Kalamazoo's Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week in Review

The week before Thanksgiving, a partnership of over 20 organizations led by the Poverty Reduction Initiative and the Affordable Housing Partnership presented Kalamazoo's Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week to bring light to these issues before the Holiday.

Though Kalamazoo had hosted the week in the past, this year was significant because of the scale of the amount of events and partners involved. In fact, it received praise from the Michigan Coalition Against Homelessness Director Jason Weller as one of the most ambitious plans in the state of Michigan.

So what can we take from this week that will help us in coordinating events such as this in the future? I want to look into a few of the particular areas where the week succeeded, as well as others where it could improve upon in future.

Scale of Events
Pro's
One of the greatest successes of the week was the number and variety of events that were coordinated throughout Kalamazoo. The week boasted tours of multiple shelters, a poverty simulation, a candlelight vigil and a film fundraising event. It gave residents a variety of events to participate in and become engaged. Events such as the poverty simulation, candlelight vigil and film boasted strong attendance and proved a worth while experience.

Con's
From what I've been hearing, many shelter tours saw poor and/or limited attendance during their time slot. Was this a lack of awareness on part of the organizations or simply a lack of interest in the public? It probably depends upon the event. Each organization was responsible for promoted their own event, and several may have simply not grasped that point.

In addition, there was a disconnect with events hosted by the Habitat For Humanity Student Group at Western Michigan University. Instead of having a synergy with this group and incorporating them to the week, they planned their own events without any communication to other organizations participating. This can probably be attributed to a lack of awareness of both PRI/AHP and the student group.

Media Coverage
Pro's
The press conference attracted several strong media outlets, including reporters from Channel 8, WKZO and WMUK who composed stories on the event. Channel 3 also also aired a story leading up to the week. The Kalamazoo Gazette promoted specific items in its events section.

Con's
As a whole, the media failed a presenting the week as a whole. The Kalamazoo Gazette chose to cover regurgitated stories on the arena plans rather than to do an article highlighting the week. They did have a reporter continue a story on the poverty simulation, but it would have been effective to have had a story on the entire week. The Media did not show up to specific events during the week.

Fundriasing
Pro's
The film "Where God Left His Shoes" raised a net amount of close to $2000 that will be split between the Poverty Reduction Initiative and Affordable Housing Partnership. The Poverty Simulation also attracted close to 40 participant of who each paid a donation fee. We do not have the numbers for the canned drive or any other donation appeals.

Summary
For being the first time that our community hosted such a large scale awareness week, I would say that there is much to be proud of. The number of events, organizations and volunteers that participated showed high potential of what a community can do when motivated. It was a strong start of which we can improve upon next November. If anything, it rallied a core group of citizens who cared about these issues in Kalamazoo and gave potential for expansion in the future.

Thank you to all the organizations and individuals who participated. We look forward to our continued work in raising awareness in the future.

Kalamazoo's Ministry with Community Provides Transportation for Day Laborers

"It is 4:45 a.m. in a parking lot still darkened by night, long before the city shakes the sleep from its eyes. Kevin Whitfield has come early to hitch a ride (from a Ministry with Community van) and look for work," according to the Kalamazoo Gazette.

"The work, if it comes, is not glamorous. Sometimes it’s sorting cardboard and paper at Michigan Recycling, or there might be work for the day at Kalamazoo Metal Recyclers Inc.

Odd jobs come and go. Movers need help on occasion, maybe an apartment complex could use a few hands for a couple days of cleanup work."

For the complete article in the Gazette:

www.mlive.com/opinion/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2009/11/facing_the_dark_and_cold_in_th.html

Children: "Many Move in and out of Poverty"

"Almost half of all U.S. kids will be on food stamps at some time during childhood,"according to a study published earlier this month in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

In an AP report related to the report,

"Sarah Meadows, a Rand Corp. policy analyst, called the food stamps analysis believable but stressed that it doesn't mean that half of all children are using food stamps at any given time.

"While there may be a group of children who are persistently exposed to poverty, many move in and move out," she said."

Twice a month in Benton Township, my church hosts a food pantry. We typically serve 80 families on either the second or fourth Monday of the month. Some of the folks who attend are regulars, but not all and (I don't think) not even the majority. This past Monday at least two new families showed up.

One fellow showed up wheel chair bound. He had ridden his electric wheel chair along the side of a busy thoroughfare that does not have sidewalks. He was number 53 in line. We filled his grocery bag with food stuffs before his number was called so that he would not have to ride his wheel chair in the pitch darkness that arrives early this time of year in Michigan. I am unsure why this senior citizen needed or wanted to get a free bag of food, but my guess is that it must have been important to him a couple days before Thanksgiving. Riding a wheel chair along the side of a darkened, busy street without sidewalks, not as busy as Stadium Drive or South Westnedge but still busy, probably wasn't this fellow's first choice. But it was the choice he had at the time.

The last family of the night arrived after we had officially closed. The kind hearted gentleman who "guards" the church door and greets folks as they enter let them in even though folks were trying to straighten up the church basement for the night. A family of four, mom, dad, and two kids, filled their two grocery bags with food then left at about 7:00 p.m. cutting through the field between the church and a nearby bank on the way back home to who knows where. (It must have been a half mile or longer walk since the nearest housing in the direction they were headed is at least that distance.) Dad and mom were struggling to carry grocery bags laden with canned goods (which is about all that is left at the end of the night's food pantry, the fresh fruit, meat or vegetables are usually the first to go.) Their two kids were hand in hand or tugging on their parents' coats in tow.

I am unsure the complex reasons for poverty and hunger. But I know of at least two families that it effects.

The AP report can be found at:

www.mlive.com/news/us-world/index.ssf/2009/11/food_stamps_estimate_raises_de.html

Salvation Army in Sturgis Coordinates Christmas Distribution for Needy

The Salvation Army in Sturgis will coordinate this year's drive for food and toys for needy families. Other agencies involved this year include the St. Joseph County "Human Services Commission (which) is coordinating the Adopt a Family efforts. The St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department and Salvation Army are collecting Toys for Tots and supplying drop-off boxes."

Per the Sturgis Journal, "Last Christmas, 2,600 St. Joseph County families were helped between the DHS and the Salvation Army."

The full article may be found at:

www.sturgisjournal.com/news/x215405578/Local-agencies-collaborate-for-needy

AmeriCorps Workers: Project Homeless Connect in Rural Cass County

AmeriCorps workers sponsored by the Southwest Michigan Community Action Agency recently hosted a project connect poverty and homeless assistance program in Cassopolis. According to the Dowagiac Daily News, the turn out was light but nevertheless "Several non-profit agencies were on hand to explain what services they can offer the homeless or near homeless."

The full article can be found at:

www.dowagiacnews.com/2009/11/26/cassopolis-poverty-fighters/

34 Percent of African American Young Men Jobless

The Washington Post highlights the problems of unemployment for young African American men by reporting that nationwide:

"Joblessness for 16-to-24-year-old black men has reached Great Depression proportions -- 34.5 percent in October, more than three times the rate for the general U.S. population."

The Post also states that young African Americans are "Traditionally the last hired and first fired (and) have taken the brunt of the difficult economy, with cost-conscious employers wiping out the very apprenticeship, internship and on-the-job-training programs that for generations gave young people a leg up in the work world or a second chance when they made mistakes."

The article also discusses the issue of discrimination head on:

""Black men were less likely to receive a call back or job offer than equally qualified white men," said Devah Pager, a sociology professor at Princeton University, referring to her studies a few years ago of white and black male job applicants in their 20s in Milwaukee and New York. "Black men with a clean record fare no better than white men just released from prison.""

The Tuesday, November 24 Post article can be found at:

www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/23/AR2009112304092.html?hpid%3Dtopnews&sub=AR

Four Out of Ten Births Are Medicaid Funded

In a new study released by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Foundation reports that:

"Over the past two decades, Medicaid has evolved into the nation’s largest payor of maternity related services. Medicaid, the nation's principal safety-net health insurance program, covers
health and long-term care services for 59 million low-income Americans, including children and
parents, pregnant women, people with disabilities, and seniors. Today, nearly two-thirds of
adult women covered by Medicaid are of childbearing age."

Also, "Medicaid finances at least four in ten of all births nationally."

The study also includes tables which compare Michigan's medicaid eligibility, coverage, etc., with the other states. The full report may be found at:

www.kff.org/womenshealth/upload/8014.pdf

Where God Left His Shoes

Nice turn out last evening at The River in downtown Kalamazoo for the movie, Where God Left His Shoes. Kudos to the folks from Poverty Reduction Initiative who worked to make this event function so smoothly. Great job Kevin on the local video!

I would give the movie "two thumbs up" even though it had its flaws. The movie does do a good job of pointing out some of the complexities which may be at the root cause of homelessness and poverty: illiteracy, spousal abuse, mental disorders, bad luck and misfortune, past criminal behaviors/records, discrimination, apathy, and more.

The awareness of the issue of homelessness and poverty is perhaps a first step, a baby step.

Sometimes, there are those who are called to take us behind that first step:

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds." - Martin Luther King, April 1963 from the Birmingham jail.

Who knows? Perhaps, someone who attended last night's screening of Where God Left His Shoes will be moved to take action behind the first step.

A few theology students put the following video together which I found on YouTube this morning. Where does God leave His shoes? Take the time to find out about the problems faced by the homeless and the poor, and U2 will see that it is a Beautiful Day:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQTsUyFhPAY

The Homeless: Compassion is Essential

Homelessness: A tale of two cities. New York has reduced the number of homeless by building housing. Los Angeles has not: "Affordable housing for all is not even a conversation in Los Angeles."

What can you do about homelessness? A good message toward the end of this 6-minute video:

"Compassion is essential. Talk to someone who is (homeless). Meet them. Include them..."

Michigan's Children: A Call to Action

Michigan's Children has issued a report entitled: "A Call to Action: Michigan's Next Generation Jeopardized Without Resolution of State's Structural Deficit."

For those needing to explain to community members, service clubs, church groups, board members, parent groups, or even state legislators, this document includes some thoughtful background on Michigan's financial problems and an analysis of the reductions to some of the programs that benefit Michigan's children and families.

The 6-page report can be found at;

www.michiganschildren.org/images/stories/BudgetBasics/2009/budget_and_revenues_11_12.pdf

Battle Creek Project Connect: Help for the Homeless

Calhoun County Project Connect coverage on WWMT-TV3:

Alleviating Poverty in Michigan

The Commission for Community Action and Economic Opportunity has issued its long awaited report to Governor Granholm and the Michigan Legislature. The Commision which held a series of Community Forums in 2007 and 2008 and was a co-sponsor of the State Poverty Summit summarized the common threads in the Executive Summary:

Frustration: Negative, blaming or overwhlemed systems and/or caseworkers often lead to clients feeling judged and shamed. The inabiility to provide personalized customer service only compounds the challenges faced by people...

Disconnection: Disparate anti-poverty efforts among state agencies and other organizations lack a shared vision and coordinated apporach. This leaves significant gaps in services...

Over-regulation: Eligibility and other requirements-particularly more restrictive regulations-are confusing, difficult to meet, contradictory, and/or poorly explained...

Access: People frequently lack transportaion to services, as well as crucial information about what help is available...

Program shape and delivery: Services offered should reflect what is actually needed, allowing for innovative responses...

Allienation: People living in poverty are the experts on this experience, and-rather than being alienated by the system-they need to be consistently and wholly involved in the process of fixing problems...

Read the whole report at: www.michigan.gov/dhs/0,1607,7-124-5460_41977---,00.html. Go to the bottom of the page for the PDF.

New Berrien Mental Health Court aims to reduce recidivism

A Mental Health Court in Berrien County which opened last January is one of nine in the state funded as pilot projects by the State Court Administrative Office. It deals with underlying mental illnesses that can keep people like Amanda enmeshed in the criminal justice system.

From the Herald Palladium:

The new court is set up to solve problems by bringing together prosecutors, probation officers and mental health professionals. They work as a team to help people convicted of crimes who have certain diagnosed mental illnesses, emotional disturbances or developmental disabilities.

The case load is small, currently 10 people, but the problems are complex, and working out solutions is a time-consuming process.

"These are challenging people," said Berrien County Trial Court Judge Angela Pasula, who oversees the program with Chief Judge Alfred Butzbaugh.

Mentally ill people can have a range of other problems - from unemployment, homelessness and lack of family support to poor physical condition and drug or alcohol problems.

"Some of these people literally don't have a place to go," Pasula said.


The new court aims to stabilize and improve the social functioning of mentally ill people convicted of felony or misdemeanor offenses.

Accomplishing those goals can mean a better qualify of life for those involved, improve public safety and reduce recidivism, officials say.

Read more

Tea Partiers Branch Out to Anti-Immigration Rallies

Tea Partiers have expanded their anti-tax base and at least in some parts of Michigan are starting to embrace the anti-immigration politic.

At a recent Tea Party rally near Detroit, Gary Kahn of Redford claimed that "illegal residents are swamping the health care system and depriving actual Americans of the country's resources. “Why do all of these communists have the ear of the president,” he said. “They are trying to shred the constitution and there is not much I can do but at least I can stand up and be counted.”"

Coming soon to a community near you?

Mohandis Ghandi once said:

“Intolerance is itself a form of violence and an obstacle to the growth of a true democratic spirit.”

For more information about the tea party rally, see the Oakland Press article at:

www.theoaklandpress.com/articles/2009/11/15/news/politics/doc4aff677180812256968123.txt

Budget Woes in Lansing and County Levels Impact Meth Treatment Program in Allegan

A model program for helping meth addicts may be reduced or eliminated in Allegan County. According to the Allegan News:

"Gun Plain Township has decided not to contribute to help keep the county’s meth diversion program in existence.

The program, run out of the Allegan County Jail, treats methamphetamine users and is being looked at as a model program, but the state grant that funds it is ending. Allegan County, which is in the midst of cutting its own budget due to falling property tax revenues, has not appropriated money to continue the program...

The program takes people with histories of meth addiction and criminal behavior and puts them into an intense treatment program, if a judge and the program’s board approve them. Twenty people have graduated from the program and, despite the addictiveness of meth, none have returned to jail or prison. Recidivism for meth addicts who don’t receive treatment is very high, program officials have said, and point to their graduates as having become productive members of society."

The full article can be found at:

www.allegannews.com/articles/2009/11/12/ue_news/3.txt

SNL Oscar Rogers Suggestion for Michigan's Economic Woes

Earlier today, we started a Summit to Reform Michigan Education Funding meeting with a little levity. We viewed a video clip from Saturday Night Live (SNL). Now that I am an old geezer, SNL is on past my bedtime. However, maybe I should force myself to stay up late because I agree with SNL cast member Oscar Rogers' approach to the issues.

The following link is to the SNL clip from the Weekend News Update. If you will, please forward to about the 2:20 minute mark remaining in the video. Mr. Roger's approach to the federal economic crisis could just as easily apply to the economic woes in Michigan.

You know, while this blog is serious business when it comes to issues related to poverty, the homeless, diversity, community health, etc., it is still fun to laugh once in a while at ourselves.

And like Mr. Rogers says when it comes to these serious issues, we need to:

FIX IT!

trainwreckpolitics.com/2008/10/11/snls-solution-to-the-financial-crisis-fix-it/

Note: The "Fix it" portion of the video runs about a minute and a half. My apologies, I am unsure how to get around your having to watch a 20 second or so beer commercial at the beginning.

WKZO P.M. Program Discusses Banning Muslim Americans from Serving In Afghanistan or Iraq

WKZO-AM 590, Kalamazoo does not have a strong signal in Berrien County, especially past the hills at Watervliet. Thus, I do not regularly catch the station except when driving through the Kalamazoo area.

This afternoon as I drove back from a meeting in the Lansing area, I turned to WZKO to listen to the 3:00 p.m. news. After that a local talk radio show came on, a fellow named Jay Morris. I don't remember hearing Mr. Morris in the past, but I may have.

On today's show, they were discussing the horrific shootings at Fort Hood. However, the radio host took this further and was discussing with call in listeners whether or not Muslim Americans should be banned from serving in the military in Iraq or Afghanistan or any Muslim country. (I guess they meant any predominantly Muslim country, but I should not assume.)

One caller suggested that since we did not allow Japanese Americans to serve during the Second World War in the Pacific Theater that we should also not allow Muslim Americans to serve in a Muslim country. The radio host appeared to agree that was perfectly logical and that our military had gone too far with "forced diversity." One caller indicated that such forced diversity never works.

As a United States Navy veteran, I take great offense and umbrage at these comments. Perhaps, I as a 50 percent Slavic American should never have been trusted to be a serviceman in a potential zone which confronted my Russian cousins? Or perhaps German, Austrian, or Italian Americans should never have served in Europe during WWII? Take it a step further, wasn't Germany a predominantly Protestant country at WWII? Maybe all Protestant Americans should have been prevented from serving against the Germans? Or maybe all Catholic Americans should not have been able to serve against the Italians?

The death of soldiers at Fort Hood is a terrible tragedy. The individual who committed the horrific crime has been arrested and will soon face a trial for heinous murder, if he has not already been charged with same.

Does that mean that all Muslim Americans are potential traitors who would commit similar offenses? NO!

As a veteran, I take great pride that Harry Truman ordered the military integrated in July 1948, 16 years before the Civil Rights Act. The military has at times been a leader in civil rights. In 1964, then Secretary of Defense McNamara issued the following directive:

"Every military commander has the responsibility to oppose discriminatory practices affecting his men and their dependents and to foster equal opportunity for them, not only in areas under his immediate control, but also in nearby communities where they may gather in off-duty hours."

Sadly, some who called into the WKZO talk show including the host did not get the order. To them, as a U.S. Navy veteran, I say the issue was settled by a man who said:

"The Buck Stops here!"

Kalamazoo's Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week Media Coverage

Today is the press conference for Kalamazoo's Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. News coverage should be airing on multiple media outlets within the next few days. Here is WWMT 3's TV coverage leading up the conference:

http://video.wwmt.com/m/27366090/homeless-numbers-grow.htm

Study: Michigan crumbles under outdated tax system

From the Detroit Free Press:

California’s state finances are awful, but Michigan is among nine other states that aren’t far behind the Golden State in economic trauma, according to a new study.

The shock waves of the domestic auto industry’s decline, home foreclosures and persistent state deficits could last for decades, according to the Pew Center on the States.

The report quoted Donald Grimes, a University of Michigan senior research specialist, saying he expects new data this year will show Michigan is among the nation’s 10 poorest states.

If Michigan’s economy suddenly grew at the rate it did during the prosperous 1990s, it would be 2025 or 2030 before it recovered all the jobs it’s lost in the past decade, said Susan Urahn, managing director for the Pew Center on the States.

“Michigan is essentially adjusting to a new normal, where the state may just have to deal with a permanent set of pared-back services,” she said. “It is simply not one of the most prosperous states anymore.”

The report says Michigan’s population is becoming older and less affluent, and its outmoded tax system can’t support state government.

Generous tax exemptions for retirees and businesses, and the exclusion of services from sales taxes, are two reasons for persistent state deficits, according to the report.

Couples can receive up to $110,000 in pension and other retirement income without paying anything to the state.

“In 20 years, we’re going to look like Florida does now if the demographic trends continues and no one’s going to be paying taxes except those that are working,” Mitch Bean, director of the nonpartisan House Fiscal Agency, told Pew researchers.

Last year, the state offered $6.3 billion more in business tax breaks than it collected in taxes.

“Left with few options, Michigan is being forced to diversify its economy and confront long-neglected structural imbalances in its budget under some of the most unfavorable conditions since World War II,” the report says. “The beleaguered state is adjusting to a new normal.”

To balance its budget over the past decade, Michigan has relied on $8 billion in onetime fixes, not including the billions of dollars it received in federal stimulus money this year, the report concluded.

Joining Michigan and California on the Pew Center’s list of fiscally endangered states are Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.

Those states share, to varying degrees, these four troubling traits:

• Economies too reliant on single industries, such as the auto industry for Michigan.

• Persistent gaps between state spending and tax revenues.

• Limited ability to raise taxes or reduce spending.

• Inability to enact long-term fiscal reforms.

The report says the 10 states’ financial woes could result in higher taxes, layoffs, longer waits for public services, crowded classrooms, higher college tuition and less support for unemployed and poor people.

Because those states account for one-third of the U.S. population, their actions to either raise taxes or cut spending could slow the nation’s economic recovery, the report says.

The report comes on the heels of more budget tumult for Michigan. A finished 2009-10 budget is still under debate, with Gov. Jennifer Granholm locked in a bitter feud with Senate Republicans over additional tax revenues to stave off major cuts in state aid to schools.

The Pew assessment is no surprise to state finance officials. A new Senate Fiscal Agency report says tax revenues to run the state and public schools are nearly 13% less than a year ago (from November 2008 to October 2009).

September marked the ninth straight month in which tax collections were lower than previous year levels.

Precipitous drops in state aid to cities and schools have rekindled talk in Lansing of overhauling Michigan’s tax system.

Bean told the Pew researchers: “Even if we can straighten out our tax code some, I see no way around a dramatic change in government at all levels in Michigan. There’s going to be fewer services.”

Michigan Works in Paw Paw Hosts Disability Rights & Responsbility Workshop

Per the Paw Paw Courier Leader, "The Disability Network Southwest Michigan will present a (free) workshop covering a common concern for people with disabilities - when to tell an employer about their disability. The workshop will be held at the Michigan WORKS! Service Center, 32849 Red Arrow Highway, in Paw Paw, on Monday November 16 from 1:00 - 3:00 p.m."

More information on the workshop can be found in the Courier Leader at:

www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20386357&BRD=2188&PAG=461&dept_id=560383&rfi=6

Branch Area Annual Feed The Needy Campaign

The Branch Area Food Pantry Holiday Feed the Needy drive has gotten off to a slow start, per the Coldwater Daily Reporter.

For more info see:

www.thedailyreporter.com/newsnow/x558078125/Annual-holiday-Feed-the-Needy-drive-needs-support

New neighbors in the Historic Stuart Neighborhood

A particular relevant story was just released that really struck home for me. This Wednesday the ribbon-cutting ceremony for a house on Elm St. will commence at 1pm that will house low-income and (soon-to-be) formerly homeless persons.

Elm St. is one of the several streets that comprise the historic Stuart district, of which I am a resident. I have watched the reconstruction of this home occur over the last half a year and I am excited finally see it in use.

I drive past the house at least once a day, as it is within a couple minute walking distance from my home. It is a constant reminder to me of the successful, positive work that our community can achieve with collaboration.

Some tidbits from the Kalamazoo Gazette Article:

"VanDam & Krusinga Building and Restoration was the general contractor for the project, which involved essentially gutting the structure and replacing windows, doors, cabinets and interior trim. Work also included painting, landscaping, rebuilding the porch, making the entrance accessible to people with disabilities and providing parking.

The Elm Street project is the first to be completed with the aid of a $500,000 award from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. That grant supplements housing-trust funds contributed by both the city of Kalamazoo and Kalamazoo County.

Ten of the single-person, efficiency units will be for low-income people with disabilities who will pay no more than 30 percent of their monthly incomes for rent and utilities. The remaining one-bedroom unit was planned to house an on-site, resident manager to provide support for the tenants.

The project is part of Kalamazoo County’s 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness, which calls for “reduced dependence” on shelters and increased emphasis on affordable, permanent housing that comes with appropriate support services."

Families Move into New Low Income Housing In Benton Harbor

"Compared to where I was before, this is a mansion," beams Sonseeahray Bates about her family's new home in the newly developed Harbor Bluffs housing complex in Benton Harbor. Ms. Bates is a single mother with two children. Her oldest is 6 and she says ""Derrick is so excited to have his own room. He loves having a quiet place to do his homework."

Now, I do not know if this new public housing development will be the start to a more rewarding life for Ms. Bates and her family. I certainly hope that her good fortune will lift her and her family up.

I do know this: The comments that people wrote anonymously to express their opinions about this article are disturbing to me.

More than 40 years ago, Bobby Kennedy once said:

“But suppose God is black? What if we go to Heaven and we, all our lives, have treated the Negro as an inferior, and God is there, and we look up and He is not white? What then is our response?”

What is the response? Anyone care to comment to those who made comments about the article in the Herald Palladium?

The Sunday Benton Harbor/St. Joseph Herald Palladium article can be found at:

www.heraldpalladium.com/articles/2009/11/08/local_news/958422.txt

Senior Citizen Wears a Snow Suit Inside to Keep Warm

The Southwest Michigan Community Action Agency (SMCAA) provides home heating and home weatherization assistance to families in need. According to Yvonne Vidt of the Southwest Michigan Community Action Agency "one of her community assistants recently took an application from a senior citizen for home heating assistance.

Vidt, the agency's community services manager, said the man told the assistant, "'This is the first year I'm going to be able to turn my furnace on.' In past winters, he'd been sitting in his living room with a snowsuit on.""

The program offered by SMCAA is "a low-income program to fill people's propane and fuel oil tanks and even provide wood," Vidt said. "I've got a lot of money, and the cap is extremely high." This year the agency has $400,000 to dispense in home heating assistance.

As an anecdote, the pastor of my church has told me the most frequent request for emergency assistance that he gets is from people needing funds to meet their utility payments. Hope he read this article:

www.heraldpalladium.com/articles/2009/11/07/local_news/957854.txt

United Way of SW Michigan: A Desire to Change the Community

Anna Murphy, the President of the United Way of Southwest Michigan, describes her organization in this manner, “We are an organization that has a desire to see community change (the United Way) allocates (funds) to organizations that can help us to make that change.”

In a recent edition of the Niles Daily Star, Ms. Murphy says that "the question on the minds of many donors now is “what impact did it have? What change did it make? “The donor is more savvy,” Murphy said. “We need to measure and evaluate more effectively,” in order to inform donors on where their money is going and what kind of change it’s making."

The funding for many United Ways throughout Southwest Michigan is pinched as the recession impacts their coffers.

The full article can be found at:

www.nilesstar.com/2009/11/07/uniting-the-donor-with-the-cause/

Give DHS Workers Guns?

State representative Dave Agema of Grandville suggests the way to help stressed DHS workers who are dealing with overly aggressive clients on their caseloads is for the DHS workers to pack heat.

I better not comment...

Other than, shouldn't they fund and hire some more DHS workers to help the clients and relieve the stress (for both the social workers and the clients) and, thus, help the DHS reduce the wait times and case loads?

For the State Journal blog that reported the representative's comments, see:

noise.typepad.com/election_countdown/2009/11/pistolpacking-dhs-workers.html

State Budget Director Says "NO" on EITC Use for K-12 or Business Tax Relief

Headline in November 4, 2009 Gongwer (a Lansing based news service):

EMERSON RULES OUT E.I.T.C. TO FUND K-12, BIZ TAX RELIEF

Delaying the scheduled increase in the Earned Income Tax Credit as a way of reducing cuts to K-12 schools and phasing out the Michigan Business Tax surcharge, as Senate Republicans have proposed, would run afoul of federal rules on the use of welfare money, Budget Director Bob Emerson says.

Gongwer's daily headlines can be found at:

www.gongwer.com/programming/index.cfm?locId=1

Michigan Art Exhibit Gives Voice to the Homeless

Giving some voice to the homeless, a new exhibit of art work created by the homeless and those in poverty has opened in Lansing. The exhibition is entitled: "Your Story and Mine: A Community of Hope."

After being displayed in Lansing for a few weeks, the exhibit will make the rounds at various locations throughout the state over the next year.

For more information, see:

www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20091105/NEWS01/911050338&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL

Michigan DHS Caseworkers overburdened by demand of needy

According the Associated Press:

State social workers struggling with mounting welfare, food stamp and Medicaid caseloads said Wednesday they fear for their lives after being assaulted or threatened by recipients frustrated by delays in state aid.

Employees of the Department of Human Services said at a legislative hearing that they are overwhelmed with bulging caseloads and people seeking help are taking out their frustration on innocent workers. The employees said local DHS offices are packed because there are not enough workers to deal with the influx of cases as Michigan's unemployment rises.

"We need to help these families," said Jan Brown, who works in the Berrien County office. "They are families that need us. There are families who meet us saying, 'I never thought I'd walk into this office.'"

Brown was one of seven caseworkers to testify before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Human Services.

DHS administrators did not dispute much of the testimony, though they stressed they take employees' safety seriously. They said the state's estimated 8,500 field caseworkers need more help. At least 700 more staffers need to be hired, said Terry Salacina, director of field operations. But that will be a challenge because Michigan has been cutting state government to deal with multibillion-dollar budget deficits.

Wayne County eligibility specialist Colette Gilewicz said she has more than 800 cases and handles 100 phone calls a day. She said a line forms outside her office in northeast Detroit at 7 a.m., an hour before the building opens.

Gilewicz said a client frustrated by the long wait threw a chunk of concrete through a window. The office has been broken into three times. The computer server was stolen for scrap metal.

Gilewicz said she is seeing an increasingly large number of former middle-class workers who were laid off from small auto-related factories and tool and die shops.

"Now at age 55 or 60, they're entering the system for the first time," she said. "They simply don't know what to do and where to turn."

DHS spokesman Edward Woods III said 2.2 million people, or more than 20 percent of Michigan's residents, get some type of government assistance — 400,000 more than a year ago.

Racial Profiling of Migrant Workers?

"Intolerance and poor conditions scaring off migrant workers," so reads the title to a Detroit News article concerning conditions in Michigan's migrant laborer camps.

Abel Sanchez, a regional manager for Telemon Corporation says, "The State Police and county sheriff departments are doing racial profiling, and stopping them almost once a week, (Migrants) don't feel comfortable in this area when they go to the grocery store or to their kids' school."

The full article is at:

www.detnews.com/article/20091104/METRO/911040347/1409/METRO/Intolerance--poor-conditions-scaring-off-migrant-workers

Kalamazoo to vote on Metro Transit Tax on Tuesday Nov. 3

For many, the Metro Transit system is the only means of transportation to one's job, services and needs. Please consider the implications of a failed transportation system on our community. If people cannot travel to their jobs, it would only worsen the economic state of our community.

On Tuesday November 3rd, Kalamazoo city voters will decide whether to approve 0.6 mill to pay for Metro Transit for three years. If approved, the property tax would cost the owner of a $150,000 market-value home about $45 per year.

Officials estimate the levy would generate $1 million annually to pay for the Metro Transit service within the city of Kalamazoo. It would allow for continuation of the current level of service; riders would not see bus hours or routes expand, said Bill Schomisch, Metro Transit’s executive director.

City voters are being asked to pay for the remaining portion of the county’s public transportation system: the 18 bus routes that run in the city of Kalamazoo.

So get out there and vote yes tomorrow!

Improving Literacy Skills: Thoughts from the Benton Harbor Soup Kitchen

On Halloween, 112 people at the Benton Harbor Soup Kitchen were served a lunch of goulash, fresh salad, green peas, bread, and fresh fruit. For desert, fortune cookies were served. As coordinator for my church's volunteer efforts at the Soup Kitchen, I am responsible for menu planning and food purchasing.

(Thankfully, as chief financial officer for a school district, I have a food service director who assists me in menu planning. I never knew how difficult it was to plan a balanced meal for 100+ until I had to come up with menus for the Soup Kitchen!)

Actually, of the 112 folks served, 3 were volunteers. One of them was me. I like to make sure that the food we are serving is tasty and enjoyable. So, during the slower serving period, I always fill a tray and join our guests in the cafeteria. Each time I do that, I learn a little more about the problems they face.

This week I was reminded that literacy is an issue with at least some of the poor. I joined the table of a young man, maybe in his early 30s. We mostly chatted about the things that strangers chat about, the weather, sports, and such. Upon getting to his desert, the fortune cookie, I asked him what his fortune said. His response was that from "what I could read of it, seems OK."

It just reminded that programs that prevent illiteracy and grow literacy are an important tool in the fight to prevent poverty.

P.S. The other thing I learned is that the bottom of the pan of green peas gets pretty mushy. The corn, green beans, or mixed vegetables we have served in the past are probably a better option.