The Luxury of Literacy

Can you read the following sentence? ||

If you’re like me, you can’t. It looks like a string of random symbols and spaces. (It is just a string of random symbols and spaces.) But pretend you’ve just gone in for a job interview and this is at the top of a form that you are required to complete. You ask the receptionist what language it is and she says it’s English. Quite a challenge! You no longer know how to read.

In this situation, however smart you are, whatever level of education you have, however highly respected in your field, you become as ignorant as a young child. This is what it’s like for many of the 44 million Americans, including 31,000 Kalamazoo County residents who cannot read well enough to complete an application. (Statistics are provided by the Kalamazoo Literacy Council and obtained from the National Institute for Literacy and the National Adult Literacy Survey.)

This is similar to how Laubach method literacy tutor training begins. Tutors become ‘ignorant’ students again and learn what it’s like to be taking those very first steps toward reading and writing with ease.

Since I began working at the Poverty Reduction Initiative in Kalamazoo County in late 2010, I have been busy learning many new languages — the language of the non-profit community, the language of my workplace, the language of our online database; and relearning ones I already knew – HTML, marketing, press release writing, film-making. I also recently completed literacy tutor training to learn how to help others learn to read and write in (American) English.

For several weeks, with all of this learning, I have not had time to write for this blog or my own personal projects, except for short bursts on twitter. Writing for pleasure is a luxury. So is reading for fun. It takes time to write and time to edit. I’m a fast thinker and slow writer. That means I make a lot of revisions. Most of us who work full time don’t have much time during the day to read or write except as required by our jobs. In the evenings we’re busy with our lives, our families, our friends, away from our computers (but not our phones!). I’m lucky that writing is part of my job description. I made the choice to be in a profession where it is. You’re fortunate to have the time, resources, and ability to read this today.

Without essential reading and writing skills, you must rely on spoken communications to make your way in the world. You must take at their word those people who interpret the strange written symbology for you, whether or not they understand what they have read. When you can read and write for yourself, you can gain knowledge from everywhere, make your own interpretation, develop your own understanding. It’s empowering.

As a society we need to ensure our children grow up as literate as possible, in as many languages as possible — including mathematics, finances, foreign languages, and computer code — to be able to read, write, and reason for themselves. Childhood education needs your support.

(On February 8 the Kids Count in Michigan 2010 Data Book is being released, which will highlight how our community supports — and can better support — kids’ academic success. PRI will be posting information on our website and social media networks.)

It’s also never too late to learn to read. If you’d like to empower someone with the gift of literacy, you can find a literacy tutor training program through America's Literacy Directory.

Michigan Catholic Conference Calls for Maintaining the Michigan Earned Income Credit for Working Poor

With the Michigan Earned Income Tax Credit received by thousands of lower-income families apparently on chopping block, groups are launching an effort to save it.

Gov. Rick Snyder today unveils his “Citizens Guide to Michigan’s Financial Health,” and its release will serve as a launching pad for months of negotiations over how to close a $1.8 billion budget deficit and finance on top of that a business tax cut in the range of $1.5 billion.

Michigan’s EITC, approved in the Granholm administration with bipartisan support, provides a refundable credit equal to 20 percent of the federal credit EITC qualifying families receive. But it’s also expensive, costing some $354 million in fiscal 2011.

House Republicans say they want to repeal the credit that the Michigan League for Human Services say benefits 700,000 working parents and their children and keeps 25,000 families out of poverty.

Paul Long, president and CEO of the Michigan Catholic Conference said saving the credit is one of the group’s top legislative priorities.

“The expense of the Michigan EITC is mitigated by the amount that is spent in the local economy by those who receive the credit; therefore, the EITC has a dual purpose: to act as a barrier to poverty and an incentive to work, and as an economic boost for local communities,” said Long.

“At a time when Michigan’s unemployment rate continues to hover above 11 percent, we are urging those who craft state policy to seriously evaluate how any reform of state government will impact the elderly and frail, the poor and disadvantaged,” he added.

www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/01/michigan_catholic_group_vows_t.html

Now, let's hope some Baptists, Christian Reformed, Episcopals, Jews, Lutherans, Methodists, Muslims, and all other manner of denominations get on board.

Tougher Bankruptcy Laws: Have They Hurt More than Helped?

When tougher bankruptcy laws took effect more than five years ago, Congress wanted to raise the bar against perceived abuse of the system by ne’er-do-well debtors.

But since then?

Lawyers’ fees have more than doubled, online “credit counseling” is the norm, and the pace of personal bankruptcies is growing, nearing 2004 pre-reform levels.

“The impact was not much — other than to make it more costly and make more hoops to jump through for anyone filing bankruptcy,” local attorney David Andersen said.

... Many families have been wedged between job loss and mortgage.

“I was let go while my husband was still in the hospital with a brain aneurysm,” said Lynnette Tilton, who now works as a legal assistant in attorney David Andersen’s law office. “It was devastating.”

Before disaster struck, life was smooth-sailing, Tilton said.

“We had everything — good-paying jobs, 800-plus credit scores, a mortgage,” she said. “We were able to live comfortably.”

About four years ago, after they were laid off, the Tiltons sought help to save their Southeast Grand Rapids ranch home.

“The mortgage company granted us a couple of forbearance agreements, but they wouldn’t restate our mortgage,” Tilton said.

She and her husband lost the house, filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy and took a series of part-time jobs, waiting for the local economy to recover. Today, they both work full time and are renting a home they love.

www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2011/01/5-year-old_federal_bankruptcy.html

Michigan Legislature Considers Tax Increase on the Working Poor

The idea of the Earned Income tax Credit, giving people who have low-income jobs a bit of a tax break, has been around for a while. In 1975, a Michigan Republican, Gerald Ford, signed the first federal credit into law while he was president.

Since then, the federal credit has been expanded by subsequent presidents, including Ronald Reagan. President Reagan had high praise for it as part of the Tax Reform Act of 1986:

“It’s also the best anti-poverty bill, the best pro-family measure, and the best job creation program ever to come out of the Congress of the United States.”

The Earned Income Tax Credit was popular because gave people an incentive to get off welfare and go to work. Prior to the credit, a person on welfare would find it paid more to stay on public assistance because by the time taxes were taken out of the paycheck, they were worse off financially.

Alex Rosaen is a Consultant with the Anderson Economic Group. He’s written on the issue:

"The original kind of revolutionary idea with the Earned Income Tax Credit as opposed to simply providing families with direct cash aid was that it flipped things upside down; it got the incentives right instead of getting them wrong.”

So, that federal credit became a basic building block of the welfare-to-work effort.

www.michiganradionews.org/post/michigan-legislature-considers-tax-increase-working-poor

Every Kind of People: A Musical Note

Sometimes we all just need a little reminder that Southwest Michigan is One Community, One People. We try to advocate in these spaces for ALL people in Southwest Michigan, black, white, Hispanic, Native, Asian, rich, poor, those with disabilities, gay or straight, old and young, men and women.

Sometimes music can be a wonderful reminder of just that. As a former disc jockey with Armed Forces radio, I could pull from a slew of songs to make that point. However, this morning this song comes to mind.

So, as Robert Palmer sang many years ago:

"It Takes Every Kind of People To Make What Life's About"

Enjoy:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne1lkEEmRCI

Underground Railroad Society of Cass County Acquires Bonine House

The Underground Railroad Society of Cass County (URSCC) is very pleased to announce that the organization recently completed the purchase of the James E. Bonine House and Carriage House at M-60 and Calvin Center Road, with the intent to preserve and restore both properties for use as education and community centers.

The mission of URSCC is “to provide a focal point for exploration into the origins and activities of the Underground Railroad; the unique role the people of Cass County and the surrounding region played throughout its existence; and how it impacted local, state and national history.”

URSCC president and building/grounds committee chair Mike Moroz of Dowagiac said, “Acquiring these properties has been challenging. We thought we had them a year ago, and the deal fell through. We felt this was our last opportunity since the Bonine House is coming to the point of being irreparably damaged due to years of neglect. When the property came back on the market recently, everyone rallied to the cause and we were able to close within two weeks. We have a long road ahead of us, but with everyone’s help we can restore these iconic buildings to the glory they deserve.”

The properties are important for their architectural significance; as the ancestral home of the Bonine Family; and for their intimate connection to Underground Railroad activity in this area.

www.dowagiacnews.com/2011/01/24/urscc-buys-bonine-house/

National report says homelessness rife among young adults

Kayla Cathcart was 18 the first time she was rendered homeless.

She was living place to place, staying wherever she could, splitting the rent with whichever friend had an extra couch, moving on a moment’s notice when it didn’t work out.

“I was never on the street exactly, wondering where I was going to lay my head,” Cathcart says, “but my housing just wasn’t stable.”

If she uses the word “stable” once, she uses it at least two dozen times over the course of a two-hour conversation.

“You have no idea what it’s like,” she says. “It’s ridiculous.”

In many ways, Cathcart is the “new face” of the young and the homeless, says Heather Wiegand, the chief operating officer of Every Woman’s Place/Webster House of Muskegon where she works with runaway and homeless youth. Wiegand is also the board chair of the Michigan Network for Youth and Families.

Young adults like Cathcart confound the stereotypes of “the homeless living in cardboard boxes on street corners or under bridges like we see on the news in big cities,” Wiegand says.

www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2011/01/americas_secret_homelessness_r.html

Medicaid Cuts Likely: Lansing State Journal

One of the biggest budget challenges facing Gov. Rick Snyder is reining in the skyrocketing costs of serving nearly 2 million people now on Medicaid in the state.

And though that's not exactly a new issue in Michigan, Snyder's task may be harder this year because - among other things - a provision of the federal health care reform act prohibits states from using one budget-cutting tool that has been used before: This year, states can't cut people from the program.

In fact, the number of people on Medicaid - the public health plan for primarily low-income, elderly and disabled people - is expected to rise.

"It's a huge budget challenge," said Marianne Udow-Phillips, who heads the Center for Healthcare Research and Transformation, an Ann Arbor think tank.

"We're looking at a $1.6 billion deficit, and Medicaid is the single largest item in that budget."

The state's recession has led to a 54 percent spike in Medicaid enrollment since 2002 as more and more people have lost their jobs and health insurance.

Between 1999 and 2010, the number of Medicaid recipients rose from just over 1 million to 1.9 million...

Though Medicaid cuts alone won't come close to solving the state's budget crisis, there are some targets that Snyder's team may consider based on history:

• Cuts to optional services, such as dental care for adults.

• Mental health services not currently protected under Medicaid.

• Reimbursement rates to doctors and hospitals that serve Medicaid patients...

"We're hopeful that Gov. Snyder will maintain ... his recognition that provider rates of reimbursement should be not cut but increased in order to preserve access to care for the citizens of Michigan," said David Finkbeiner, senior vice president of advocacy for the Michigan Health and Hospital Association.

"The important sidebar to that is when a service is reduced or limited as a result of government underfunding, that service goes away not only for those covered by Medicaid but those covered by other forms of insurance as well."

Human impact

Medicaid advocates say they know cuts are inevitable but hope Snyder and his team will keep one thing in mind.

"At the end of the day, what is the real human impact?" said Gilda Jacobs of the Michigan League for Human Services.

"We're not just talking about numbers."

www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20110123/NEWS04/101230471/Health-care-cuts-likely-as-Michigan-struggles-with-budget

Michigan Works Launches Alternative School in Benton Harbor

For students who don't succeed in traditional school settings, the road ahead can feel daunting. High school dropouts reach a point where catching up is mathematically impossible, while their adult peers confront many personal issues that prevent them from improving their lives as they would like, says Chris Fielding, chief executive officer for Southwest Michigan Works! Last fall, the agency opened its answer in the Bridge Academy, at 777 Riverview Drive, Benton Harbor.

Several rationales drove the agency's decision. When we really looked at it, all our programs had a common goal, and that was education. It gave us the opportunity to put everything under one facility and reduce administrative overhead, Fielding said. The academy also fills a void left by the closing of Twilight, Benton Harbor's alternative school, around three years ago. We were seeing ourselves having to turn students away every year, because of the maximum capacity of every program, he said.

bentonspiritnews.com/michigan-works-launches-alternative-school-bridge-academy-promotes-success-p3943-1.htm

Immigration Raids in West Michigan

As reported in the Grand Rapids Press:

"U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 77 illegal residents, immigration fugitives and immigration violators in a four-day enforcement project in Western Michigan, the agency said this morning.

Those arrested face deportation and criminal charges.

The operation targeted the Grand Rapids area, with arrests reported in Kent, Ottawa, Kalamazoo, Berrien, Calhoun, Mason and St. Joseph counties.

Of those arrested, 22 had prior convictions. Six had previously been deported, but returned to the U.S. Illegally, an ICE official said."

www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2011/01/77_arrested_in_immigration_cra.html

P.S.

“From the depth of need and despair, people can work together, can organize themselves to solve their own problems and fill their own needs with dignity and strength."

- Cesar Chavez