
Farmington Hills, 37611 Twelve Mile Rd.
Allen Park, 3112 Fairlane Dr.

May 8 | 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Panera location:
Roseville, 31960 Gratiot Ave.

June 12 | 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Panera location:
Southfield, 23719 Greenfield Rd. (between 9½ Mile and Greenfield, located in a shopping plaza)

Sept. 11 | 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Panera locations:
Woodhaven, 23061 Allen Rd.
Troy, 823 East Big Beaver Rd. (located in the Troy Commons Plaza)

Oct. 9 | 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Panera location:
Livonia, 28551 Schoolcraft Rd.

Nov. 13 | 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Panera location:
Farmington Hills - KT Plaza, 34635 Grand River Ave.

Dec. 11 | 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Panera locations:
Orion, 4804 S. Baldwin Rd.
Canton, 41950 Ford Rd.

Who's caring for and educating Metro Detroit's children?

2010-01-23T19:00:00.000-05:00

In Michigan, 65,000 children in poverty are supported by the child care subsidy program. 65% of these children are being cared for by family, friends and neighbors. In Metro Detroit, we have about 15,000 FFN subsidy providers.

They (FFNs) have an important job - providing high quality early learning development opportunities for the children in their care, setting the foundation for success in both school and life. The problem is, most of them aren't aware of this most important role. They see themselves as helping out their daughter, friend or neighbor who's looking for or is working. In addition, they are at a significant disadvantage - in poverty, undereducated, in crisis - to focus on being a quality caregiver.

Click here to continue reading.

62, homeless, and nobody to talk to

2010-01-22T13:42:00.000-05:00

I could sense that she was hurting, and she told me she didn't have anyone to talk to. She's been an alcoholic her whole life, inherited from her mother who was also an alcoholic. At times she had been addicted to both drugs and alcohol, and experienced the darkness that comes along with those habits. She entered detox at Salvation Army after her addiction to alcohol led her into homelessness. She was such a sweet lady, and considered her time at Salvation Army to be a time when God wanted to use her despite the discomfort of the shelter environment. She told me about how she had become the peacemaker at the shelter, quieting arguments and being a source of comfort and support for one particular woman there.

Click here to continue reading.

Madonna students volunteer on MLK Day

2010-01-22T13:21:00.002-05:00

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).

United Way Receives Unprecedented Financial and In-Kind Support from Bank of America and the Ford Motor Co Fund to Address the Issue of Hunger

2010-01-20T14:29:00.006-05:00

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release

Event Photos

Media Contact:
Laura L. Rodwan
313-226-9484 or 313-477-2750

More than 700,000 people in the metro Detroit area are currently in need of food

DETROIT, Jan. 20, 2010 - United Way for Southeastern Michigan today announced the formation of an unprecedented public-private partnership between Bank of America and the Ford Motor Company Fund to address the growing food crisis in our region. Food insecurity affects more than 700,000 people in southeast Michigan. As the unemployment rate rises, the need for food increases dramatically. United Way estimates that currently one in six people face hunger problems.

United Way is leading the effort to improve food aid in three areas:

Utilization (significantly increase the use of existing federal food assistance programs and raise awareness of how to access them);
Distribution (double the amount of food provided through formal food distribution channels by aggressively addressing issues of supply, capacity and access); and
Expansion (adding programs and services to address growing community need).

Bank of America and the Ford Motor Company Fund have made substantial financial and in-kind contributions to support these efforts. Bank of America is making a $400,000 contribution and the Ford Motor Company Fund is making an in-kind donation of five specially-designed transport vehicles along with a financial contribution for a combined total value of $211,000.

Responding to the rising demand for food, United Way is taking a two-pronged approach by focusing its efforts on food assistance and early childhood programs. United Way projects that the need will exist for many years to come. The organization's goal is to link agencies, identify gaps in capacity and develop innovative ways to effectively address the issue. The funds from Bank of America will be applied to school programs in critical need of food support. The donated vehicles and funds from Ford Motor Company Fund will provide a model for revamping the food delivery transport system that could be replicated on a national scale.

"Bank of America remains focused and proactive on providing relevant, meaningful support to help individuals and families navigate difficult times," said Kieth Cockrell, Michigan Market President for Bank of America. "In these times of a shifting economy, the need to address our food distribution and access systems is critical to the health and vitality of our community. We are proud to support United Way, both financially and through the dedication and efforts of our associates. We hope this contribution will inspire other companies to join us, in partnership and address this basic need so that our youth, mothers, fathers, workers and families have access to fresh, nutritious and affordable food options."

"As part of our realignment into a community-impact organization through the Agenda for Change, United Way will continue to take the lead in unprecedented, innovative work throughout the region to address the food crisis," said Mike Brennan, president and CEO of United Way for Southeastern Michigan. "Through the generosity of Bank of America and the Ford Motor Company Fund, we are laying the groundwork for long-term success by working to redesign a system that is currently under tremendous stress."

"There isn't an issue that is more critical at this time in this region than hunger," said Jim Vella, President, Ford Motor Company Fund and Community Services. "At Ford, we want to be part of the solution to the hunger problem by ensuring that every single person in need gets at least one meal a day. Our five Mobile Transit Connect Pantries—which are on the road right now - will help us structurally change the way food is delivered and also how food is recovered."

In 2009, The Kresge Foundation and W.K. Kellogg Foundation joined forces to fund ($500,000 and $250,000 respectively) a study performed by McKinsey & Co. to evaluate the food assistance service gaps that United Way is now focused on bridging.

A meeting was held today to update community partners on United Way's food work. Representatives from Kresge, Bank of America, the Ford Motor Company Fund and other corporate and community partners were in attendance.
During his remarks to this group of key stakeholders, Brennan communicated the need for continued reform. "Now, more than ever, the success of the region in the 21st century will require us to address our communities' most pressing need for food assistance by taking rapid action and unprecedented approaches to systemic change."

About United Way for Southeast Michigan
United Way for Southeastern Michigan mobilizes the caring power of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties to improve lives in measurable and lasting ways throughout the region. The organization is led by a diverse group of volunteers from business, labor, government, human services, education and the community. United Way provides opportunities to invest in the metropolitan Detroit community through its annual Campaign and is a leader in convening partners to impact local residents each year by increasing economic self-sufficiency, protecting children and youth at risk, strengthening families, empowering neighborhoods and communities, and promoting health and wellness. Additional information is available at www.uwsem.org.

About Bank of America Corporate Philanthropy
Building on a long-standing tradition of investing in the communities it serves, last year Bank of America embarked on a new, ten-year goal to donate $2 billion to nonprofit organizations engaged in improving the health and vitality of their neighborhoods. Funded by Bank of America, the Bank of America Charitable Foundation gave more than $200 million in 2008, making the bank the most generous financial institution in the world and the second largest donor of all U.S. corporations in cash contributions. Bank of America approaches investing through a national strategy called "neighborhood excellence" under which it works with local leaders to identify and meet the most pressing needs of individual communities. Bank associate volunteers contributed more than 900,000 hours in 2008 to enhance the quality of life in their communities nationwide. For more information about Bank of America Corporate Philanthropy, please visit www.bankofamerica.com/foundation.

About Ford Motor Company Fund and Community Services
Ford Motor Company Fund and Community Services is a community relations and philanthropic nonprofit funded by Ford Motor Company. Celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2009, Ford Fund supports initiatives and institutions that foster and promote innovation in education, greater automotive safety and American heritage and diversity. National programs include Ford Partnership for Advance Studies (Ford PAS), which provides a 21st century skills-based curriculum to more than 40,000 high school students; and Ford Driving Skills for Life, which has taught safe driving skills to more than 337,000 young drivers. In addition, the Ford Volunteer Corps, established in 2005, enlists the help of thousands of Ford employees and retirees who volunteer their time to continue Ford's legacy of community service worldwide. For more information about programs made possible by Ford Motor Company Fund and Community Services, please visit www.community.ford.com.

###

His dream lives on

2010-01-20T11:37:00.003-05:00

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.

Detroit and the office of the future

2010-01-18T16:31:00.001-05:00

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.

Help the people of Haiti

2010-01-13T16:24:00.001-05:00

On the evening of January 12, 2010, a major 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti. It is the most powerful quake to hit the impoverished country in more than 200 years. The tremor struck 15km (10 miles) south-west of the capital Port-au-Prince, and was quickly followed by two strong aftershocks of 5.9 and 5.5 magnitude. Reports describe the destruction to affect as much as 70 percent of the buildings, with debris filling the roads making emergency response difficult. The Prime Minister reported on January 13 that hundreds of thousands of lives may have been lost.

You can help people affected by donating to the United Way Worldwide Disaster Fund.

Gifts to the Fund support long-term recovery efforts to rebuild lives and infrastructure devastated by disaster and to address educational, financial and health-related challenges.

McGregor Fund approves $1 million in grants to Detroit area organizations

2010-01-11T11:47:00.001-05:00

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/20100108/FREE/100109915

By Sherri Welch

The Detroit-based McGregor Fund approved $1.09 million in grants in December.

The grants support human services, education, arts, public benefit and health care.

The grants are:

• $300,000 to the Coalition on Temporary Shelter in Detroit to support operation of the emergency shelter and supportive services for the homeless.

• $250,000 over two years to Madonna University in Livonia to support development of new science courses and other enhancements in conjunction with opening a new science building.

• $100,000 to the Detroit Historical Society to support general operations of the Detroit Historical Museums.

• $100,000 to Detroit-based United Way for Southeastern Michigan to fund development of a citywide education strategy for Detroit.

• $85,000 to Pontiac-based Haven Inc. to support shelter and programs for survivors of domestic violence and sexual abuse.

• $60,000 to the Southwest Detroit Business Association to support traveling performance opportunities for participants in the Center of Music & Performing Arts-Southwest.

• $60,000 to Turning Point Inc. in Mt. Clemens to support shelter and programs for survivors of domestic violence and sexual abuse.

• $50,000 to World Medical Relief Inc. in Detroit to support the Affordable Prescription Program which provides low-cost medication prescriptions for uninsured, low-income adults in metropolitan Detroit.

• $45,000 to United Negro College Fund Inc. in Detroit to support scholarships for Detroit-area youth to attend historically black private colleges and universities.

• $40,000 to Ann Arbor-based Nonprofit Enterprise at Work Inc. to provide board assessment, building, development and training services for nonprofit organizations in southeast Michigan.

Wayne County news briefs: Federal food program sending $2 million to service agencies

2010-01-11T11:42:00.002-05:00

http://www.freep.com/article/20100110/NEWS02/1100526/1001/News/Wayne-County-news-briefs-Federal-food-program-sending-2-million-to-service-agencies

COMPILED FROM REPORTS BY CHRISTINA HALL AND GANNETT NEWSPAPERS

Public and private social service organizations are to receive more than $2 million in federal funds from the Emergency Food and Shelter Program to supplement and expand ongoing efforts to house and feed needy people.

Organizations in Oakland County are to receive nearly $1.1 million, and those in Macomb County are to receive $940,777, according to a news release from U.S. Rep. Sander Levin.

A local board, chaired by the United Way for Southeastern Michigan, will divide the allocation among the groups. They can use the money for mass shelter, mass feeding, food distribution through food pantries and food banks, one-month utility payments to prevent cutoffs and one-month rent or mortgage help to prevent eviction.

The United Way for Southeastern Michigan is accepting grant applications on behalf of the Macomb and Oakland Emergency Food and Shelter Program Local Boards.

A group must be a nonprofit or government agency, have the capacity to provide emergency food and/or shelter services, have at least one full-time, paid staff member and use the money to supplement and extend existing resources, not substitute or reimburse ongoing programs and services. Applications are due Wednesday.

Job posting: Director of Donor Relations

2010-01-08T15:31:00.001-05:00

The Director of Donor Relations will establish a strategy surrounding Leadership Giving’s (1K to 10K) donor pool; evaluate donor capacity to increase donors’ giving and personal commitment to United Way for Southeastern Michigan. S/he will establish a volunteer committee to assist and participate in growing the base of support.

In addition, s/he will work closely with Alexis de Tocqueville Society Committee members on targeted projects including lapsed donors and the identification and engagement of new prospects.

Click here for more information.

2009: Year in review

2009-12-29T22:37:00.004-05:00

	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

2009-12-29T11:21:00.002-05:00

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

2009-12-28T10:23:00.003-05:00

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

2009-12-21T15:41:00.005-05:00

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.

2009-12-16T17:56:00.004-05:00

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

2009-12-16T16:43:00.003-05:00

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:

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

2009-12-16T12:17:00.003-05:00

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

2009-12-15T15:45:00.002-05:00

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

2009-12-14T15:44:00.002-05:00

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

2009-12-14T15:37:00.002-05:00

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

2009-12-11T13:18:00.003-05:00

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

Catch the hope, Detroit

2009-11-20T15:55:00.002-05:00

Mayor Bing has made fixing schools a top priority. Emergency Financial Manager Bobb is bringing some real accountability to the system. Some public and public charter schools are modeling excellence.

Let's build on that momentum.

Help us develop a comprehensive citywide education plan to transform our schools. For all kids... all neighborhoods. Choose from one of six community meetings:

Mon., Nov. 30 Osborn High School, 11600 E. 7 Mile Rd.
Tues., Dec. 1 YouthVille, Detroit, 7375 Woodward
Wed., Dec. 2 Southeastern High School, 3030 Fairview St.
Thurs., Dec. 3 Most Holy Redeemer Church, 1721 Junction St.
Mon., Dec. 7 Henry Ford High School, 20000 Evergreen Rd.
Tues., Dec. 8 Detroit Community High School, 12675 Burt Rd.

Free dinner (5:30 - 6:00) and child care, plus $300 worth of Visa gift cards, including an early-bird raffle.

All meetings from 6 - 8 p.m. No speeches or lectures, just small group discussions to get your input.

Learn more and take our online survey at http://www.excellentschoolsdetroit.org/.

Click the following links for a downloadable event flyer in English or in Spanish to share.

A partnership of Arise Detroit, City of Detroit, Detroit Edison Public School Academy, Detroit Parent Network, Detroit Public Schools, Kellogg Foundation, Kresge Foundation, McGregor Fund, Michigan Future, Inc., New Detroit, New Urban Learning and University Prep, Skillman Foundation, Think Detroit PAL and United Way for Southeastern Michigan.

Help improve access to food for young children

2009-11-17T13:25:00.001-05:00

From the blog of Annemarie Harris:

I just emailed Senators Stabenow and Levin asking them to improve the Child and Adult Care Food Program, which provides young children with access to nutritious meals. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced legislation that would improve young children's access to nutritious meals in child care centers, family child care homes, and Head Start and Early Head Start programs. With your help, we can gain support for the Access to Nutritious Meals for Young Children Act of 2009 (S. 2749). Please take action yourself and spread the word! For more information, check out National Women's Law Center.

Crain's Best-Managed Nonprofits: Rewarding winning ways

2009-11-16T12:30:00.010-05:00

Visit CrainsDetroit.com to read the complete article [subscription required] or click here to download a PDF copy of the story.

This year's Crain's Best- Managed Nonprofit Contest looked for nonprofits that have taken specific steps to improve operations and delivery of services in a slow economy.

As the best-managed nonprofit of 2008, Detroit Public TV/WTVS-Channel 56 will be honored at Crain's Newsmaker of the Year lunch next year and will receive a cash prize of $1,500: $1,000 from Crain's and $500 from Gary Dembs, president of the Non-Profit Personnel Network in Southfield. Dembs also served as a judge.
Runner-up

Adult Well-Being Services: Implemented a program to decrease the number of mentally ill people cycling in and out of two Detroit Medical Center emergency rooms.

The finalists

ArtServe Michigan: Created a more unified voice for arts groups.
GreenPath Debt Solutions: Reacted quickly to rising consumer demand.
United Way for Southeastern Michigan: Expanded services of 2-1-1 hot line.
Michigan Humane Society: Offered pet care cost assistance to owners facing hardship.

2-1-1 assistance hot line takes off for United Way

2009-11-16T12:30:00.009-05:00

United Way for Southeastern Michigan has been selected as one of the 2009 Best-Managed Nonprofits by 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.

Crain's Detroit Business evaluated our business model for 2-1-1 and 2-1-1 On the Go! programming. The selection of Finalists was based on a variety of criteria. Among them: finding ways to do more with less, collaborative efforts and cost-sharing strategies, and modifications in programming that has resulted in the organization being better-able to meet the needs of its service recipients. We excelled in all categories - and the competition was extremely competitive.

To learn more about the 2009 Best-Managed Nonprofits, please read Crain's Best-Managed Nonprofits: Rewarding winning ways. Below is an excerpt from Crain's Detroit Business about our 2-1-1 and 2-1-1 On the Go! programming.

+++

FOCUS: Best-Managed Nonprofits
Visit CrainsDetroit.com to read the complete article [subscription required] or click here to download a PDF copy of the story.

After launching the 2-1-1 health and human services hot line to provide residents with referrals to local programs and services, United Way for Southeastern Michigan took the initiative further than any of its other national affiliates with its launch of 2-1-1 On The Go.

The local 2-1-1 call center is available around the clock, seven days a week, and is a multilingual, anonymous referral service linking callers to other organizations that can assist them or that could use volunteers.

Four years after the launch of the 2-1-1 call center for residents of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties, United Way is able to provide referrals to more than 30,000 local programs and services.

Through the center, United Way this year assisted 371,000 callers looking for social services assistance or even volunteer opportunities, up from 69,147 its first year.

I once heard there's enough food for everyone

2009-11-02T18:47:00.001-05:00

Food's a big deal in metro Detroit - a BIG deal. In fact, 1 in 5 children live in a household where it is not known where they will find their next meal. And the situation is only going to get worse as our economy continues to tumble in metro Detroit.

In the coming months you'll hear a lot more from United Way about this issue and what it is we can all do to make sure that everyone has enough to eat.

Mike Schmitt is doing something about the food problem in metro Detroit. Mike leads Elevate Ministries, a group that brings together different churches and organizations to help college students and young adults make a difference in their church and community. Click here to read about Mike and Elevate's work through Mike's own words.

Guest blog: Mike Schmitt of Elevate Ministries

2009-11-02T18:17:00.005-05:00

About two years ago I read a book called Irresistible Revolution. It's a Christian book, but this book was different. The author didn't seem to be trying to win an argument or prove something right. Instead, he was simply telling the story of the journey that he and some of his friends had been on. He seemed to be real. He wasn't putting on the fake pretend everything's good because you say you love Jesus face. In the first paragraph of the book it even says something about Jesus pooping and it smelled. I thought that was kind of funny at the time and sadly... I thought it was a novel idea.

There were a bunch of us friends that had all read the book about the same time. Nothing organized or anything, it just happened that way. About the time we finished reading it, my friend John sent out a Facebook invite to this thing he called "BBQ in the D." Basically, we were all feeling inspired to do something about this new light that had been shed on the Jesus we claimed to follow. We were needing an outlet and here was an idea. We knew where there was this empty lot in Detroit and there always seemed to be a few homeless guys there hanging out under the pine trees. We were going to get together some food and borrow a grill and have a BBQ. We were just going to invite them to hang out with us for the afternoon and tell them to invite their friends too. No strings attached; no agenda; no ulterior motives; just a time amongst friends.

None of us really knew what to expect. I think if I'm going to be honest, I'd have to say I thought it was more likely for us to get beat up or arrested than for it to actually go well. But it did go well. In fact, it's a little embarrassing now to even admit what I thought before that first BBQ. But around 40 people came to the "BBQ in the D" and we all had a great time.

Now during this time I was leading this ministry called Elevate. Elevate brings together different churches and organizations to help college students and young adults make a difference in their church and community. It was spring time and we had just decided to do backyard BBQs once a month through the summer as sort of mixers with the different partnering groups and churches. These backyard BBQs had nothing to do with homelessness or Detroit or anything like that.

Now, Elevate is a very organic group and doesn't have any sort of budget. So five of us got together and did a can and bottle drive to get some money together and buy food for our first backyard BBQ. That backyard BBQ was a smashing success. We had about 90 people come and were excited for the next one. We also had a bunch of extra food. I have a large freezer in my basement that I don't use so I took the food home and packed it in my freezer to use at the next backyard BBQ. I was trying to be wise with what little resources Elevate had.

It was two weeks later after this first backyard BBQ when the "BBQ in the D" happened. I wasn't making much money at the time and so I just came without bringing anything for food. I figured I couldn't afford to do much, but I could give my time so that's all I'd do. I'd spent some time volunteering at homeless things before so I thought I knew about what to expect. In the past it was always with a mission or a goal - to serve a meal, to tell them about God, to build a house - always with a goal. But this was different. This time the reason wasn't to do something. It was to be something. It was just to get to know people. To learn names and hear stories. The goal, if you can call it that, was to share love and hope.

Like I said before, the "BBQ in the D" went great. It was a gorgeous day in June, the sun was shining and there could not have been better weather. While the weather was everything we had hoped for and dared to expect, nothing else about that day was like I had expected.

I found myself standing line waiting for food having a conversation with a homeless guy. All day I had heard people say things like, "I'm so glad you guys are here, I haven't had anything to eat today." Or "If you guys hadn't come today I wouldn't have gotten anything to eat."

And so I've sort of got my back to the food and I'm talking to this guy who's homeless. There's another guy standing just behind him in line sort of listening in. The guy in back waits for a lull in the conversation and then tells me that he's glad we're here because he hasn't had anything to eat today. Right then, in that same moment as I'm sort of hearing him out of my left ear, out of my right ear just behind me I hear someone else say, "I'm sorry, but we're out of food." When I heard that I was still looking at the same homeless guy, I'll never forget his face. But in my mind's eye all I could see was my freezer at home. It was packed with hot dogs, hamburgers, buns, potato salad... all the same food others had brought that day. Right then I knew that the reason that guy wasn't going to get any food that day wasn't because of any mistakes or bad luck he'd had. It wasn't because some rich guy wouldn't give more to charity. And it wasn't because of any government program or lack thereof. The reason that guy didn't get anything to eat that day was because I hadn't brought the food I had to share. I wasn't trying to be selfish. I was trying to be smart with the resources God had given us. And instead I ended up hoarding them. It wasn't that I didn't care for the poor. I did. That's why I was there that day. But the reality is that the poor and homeless were so far off my radar that it hadn't even occurred to me to bring the food I had to share. I once heard something that I believe to be true. It said that there actually is enough food in the world for everyone. The problem is one of mere distribution.

In that moment I made a decision. I decided that Elevate would never again buy food for people who could buy it for themselves. I decided Elevate would continue to have BBQs through that summer like we'd planned. But instead of being in a backyard, we were going to move them south about 15 miles. We were still going to invite our friends, but we'd also invite a bunch of homeless people we didn't already know... and now 2 years and 77 BBQS later, we get the privilege of inviting homeless people we do know. I first came to the BBQ in the D to share love and hope. And that's what I did. But what I have found is that the homeless people I've met along the way share love and hope with me as well.

That day sparked a movement. And I don't mean because of me at all. That day I simply realized that a broke college student could use the friends he had and the resources he'd been given to change the world. And that day that's what I started trying to do.

The whole world hasn't changed yet... But for the crack dealer named Thaddeus, my friend who no longer deals crack, the world has changed. For the hopeless suicidal felon that learned there is hope and has decided to be a father, it's changed. For his daughter who still has a father, it's changed. For the guy who was down on his luck and questioning whether there was any good left in the world, it's changed. And for literally a couple hundred college students who have learned their little bit really can lead to a difference and change someone's life now, rather than having to wait till they're older and have a "real" job, the world is a very different place.

I will always remember that beautiful afternoon and that moment. It is a moment that sparked a movement. A movement that is trying to change the world for one person at a time... through a message of hope and love in the poorest city in the country over a shared meal.

Mike Schmitt runs the homeless BBQs for Elevate Ministries. You can learn more about Mike and his program on Elevate's Facebook group. Contact Mike at mike@elevatedetroit.com.

Are you a numbers person?

2009-10-30T12:22:00.000-04:00

Tax season is just around the corner. Volunteer to prepare taxes and help low-income families gain additional income by claiming important tax credits. Training is provided. Volunteer today!

Ask away

2009-10-30T12:21:00.003-04:00

Most people give to United Way because they're asked, especially when the ask comes from a friend or relative. Ask your friends and family to Live United by creating an online fundraiser.

Race to the top

2009-10-30T12:21:00.002-04:00

Support our high school turnaround efforts. Advocate for policy changes that can turn around our poor performing schools and make us competitive for federal funding. Write a letter today.

Volunteer with Leadership Next, November 14

2009-10-30T12:18:00.000-04:00

Leadership Next has partnered with Gleaners Community Food Bank to provide an impactful morning of volunteering for individuals on Nov. 14. Volunteers will be packing food boxes to be distributed to local food pantries.

Saturday, November 14
8 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Gleaners: Joan & Wayne Webber Distribution Center
24162 Mound Rd. (located behind the Salvation Army Warren Service Center)
Warren, MI 48091

RSVP here. Please reply promptly so that we can ensure meaningful work awaits all of our volunteers! Participants should wear jeans and closed toe shoes.

Sharing Best Practices: Edw. C. Levy Company

2009-10-30T12:17:00.001-04:00

This column profiles a campaign that gets results while utilizing innovative strategies. We hope that by hearing from your peers, you gain some fresh ideas to use in your own campaign. If you'd like to be featured in an upcoming Best Practices profile, contact your United Way liaison.

This month, our conversation is with Patricia Sonntag, coordinator of H.R. and Performance Improvement at Edw. C. Levy Co. In 2009, 1,100 employees pledged over $240,000. Five locations had 100 percent participation.

Why United Way? Levy’s mission statement challenges its employees to: “Repay the communities that support us by operating safe and environmentally sound business while sharing our success with worthy charitable causes.” There are many charitable causes that the Levy organization supports throughout the year, but United Way is special. The organization has a reputation of making the best use of the monies donated, our employees can choose where they want their contributions to go, and it is a national organization, which means all Levy locations, in 10 states, can participate. For these reasons, and many others, Levy has been supporting United Way for more than 40 years.

Do you set a goal for your United Way campaign? In years past, we have set goals to increase donations by a certain percent. However, this year our chief operating officer sent a letter to employees emphasizing the poor economy and that our friends, neighbors and families are in need. We believe it's up to us to help one another and that's why our current goal is 100 percent participation.

What campaign events do you conduct? Each year, Levy kicks off their UW campaign with a continental breakfast meeting. This year and in past years, our United Way representative graciously offers his time to come and speak to the group about United Way's work in the community. These visits truly inspire our managers and site representatives, giving them a real understanding as to where the dollars are being used. They are better equpped to return to their sites and approach each of their employees to ask for their support.

What vehicles do you use to communicate about the campaign to your workforce? Posters are displayed at all of our locations a week before the campaign to inform employees. As an added incentive, some of our locations hold raffles. For each $25 pledged, an employee receives one raffle ticket. At the end of the campaign, names are drawn for prizes.

What campaign challenges does your organization face and how do you overcome them? One of the challenges we face each year has been seasonal lay-offs. This year, we moved our campaign up earlier in the year as a way to reach employees who have not been able to participate in the past because of the lay-offs.

Shhhh... it's a flash mob

2009-10-30T12:16:00.000-04:00

If you like to dance, laugh, make a spectacle of yourself in public or, preferably, all three - we need you! United Way will be hosting a Thanksgiving morning flash mob again this year in downtown Detroit. It's a great way to start your holiday and we'll have you home in time for lunch.

If you are interested, email Ursula Adams at ursula.adams@LiveUnitedSEM.org or drop her a message on Facebook to get the details. In the meantime, check out the footage from last year's Thanksgiving Day flash mob on YouTube.

Running to Live United

2009-10-30T12:14:00.000-04:00

On October 18, more than 19,000 runners participated in the 32nd annual Detroit Free Press/Flagstar Marathon. Among those runners, nearly 30 demonstrated the Live United spirit by running on behalf of United Way. In addition, another 35 volunteers supplied plenty of spirit at cheer stations along the route.

For the first year United Way was a charity partner in the marathon, allowing individuals and teams to run and fundraise on our behalf. As our runners trained hard for the half marathon, full marathon or 5K events, they also worked to raise over $1,600 to support our work in education, income and basic needs.

Photos from the day can be found here. We are already planning next year’s marathon festivities. It’s never too early to start training. If you’d like to Live United at the 2010 Detroit marathon on October 17, click here and sign up!

Venture Fund launches first investments

2009-10-30T12:00:00.000-04:00

Hundreds of high school freshmen in Detroit and Warren are entering 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.

The Greater Detroit Education Venture Fund was created by United Way to turn around our region's 30 schools with dropout rates of 40 percent or more. With the help of United Way, participating schools will attain an 80 percent graduation rate within five years. The Fund provides support to schools who are approved partners and includes funding from AT&T, Ford Motor Company Fund, the Skillman Foundation, and United Way for Southeastern Michigan.

United Way's turnaround efforts are based on a proven model that has had success in other communities. The model centers on three components critical to creating high performing schools in high poverty areas:

Changing conditions within the schools so that administrators have control over their staff, students, and budget.
Providing a network of schools locally and nationally who are committed to the work and share best practices for success.
Increasing capacity of schools by bringing in an intermediary with turnaround experience to support the school and ensure it succeeds.

The launch of the small schools and learning communities is a step that changes conditions within the school environment to provide increased attention per student. In a typical school, many students may feel lost in the crowd and without a watchful eye, may falter. In the turnaround model, the smaller schools allow at least one teacher to mentor and advocate for each student for the duration of his or her high school career, increasing the student's chances for success. In addition, the schools employ hands-on, project- and inquiry-based instruction which helps students develop deeper critical thinking skills and apply their knowledge to the real world.

The new small schools in Detroit are:

Academy of Critical Thinkers at Cody High School
Detroit Institute of Technology at Cody High School
Academy of Medicine and Community Health at Cody High School
Academy of Public Leadership at Cody High School
Osborn Evergreen Academy of Design & Technology Academy
Osborn University of Science, Mathematics, & Technology Academy
Osborn College Preparatory Academy

In Warren, Van Dyke Public Schools are offering smaller learning environments through three learning communities. Lincoln High School is now made up of three small learning communities which consist of:

Design and Technology
Sports Medicine
Performing Arts

Each of these schools or communities has a dedicated principal who leads and guides the educational process within the individual school and is accountable for making sure students achieve. With passionate principals and faculty at the helm, there is a renewed commitment among the schools to this new personalized and rigorous learning environment that has proven so effective in other cities.

If you're interested in learning more about K-12 education reform and the success it's had in other cities, please join United Way and others on Nov. 2 for a screening of The Providence Effect, a movie that tells the amazing story of an inner-city school in Chicago. You can attend a preview and discussion from 4 p.m. - 5:30 p.m., or attend the movie screening at 7 p.m.

The digital meet 'n' greet: Ursula, webmaster

2009-10-30T01:51:00.000-04:00

Click here for part one of the Digital meet 'n' greet

Since I'll be the one taking you on this digital meet 'n' greet tour of United Way, maybe I should tell you a little about me first. My name is Ursula Adams and I'm the United Way for Southeastern Michigan webmaster. You can call me the Digital Diva.

On a personal note, I'm a 30-something, Gen X'er, wife, daughter, step-mom, homebody, computer geek, closet goddess, and wanna-be rock star (I can't sing to save my life, I just want the fancy clothes). My husband, Bryan, is a laid-off steel worker. My step-daughter is a student in one of our Turnaround schools. The work of United Way affects me very personally. I need this region to grow and prosper, I need our schools to graduate strong, prepared students, because my family'slivelihood depends on it every bit as much as yours does.

Click here to continue reading.

The digital meet 'n' greet: The beginning

2009-10-30T01:48:00.000-04:00

In my role as webmaster at United Way, I review every piece of electronic communication that comes to us via the website. If you fill out one of our contact forms, or make a donation, or comment on a blog post, or sign up for a newsletter or send a letter to your Senator using our online tools, I see it.

I monitor all the conversations that are taking place on the web about our organization as well. If there's a blog post, or comment on a news story, or a Tweet about United Way, chances are, I see that too.

It's one of my favorite, and least favorite, parts of my job.

It's my favorite because, admittedly, I'm nosey. I just like knowing what's going on. But, more than that, I love connecting with those that care enough about the work this organization and its volunteers are doing to drop us an email or make a donation or write about their experience with us online. I believe in the good work of United Way and I like to meet like-minded folks.

But then there are the neigh sayers and they make this part of my job so very unpleasant.

Click here to read more.

How to close the achievement gap for Hispanic kids: Start early

2009-10-26T11:33:00.001-04:00

There's a great study that was released this week by the University of California, Berkley and covered by the New York Times, Hispanic Immigrants' Children Fall Behind Peer Early, Study Finds.

What researchers discovered is that while Hispanic children are born healthy and on par with other American children, by age 2 they fall behind - and stay behind academically. What makes this so? Poverty is, of course, a factor. Another is that Hispanic mothers tend to have less formal schooling.

Click here to continue reading.

Michigan nonprofits reinventing themselves and education.

2009-10-20T13:00:00.000-04:00

All the bleak news coming out of the state Capitol only heightens the role of Michigan-based private and community foundations, which — while facing their own financial challenges — are rethinking their strategies for rebuilding lives and communities.

A big part of their efforts is directed at public schools.

The United Way of Southeastern Michigan has totally re-invented itself to focus on core priorities, including schools. It and the Skillman Foundation are key partners in an effort to turn large “drop-out factories” into smaller high schools where students are cared about and teachers are supported and held accountable.

Click here to read the whole story.

Lunchtime webinar series for Employee Campaign Coordinators kicks off October 28

2009-10-20T12:19:00.001-04:00

Do you run your work place's United Way campaign? If so, you are invited to join seasoned Employee Campaign Coordinators and Senior Development Officers from United Way for a series of lunchtime webinars focusing on the annual work place campaign and beyond.

Running a United Way campaign in a tough economy
Wednesday, October 28, 2009 | 12 p.m. - 1 p.m. EST

This webinar will focus on the challenges and opportunities of running a United Way work place campaign in today's tough economy. This webinar will last approximately 1/2 hour with an additional 30 minutes allotted at the end for group discussion and Q & A.

Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/722311161

Taking your United Way campaign to the next level
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 | 12 p.m. - 1 p.m. EST

Learn about the best practices that will move your United Way work place campaign from average to AWESOME! This webinar will last approximately 1/2 hour with an additional 30 minutes allotted at the end for group discussion and Q & A.

Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/669274952

Year-round employee engagement
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 | 12 p.m. - 1 p.m. EST

Learn how to connect your employees with United Way year-round through volunteerism, advocacy and other special opportunities. This webinar will last approximately 1/2 hour with an additional 30 minutes allotted at the end for group discussion and Q & A.

Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/819104873

Behind the Scenes of a homeless addict

2009-10-20T10:35:00.000-04:00

I was watching that show Intervention last night, which shows real drug addicts whose families have reached the end of their rope. They call on an intervention specialist to help them with the tough task of convincing the addict to check into a treatment facility. I usually don’t watch those real heavy shows, but this time I got sucked in.

Charlie - a rather young guy probably in his 20’s - was homeless and heavily addicted to heroin. Like many homeless addicts, he would spend every day begging enough money to feed his addiction. What was interesting was that the viewer got to see the back-story of this common act. His family was pretty normal and cared deeply about him. They lived in a nice suburban home where one would expect that everything under that roof was all clean and together. As much as they loved Charlie and hoped he would seek help, they had handed him over to the consequences of his own addiction, which meant allowing him to be homeless and reap what he was sowing for himself.

Click here to continue reading.