Online Map Hopes to Ease Michigan Summer Hunger Challenges for Youths

republished from the State of Michigan Department of Education website

LANSING – Summer in Michigan is lots of fun. However, for thousands of children, summer may mean going without the healthy breakfast and lunch normally offered at their local school.

There are free meals available to children across Michigan through the Summer Food Service Program. Yet, despite serving more than 144 million free and affordable lunches during the 2010 school year, only 2.6 million meals were served through this program last summer.

In an effort to provide these free meals to more children, the Michigan Department of Education has created a SFSP Site Locator Map. This online map allows parents, youth, and food assistance organizations to find the nearest meal sites across the state.

"The free Summer Food Service meal sites are in most communities, we just need families to be aware and able to find them,” said Superintendent of Public Instruction Mike Flanagan. “This online tool is designed to provide greater information and access to nutritional meals for kids during the summer.”

The map is simple to use – just go to the Map webpage, click on the site nearest you and a pop up window with hours of operation and meals served appears. The map is updated weekly throughout the summer as additional sites begin operation. The public is encouraged to check the website throughout the summer for Summer Food sites nearest them.

The Summer Food Service Program was established to ensure that children continue to receive nutritious meals when school is not in session. Free meals, that meet federal nutrition guidelines, are provided to all children 18 years and younger at approved SFSP sites in areas with significant concentrations of low income children. SFSP operators include public and private nonprofit schools, residential camps, colleges or universities, government agencies, and other private non-profit organizations.

The SFSP Site Locator Map can be found at www.mcgi.state.mi.us/schoolnutrition or at the Summer Food Service Program website at www.michigan.gov/sfsp

The Summer Food Service Program, administered by MDE through funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is available to children regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability.

Michigan Braces for a Surge in Welfare Applications

News from the Washington Post, where Michigan's 14.1% unemployed will soon find their employment benefits gone. Nearly one in seven unemployed workers will have exhausted their jobless benefits by January of 2010 which amounts to about 100,000 Michigan workers.

"We're expecting a huge influx of applications in the next few months," said Barbara Anders, the director of adult and family services at the Michigan Department of Human Services.

Many of these workers will be forced to apply for welfare services, where Michigan has one of the strictest rules in the nation for cash benefits. Nearly one in seven of Michigan residents are receiving food benefits in their households.

Local advocates for low-income people cite Michigan's rules limiting the income or assets of would-be welfare recipients. A family of three that earns more than $814 a month is ineligible for welfare in Michigan, a threshold that hasn't changed in more than two decades, said Sharon Parks, president of the Michigan League for Human Services, an advocacy group for low-income people.

"The fact that it's stayed the same means that you have to be poorer and poorer to qualify for cash assistance," Ms. Parks said.

What this means is that more workers will increasingly depend on a welfare system that is already buckling to support them. I will continue to follow this story as updates occur.

Analyzing Southwest Michigan's Potential to be a Research Model

Several months ago after several meetings with leaders and collaborators of the nine counties of Southwest Michigan, the collation of organizations accepted a plan to bring about a community indicators database in Southwest Michigan. The database would essentially take data from the service providers in the region to create a comprehensive analysis of what works and where there are necessary gaps that need to be filled in the fight to reduce poverty.

Soon afterwords, the combined efforts of the Lewis Walker Institute and the Kalamazoo County Poverty Reduction Initiative secured a significantly-sized grant to fund their efforts. When PRI and Lewis Walker representatives recently met with state poverty officials to discuss the state's direction in poverty reduction, they found many similarities in their plans. In turn if the model for Southwest Michigan could be successfully adapted, it is quite possible that the region could plan a lead role in poverty research on both a state and federal level.

There are several other factors why the region would be an ideal model for poverty reduction:

• The diversity in the socioeconomic status of its citizens
• The mix of both urban (Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, Benton Harbor) and rural populations of residents
• Its basically neutral position in state political affluence
• The success of already standard programs such as the Kalamazoo Promise
• The resources and leadership already available through the Lewis Walker Institute and PRI
• The cooperation between counties that the region has already demonstrated.

With all these factors considered, the future for a collaborative framework of poverty reduction in the region seems very positive. If we can work together and effectively create an effective system of community indicators, we might not only improve our local communities but have an affect on distant states as well.