Incomes fall in Michigan, number in poverty rises

from the Galveston Daily News

While most states had steady poverty rates, the news wasn't good for our home state of Michigan. - Kale

By JOHN FLESHER

TRAVERSE CITY -- Government data painted a bleak economic picture for Michigan, where the auto industry's downward plunge has rippled across the state.

Michigan was the only state where poverty rose last year, as well as the only one where incomes fell, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics released Tuesday that illustrate the uniqueness of the state's economic swoon.

"It's really a depressing picture," said Amy Rynell, director of the Heartland Alliance Mid-America Institute on Poverty, an advocacy group based in Chicago.

Michigan's poverty rate was 14 percent, up from 13.5 percent in 2006 and more than a full percentage point above the national rate, which was virtually unchanged during the same period. The state's rate has grown steadily since 2000, when it was just above 10 percent. The number of people in poverty increased by 45,000 during 2006-07.

The 2007 median income in Michigan was $47,950, down 1.2 percent or $596 from the 2006 median of $48,546. The state's nationwide ranking slid from 24th to 27th.

Nationwide, the median household income rose to $50,233, a modest increase of $665 from the previous year, although it was the third consecutive annual rise. While the overall poverty rate held steady at 12.5 percent, Latinos, children and the foreign-born - demographic categories that overlap considerably - experienced significant increases.

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm has emphasized diversifying the state's economy, promoting growth of industries such as defense contracting, alternative energy and film production. The Democratic governor and lawmakers this year boosted tax incentives for businesses adding jobs.

Last week, Granholm announced 20 new business expansions or relocations expected to bring $658 million in new investment to the state.

Whether such improvements will be enough to offset continued gloomy news from the automotive sector remains to be seen. But the 2007 statistics, reported in the Census Bureau's annual American Community Survey, offer little reason for optimism.

They also showed Michigan's rate of "extreme poverty" - a yearly income of less than half the poverty threshold, or $10,325 for a family of four - jumped from 6 percent in 2006 to 6.5 percent last year. Eight years ago, the rate was 4.8 percent.

"We know that people with incomes that low are living in unsafe conditions," Rynell said. "Children probably are not getting enough healthy food to eat. People may be living in shelters. Seniors are likely skipping dosages of medication to make ends meet."

The child poverty rate increased from 17.8 percent to 19 percent between 2006-07, while the national rate stood at 17.6 percent.

Detroit's poverty rate of 33.8 percent was highest among cities of 250,000 or more, while Kalamazoo and Flint tied for fifth among cities of 65,000 to 249,999 people. Both had rates of 35.5 percent.

"We know that many people are struggling harder and harder just to get by, and more vulnerable people are turning to public services for help," said Sharon Parks, president and CEO of the Michigan League for Human Services. "This reinforces the need to strengthen our strained safety net, and policymakers must pay attention to these startling figures."

In another report released Tuesday, the Census Bureau said 11 percent of Michigan residents had no health insurance coverage in 2007 - up from 10.4 percent in 2006 and 9.1 percent at the beginning of the decade.

But that was one category in which Michigan fared better than most other states. The national average of uninsured citizens was 15.5 percent, and Michigan ranked 11th best nationally in providing health coverage.

More than 18 percent of Michigan residents get some type of assistance through the state Department of Human Services, said Sheryl Thompson, acting director of outstate operations.

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Bike riders know poverty can be a vicious cycle

from the Grand Rapids Press

Sea to Sea is traveling through my home state. So youknow I had to put a mention of it on here. - Kale

By Paul Kopenkoskey

PLAINFIELD TOWNSHIP -- Etched in Bill Dracht's memory is the quadruple heart bypass surgery he endured 20 years ago.

Surviving the operation is a clear signal to the 70-year-old that God did not want him to fritter away his retirement years with self-centered pursuits.

He said that's the reason he joined the Christian Reformed Church-sponsored Sea to Sea Bike Tour.

Plus, it's a chance to dispel the notion that white-haired people are old fogies whose best years are behind them, said Dracht, a retired general contractor who lives in Missaukee County.

"It really hit me how God has blessed me," said Dracht. "I never dreamed I would do something like this one day."

He has only one quibble: "The one thing the Lord doesn't have enough of is a backwind."

Dracht, his wife, Mary, and another 143 cyclists are pedaling 3,881 miles over nine weeks from Seattle to Jersey City, N.J., to raise funds for Christian Reformed Church-affiliated global anti-poverty agencies. About 50 bikers are from West Michigan and, so far, their efforts have raised $2.1 million.

The cyclists have collected money, and donations can be made online at www.crcna.org.

Another 65 cyclists will join them for the final leg of the trip, which concludes Aug. 30 at Liberty State Park.

About 3,000 people hailed the cyclists' efforts Sunday at Fifth Third Ballpark with a standing ovation.

The gathering included an appeal from urban activist Shane Claiborne, co-author of "Jesus for President," to help cast their religion in a new light for those who say many Christians are hypocritical and judgmental.

"We need to show them Christians believe in a God in heaven who cares about those on Earth," Claiborne said.

Bikers Doug and Joy Lutke, of Dorr, said enduring pockets of stifling heat and Colorado's energy-sapping mountains has been worth the front-row view of understanding poverty's root causes.

Their experiences included interacting with some of the 80 homeless people housed at Roseland CRC properties in suburban Chicago.

For Doug Lutke, it brought to the forefront Sea to Sea's slogan: "Cycling to end the cycle of poverty."

"What really made it for me is that evangelism is not just putting up a sign outside," he said. "It's been an eye-opening experience."

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Author shares secrets of childhood poverty

from the Muskegon Chronicle

By Susan Harrison Wolffis

or years, Jeannette Walls carried a secret, buried deep in her heart, hidden from view.

To the outside world, she was a highly successful journalist who wrote for the New York Magazine, Esquire and USA Today. She had her own column on MSNBC.com and was a regular guest on The Today Show, CNN and PrimeTimeLive.

Tall, elegant, television thin, she was a striking figure, someone who stood out from the rest of the Park Avenue crowd where she lived and worked in New York City.

But she had a secret she didn't dare tell.

Walls grew up mired in abject poverty, always hungry, her family usually a half-step ahead of the bill collectors -- and if they did have a roof over their collective heads, the house never had running water, a working bathroom or heat.

"I had no doubt that I'd be fired from my job, lose what friends I had, lose everything if people found out ... if they knew I was poor white trash," Walls said Thursday night to a capacity crowd of 400 at the Dogwood Center for Performing Arts in Fremont.

Walls, who is the author of the wildly successful book, "The Glass Castle," was the guest speaker at the Fremont Area Community Foundation's Speaker Series.

"I'm just a girl with a story," she told them.

And what a story it is.

"The Glass Castle" has been on The New York Times bestseller list for two years and has sold more than two million copies. It's been translated into 16 languages and is being made into a film by Paramount.

"It stuns me," she said. "I'm overwhelmed."

Walls managed to escape her home life, make it to college and find a career in journalism in New York City -- but one night, on her way to "a fancy outing," she looked out the window of her limousine and saw a bag lady, rummaging through a trash bin, looking for food or some cast-off treasure.

That bag lady was Walls' mother.

Walls ordered the driver to turn around and return to her Park Avenue apartment before her mother could look up and recognize her.

"The emotion that seized me was shame," Walls said. "Now I realize what a knuckle head I was. ... I think: What kind of monster was I as her daughter?"

Walls' parents had followed her -- and her three siblings -- to New York City years earlier. Even though Walls had offered help, housing, whatever they needed to better their lives, her parents chose to live in an abandoned building and forage for food and possessions by going through other people's trash.

That night in the taxi, Walls' secret was too heavy a burden to carry alone. She told her future husband, John Taylor, who urged her first to talk about her past, then to write about it.

"He completely pulled this story from me," she said in an interview before the speech.

One day, Walls met with her mother in a coffee shop and broached the subject of writing a book. She asked her mom what she should do; what she should write.

"Tell the truth," her mother said.

The hypocrisy of the conversation wasn't lost on her, Walls said. In plain language, she was an on-air gossip columnist for MSNBC, plus she wrote a column called "Scoop" for eight years. In 2000, she wrote "Dish," a book about celebrity gossip.

There she was, she said, "digging up stuff on Lindsay Lohan and I was hiding," she said. "I felt like a fraud."

As she started to write her story, not as fiction as she first attempted, but as a "story about a girl believing her dad," Walls came face to face with the cruelest piece of her past.

"Isolation of shame," she said. "If you keep secrets, they haunt you, but if you get them out, they're just something that happened."

Walls spoke Thursday night without notes, speaking at what can only be described as warp speed, slipping in and out of the West Virginia accent of her youth and the affected Park Avenue tone of her young adulthood -- and somehow finding humor in the most harrowing details of her childhood.

"sometimes truth is much more complicated than fiction," she said.

Walls has been on a nonstop speaking tour since "Glass Castle" was published in 2005. Last year, she had 91 speaking engagements. Her speech in Fremont was her 27th and final appearance of 2008, she said. She is headed home to northern Virginia where she and her husband -- and her mother -- now live.

Everywhere she goes, people urge her to write more about her adult years, more about how she ended up at Barnard College and working in television in New York City. During an interview Thursday, she confessed she'd written several chapters on her adulthood for "The Glass Castle" but they'd "fallen flat."

"There's no more to tell," she said.

Walls was inspired to start her new writing project when members of a book club told her they "understood her father," a brilliant alcoholic who "bequeathed" his children their own stars in the sky as Christmas presents when he had no money for gifts.

He promised his daughter that one day he'd build her a glass castle in the desert where they would live -- hence the name of the book, even if "alcoholism and other things got in the way of it being built," Walls said.

"But we don't understand your mother at all," the book club members told Walls.

When Walls was growing up, her mother would rather paint or read than find something for her children to eat. In one especially startling incident, Walls wrote about a time she and her siblings hadn't had anything to eat for several days -- and discovered their mother was eating chocolate candy bars she'd hidden from them.

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More of state's kids land in poverty, prison, survey finds

from the Detroit Free Press

BY L.L. BRASIER

More Michigan children are living in poverty, and more of the state's kids are incarcerated for nonviolent crimes than most other states.

That news is part of today's KIDS COUNT report, an annual state-by-state survey of the well-being of children ages 10 to 15 measuring things such as poverty, education, birth rates, death rates and pregnancies. There was good news too, though. Fewer teens are dying, and fewer are having babies than the national average.

Michigan again placed 27th nationwide for its overall treatment of children.

Among the most alarming trends: Michigan continues to incarcerate kids at a much higher rate than the national average and often for nonviolent crimes.

There are 137 children per 100,000 in some sort of state facility or detention in Michigan, compared with the national average of 125 per 100,000. That puts Michigan 33rd in that category.

"This is very expensive, not effective and it's dangerous," said Jane Zehnder-Merrell, a senior research associate with the Michigan League for Human Services and director of the state's KIDS COUNT project. Children housed in detention centers often do not get necessary services, such as mental health care, and end up back in the system.

Michigan's dismal economy is having a dramatic effect on kids as well. About 18% of the state's children are now poor, an increase of 29% in recent years. Poverty is defined as two parents and two children with an annual income of $20,000. Michigan ranks 30th in that category.

But among the good news, Michigan's teen death rate was 57 deaths per 100,000 among kids aged 15 to 19.

Zehnder-Merrell attributes that to graduated driver's license programs that require teenagers to drive under supervision for several months before obtaining their license, and an increase in the use of seat belts.

And there has been a 20% decline in teens giving birth.

"It's a combination of factors. Certainly there has been an emphasis on safe sex, and there are also a lot of local efforts to help young people make better decisions, so some are delaying becoming sexually active."

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Mich. food stamp use up 53% since 2003, rate well above US

from the Chicago Tribune

The number of Michigan households getting food stamps has risen 53 percent in the past five years, with one in eight state residents now aided by the nutrition assistance program, authorities say.

In all, 590,600 state households got food stamps in March, the Michigan Department of Human Services says. The households include 1.26 million people, or 12.5 percent of the state's 10.07 million residents.

Nationwide, 27.7 million people received food stamps in January -- or 9.2 percent of the nation's 300 million people.

Michigan's economic distress is more widespread than in past recessions, said Gerry Brisson, vice president for development at Gleaners Food Bank. The group supplies 400 food aid agencies.

"The big difference now is the number of people in suburbs who are feeling it," Brisson told the Detroit Free Press for a story Sunday. "Poverty in (Detroit) has been bad for a long time, but poverty in the suburbs is going up in Livingston, Oakland and Macomb counties."

Mike Remenar lives in the affluent Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe Woods and said he never thought he would find himself using food stamps to feed his family.

The 60-year-old auto parts designer said he has been unable to find suitable work since losing his job 10 months ago.

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Need for food aid grows in state

from The Detroit Free Press

Government help up 53% since '03

BY CHRIS CHRISTOFF

Mike Remenar never thought he'd rely on food stamps and Medicaid to help support his family in comfortable Grosse Pointe Woods.

He hasn't found suitable work since losing his job 10 months ago as an auto parts designer. He depleted his unemployment benefits and savings, struggles under a $1,400 monthly mortgage, and the travel agency he and his wife operate at home won't pay the bills.

"In the past 10 years, I've been laid off a number of times, but never this long," said Remenar, 60. "Especially living in this community, to be in this position is a bit awkward."

Remenar's unexpected dive into public assistance is a testament to the depth of stagnation for Michigan's economy. A record number of Michiganders are using government food stamps -- 1.26 million in 590,600 households during March, according to the Michigan Department of Human Services. Three in every 10 of the households -- 174,200 -- are in Wayne County. Genesee County ranks second with 38,179 households getting aid, followed by Oakland with 34,060, Kent with 32,564 and Macomb with 31,718.

Since 2003, the number of Michigan households receiving food stamps leaped 53%, the third biggest increase behind Massachusetts at 77% and Iowa at 63%. One in five Michigan children under age 18 is in a household qualifying for food stamps. (Nationwide, 27.7 million people received food stamps in January.)

It's not known how many Michiganders are first-timers for food assistance. Or how many live in neighborhoods where a Bridge Card seems out of place.

Families making do

Remenar said he worked for 30 years as a designer for various auto parts makers. He said using a Bridge Card the first time seemed strange.

"You do what you have to do," he said.

He said the Medicaid prescription drug program helps cover the costs of his family's ongoing medications. Remenar and his wife, Ruth, have sons ages 10, 14 and 17.

They've lived in their Grosse Pointe Woods home 14 years. Remenar said it would be difficult to sell his house. Homes in his neighborhood have been listed as long as three years, he said, and there have been several nearby foreclosed homes.

Besides a small income from his travel agency, Remenar makes about $250 a week delivering newspapers. He said his wife, formerly a paralegal, also is seeking work.

He's willing to relocate to another state or country, accept a smaller salary than he earned before his last layoff and, if needed, be a weekend commuter. He wants his children to remain in Grosse Pointe schools.

In the meantime, he has applied for jobs at Lowe's, Home Depot, Starbucks and Caribou Coffee.

"I have confidence we'll work things out and stay afloat," he said. "My wife is upset; she's very concerned about it."

Michigan's economic duress is more widespread than in past recessions, said Gerry Brisson, vice president for development at Gleaners Food Bank, which supplies 400 food aid agencies.

"The big difference now is the number of people in suburbs who are feeling it," Brisson said. "Poverty in the city has been bad for a long time, but poverty in the suburbs is going up in Livingston, Oakland and Macomb counties."

Embarrassing necessity for some

Bridge Card recipients often seek local food donations because the card won't buy enough for most families, he said. The average bridge card allowance per person is about $100 per month -- about $500 for a family of five.

John Frida, store manager at Value Center supermarket in Livonia, said there are more Bridge Card users, but added that it's partly because of the closures of Farmer Jack supermarkets in the area.

For Angelia Moncrief, 31, a single mother who lives on the west side of Detroit, food stamps and Medicaid health insurance became an embarrassing necessity when she lost her $38,000 office manager job at Oakwood Hospital in Dearborn last September.

"Where I came from, not having to depend on anybody -- the system, my mama, my brothers, my boyfriend -- and now I have to use the Bridge Card," Moncrief said. "Now, everyone is looking at me when I pull it out. They think, 'She's doing nothing, she's on welfare, she's poor.' That's what the looks say."

Moncrief and her 12-year-old son moved in with her mother. She had been on welfare once before, and thought she had climbed into self-sufficiency with five years of full-time work. She said she's studying online for a degree in human resources.

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Community forks over food, donations to feed hungry — with photo gallery

from the Livingston Press Argus

By Alison Bergsieker

It's likely that 17-year-old Kevin Norman's parents would not be pleased if they heard their son was gallivanting in the middle of Main Street traffic on Saturday afternoon.

But Norman, a receiver and kicker for the Brighton High School varsity football team, wasn't horsing around at all — he and other team members were collecting drive-by donations during the sixth annual Fill the Gazebo Food Drive in downtown Brighton at the Mill Pond gazebo.

The event benefits Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan, which distributes 25 million pounds of food annually to needy families.

"We're hoping more fans will come out to our games," Norman said. "I'm working up a sweat here. I'm losing weight."

By 2 p.m., a large semi-truck was filled to the brim with food donations. The truck had to be unloaded and brought back to retrieve another load of food. In all, Erica Karfonta of Gleaners said preliminary figures indicate the drive brought in 7,364 pounds of food, good for 5,753 meals, with more anticipated in the next few days.

Karfonta said the drive raised $12,000 in monetary donations — good for 36,000 meals — with more anticipated in the next few days.

In all, Karfonta said, the drive hauled in 41,753 meals — well above organizers' target of 40,000 meals.

"The turnout has been tremendous," said Michelle Brant, executive vice president of the Livingston Association of Realtors, which puts on the event each year. "This has been the largest turnout we've ever had. We're very fortunate to have so many great community members."

In Livingston County, emergency food services are provided for 8,900 people each year, according to a 2006 study of clients and agencies served by Gleaners. Within any given week, 1,900 county residents receive emergency food services.

Cub Scout Pack 364, along with other Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops, brought 500 pounds of food to the event.

"We do this to help get a sense of community service, to see the ability of what can happen when people get together," said Chris Lawrence, a co-Cub Scout den leader.

The Fill the Gazebo fundraiser has fundraised enough food for 100,090 meals at its last five events, Brant said.

The event is scheduled each May to raise donations especially for needy children, Brant said.

"The reason we do it in May is because it's the time of year when kids are out of school and some receive their one hot meal at school," Brant said.

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Conference set to target poverty

from the Livingston Daily Press and Argus

By Alison Bergsieker

With a median household income of $70,000, almost 40 percent above the state average, Livingston County residents appear to be pretty well off.

But below the surface are the more striking statistics: Poverty is an increasing issue around the county.

In an effort to get the word out, the Livingston County United Way is hosting a Bridges Out of Poverty two-day conference next week, welcoming social service providers, business leaders and the public to better understand and meet the needs of area people living in poverty.

"There is a perception that people in this community are well off and don't have problems," United Way Executive Director Nancy Rosso said. "Well that couldn't be further from the truth."

The conference will feature trainer Monica Bein, a national consultant from Aha! Process Inc., an organization aimed at improving the education and lives of people living in poverty around the world. Consultants from Aha! Process Inc. work with school districts, social service groups and businesses to help people better understand poverty issues.

A Southeast Michigan Council of Governments report predicts Livingston County will increase in overall population by 15 percent by 2035, from 184,500 residents in 2006 to more than 212,000 residents by 2035.

Since 2003, the county's seen a 30 percent increase in families qualifying for public assistance, according to a United Way report.

"On a big map, if you look at us compared to the rest of the state, we look quite healthy," Rosso said. "But what we like to stress is it's much more difficult to be poor in an affluent area, where there isn't a public transportation system or other support systems in place. You don't have the support system that you would have in place in an urban area."

Of the calls made to the 211 service line for basic needs, 40 percent of calls are residents who can't afford rent payments, gas and electric bills, food and legal aid, according to a United Way report.

Anyone who works with people experiencing poverty, businesses who want to help people in poverty and anyone else interested is encouraged to attend the Bridges Out of Poverty conference.

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Health care costs a nagging worry for Detroiters

from the Detroit Free Press

Many rate quality good, poll finds

BY JOHN GALLAGHER

Like many metro Detroiters, Dyan Lacey digs a little deeper each year to pay medical bills that her insurance plan no longer covers.
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"Our co-pays are going up and some of the coverages are taken away," Lacey, 35, a worker at General Motors' Pontiac Assembly plant, said last week.

She understands that as a UAW member, she enjoys first-rate health care. But with three children and retired in-laws for whom she helps pay for medication, Lacey is more worried than she used to be.

"I'm OK with paying a higher co-pay rather than not having insurance at all," the Detroit resident said. "At the same time, I'm a little nervous with the changes."

Nervous describes the attitude of a majority of metro Detroiters as they consider the cost and quality of their health care. A new poll reveals that solid majorities rank cost and availability of health insurance as big concerns.

The nonprofit Council for Excellence in Government, which conducted the poll, is to host a town hall meeting Wednesday on the future of health care. The meeting at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit is free and open to the public, but registration is required.

Patricia McGinnis, president of the Washington, D.C.-based council, said the poll and town hall meeting are part of a nationwide effort to make the public's voice heard in the national health care debate.

"In health care, you can see very clearly that we can't have it all," McGinnis said. "Some choices have to be made. Rather than having that discussion take place top-down, we would like to have that discussion take place bottom-up."

The poll, which was conducted for the council by the Gallup organization, revealed that in many ways the state of health care coverage in metro Detroit is good. Some 85% of poll respondents reported being covered by health insurance, which reflects the strong employer-paid plans and Detroit's relatively high percentage of union households.

Moreover, some 72% of people in the poll rated the quality of their own health care as excellent or good.

When asked how satisfied they were with their own health insurance plan, 31% reported being extremely satisfied while only 6% reported being not satisfied at all.

Yet cost and coverage issues create nagging worries for many metro Detroiters. Some 76% rated the cost of health care as "only fair" or "poor." Some 49% rated cost as more important than the choice of doctors, compared with 36% who opted the other way.

And in choosing a primary care doctor, whether the doctor is covered by their health plan trumped most other issues, including the doctor's bedside manner, the convenience of the doctor's location, and whether a friend or prior physician had recommended the new doctor.

Among other concerns, difficulty in understanding the details of their plan also raised worries for many people.

A panel of local health care experts will be on hand at Wednesday's town hall meeting, but McGinnis said the session will focus on audience concerns.

"We will have all the poll results so we can do a quick snapshot, but from that starting point we will first go to the audience," she said. "It's really about the audience, 'Why are you here? Tell us your top concerns,' and then we take off from those concerns to get reactions from the panel."

Greg Parston, director of the consulting firm Accenture's Institute for Public Service Value, which joined with the council to create the poll and host the meeting, said it's no surprise that concern is rising over the cost of health care.

"We have very good health care for those who can get it," he said. "A lot of people's health care coverage is associated with work, and if you're out of work even temporarily, you better stay healthy."

Founded in 1983, the Council for Excellence in Government is a nonpartisan organization that works to improve government performance and citizen participation. For information, go to www.excelgov.org.

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Cascade Engineering, Dow Chemical, International Aid partner on water filters

from M Live

by Matt Vande Bunte | The Grand Rapids Press

CASCADE TOWNSHIP -- Plastic pellets, heated to 450 degrees, shot into a 1,760-ton press. After cooling for a minute, out dropped a bucket.

A plastic filter made at Cascade Engineering Inc. may be just a drop in the bucket for the world's 1.1 billion people lacking clean water. But local backers say it is poised to make a big splash in global health and the local economy.

"We're on the verge of this just going gangbusters," said Robert Goodwin, chief operating officer of Spring Lake-based International Aid.

Saturday is the United Nations' World Water Day, and a pair of local ventures merging business and faith-based aid are playing a role.

In partnership with Cascade Engineering, International Aid is raising money to place HydrAid bio-sand water filters in parts of the world where it does relief and development work.

About 10,000 plastic filters are in Central America, with 200,000 concrete versions worldwide.

Dow Chemical Co. of Midland will donate 2 million pounds of plastic resin for about 300,000 filters.

The 7-pound HydrAid container uses gravity, four layers of sand and bacteria-eating micro-organisms to filter parasites and other causes of waterborne disease from up to 75 gallons per day. It costs $32 to make.

Dow's donation will reduce that cost so International Aid can do more educating about the health benefits of clean water.

The hope is, with more filters, more study will confirm the simple technology's impact. That data could attract public and private funding to develop a commercial model.

"The thing that's lacking is long-term sustainability and a business plan," Goodwin said. "The private sector can drive this change."

Right now, "there's not enough knowledge about the technology to create the demand," he said.

"This gives us an opportunity to start out on the philanthropic front, but also look at it as an evolving business model," said Nancy Fullerton, Dow's manager of corporate citizenship.

Aqua Clara Foundation, a faith-based nonprofit in Holland, this year hopes to put 1,000 filters of a different kind in Africa, Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru with help from Ohio-based Fairmount Minerals Ltd., an industrial sand manufacturer with a Grand Haven subsidiary.

The filters, developed with help from Hope College, have cleaned water at a test site in Kenya and could boost third-world commerce.

"If you're going to bring a product into a developing country, you need a distribution system," said Chuck Fowler, Fairmount president and CEO. "We're creating and designing products that we can get to those (native) entrepreneurs. That's the way you solve the poverty side of the equation.

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Michigan Senate votes to issue food stamps twice a month

from M Live

The state Senate has voted to make Michigan the first state in the nation to issue food stamps twice a month.

Supporters say the bill would make fresh food more available throughout the month and help grocery stores with their inventory.

Michigan's 1.2 million food stamp recipients have their benefits added to a debit card once a month, early in the month. That causes a rush to grocery The bill passed the Senate on a 35-2 vote Wednesday and was sent to the House, where similar legislation is pending.

The state is surveying food stamp recipients to find out how a switch would affect them.

A potential obstacle is Congress, which is negotiating a farm bill that could ban states from changing food stamp distribution from once a month.

The food stamp bills are House Bill 4923 and Senate Bill 120.

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State May Change Food Stamp Rules

from WILX

Michigan could become the first state in the nation to issue food stamps twice a month, making fresh produce and meat more available and giving grocery workers steadier hours.

The state's 1.2 million food stamp recipients -- the highest number ever -- now have their benefits added to a debit card within the first 10 days of the month. They then spend those dollars early in the month, typically in poorer, urban areas where residents may have limited transportation.

Each recipient gets an average $88 a month.
Retailers say the once-a-month assistance is spent early and usually all at once, causing them problems with staffing, cash flow and inventory. Advocates for the poor say food stamp recipients aren't buying enough healthy, fresh food throughout the month.

Legislation that would require the state to issue food stamp benefits two times a month may be approved by the state Senate this week. A similar measure sponsored by Democratic Rep. Andy Meisner of Ferndale is pending in the House. Recipients who get lower amounts of assistance would still get their payments just once a month.

"I'm trying to help people help themselves," said bill sponsor Martha Scott, a Democratic senator from Highland Park. "I see people buying so much stuff the first of the month. You want to help people balance things out."

Distributing food stamps twice monthly would give shoppers more flexibility and encourage them to buy fresher foods at least twice a month, she said.

While the legislation has backing from groceries and unionized workers, not everyone thinks more frequent payments is the solution. They wonder if the problem could be fixed instead by extending the period in which money is added to debit cards from 10 days to 20 days, which would spread out the days food stamp recipients shop.

The state Department of Human Services, which is neutral on the bills, is surveying food stamp recipients to find out their preference and how a switch would affect them. Results should be ready for lawmakers in April.

DHS spokeswoman Maureen Sorbet said the agency is prepared to go to twice-monthly payments or a longer period of payments depending on survey results, legislative developments and getting approval from the federal government, which pays for food stamps. A farm bill being negotiated in Congress could prove a stumbling block, since it includes a provision that would ban states from changing food stamp distribution from once a month.

Terri Stangl, executive director of the Saginaw-based Center for Civil Justice, credited the state for conducting the survey. Some recipients have limited transportation and prefer using their money to buy in bulk for better purchasing power, she said.

"I'm not convinced that with the amount of money they're getting, they're going to buy more fresh food," Stangl said.

Scott, however, argued that issuing benefits once a month but extending the period in which they are handed out would help grocers and their employees, but not recipients.

Chris Michalakis, lobbyist for the 50,000 Michigan members of the United Food and Commercial Workers union, said grocery employees are pushed to work extra hard in the first 10 days of the month, then see their hours cut for the rest of the month.

By distributing food stamps more equally over the month, he said, "workers will see a more even distribution of hours, as well as a greater availability of hours."

The legislative debate comes at a time when 12 percent, or more than one in nine, Michigan residents get food stamps. Eighty percent of benefits go to households with children. The number of food stamp recipients in Michigan has doubled in six years, most likely because of the weak economy.

The real issue that needs to be addressed, Stangl said, is that food stamp households are able to buy less food because assistance has been eroding each year. The federal food stamp program assumes families have enough of their own money plus food stamps to spend $1.05 per person per meal -- not enough for a health diet at today's prices, she said.

Although the federal farm bill would boost money for food stamps, the price of fresh fruits, vegetables and leaner meats is rising faster than processed foods, making it harder for families to buy the healthier items, she said.

Click here to read more.

Schools increase social services as poverty rises

from The Grand Rapids Press

By Beth Loechler
The Grand Rapids Press

Every day, DeeDee Johnson is reminded she is a child of poverty.

Her mother, stepfather and two little brothers sold or packed up what they owned and moved to Washington state in September in search of opportunity and a decent paycheck. They left 10-year-old DeeDee in the care of Sandy Pelkey, a woman she calls "grandma," so she could continue in school and have a roof over her head.

"It's very depressing. I feel like I'm being torn two ways," said DeeDee, a fifth-grader at Huntington Woods Elementary in Wyoming.

But she talks to her mom most every day, receiving promises that they'll be reunited soon.

"She's a good student, but I see her struggling, mostly with her emotions," said Pelkey, a 52-year-old daycare provider and mother of eight who has known DeeDee since she was a toddler.

"DeeDee gets a lot of headaches and stomach aches. She's distracted. Wouldn't you be?"

DeeDee has lived in the close-to-he-edge world of poverty ever since she can remember. She is not alone.

Without exception, every public school district in Kent and Ottawa counties has seen an increase in the number of poor children in classrooms over the past seven years. The changes have forced teachers to rethink how they teach and schools to reach out in ways they had not anticipated even a decade ago.

Today, at least one in three students -- 51,500 children -- at traditional public schools in Kent and Ottawa counties are poor. In Grand Rapids and Kelloggsville schools, four of every five live in poverty, according to federal statistics on students who get free or reduced-price school lunches.

Also, nearly two-thirds of the districts have seen the number of poor students increase by 38 percent or more since 2000.

"The state is in a recession, and the people who get hurt the most are the children who need the most. It's a travesty," said Susan Neuman, a University of Michigan professor and former assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education under President Bush.

At DeeDee's school, 54 percent of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches. In a family of four, that means earnings of $20,650 a year or less. When the school opened 15 years ago, a mere 8 percent of the students received subsidized lunches.

"The classroom has changed," acknowledged Huntington Woods kindergarten teacher Lani Dykhouse.

More often than not, poor children come to school with less background knowledge and more limited vocabularies, she said. Their listening skills aren't strong. They haven't been routinely talked to or read to or exposed to lots of books.

"Sometimes it feels like I opened up a box, pulled a child out and set them in kindergarten," Dykhouse said. "I don't remember, even five years ago, children being that disadvantaged."

Grand Rapids Public Schools, historically a high-poverty district, has gone from 66 percent to 81 percent poor students in the past seven years, forcing schools to become "full-service, one-stop social service agencies," Superintendent Bernard Taylor said. "We're not just dealing with education."

Poor children aren't just attending traditional public schools. National Heritage Academies, which operates 35 charter schools in Michigan, says 51 percent of its K-8 students are poor.

Also, two of the Grand Rapids Christian elementary schools have poverty rates of 30 percent or higher, Superintendent Tom DeJonge said. Most of the students receive significant financial aid for tuition.

What schools can do

Schools can't do much about the transient nature of poor families or the stress they feel amid paltry paychecks, eviction notices, steep utility bills and insufficient cash for food and clothes. Dykhouse and others encourage parent involvement, but often come up empty.

The obvious response is longer school days, all-day every-day kindergarten, more and better preschool programs, after-school tutoring and smaller class sizes, educators said.

But those fixes cost money, and the schools with high percentages of poor kids are most often poor themselves, said Neuman, who has written on the link between poor kids and poor grades.

"It's a very unfortunate correlation. It's a relationship that is unfair to the teachers in those schools," she said. Still, the situation isn't likely to change anytime soon, "so we better make smarter decisions with our existing funds."

Some funding comes through grants for at-risk students and the federal Title I program. Grand Rapids, for example, received millions in 1999 to limit most elementary classrooms to 19 students. Those grants expired in 2003.

But many elementary schools waste Title I dollars on classroom aides or computer labs, Neuman said.

"Better to get a highly qualified teacher," she said. "That would make a difference. And do we really need that computer lab? If kids can't read, they can't use a computer effectively. Get rid of it and get more books."

Some steps taken

Grand Rapids has not ditched the computer labs, but it has obtained more books. The Student Advancement Foundation, its fund-raising arm, updated all 47 school libraries since 2004 with $1.6 million in donations.

Huntington Woods has a "junior first grade" for those who have finished kindergarten but aren't yet ready for first grade. The school also has before-school and after-school "homework clubs."

"That's been beneficial," Principal Andrea van der Laan said. "When parents are more in survival mode, less homework is getting done."

Godwin Heights, Grand Rapids and Holland offer all-day, every-day kindergarten, even though districts receive the same amount of state aid for full-time and part-time programs.

Schools have traveling dentists and partnerships with hospitals and health clinics. They keep extra coats, boots and mittens on hand.

"We recognize that we need to do everything possible to keep kids in school and support them," said Grand Rapids schools spokesman John Helmholdt.

"The key is keeping the focus on our schools and providing support services to ensure children are healthy, rested, clothed, fed and ready for school," he said.

Wyoming Superintendent Jon Felske pointed out that schools pass along "hidden costs" to parents. He encourages teachers to keep these amounts to a minimum.

Poster board for a homework project or a stop at McDonald's after a field trip may be tough on a poor family. Driver's education is no longer free, nor is attendance at most high school sporting events.

"I know of families where the parents rotate who goes to games because it is just too expensive for both parents (to buy tickets). Or they can't come at all. And how does that make the kids feel?" Felske said.

Kentwood has put a focus on learning the language of poverty. Author Ruby Payne has visited the district three times since 2001 to lead workshops on understanding poverty and how it affects children. She contends that the "casual language of poverty" often is viewed as ignorant or disrespectful; poor students must be taught the language and rules of the middle class.

"All teachers have a college degree and are firmly entrenched in the middle class. Yet when we look at who we serve in Kentwood, 48 percent of students come from poverty," Superintendent Scott Palczewski said.

"If I don't know where you're coming from, how in the world am I going to develop a strong positive relationship?" he added.

The complexity of poverty can't be broken down and understood in a single workshop, so teachers also must be quick studies and learn on the job, Taylor said.

"We must still say focused on what we have to do. These issues still take a back seat to academic achievement."

The relationship is vital, Taylor added, "because these children come to rely on their teacher as the one person who will be in the same place, at the same time, doing the same thing every day. That sense of security can't be underestimated."

Back in Wyoming

Living with Pelkey has brought a degree of stability to DeeDee's days.

Pelkey knows what it's like to be poor because she lived on public assistance for a time years ago. A few of the children she watches during the day or after school also are in poverty.

"It's just really rough out there for some parents," Pelkey said.

She volunteered to keep DeeDee for free, and has spent a lot of time watching over kids whose parents couldn't pay the entire daycare bill.

"I have so many losses, I just work to survive," she said. "I look at it as a way to make a difference."

So she shops the clearance racks and garage sales. She recently splurged on new Easter dresses for DeeDee and a granddaughter "because that's important to the kids." She is thinking about spending her refund check from the IRS on a plane ticket west for DeeDee.

DeeDee hopes to start middle school in Washington next fall. Her mom is working, but the family continues to struggle financially. They are living in a shelter.

Pelkey doesn't want DeeDee to leave. She worries about the transition and the financial well-being of Dee- Dee's family.

Click here to read more.

One in 3 public school students lives in poverty

from The Grand Rapids Press

Posted by Beth Loechler

At least one in three students -- 51,500 children -- at traditional public schools in Kent and Ottawa counties are poor. In Grand Rapids and Kelloggsville schools, four of every five live in poverty, according to federal statistics on students who get free or reduced-price school lunches.

Every day, DeeDee Johnson is reminded she is one of them.

Her mother, stepfather and two little brothers sold or packed up what they owned and moved to Washington state in September in search of opportunity and a decent paycheck. They left 10-year-old DeeDee in the care of Sandy Pelkey, a woman she calls "grandma," so she could continue in school and have a roof over her head.

"It's very depressing. I feel like I'm being torn two ways," said DeeDee, a fifth-grader at Huntington Woods Elementary in Wyoming.

But she talks to her mom most every day, receiving promises that they'll be reunited soon.

"She's a good student, but I see her struggling, mostly with her emotions," said Pelkey, a 52-year-old daycare provider and mother of eight who has known DeeDee since she was a toddler.

"DeeDee gets a lot of headaches and stomach aches. She's distracted. Wouldn't you be?"

DeeDee has lived in the close-to-the-edge world of poverty ever since she can remember. She is far from alone.

Without exception, every public school district in Kent and Ottawa counties has seen an increase in the number of poor children in classrooms over the past seven years. The changes have forced teachers to rethink how they teach and schools to reach out in ways they had not anticipated even a decade ago.

Today, at least one in three students -- 51,500 children -- at traditional public schools in Kent and Ottawa counties are poor. In Grand Rapids and Kelloggsville schools, four of every five live in poverty, according to federal statistics on students who get free or reduced-price school lunches.

Also, nearly two-thirds of the districts have seen the number of poor students increase by 38 percent or more since 2000.

"The state is in a recession, and the people who get hurt the most are the children who need the most. It's a travesty," said Susan Neuman, a University of Michigan professor and former assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education under President Bush.

At DeeDee's school, 54 percent of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunches. In a family of four, that means earnings of $20,650 a year or less. When the school opened 15 years ago, a mere 8 percent of the students received subsidized lunches.

"The classroom has changed," acknowledged Huntington Woods kindergarten teacher Lani Dykhouse.

More often than not, poor children come to school with less background knowledge and more limited vocabularies, she said. Their listening skills aren't strong. They haven't been routinely talked to or read to or exposed to lots of books.

"Sometimes it feels like I opened up a box, pulled a child out and set them in kindergarten," Dykhouse said. "I don't remember, even five years ago, children being that disadvantaged."

Grand Rapids Public Schools, historically a high-poverty district, has gone from 66 percent to 81 percent poor students in the past seven years, forcing schools to become "full-service, one-stop social service agencies," Superintendent Bernard Taylor said. "We're not just dealing with education."

Poor children aren't just attending traditional public schools. National Heritage Academies, which operates 35 charter schools in Michigan, says 51 percent of its K-8 students are poor.

Also, two of the Grand Rapids Christian elementary schools have poverty rates of 30 percent or higher, Superintendent Tom DeJonge said. Most of the students receive significant financial aid for tuition.

What schools can do

Schools can't do much about the transient nature of poor families or the stress they feel amid paltry paychecks, eviction notices, steep utility bills and insufficient cash for food and clothes. Dykhouse and others encourage parent involvement, but often come up empty.

The obvious response is longer school days, all-day every-day kindergarten, more and better preschool programs, after-school tutoring and smaller class sizes, educators said.

But those fixes cost money, and the schools with high percentages of poor kids are most often poor themselves, said Neuman, who has written on the link between poor kids and poor grades.

"It's a very unfortunate correlation. It's a relationship that is unfair to the teachers in those schools," she said. Still, the situation isn't likely to change anytime soon, "so we better make smarter decisions with our existing funds."

Some funding comes through grants for at-risk students and the federal Title I program. Grand Rapids, for example, received millions in 1999 to limit most elementary classrooms to 19 students. Those grants expired in 2003.

But many elementary schools waste Title I dollars on classroom aides or computer labs, Neuman said.

"Better to get a highly qualified teacher," she said. "That would make a difference. And do we really need that computer lab? If kids can't read, they can't use a computer effectively. Get rid of it and get more books."

Grand Rapids has not ditched the computer labs, but it has obtained more books. The Student Advancement Foundation, its fund-raising arm, updated all 47 school libraries since 2004 with $1.6 million in donations.

Huntington Woods has a "junior first grade" for those who have finished kindergarten but aren't yet ready for first grade. The school also has before-school and after-school "homework clubs."

"That's been beneficial," Principal Andrea van der Laan said. "When parents are more in survival mode, less homework is getting done."

Godwin Heights, Grand Rapids and Holland offer all-day, every-day kindergarten, even though districts receive the same amount of state aid for full-time and part-time programs.

Schools have traveling dentists and partnerships with hospitals and health clinics. They keep extra coats, boots and mittens on hand.

"We recognize that we need to do everything possible to keep kids in school and support them," said Grand Rapids schools spokesman John Helmholdt.

"The key is keeping the focus on our schools and providing support services to ensure children are healthy, rested, clothed, fed and ready for school," he said.

Wyoming Superintendent Jon Felske pointed out that schools pass along "hidden costs" to parents. He encourages teachers to keep these amounts to a minimum.

Poster board for a homework project or a stop at McDonald's after a field trip may be tough on a poor family. Driver's education is no longer free, nor is attendance at most high school sporting events.

"I know of families where the parents rotate who goes to games because it is just too expensive for both parents (to buy tickets). Or they can't come at all. And how does that make the kids feel?" Felske said.

Kentwood has put a focus on learning the language of poverty. Author Ruby Payne has visited the district three times since 2001 to lead workshops on understanding poverty and how it affects children. She contends that the "casual language of poverty" often is viewed as ignorant or disrespectful; poor students must be taught the language and rules of the middle class.

"All teachers have a college degree and are firmly entrenched in the middle class. Yet when we look at who we serve in Kentwood, 48 percent of students come from poverty," Superintendent Scott Palczewski said.

"If I don't know where you're coming from, how in the world am I going to develop a strong positive relationship?" he added.

The complexity of poverty can't be broken down and understood in a single workshop, so teachers also must be quick studies and learn on the job, Taylor said.

"We must still say focused on what we have to do. These issues still take a back seat to academic achievement."

The relationship is vital, Taylor added, "because these children come to rely on their teacher as the one person who will be in the same place, at the same time, doing the same thing every day. That sense of security can't be underestimated."

Living with Pelkey has brought a degree of stability to DeeDee's days.

Pelkey knows what it's like to be poor because she lived on public assistance for a time years ago. A few of the children she watches during the day or after school also are in poverty.

"It's just really rough out there for some parents," Pelkey said.

She volunteered to keep DeeDee for free, and has spent a lot of time watching over kids whose parents couldn't pay the entire daycare bill.

"I have so many losses, I just work to survive," she said. "I look at it as a way to make a difference."

So she shops the clearance racks and garage sales. She recently splurged on new Easter dresses for DeeDee and a granddaughter "because that's important to the kids." She is thinking about spending her refund check from the IRS on a plane ticket west for DeeDee.

DeeDee hopes to start middle school in Washington next fall. Her mom is working, but the family continues to struggle financially. They are living in a shelter.

Pelkey doesn't want DeeDee to leave. She worries about the transition and the financial well-being of DeeDee's family.

Click here to read more.

Cooperating Churches to discuss poverty

from MLive

FROM LOCAL REPORTS

Sarah Rinsema-Sybenga, who works with the impoverished, brings a unique perspective to the vision of overcoming poverty.

So does her husband, Dan Rinsema-Sybenga, who has been pouring his efforts into economic development in downtown Muskegon.

Both are featured speakers at the upcoming annual dinner and meeting for Muskegon County Cooperating Churches, which will be held Jan. 28 at Bethesda Baptist Church, 575 Getty.

Gathering time for the event begins at 6 p.m., with meal time at 6:30 p.m.

The annual dinner and meeting is a fundraiser for the work of the Muskegon County Cooperating Churches for the coming year. It is also a business meeting for the ecumenical organization, in which member congregations have the chance to vote on the 2008 budget and select a slate of new board members for the coming year.

And it is a chance to examine the vision for the organization's work and service. In that sense, the topic for the annual dinner is "Overcoming Poverty."

Both speakers will address the topic. They bring perspectives from their work in both the top and bottom portions of the economic spectrum of the community.

As director of both Bethany Housing and Sacred Suds, Sarah Rinsema-Sybenga works with people in need. As manager of Muskegon Area First's Main Street Program, a downtown promotional and marketing organization, Dan Rinsema-Sybenga has been involved in economic development.

The topic for their presentation is "Prosperity for All."

Everyone is welcome to attend. Tickets for the dinner cost $25 and can be purchased either by calling the Cooperating Churches office at 727-6000 or by sending a check to MCCC, 1095 Third, Suite 10, Muskegon, MI 49441. Purchasers should be careful to write "Annual Dinner" on their checks.

Click here to read more.

Moms take action to improve life for families worldwide

from the Traverse City Record-Eagle

BY MARTA HEPLER DRAHOS
mdrahos@record-eagle.com

HARBOR SPRINGS -- Hillary Rodham Clinton may have made the old African proverb famous, but Kate Bassett and Copland Rudolph have always known that it takes a village to raise a child.

Believing that children can thrive only if their families do, and if the whole of society cares enough to provide for them, the Harbor Springs friends home school their four children together and sponsor six more children in Africa, Sri Lanka and Honduras through the Christian Children's Fund. And when Rudolph got an unsolicited calendar in the mail a few years ago from an international group called Mothers Acting Up, they were immediately drawn to its mission of action on behalf of children everywhere.

"We believe that beyond our traditional mother roles we have a responsibility to (publicly) and passionately advocate for the world's children," said Rudolph, 40, a restaurateur and environmentalist with a background in counseling and psychology.

After attending a nearby lecture on Millennium Development Goals, a set of global strategies for ending extreme poverty by 2015, the women decided to start a local affiliate of Mothers Acting Up in 2006.

"I think that we knew just from being moms and (living) in our community that we live in a really compassionate place," said Bassett, 29, assistant editor of the Harbor Light newspaper. "I think that first Mothers' Day we went in blind and hoping for the best. We didn't know if five people would show up or 30 people."

Now Northern Michigan Mothers Acting Up has a mailing list of 80 "mothers and others," including a handful of downstaters and a few men. There are no committees and few meetings, so as not to give already stressed-out moms more on their "to-do" lists, Bassett said.

Instead, the group concentrates on two main events every year: a Mothers' Day Tea with a global focus and an Alternative Gift Fair in December with a local focus.

"We stay focused on these two events because we can rally people twice a year," said Rudolph. "I think mothers are overwhelmed. We live at a very fast pace. And when you give someone a specific thing -- can you come at 10? -- it makes it easier."

This year's alternative gift fair at the First Presbyterian Church raised more than $40,000 -- quadruple last year's proceeds -- for 17 mostly local charities including the Northwest Michigan affiliate of Habitat for Humanity, Harbor Springs Community Food Pantry, the Women's Resource Center of Northern Michigan and the Little Traverse Bay Humane Society, Rudolph said.

"The more people understand it, the more they like it," she said of the unusual fair in which customers shop for "gifts" ranging from food for the fish at SEE-North to equipment for the Community Free Clinic. In return, shoppers get hand-calligraphied cards that can be given to friends or family describing the gifts given in their honor.

In this year's Mothers' Day project, the group raised $5,000 from the sale of jewelry, handmade cards, books, African violets and handmade purses to sponsor a Village Bank in Haiti. Inspired by Nobel Peace Prize winner Arkatev Chatterjea and operated by the Foundation for International Community Assistance, Village Banks give impoverished women around the world a way to provide for their families by offering them small loans for businesses that produce food, garments and other goods.

In a special feature of the program, Village Bank donors are kept up to date with sample profiles and photos of the women in the loan program as well as statements detailing the distribution and repayment of the loans.

"It really connected the women in Haiti who are benefiting from the loans and the women in Harbor Springs who worked to create the bank," Bassett said. "When you have a face and a name and a story behind somebody living in extreme poverty, it's not just a statistic."

Next Mothers Acting Up hopes to "shoot big" by raising enough money to donate a PlayPump water system to a rural African community or school, Rudolph said. The pumps, which resemble playground merry-go-rounds, help improve the lives of children and their families by providing easy access to clean drinking water and eliminating the need for children to miss school to fetch water from more distant sources.

While children have fun spinning on the PlayPump merry-go-round, clean water is pumped from underground into a 660-gallon tank where it can be drawn from a simple tap.

"We can tuck our children into warm beds at night, we have food on the table for them in the morning, the educational opportunities we want," Bassett said. "When you contrast that with sub-Sahara Africa, something like a $16,000 PlayPump seems like so little to do, yet it makes such a big difference."

"Living in Harbor Springs you count your blessings every day," Rudolph added. "To be able to have a warm home and clean water ... we think every mother on the planet ought to have this."

Engaging in specific actions takes the idea of donating from abstract to concrete, the women say. And taking on whole projects allows Mothers Acting Up to see the difference they make collectively.

"I think that's why we've had a pretty easy time meeting or exceeding our goals," Bassett said. "It's tangible, people can understand it, they can grab onto it."

In fact, many women have expressed thanks just for the chance to come together, said Rudolph, pointing to a poignant moment following a group meditation.

"When we looked up and people opened their eyes, I think half of them were in tears," she said. "Women left that event feeling uplifted just by coming together as a community and having that reflection time."

At a time when the world's problems seem insurmountable, "they don't feel so huge when you have a group of women standing around and talking together," Bassett said.

"It can and probably will take individuals stepping up to the plate to make a real difference," she added. "And I think women have that level of compassion and comprehension."

Coming Sunday: In Northern Living, a new study shows the ranks of women in philanthropy growing.

Click here to read more.

Speakers at forum show face of poverty in Kalamazoo area

from M Live

BY CEDRIC RICKS

KALAMAZOO -- Rose McKenney doesn't work anymore.

She is 74, has arthritis and struggles to make ends meet on Social Security and a pension that amounts to $500 a year.

McKenney, a Kalamazoo resident, said almost half her income goes to pay the mortgage on her house and that the state would offer her only $10 a month in food stamps. She also has co-pays to make on medications.

``I'm on a tight budget. I have nothing left at the end of the month,'' McKenney said. ``I can't even go to bingo or nothing with my friends, I don't have the money. I can't buy clothes; I don't have the money.''

She was one of several speakers Thursday night who attended a community forum on poverty and asked state officials to help people struggling to make ends meet. About 100 people came to the forum, at First Baptist Church in downtown Kalamazoo.

The event included speakers who wanted help for grandparents raising grandchildren and better assistance for people coming out of state prisons.

It was hosted by the Michigan Commission on Community Action and Economic Opportunity in partnership with the Kalamazoo County Poverty Reduction Initiative. It was one of six meetings scheduled around the state to prepare for a Michigan poverty summit in early 2008.

Anna Marie Rogers spoke about the need for help in paying for health care and mental-health services and for steady employment.

``I'm not living in poverty or speaking on behalf of myself,'' said Rogers, a retired Detroit schoolteacher who now lives in Kalamazoo. ``I'm speaking more on behalf of my daughter and a friend that I'm assisting.''

Rogers said her 26-year-old daughter has an attention-deficit disorder, is learning disabled, has many health problems and needs mental-health services.

Rogers said she's managed to get health coverage for her adult daughter under her own insurance at a cost of $453 per month but fears the insurance will run out in March, forcing her to pay for her daughter's medications.

Rogers says she has her own medical issues and takes 12 prescription drugs.

Click here to read more.

Looking for help: Poverty on rise in Michigan

from The Daily Press and Argus

By Chris Andrews
GANNETT NEWS SERVICE

Barry Henderson never imagined the course his life would take when he accepted a job as a human resources director in Lansing six years ago.

"I was a professional person all my life, and I was making $80,000 a year, and then I got sick," he said. "I wasn't prepared for that."

Henderson, who has lupus, has undergone multiple surgeries, is homebound and unable to work. He depends on Social Security and food assistance to get by.

He is among the growing number of Michigan residents living in poverty. A new report by the Michigan League for Human Services says that 13.3 percent of Michigan residents - or 1.3 million - were in poverty in 2006, up from 9.4 percent five years earlier.

"The Changing Face of Poverty in Michigan" report paints a bleak picture about conditions for many families in Michigan.

Among the findings:

• Families are earning less. The median household income of $47,182 is down 7.5 percent since 2001, when adjusted for inflation. It is also below the national average of $48,451.

• About 52 percent of Michigan renters are paying at least 30 percent of their household income on rent, including utilities. That's up 12 percent from 40 percent in 2001.

• Nearly 30,000 homes were in some stage of foreclosure in the third quarter of 2007, representing one of every 102 households. That's nearly double the national rate.

• There were 450,000 fewer Michigan residents covered by private health insurance plans in 2005-06 than in 2000-01.

• The number of working poor, not on welfare, receiving food assistance more than doubled between fiscal 2001 and fiscal 2006.

"There is a lot of dislocation going on, and we have increasing numbers of families who are falling into hard times," said Sharon Parks, vice president of the league. "They are depending on a social safety net that is severely strained."

Henderson, 48, can attest to that. He said he had to fight the Department of Human Services bureaucracy for more than two years to get food assistance.

He said he still is not receiving all to which he is entitled but can't get the DHS to help him fill out forms - a problem because he has very poor vision. And he believes his complaints will bring reprisals.

"I have to make choices between paying the co-pay on my prescriptions, which means not getting the prescriptions, or getting food," he said. "It really does come down to that."

Social services agencies report growing demand for help on a variety of fronts.

"We're getting a lot of calls for assistance around rent and utilities and those kinds of issues, said Mike Brown, executive director of the Capital Area United Way. "Foreclosures is another issue that has really grown in the last six months."

Brown said about 50,000 tri-county residents have sought help from food pantries in the past year.

Parks of the League for Human Services said that's in part because of the loss of the good-paying jobs to which the state has been accustomed in the past. "As our economy has changed we have more and more people working in jobs that pay very low wages," she said.

Click here to read more.

Study: More children living in poverty

from Traverse City Record Eagle

By Lindsay VanHulle
lvanhulle@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY -- Children in northwest Lower Michigan increasingly lived in poverty during the first half of this decade, new state health data show.

The 13 counties in the Record-Eagle's coverage area all posted increases in the number of children from birth to 17 years of age who lived at or below the poverty level from 2000 to 2004, according to the 2007 Kids Count in Michigan Data Book.

The data, to be released today, show gains still are needed to improve children's well-being across the state.

The annual survey, conducted by the nonprofit Michigan League for Human Services, compares Michigan's data to a set of national benchmarks established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Regional immunization rates assessed last year largely bettered both the state average and U.S. goals, and all 13 local counties' teen pregnancy rates in 2005 were below the national benchmark of 43 percent per 1,000 teen girls ages 15-17.

But the findings aren't all good. Although Michigan has improved in most areas surveyed, the gains often are small. And in some cases -- such as low birth weights, which rose from 2000 to 2005 throughout nearly the entire region -- the situation in fact has worsened.

"We're not making the same kinds of improvements in basic care and basic needs as these children are growing up," said Jane Zehnder-Merrell, a senior research associate with the league.

Children's health depends not only on access to medical care, but also on the conditions of their families, neighborhoods and communities, she said. She added that studies have shown childhood poverty can lead to high-risk behaviors and other poor health conditions.

"If you're below poverty-level income, you're living in really desperate circumstances," she said. "These are very difficult times for families."

Locally, Crawford County has the highest rate of children living in poverty, at 21.5 percent, the data show. Leelanau County has the lowest, at 10.5 percent, while Grand Traverse County is at 11.6 percent. The statewide rate is 17.3 percent.

The Grand Traverse/Leelanau Department of Human Services has seen a greater number of people seeking assistance in recent years, director Mary Marois said.

Although more people were living in poverty in 2004 than in 2000, Marois said she thinks the region avoided a significant upswing due to a community-wide, poverty-reduction initiative that tries to help people find work and other opportunities.

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Kids Count report paints grim picture of life for county's children

from The Flint Journal

Posted by Shantell M. Kirkendoll

GENESEE COUNTY -- Tough times in Genesee County are having a huge impact on children, who are increasingly living in poverty and signing up for free meals, according to an annual report.

The newest findings in Kids Count in Michigan, a report on the well-being of children from their health to how they do in school, points to some gains in local children's math skills, but by and large shows a grim picture of what life is like at home.

About 26,000 children age 17 and under lived in poverty in 2006, a 22 percent jump since 2000, and 35,199 get free or reduced-cost lunch. To qualify for the meal program, a family of three must make no more than $31,000 a year.

Living in poverty may literally be tearing families apart. In 2006, slightly more than 12 percent of Genesee County children lived in out-of-home care because of abuse or neglect. That's one of the worst rates in Michigan.

"When you look at the stresses families have, financial worries are up there," said Gail Stimson, president and executive director of Priority Children, a Flint-based child advocacy group.

"This doesn't mean every poor family is abusive, but (financial worries) start to be a tipping point. Poverty and abuse is not a cause and effect, but there's certainly a connection."

Poverty among children is not surprising considering the area's unemployment rate was 8.2 percent in 2006. The Kids Count report showed some progress despite the financial challenges.

Figures show a significant increase in the number of children tested for lead poisoning -- an average of 5,211 in 2003-2005 compared to 2,231 in 1998-2000 -- and fewer of them had high lead levels.

A national trend of dropping teen pregnancy is apparent in Genesee County where pregnancies among girls, ages 15-19, fell 22 percent, but it's not the case for low birthweight babies.

Low birthweight continues to be an issue in Genesee County and one in 10 babies born weighs 5 1/2 pounds or less. It could reflect being born premature or the health of the mother, such as whether she smoked.

In spite of gains, Genesee County children still lag behind the rest of Michigan in math skills. In 2006-2007, 16.4 percent of fourth-graders did not meet math standards. Statewide15.4 percent of fourth-graders missed the mark.

During the 2002-2003 school year, half of eighth graders underperformed on math tests, and in 2006-2007, it had improved to 38.2 percent. But across the state, only 31.9 percent missed math standards.

Poverty may also have an impact on how well children do in school, said Terri Stangl, executive director of the Center for Civil Justice.
Impoverished families have more mobility as they search for affordable housing, and along with missed meals, contribute to poorer performance in classroom.

"Genesee County has challenges ahead of it," she said. "Education is part of the long-term process of getting out of poverty."

The Kids Count report is put together by groups including the Michigan League for Human Services and Michigan's Children.

The report was funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Skillman Foundation, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation and local United Ways.

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