State's child poverty rate is shameful

For the first time ever, the federal census of 2010 will produce demographic data for each school district in Michigan. In the past, census figures were available with detail data for all counties, cities and townships, but not for school districts. When the data is fully released for the first time the census will present details on population, poverty, income, etc. for each school district in the state.

Poverty in Michigan has increased in the past decade. Dramatically. In 2009, the U.S. Census estimated that one in five school-age children in Michigan were poor. That's more than 340,000 school age children living in poverty. The final release of the 2010 census will or will not confirm this number. Still, if the census estimates were even close to being right, and if one child living in poverty is a shame, 340,000 Michigan children living in poverty is tragic.

The federal poverty guidelines defines a family of four as being poor if their annual income is $22,050 or less. That isn't a lot of dough to pay the rent or mortgage, buy groceries, put gas in the car in order to get to work or grocery store, let alone buy school clothes and school supplies for the children.

In the past, the best gauge of the number of poor children in a school district was the district's total free and reduced lunch count participation. This data has been available for more than a decade and is published annually by the Michigan Center for Educational Performance and Information in Lansing. The federal free school lunch guidelines are only slightly higher than the poverty guidelines. A child from a family of four qualifies for free school lunch (and breakfast in most districts) if the child's family makes $28,665 or less per year.

While it is true that in the United States our poverty is not the same kind of poverty one finds in third world countries, it is also true that a family living on less than $28,665 per year probably isn't living the life of Bill (Gates, Cosby or Clinton).

www.heraldpalladium.com/articles/2011/11/30/opinion/editorials/7508108.txt

Note: source of the above graph:
http://www.project.org/info.php?recordID=467

Friar in Detroit puts soup kitchen on wheels

As reported by the AP:

A Franciscan friar lost the brick-and-mortar headquarters for his Detroit-based charitable operations earlier this month.

But that hasn't stopped Brother Al Mascia from serving the homeless, elderly and others in Detroit.

Mascia raised $4,000 to buy two specially designed tricycles with vendor carts in front and storage trailers in back so he wouldn't miss a beat in serving his clientele.

On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, Mascia pedals into the outdoor waiting area of the Rosa Parks Transit Center on the tricycle.

He comes loaded with hot drinks, sandwiches and fruit, small packets of toiletries and clothing.

Mascia tells the Detroit News he wants the disadvantaged in Detroit "to know that someone is thinking about them."

detnews.com/article/20111124/BIZ/111240393/Detroit%E2%80%99s-Brother-Al-Mascia-puts-soup-kitchen-on-wheels

Class and the courts

There, perhaps, is no moment in life when the difference in class is more apparent than when you are accused of a crime. The wealthy hire the best lawyer they can. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided. But, the kind of attorney you get in Michigan all depends on where you live.

So, imagine this. You’ve been accused of a crime. You know you didn’t do it. But, the police think you did. You cannot afford a lawyer. So, you are appointed a lawyer. In a few counties, it might be someone from a public defenders office. In other counties, your lawyer might be someone who was appointed by a judge- which some see as a conflict. The lawyer got the job because of the judge which puts the lawyer’s independence in question. In almost half of Michigan counties, it might be a lawyer who put in the lowest bid for a contract with the county. Critics say for most counties, not enough resources are provided to a public defense lawyer to put together a proper defense.

“We are out to prove what everybody knows and that is the public defense system in this state is broken.”

That’s Michael J. Steinberg with the Michigan chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU has a case before the courts to get adequate legal defense for low-income people charged with a crime.

In a 2008 report, the National Legal Aid and Defender Association found Michigan ranks 44th of the 50 states in public defense funding. That means only five states spend less.

In fact, state government doesn’t pay for public defense. Michigan requires each county to pay the cost. And for most counties, it’s just not a big priority.

http://www.michiganradio.org/post/class-and-courts

Michigan Radio: Bridging the Gap Between Benton Harbor and St., Joseph

We've been talking a lot about class, what it means, and how we define it.

We took a trip to St. Joseph and Benton Harbor. They’re called the Twin Cities, but they're different.

In Benton Harbor forty-three percent of families live below the poverty line.

In St. Joseph it’s six percent.

And, families in St. Joseph earn more than twice as much as their neighbors across the river.

www.michiganradio.org/post/bridging-gap-between-benton-harbor-and-st-joseph

Tallying the homeless Berrien consortium cites progress

Five years into a plan to end homelessness in Berrien County, many people are still without a permanent place to live.

But over that period, a coalition of more than 50 agencies and nonprofit organizations working as the Housing Resource Network of Southwest Michigan made important strides to help people who are on the street or in danger of losing their homes.

The gains were made despite a struggling economy, HRN official Alysia Babcock said during a progress review Wednesday at First Church of God, but a lot of work remains to be done.

A point-in-time count of the homeless in Berrien County in January tallied 594 people. The number included 363 children, 65 disabled people, 25 who had been subjected to domestic violence and 15 veterans.

Babcock, executive director of Emergency Shelter Services in Benton Harbor, presented data showing that homeless children were found in all K-12 school districts in the county.

"That was an eye-opener for us," Babcock told the group of people representing agencies, nonprofits and religious groups that joined to combat homelessness. "These numbers, I think, are pretty shocking."

The count, done at one point of time around the country, may have overlooked some homeless people in Berrien because the winter cold weather drives many into any available building.

www.heraldpalladium.com/articles/2011/11/17/local_news/7315990.txt

Michigan Is One of a few States Raising Taxes on Working Poor

Michigan is among just a handful of states raising taxes on low-income working families while cutting taxes for other groups, the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities said in a report released Tuesday.

The Washington-based group notes that Michigan, New Jersey and Wisconsin all have scaled back tax credits for low-income workers in recent years while cutting business taxes. In Michigan's case, low-income families will see their tax breaks shrink starting next year by about $260 million annually while businesses will get a $1.1 billion tax break starting in January and a $1.7 billion tax break the year after.

Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder originally wanted to eliminate the state Earned Income Tax Credit, but agreed to reduce it from 20 percent of the federal credit to 6 percent for tax year 2012. He said earlier this year that the state needed to make cuts to balance the budget and noted no cuts were being made in Medicaid programs providing health care to low-income working families. He also has said the business tax cuts will create jobs.

But the Michigan League for Human Services, which opposed shrinking the EITC, said the change is bad policy.

www.cnbc.com/id/45314876

Additional information and the full report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities can be found at:

www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3620

Class segregation

The divide between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ is not just a matter of bank accounts. More and more it determines where you live.

We’ve all heard about racial segregation. Whites live one place. Blacks live in another. There are all kinds of ethnic neighborhoods. But in the last 40 years, racial-ethnic segregation has moderated somewhat- although it is still high. But socioeconomic segregation, segregation by class, is on the rise.

“Well, the biggest change is, of course, the shift in the income distribution. We’ve become a much more unequal society in the past three decades."

Douglas Massey is a Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs at Princeton. He was the lead author of a study about this trend toward class segregation which was published in the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. He says in the past few years, you can really see the shift as people lose their homes to foreclosure and have to move.

“As fewer and fewer people are in the middle and more and more people are in the extremes, housing markets tend to produce higher levels of social class segregation, higher levels of segregation on the basis of income.”

Some people are moving on up and others are moving to the wrong side of the tracks.

In some areas, it gets to the point that teachers, sales clerks, baristas, the guy who puts tires on those nice cars can’t afford to live in the towns where they work. They live in less affluent communities and have to commute to work which adds to their financial burden.

So how did we get to this greater divide between classes? It started with racial segregation.

http://www.michiganradio.org/post/class-segregation

Racial Divide Persists in Michigan's Infant Mortality Rate

For nearly 30 years, Michigan has been reducing its infant mortality rate. Still, as of 2009, a black infant in Michigan is three times more likely to die than a white baby, according to the latest statistics from 2009.

In fact, the mortality rate for black infants in Michigan for 2009 (15.5 per 1,000 live births) is roughly the same today as for white infants in 1973 (15.2). In the last decade, infant mortality rates for white infants have decreased from 5.9 to 5.4.

“We’re glad that our infant mortality rates have gone down, but we are still ranked 40th in the nation, which is nothing to be proud of,” said Jack Kresnak, president and CEO of Michigan’s Children, a nonprofit advocacy group for children and families. “We have a serious issue here. Babies of color are not seeing their first birthdays.”

Since 1973, the infant mortality rate for black infants in Michigan has been cut by about half. In the same period, infant mortality rates for whites have gone down by about two-thirds. The statewide infant death rate in 2009 was 7.5 deaths per 1,000 births. Michigan suffered 881 infant deaths out of 117,309 live births that year, according to figures from the Michigan Department of Community Health.

bridgemi.com/2011/11/racial-divide-persists-in-michigans-infant-mortality-rate/

Paid-leave benefits lagging for working moms in US

New census data show nearly half of working women who give birth are forgoing paychecks to care for their newborns as employers become selective about granting paid leave.

Lower-educated mothers are nearly four times more likely than college graduates to be denied paid maternity benefits, the widest the gap has been over the past 50 years.

The analysis released Thursday by the Census Bureau highlights the patchwork of work and family arrangements in the U.S., which, unlike most countries, lacks a federal policy on paid parental leave.

The study finds that while more companies since the 1960s have been offering paid leave to women for time off for pregnancy, birth and child care, the share of first-time mothers who received such benefits more recently has leveled off.

www.wwmt.com/articles/working-1398140-paid-leave.html

Global income inequality: Where the U.S. ranks

It's no surprise that top earners in America make a heck of a lot more than middle- and lower-income Joes.

But the disparity is greater here than in most developed nations.

The U.S. has a higher level of income inequality than Europe, as well as Canada, Australia and South Korea, according to data gathered by the World Bank.

And, while many nations have seen income inequality rise within their borders, the United States has experienced a more rapid increase in recent decades, widening the wealth gap even more.

"The top 1% in the U.S. really receive much more than in Western European countries," said Branko Milanovic, an economist with the World Bank and author of "The Haves and the Have-Nots."

America ranks in the bottom third of the list of 90 countries that Milanovic compiled, which is mainly based on 2008 data of per capita income or consumption in each nation.

money.cnn.com/2011/11/08/news/economy/global_income_inequality/index.htm

Food pantries face constant struggle to meet growing demand

Food pantries across Michigan are struggling to keep up with demand as more people come to them in need.

In Kalamazoo County there are 26 different grocery pantries open on various days of the week, all catering to local families in need.

Each day starts the same way at the more than two dozen pantries in Kalamazoo County, with calls coming in from people looking for help.

“They are entering lots of new households, people who are between this job and the last, it's taken longer to find that job and we know that everybody's got to eat again tomorrow,” said Anne Lipsey, Executive Director, Kalamazoo Loaves and Fishes.

The St. Augustine Pantry is open three days a week and also opens an extra day at the end of the month when the need is greatest. When a family comes in, workers use a key to figure out how many items they get, depending on the number of people they have to feed.

www.wwmt.com/articles/food-1398005-pantries-growing.html

For many middle-income families, college is no longer within reach

A smaller percentage of middle-income undergraduate students is attending the nation's elite public universities, raising concerns among experts and college officials that years of rising costs and tuition increases are putting top-tier educations at top public schools beyond the reach of some families.

At the University of Michigan, the percentage of freshmen with family incomes of $40,000-$100,000 fell 13% from 2005 to 2009, a national survey tracking incoming freshmen found.

U-M says it's working to reverse the trend and says there's a misperception that the school is unaffordable. Officials say U-M has increased financial aid the past several years. "We've done everything possible to keep access for all students," President Mary Sue Coleman said.

The national trend and other data indicate many middle-income families are trapped in a bind: They make too much to qualify for significant financial aid for their children, but not enough to pay increasing college costs at some public schools without more help.

www.freep.com/article/20111106/NEWS06/111060474/For-many-middle-income-families-college-no-longer-within-reach?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

Berrien County Donations Wanted for Moms Who Need Diapers

The Great Start Collaborative and Parent Coalition of Berrien County is currently hosting a countywide diaper drive through Nov. 30 in order to collect 15,000 diapers for infants and toddlers in Berrien County.

Many families in Berrien County continue to struggle in this economy and those struggles are having an impact on our youngest citizens.

The Great Start Collaborative and Parent Coalition of Berrien County are in need of help to make sure infants and toddlers in this county are not going without one of their most basic necessities.

www.nilesstar.com/2011/11/04/help-out-families-with-diaper-donation/

A picture of food stamp usage

Given what we know about the poverty rate and the current state of the economy, it should come as no surprise that more people are relying on food stamps these days.

But you may be surprised to find who receives food stamps, and where they live.

A new report from the Carsey Institute, which researches vulnerable children, youth and families, finds that 14.6 percent of rural households were relying on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in 2010.

That’s nearly the same as the percentage of households in inner urban areas who use the food and nutrition program for low-income households, also known as SNAP.

Both urban and rural households have seen SNAP use increase sharply between 2007, when the recession began, and 2010, as the nation struggled with a weak economic recovery.

lifeinc.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/03/8601953-a-picture-of-food-stamp-usage

Preschool Tests Take Time Away from Play--and Learning

On a perfect Southern California morning not long ago, a gaggle of children gathered in the backyard of a million-dollar home in an upscale Los Angeles neighborhood to celebrate the birthday of twin four-year-old girls. The host parents had rented a petting zoo for the day, and kids jumped gleefully in a bouncy castle out in the driveway. On the terrace, a few parents chatted beside an alluring spread of bagels, coffee and fruit.

Most of the kids at the party attend the same preschool. The father of one child enrolled there, where tuition is $14,300 a year for half a day, was asked what he likes about it.

“I like that my daughter can tell me what kind of whale it is we see in a movie,” said the man, sporting a seersucker jacket. “They seem to be teaching things that other schools don’t.”

“You ask them what they did in school today,” chimed in another dad, “and they’re like, ‘Oh, today we learned about pointillism.’ There’s a whole series on Picasso, a four-month project on Klimt.”

The first father continued his praise. “You go in there, and they’re sitting down, learning something,” he said. “At other preschools, they’re just playing.”

These parents might be surprised to learn that “just playing” is in fact what nearly all developmental psychologists, neuroscientists and education experts recommend for children up to age seven as the best way to nurture kids’ development and ready them for academic success later in life. Decades of research have demonstrated that their innate curiosity leads them to develop their social, emotional and physical skills independently, through exploration—that is, through play. Even animals as diverse as squirrels, horses and bears engage in, and cognitively benefit from, play.

www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm

Poorest poor in US hits new record: 1 in 15 people

New census information paints a stark portrait of the nation's haves and have-nots with the ranks of America's poorest poor reaching further into mainstream America.

The poorest Americans have now reached a record high 1 in 15 people, spread widely across metropolitan areas as the housing bust pushed many inner-city poor into suburbs and other outlying places and shriveled jobs and income.

The new information comes a week before the government releases first-ever economic data that will show more Hispanics, elderly and working-age poor have fallen into poverty.

www.wwmt.com/articles/america-1397836-poor-poorest.html