An Easter Sunday Song for the Homeless

A Franciscan Friar sings about the homeless in downtown Detroit:

"With three CDs under his knotted belt, Brother Al feels closely connected to Franciscan friars of the Middle Ages called minstrels of God (the Latin term is joculatore domini), who traveled Europe singing and preaching the philosophy of St. Francis of Assisi, the founder of their religious order.

"I can tell stories, I think, better through songs," says the friar. "I am able to provide those who attend the concerts a little bit of insight into the lives of those we serve here.

"The little songs serve as windows into these lives to help personalize our ministry and to humanize those who are so frequently de-humanized and marginalized by our society. So songs with the names of people we serve are one of my favorite things to do."

From The Detroit News:

http://www.detnews.com/article/20100404/OPINION03/4040302/Friar-sings-in-the-suburbs-to-keep-Detroit-homeless-center-running#ixzz0k8HJ9c4p

Boosting education key to solving health disparities and high costs

Yesterday, the “Kalamazoo Matters” presentation kicked off at WMU’s Fetzer Center. The series is aimed at finding ways to foster equality in health, education and economics. From the Kalamazoo Gazette article:

“Even with improved health care coverage, we’ll all pay higher premiums and have higher health-care costs because of health inequalities.”

Eliminating inequalities between “haves” and “have-nots” would save the health care industry billions of dollars a year, according to Smedley. Between 2003 and 2006, a total of 30.6 percent of direct medical care costs for blacks, Asians, and Hispanics were excess costs due to health inequalities, he said. Eliminating these inequalities would have reduced medical expenditures by $229.4 billion, he said.

Much of his presentation focused on the role of segregation in creating health disparities. “If you compare apartheid South Africa and the United States, they’re a lot closer than you think,” Smedley said. “For my hometown of Detroit to be integrated, 85 percent of the people would have to move. That’s only 5 percent lower than apartheid South Africa.”

Smedley emphasized that while poverty as a whole has decreased since 1960, the percentage of minorities living in high-poverty neighborhoods has increased. Blacks are more than 36 times more likely than whites to live in a neighborhood where 40 percent or more of the population lives in poverty. Compare that to 1960, when blacks were only 13 times as likely to live in a high-poverty area.

This situation limits the access that minorities have to “mainstream resources needed for success.”

“In the entire city of Detroit, there isn’t a single major grocery store or department store,” Smedley said. “Differences in behaviors are strongly connected to neighborhoods and the connected environment. It’s tough to tell someone to eat five fresh fruits and vegetables a day when there are no grocery stores around.”

Smedley offered a number of solutions, including improving the physical environment of communities, improving food and nutrition through incentives for farmer’s markets and grocery stores, and regulating fast food and liquor stores.

Read the full article: http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2010/04/segregation_blamed_for_health.html

What do you think, are these our best opportunities to improve health conditions in our communities?

Cherry Blossoms Reach Their Peak Bloom in D.C.

With all the bad news and at times venom that is hurled at Washington D.C., I thought I would take the time to remind all of you that Washington D.C. can be a place of beauty. Of course, there are many of our nation's treasure's, such as, the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, the Vietnam Memorial Wall, and soon to be a monument in honor of Martin Luther King.

But you know what else?

It is spring in Washington. And while the annual blooms of the cherry blossoms are a fleeting thing, it remains one of the highlights of the year for tourists and native alike.

From WLJA Channel 7 in our nation's capital, a report on the spring and the cherry blossoms:

www.wjla.com/news/stories/0310/721202_video.html?ref=newsstory

Cass County Poverty Reduction Training

"Cass County Human Services Coordinating Council (HSCC) is working to reduce poverty.

On Friday, April 30, the HSCC is sponsoring a Day One Training, to be presented by former Cassopolis resident Bonnie Bazata, executive director of St. Joseph County, Ind., Bridges Out of Poverty.

Bridges Out of Poverty is a national initiative that uses community transformation to support people in moving out of poverty."

For more information, see the Dowagiac Daily News at:

www.dowagiacnews.com/2010/03/30/cass-county-tackles-poverty-reduction/

Student loan overhaul aims to make college more accessible

From the New York Times:

President Obama signed legislation on Tuesday to expand college access for millions of young Americans by revamping the federal student loan program in what he called “one of the most significant investments in higher education since the G.I. Bill.”

The new law will eliminate fees paid to private banks to act as intermediaries in providing loans to college students and use much of the nearly $68 billion in savings over 11 years to expand Pell grants and make it easier for students to repay outstanding loans after graduating. The law also invests $2 billion in community colleges over the next four years to provide education and career training programs to workers eligible for trade adjustment aid after dislocation in their industries.

The law will increase Pell grants along with inflation in the next few years, which should raise the maximum grant to $5,975 from $5,550 by 2017, according to the White House, and it will also provide 820,000 more grants by 2020.

Students who borrow money starting in July 2014 will be allowed to cap repayments at 10 percent of income above a basic living allowance, instead of 15 percent. Moreover, if they keep up payments, their balances will be forgiven after 20 years instead of 25 years — or after 10 years if they are in public service, like teaching, nursing or serving in the military.

Creating better access to student loans is a crucial reform that will make it more affordable for millions of Americans to attend college. As much research has clearly demonstrated, a college education is clear way to access higher paying wages and therefore reduce poverty.

Read the full article at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/31/us/politics/31obama.html?hpw

Census: Counting the Homeless in Kalamazoo

"In Kalamazoo, census workers were out Monday, counting the homeless population from 6:00 to 10:00. After a quick prayer, it's time for dinner, a routine that Donna Pearce of the Kalamazoo Gospel Mission is very accustomed to.

“We have an average of 275 individuals here with us each night, so we shelter 70 percent of those sheltered in Kalamazoo,” said Pearce.

On Monday and Tuesday, Pearce is taking part in an effort to make sure every homeless person in Kalamazoo gets counted for the 2010 census, " per WWMT-TV3.

Housing less expensive than sheltering, study says

From the Kalamazoo Gazette:

It costs nearly twice as much per month to house a family in an emergency shelter in Kalamazoo than it does to provide transitional or permanent housing, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Kalamazoo was one of six places nationwide that HUD examined in a study on the cost of first-time homelessness among families. The study, announced Thursday, was conducted over a 18-month period in 2004 and 2005.

Read the full article: http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2010/03/homelessness_costs_more_than_h.html

This study echos what has been shown nationally throughout a variety of research: That the extra support and administrative costs required to shelter a person that is homeless exceed the costs of simply providing housing.

When a person has a solid living situation, it stabilizes their whole live. They are more likely to be self sufficient and hold a steady job. In Kalamazoo, we covered some of the progress of housing the homeless in Kalamazoo in 2009 in our Affordable Housing Partnership video. You can watch it here:

What are the best methods for alleviating poverty?

New York Times Columnist NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF speaks about some concrete ways in which we can alleviate the issue of poverty in America. Here are some of the ways that he states are proven ways to make a difference:

High-quality early childhood programs, before kids get behind. Much-studied examples include the Perry Preschool program in Michigan in the 1960s and the Abecedarian Project in North Carolina in the 1970s. Both worked with impoverished children who had much better outcomes than control groups. For example, those who had been through the Perry program were — as adults, decades later — only half as likely to go on welfare and much less likely to be arrested.

Intensive efforts in the ninth grade (which is well known as education’s Bermuda triangle, swallowing up poor students). A program called Talent Development in Philadelphia gave ninth graders a double dose of math and English and reduced absenteeism and significantly improved performance for at least the next couple of years. Tentative results suggest it is also improving high school graduation rates.

Career academies. These keep students engaged in high school by teaching around career themes and partnering with local employers to give kids work experience. Eight years of follow-up research suggests that graduates are more likely to hold jobs and earn more money.

Jobs programs. One of the most successful is the “jobs-plus” demonstration, which trains people living in public housing to get jobs and gives them extra incentives to keep them. Participants thrive — and the gains continue even years later, after the program ends.

Conclusion: This wave of research suggests that there’s no magic bullet, that helping people is hard, and that even when pilot programs succeed they can be difficult to scale up. But evidence also suggests that we increasingly have the tools to chip away at poverty. We know what to do if we just can summon the political will.

Compare this to the Poverty Reduction Initiatives list of priorities:
http://www.haltpoverty.org/Reducing_Poverty/

What do you think, are these the most concrete ways in which we can significantly reduce poverty?

Civil Rights Commission Releases Report on Migrant Living Conditions in West Michigan

Michigan Civil Rights Commission
2010 Report on the Conditions of
Migrant and Seasonal Farm workers in Michigan

March 22, 2010

Excerpt from Executive Summary:

"First, families were often living in housing that was extremely substandard, including structural defects, lack of clean running water, exposed wires, overcrowding, close proximity to fields (and thus pesticides) and poor sanitation. Because camps are typically inspected pre-occupancy, the most hazardous violations are often not apparent, or may not yet exist, when the inspector is present.

Second, the Commission heard testimony from many farm workers describing discrimination that they had endured. Farm workers related incidents of sex-based discrimination against women, sexual harassment, national origin discrimination and racial discrimination. The Commission received several reports of employers refusing jobs to U.S. citizens or to English-speakers, preferring instead to hire farm workers who do not speak English and are thus believed to be less likely to know they have the right to be treated fairly or to complain about low wages or poor working conditions.

Third, the working conditions faced by migrant and seasonal farm workers were often the topic of their testimony during the forums. Problems described included the lack of drinking water, portable toilets and hand washing facilities available in fields where the hand-harvesting various types of agricultural products is taking place. Some workers said they did not have access to water in the fields at all, while others stated their employer charged them for water. Some stated there were no bathrooms and no breaks offered. Other testimony during the forums described outright wage theft and established that the accepted industry practice of growers paying piece rates to workers often results in workers being paid less than the required minimum hourly wage.

Fourth, for many of Michigan’s migrant farm workers, language barriers present a substantial obstacle to accessing services. Although all organizations that receive federal funding are required to provide equal services for their Limited English Proficient (LEP) clients, many do not. The testimony outlined difficulties encountered when attempting to obtain drivers’
and marriage licenses at some Secretary of State’s offices, in interaction with health care providers, county clerks’ offices, the police, and with local hospitals.

Problems with state and local law enforcement were discussed by several individuals. Allegations included officers overreaching into the area of federal immigration law and stopping people without cause based on their appearance, a form of discrimination often termed racial profiling.
Child farm workers not only have limited legal protections, they also face extremely hazardous working conditions. Several people testified that these conditions have had severe negative impacts on children and their future. Coupled with this, others spoke about the inability to procure childcare while working in the fields for long hours each day.

Finally, racism and other forms of mistreatment directed at farm workers by people in the community were alleged. While some might discount some of this animosity as the result of a bad economy, this can not excuse the mistreatment of migrant and seasonal farm workers who are contributing to Michigan’s agricultural economy."

www.michigan.gov/documents/mdcr/Summary-Concl-NextSteps_as_passed_by_MCRC_315420_7.pdf

Health-care reform welcomed by those who serve the needy of Southwest Michigan

From the Kalamazoo Gazette:

The new legislation, by extending health coverage to an estimated 32 million Americans who lack it, would “help people establish a medical home” where they could get comprehensive, preventative care instead of going to the emergency room for minor medical problems, Crawford said.

“They would get the care in the right place in the most effective manner,” she said.
Saith said that because so many Americans don’t have health insurance or are underinsured, the Family Heath Center has seen “a tremendous rise in people with advanced medical conditions. ... They have multi-system diseases at advanced stages and need lots of coordinated care.”

Don Leonard, of Kalamazoo, a 56-year-old patient who was at the Family Health Center on Monday afternoon, said he doesn’t see the legislation having much of an impact on him because he’s already covered by Medicaid.

“But I think it’s a good thing,” he said. “There’s a lot of people who really need it. There’s people who are dying or really sick who don’t have it (health coverage). That’s not right.”

The community in Kalamazoo County is ahead of the curve in offering health insurance options to the uninsured:

In Kalamazoo County, about 3,500 people without health insurance who have a current medical condition have been able to qualify for the Kalamazoo County Health Plan, which gets money from the state and the local United Way, Crawford said.

Under the legislation approved by the House, those people and an undetermined number of others would become insurable with federal funds within 90 days of final passage of the health-care plan, Crawford said. According to an Associated Press report, a high-risk pool would offer this coverage until 2014, when Medicaid would expand significantly.

“There will be more money to cover more people” than the county health plan does, Crawford said. “Adult males are the majority who fall through the gap” now, she added.

Read the Full Article: http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2010/03/health-care_reform_welcomed_by.html