Challenge prods Americans to shop like food-stamp recipients

Elected officials and activists joined faith groups in a program that challenges Americans to spend one week living like the 49 million food stamp recipients.

For the national food stamp challenge that kicked off at a District Safeway teams that each included a food stamp recipient tried to shop for a weeks' worth of food.




www.wjla.com/articles/2011/10/challenge-prods-americans-to-shop-like-food-stamp-recipients-68425.html

High anxiety, other ills run into low-grade mental health care system in Michigan

From Nichole Kemp’s perspective, West Michigan’s mental health treatment system rates something less than a top grade.

Kemp, 37, was diagnosed 20 years ago with bipolar disorder and borderline schizophrenia.

In August, the Kentwood resident was hospitalized for four days at Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services after she found herself unable to stop crying and overwhelmed by feelings of panic.

Since then, Kemp has been stymied in getting the help she feels she needs. She said she was denied case management service through network180, Kent County’s primary mental health agency. She said it also declined to pay for psychiatric consultation and her medications.

“I am very, very frustrated,” Kemp said. “I am very disappointed in the system. I cannot believe there is nothing available to me. I can’t believe that every door is shut to me.”

www.mlive.com/health/index.ssf/2011/10/high_anxiety_other_ills_run_in.html#incart_hbx

Poor, minorities more likely to be obese. But why?

Inside a Quaker meeting house in Lansing's Old Town, 15 or so people sit in a circle of chairs.

It's 8 a.m., and they make quiet conversation while balancing plates of bagels and fruit.

Their names are handwritten in folded cards at their feet.

Pretty soon, a speaker calls for their attention, and the questions begin — questions designed to make them squirm.

• Do people make assumptions about you based on how you look?

• Do you make assumptions about other people?

• Are you treated differently because of your gender, your class, your race?

Those aren't the kinds of questions polite strangers are supposed to discuss, says Renee Canady, newly promoted health officer for the Ingham County Health Department and an adjunct professor at Michigan State University.

But believe it or not, she says, those are precisely the kinds of questions we need to ask each other if we're going to make any breakthroughs on one of the most baffling and frustratingly difficult facts of the nation's obesity epidemic: The amount of money you make and the color of your skin can increase your chances of being fat.

"The structures of our lives — our emotional, financial and support systems — are so different," Canady says. "We're trying to help people see that the choices people make are determined by the choices people have. And some people just don't have good choices."

www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20111030/NEWS01/110300491/Poor-minorities-more-likely-obese-why-?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

The Box Factory for the Arts
presents
Linda LaRocque’s

Ain’t Tina Turner
Classical Music

November 19 at 4:30 p.m. & 8:00 p.m.

November 20 at 4:30 p.m.

WHERE:

Box Factory for the Arts
1101 Broad Street, St. Joseph, MI

All Proceeds Benefit Benton Harbor Soup Kitchen
Tickets: $10 per person

Please reserve seats at 269-983-3688

or by PayPal at

www.boxfactoryforthearts.org

Background:

The Box Factory would like to share with you West Michigan native Linda LaRocque’s story
of three people who live on the street, exploring their abilities and inabilities to cope with daily life.

Imagine finding yourself having no choice but to live on the streets. What would you do without the simple necessities in life: food and shelter?

In today’s tough times, we felt it was important to tell this story and to do it as a benefit for the Benton Harbor Soup Kitchen which faces its own struggles in these economic times.

Rev David Beckmann on Hunger and Poverty and Our Government Budgets

David Beckmann of Bread for the World, a national, religious advocacy organization for the poor, talks about reducing hunger and poverty in the world and in this country. He provides some examples of hope and improvement in places like Bangla Desh.

He talks about how in the United States we have made progress when we tried to do so. "But we haven't made the sustained progress against poverty that other countries have made. Because we haven't made the sustained effort."

"All the food that people in need get from all of the food charities across the country amounts to 6% of the amount of food they receive from federal food programs. "

So, basically all of the churches, food pantries, and soup kitchens in the country would have to increase their giving by more than 15 times to make up for the loss if all federal aid in programs like SNAP were eliminated.

In the middle/latter part of the interview is a plug for donations to the organization Bread for the World. However, I do not feel it diminishes from the overall message of the video which discusses from a religious perspective the need for governmental aid for the poor.

Heating aid cuts could impact many in state

Michigan's winter is expected to be harsh.

And, if the state's allotment of federal funds to help low-income residents pay heating bills is cut as much as 50 percent as expected, things could be much worse for the nearly 41,000 Ingham County households and about 15,000 others in Eaton and Clinton counties who have needed assistance.

"We certainly think people who've been helped in the past are threatened with receiving no help this year and it's supposed to be a cold winter and our economy hasn't improved. It's a huge problem," said Judy Putnam, spokeswoman for the Michigan League for Human Services.

Federal funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP, was cut from $5 billion to $4.5 billion for the fiscal year that ended in September. And advocates believe Congress will approve $3.5 billion for fiscal 2012.

The cuts come as Congress focuses more on other areas deemed higher priorities, such as education, reductions in health care fraud and lowering the national debt.

The state's Department of Human Services, which helps administer the LIHEAP funds through the Home Heating Credit, could see its federal heating assistance funds slashed by anywhere from one-third to one-half. Last year the state received $276.5 million in LIHEAP funds.

www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20111024/NEWS01/110240318/Heating-aid-cuts-could-impact-many-region?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

Empty houses? Needy families? Time to mix

There are certain sounds that are pure childhood joy. One is the clomping of little feet up the stairs. Another is the squeal of delight.

This past week, in a freshly renovated house in Detroit, those two sounds came together. Seven children. Running up the stairs. Running into bedrooms.

Cue the squeals.

"I call this one!" ... "This one!" ... "I got the top one!" They were laying claim to something every child ought to have -- a bed -- but they were giddy because they had been sleeping three to a mattress in a dingy house infested with mold.

Now this?

"I got top bed!" ... "I got bottom bed!"

Their mother, Kristy Wilson, followed in behind them. Her eyes were wider than a moving truck, and she kept turning left and right, putting her hand on her heart or her cheek.

"Whose room is this?" she asked, entering a bedroom with a queen-size mattress on a new frame.

"Yours and your husband's," she was told.

She fell to her knees, laid her head on the bed and began to cry.

www.freep.com/article/20111023/COL01/110230441/Mitch-Albom-Empty-houses-Needy-families-Time-to-mix?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|p

Racial Disparities in School Discipline Feeding the ‘School-to-Prison’ Pipeline, Report Finds

Public schools are suspending Blacks and Latinos and students with disabilities at much higher rates than others, according to recent findings by the National Education Policy Center (NEPC).

In a newly released report, "Discipline Policies, Successful Schools, and Racial Justice,” NEPC documents that suspension rates for non-Whites have more than doubled since the 1970s, while the Black-White gap has more than tripled.

Civil rights advocates are concerned that such racial disparities in the educational system perpetuate the school-to-prison pipeline, i.e. the funneling of students — primarily children of color — out of public schools and into the juvenile and criminal justice systems.



www.unfinishedbusiness.org/20111021-racial-disparities-in-school-discipline-feeding-the-school-to-prison%e2%80%99-pipeline-report-finds/

11,000 Michigan families confront the unknown

The roles Sharon Matthews has fielded so far are hardly the stuff of cakewalks: high school dropout; single mom; gunshot victim.

But her toughest role yet begins next month: Guinea pig.

The 41-year-old Detroit resident and her 15-year-old daughter are among the 11,000 Michigan families banned from welfare, as the state of Michigan begins to enforce a 48-month lifetime cap on cash assistance.

Matthews knows her benefits likely will disappear forever in November. What she and others, from the office of Gov. Rick Snyder down to local soup kitchens, don’t know is what will happen after that.

The changes wrought to Michigan’s welfare system by Snyder and the Michigan Legislature are unprecedented nationally. No other state has kicked so many people off assistance in such a short amount of time, with such little notice. The result is a volatile social experiment that could help transform the state’s economy, or fill the beds of homeless shelters and prisons.

bridgemi.com/2011/10/11000-michigan-families-confront-the-unknown/

Employers challenged to help victims of domestic violence

When there's violence at home, it typically happens behind closed doors -- but has profound effects in many other places, including the workplace.

That's the conviction of Jennifer Fopma, executive director of SAFE Place in Battle Creek.

"It's a true dollars-and-cents issue," Fopma said. "An employee distracted by troubles at home is unlikely to be fully productive."

Statistics distributed by the shelter during Domestic Violence Awareness Month support her view that domestic violence has a negative impact on local, state and national economic sectors:

» One in four women experience physical violence from an intimate partner at some point, and 85 percent of domestic-violence victims are women.

» Three-quarters of women killed in non-robbery situations while working were murdered by a former intimate partner.

» Nationally, homicide is the second leading cause of death for women on the job, with 20 percent of those having been murdered by their partner.

» Businesses nationwide lose an estimated $727.8 million in productivity, with more than 7.9 million paid workdays lost annually because of intimate-partner violence.

www.battlecreekenquirer.com/article/20111017/NEWS01/110170302/Employers-challenged-help-victims-domestic-violence

Immigration expert tries to dispel 'myths' about Hispanics in U.S.

Marcelo Suárez-Orozco flashed a slide showing the 5.5 million surge in under-18 Hispanic population in the United States during the last decade, which, to the noted professor and immigration expert, underscored a stark reality of the future.

“These are the teachers, the firefighters, the cops, the scientists — this is the future of the United States. These are your new citizens,” he told a crowd of Seidman Business College students at Grand Valley State University’s Loosemore Auditorium on Thursday.

“For those of you in business, these are your new customers.”

Suárez-Orozco is co-founder of the Harvard Immigration Project and professor of globalization and education at New York University. His latest book, “Latinos: Remaking America,” is a comprehensive study of the nation’s fastest-growing ethnic group.

www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2011/10/immigration_expert_tries_to_di.html

Judge OKs Michigan Welfare Cuts

Welfare cuts are back on after U.S. District Judge Paul Borman ruled late Friday that the new notices sent out this week by the Michigan Department of Human Services provided enough warning and information to 11,162 families scheduled to lose their cash assistance benefits this month.

The revised notices “satisfy the due process concerns,” Borman wrote in his ruling.

www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20111015/NEWS01/310150002/Judge-OKs-Michigan-welfare-cuts?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

Gov. Snyder appoints commission to improve legal representation for the poor

A commission to investigate how to improve legal representation offered to low-income criminal defendants was created Thursday by Gov. Rick Snyder through an executive order.

Snyder said the commission is necessary because the quality of such representation varies greatly around the state.

“A core principle of our criminal justice system is to guarantee that an individual charged with a crime be entitled to legal representation, even if they are unable to hire private counsel,” Snyder said in a release. “The Commission will work to ensure that all criminal defendants receive effective assistance of counsel.”

The 14-member Indigent Defense Advisory Commission is charged with recommending changes in the system, due to the governor and Legislature by July 15, 2012.

www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/10/gov_snyder_appoints_commission.html

Welfare recipients to get another reminder that they've lost cash assistance

More than 11,000 Michiganders who get cash assistance from the state might find a bit of déjà vu in their mailboxes this week. The Michigan Department of Human Services (DHS) has reissued 11,162 notices alerting recipients of Family Independence Program (FIP) that they’ve about to lose those benefits.

That’s because they’ve reached their lifetime limits, and recipients are encouraged to call 1-855-763-3677 to talk to a DHS social worker who can connect them with other programs and resources.

The letters, which DHS director Maura Corrigan said are the fourth notice to go out, were sent again after a ruling by U.S. District Judge Paul D. Borman last week.

www.freep.com/article/20111012/NEWS06/111012019/Welfare-recipients-get-another-reminder-they-ve-lost-cash-assistance

Mom jailed for being too poor to pay child support

The Michigan Supreme Court heard oral arguments Thursday at 9:30 a.m. to decide whether the felony conviction of a Detroit woman who was too poor to pay more than $1,100 a month in child support should stand.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan and the University of Michigan Innocence Clinic are representing Selesa Likine, who lost her job and custody of her three children after being diagnosed with a severe mental illness.

The ACLU of Michigan and the U of M Innocence Clinic will argue the trial court violated Likine’s constitutional rights by not allowing her to prove to the jury that she was unable to pay her assessed child support.

Last year, a judge adjusted Likine’s child support payments to $25 a month; however, she still owes tens of thousands of dollars in back payments.

In 2005, Likine was diagnosed with Schizoaffective Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder.
After a lengthy hospital stay, she was terminated from her job and has not been able to work since.

In 2007, despite the fact that her only income was the $603 a month she received in Social Security benefits, the court increased her child support payments from $181 to $1,131 a month.

www.dowagiacnews.com/2011/10/06/mom-jailed-for-being-too-poor-to-pay-child-support/

Mich. shrinks safety net for poor as poverty rises

Michele Shoemaker spent Wednesday packing, faced with a weekend deadline to leave the simple two-bedroom rental in Jackson where she and her 15-year-old son have lived for five years. About to be cut off from welfare and with no job, she has sent him to live with her sister and his cousins, but there's no room for her.

Shoemaker, 38, said Medicaid will cover the costs of treating her bipolar disorder and painful fibromyalgia, but even if she could find a job after 10 years on welfare, perhaps as a waitress or cook, it would be hard to keep because of her mood swings. She's losing her home and has no place to go, but she says the hardest thing is the loss of her son.

"I want him home and I don't even have a home for him to come to," she said, fighting through tears.

Read more: www.bradenton.com/2011/10/05/3551412/mich-shrinks-safety-net-for-poor.html#ixzz1aDV3ggKm

Judge halts welfare cuts for 41,000 Michigan residents

A federal judge today accused the state of "sleight of hand," and halted plans to end welfare benefits to nearly 41,000 Michigan residents.

U.S. District Judge Paul Borman determined after a hearing today that the state failed to give proper notice to those it planned to cut off, and although the issue was brought to the federal court in a lawsuit filed by just three plaintiffs, the judge also granted class status to include everyone affected by the state's decision.

Lawyers for the government declined to discuss after the hearing how the state will respond.

The judge's order requires the state to send new notices to all those affected — and this time the state must include a copy of a new policy that dictates the changes.

detnews.com/article/20111004/METRO/110040423/Judge-halts-welfare-cuts-for-41-000-Michigan-residents#ixzz1ZrUyf84G

Elmo & Sesame Street Join the Awareness Campaign for Childhood Hunger

There's a poignant moment right at the top of Sesame Street's new prime-time special, "Growing Hope Against Hunger." Everybody's gathered for a food drive near Hooper's store when, Lily, a new Muppet developed specifically for the show, reveals to Elmo that "sometimes I go with my family to the food pantry." Elmo is clearly jolted by the news. "Elmo never even has to think about where his next meal is coming from," he says.

It's no surprise that Sesame Street is tackling a tough societal issue. The show's been doing it from the start, setting up in New York City and debuting in 1969 with a cast of multicultural characters as friends. It was a time when a lot of Americans thought of the city as crime-ridden and racially divided.

Just in the last couple of years, the Workshop has produced specials about parents losing a job and how children grieve after a parent dies.

In the new program, which airs October 9th on PBS, (check out the sneak preview video above) the Workshop goes after the very big problem of childhood hunger. The USDA says 16 million kids live in "food-insecure" households, meaning they have limited access to affordable and nutritious foods.

www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2011/10/04/141020644/sesame-street-tackles-child-hunger-one-muppet-at-a-time

Polly's Place Honors Domestic Violence Awareness Month with Fund Raiser

Polly’s Place, Niles celebrated its upcoming re-opening and marked Domestic Violence Awareness Month Sunday with the first of several fundraisers, the First Annual Pedal for Polly’s Place.

The faith-based center for domestic violence and related abuse, which is re-opening Oct. 17, held a 20-mile scenic bike ride from Garden Hills Farms in Buchanan Township, on Rangeline Road and along the St. Joseph River and Fernwood Nature Preserve. An after-party with prize drawings was also held. Entry for the race was $15. All proceeds from the event benefited Polly’s Place. “We’re really excited to be up and running,” said Paul Leonard, director of marketing and development.

The shelter has recently announced it is upping its fundraising efforts, which include the bike ride.

The next fundraiser is the Polly’s Place Annual Fashion Show and silent auction Nov. 6 from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Bell Building, 305 North Third St., Niles. Refreshments will be provided. Tickets are $12 in advance or $15 at the door. For tickets, call 683-6523.

www.nilesstar.com/2011/10/02/pedal-to-prevent-abuse/

Students Ignorant of Civil Rights History

When Julian Bond, the former Georgia lawmaker and civil rights activist, turned to teaching two decades ago, he often quizzed his college students to gauge their awareness of the civil rights movement. He did not want to underestimate their grasp of the topic or talk down to them, he said.

"My fears were misplaced," Bond said. No student had heard of George Wallace, the segregationist governor of Alabama, he said. One student guessed Wallace might have been a CBS newsman.

That ignorance by U.S. students of the basic history of the civil rights movement has not changed — in fact, it has worsened, according to a new report by the Southern Poverty Law Center, on whose board Bond sits. The report says states' academic standards for public schools are one major cause of the problem.

"Across the country, state educational standards virtually ignore our civil rights history," concludes the report, which is to be released Wednesday.

detnews.com/article/20111002/SCHOOLS/110020308/Students-ignorant-of-civil-rights-history--study-says#ixzz1ZcVnxWrM

Michigan Students Have Little Guidance as Counselors Eliminated

High school seniors are expected to ask their guidance counselors where they can find work in Michigan.

Their guidance counselors, though, may be asking the same question.

At a time when Michigan teens are struggling to find their footing in a changing economy, schools are thinning the ranks of guidance counselors.

State schools averaged one guidance counselor per 638 students in the 2008-09 school year – sixth worst in the nation. And it’s likely gotten worse since then.

“The situation is becoming more and more dire,” says Harry Clay, Michigan School Counselor Association manager. “With fewer counselors, they’ll have less time to produce. If you don’t get a chance to see the kids that often, how effective are you going to be?”

The counseling shortage comes as a Bridge Magazine analysis of job projections concludes that students face very tough competition for jobs for years to come, yet many do not understand the complexities of the job market.

bridgemi.com/2011/09/students-left-with-little-guidance-in-high-schools/