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.

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

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.”

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."

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.

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!