Number of Rural Uninsured Grows in Recession

The percentage of people without health insurance was fairly equal in rural, exurban and urban counties in 2005. But after the recession, the rate of people in rural communities without coverage jumped over 8 percent; now the percentage of people without health insurance in rural America is higher than it is in urban counties.


The number of rural residents without health insurance jumped between 2005 and 2010. The increase was large enough that there is now a higher percentage of people under the age of 65 without health insurance in rural American than in either the cities or the suburbs.


http://www.dailyyonder.com/number-rural-uninsured-grows-recession/2012/10/01/4489

White House Announces New Cesar Chavez National Monument

On October 8th, 2012, President Obama will travel to Keene, California to announce the establishment of the César E. Chávez National Monument. Years in the making, the monument – which will be designated under the Antiquities Act – will be established on the property known as Nuestra Señora Reina de la Paz (Our Lady Queen of Peace), or La Paz.  The La Paz property is recognized worldwide for its historic link to civil rights icon César Estrada Chávez and the farm worker movement. The site served as the national headquarters of the United Farm Workers (UFW) as well as the home and workplace of César Chávez and his family from the early 1970’s until Chávez’ death in 1993, and includes his grave site which will also be part of the monument.

 “César Chávez gave a voice to poor and disenfranchised workers everywhere,” said President Obama. “La Paz was at the center of some of the most significant civil rights moments in our nation’s history, and by designating it a national monument, Chávez’ legacy will be preserved and shared to inspire generations to come.”

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/10/01/president-obama-establish-c-sar-e-ch-vez-national-monument?utm_source=wh.gov&utm_medium=shorturl&utm_campaign=shorturl

New Michigan House Fiscal Agency Report Discusses Benefits of Drug Treatment Courts

Proponents of drug treatment courts argue that, along with the benefits that come with reduced crime and drug abuse, these increased costs are offset by reductions in recidivism among drug treatment court participants. The State Court Administrative Office (SCAO) estimates that 17.62 percent of drug treatment court participants had been convicted of a new offense within four years of being admitted into a drug treatment court program, compared to 25.41 percent in a similar comparison group.3 Additionally, SCAO estimates that 44% of participants improved their employment status, and 26% improved their education levels after being admitted into a drug treatment court program.


Along with benefits to participants, state and local governments also receive potential cost savings from drug treatment court operations. Primarily, these costs are associated with reductions in recidivism and reoffending. If drug treatment court participants commit fewer offenses, costs are reduced due to decreases in county jail and state prison populations, as well as costs related to the increase in criminal caseload on local courts.

Reports on sample drug treatment courts in Michigan provide some evidence of the cost and savings tradeoffs associated with drug treatment courts. In 2006, NPC Research conducted evaluations of Kalamazoo and Barry County's drug treatment courts.  The study found increased upfront costs for drug treatment courts combined with notable savings over the course of two years.

(The full House Fiscal Agency Report is located at:

http://house.michigan.gov/hfa/PDFs/Drug%20Court%20Swift%20and%20Sure%20Memo.pdf

30,000 Michigan children lose out on pre-K classes

Landen Ford wants to go to preschool. The 4-year-old Flushing boy with a crew cut and a toothy grin thought he’d learn the alphabet and his sounds, and maybe make some friends, just like his big brother Logan did last year. But instead of learning to write his name, Landen is learning an early lesson in budgets and bureaucracy.

“The teacher called and said ‘I’m sorry, Landen didn’t get in,’” said Janelle Ford, mother of the two boys. “Logan learned so much – he loved it. Now there are no spots for Landen. It’s not fair.”

Almost 30,000 Michigan 4-year-olds who qualify for free preschool are not in classrooms, because of inadequate state funding, logistical hurdles and inconsistent coordination of services.

 http://bridgemi.com/2012/09/30000-children-lose-out-on-pre-k-classes/

Martha Thawnghmung has become the face of the local Burmese community

She was an 8-year-old girl, a member of one of the first Burmese families to leave their military-controlled homeland. When they arrived in the U.S., she became part of one of the few Asian families to live in Battle Creek.

The life-changing move for Martha Thawnghmung was not easy. The director of the Springfield-based Burma Center said she didn’t feel like she belonged in Battle Creek for a long time. Her parents had moved from Myanmar in the 1980s in hopes that Thawnghmung and her six siblings could practice their Christian religion freely and make a better life for themselves.

But going to a mostly white school, where she and her classmates knew she looked different, was difficult. Thawnghmung, 41, said it wasn’t until a few years ago that Battle Creek finally felt like home.

http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/article/20120928/NEWS01/309270036/Martha-Thawnghmung-has-become-face-local-Burmese-community

Truant kids to cost families state aid

Michigan parents whose children don't attend school will lose welfare cash benefits under a new state policy that takes effect Oct. 1.

Starting Monday, the Michigan Department of Human Services will require children ages 6-15 to attend school full time to keep their family eligible for cash benefits. If a child doesn't, the entire family becomes ineligible.

The policy change was prompted by Gov. Rick Snyder, who called earlier this year for a crackdown on truancy and the cycle of crime it creates. It takes effect two days before Michigan's fall Count Day, when attendance is used to determine 90 percent of a school district's per-pupil funding from the state.

For the 2011-12 school year, 93,408 cases of truancy were reported in Michigan schools, an increase of nearly 10,000 from the previous year, which had 83,491.

The policy is expected to affect the vast majority of the state's 59,000 welfare cash-assistance cases and its 162,655 recipients. The average eligible household in Michigan receives $463 a month from the state.

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120925/METRO/209250373#ixzz27SKFFMK3

Michigan, We Have a Problem

Following last week’s release of national poverty numbers, the Census Bureau released state specific numbers this week. Besides a drop in the uninsured, it doesn’t look good. Our colleagues at Marketplace wrote a comprehensive article about poverty rates across the country.  The number that we’re most interested in, though, is the increase in children living in poverty.

Over the past ten years Michigan has had the third-largest increase in childhood poverty.  In 2001, Michigan had a child poverty rate of 14.2 percent. That number rose to 24.4 percent last year. That’s a ten percent increase over 10 years.

Job loss alone can’t explain the increase in Michigan’s poverty rates. Last year one in 10 working families in the state were living in poverty, the highest percentage in the Midwest.

http://stateofopportunity.michiganradio.org/post/michigan-we-have-problem

Michigan State House Discusses Whether Undocumented Children Have Right To Attend School In Michigan

Michigan state house (education committee) currently discussing whether undocumented children have a right to attend school in Michigan and whether their parents have right to decide which school.

The debate started as a debate as to whether or not parents could trigger a privatization or take over of a public school if the school was "failing".  The bill would allow for a simple majority of parents to take over the school and hire a charter operator to run same.  (As a retired public school administrator, I will skip adding my two cents to that debate.)

However, the discussion has devolved further as to whether or not the parents of undocumented children would have a right to vote in such an "election" and even if their kids have a right to attend school.

This posting in Twitter from conservative reporter Dave Murray of Grand Rapids Press:

"Dave Murray:

Trigger discussion has spun into a debate on whether illegal immigrants can attend schools, then vote in trigger elections."

P.S. I believe that the US Department of Education and Supreme Court have ruled that schools have no right to turn children, any children, away from public school doors.

The link to an article that Mr. Murray has just published can be found at:

http://www.mlive.com/education/index.ssf/2012/09/detroit_parents_say_parent_tri.html

Homelessness can't simply be wished away

For some people, the line between having and having not is thinner than we’d like to believe.

One not-so-tiny disaster, one troubling financial misstep, one awful decision and what was once there is not anymore and there you are.

And then the troubles build on top of each other, growing and roiling and fulminating like some personal form of nuclear fusion and the bad becomes worse and the worse becomes unimaginable.

We are all convinced we live in a protective little bubble where the truly nasty stuff stays away and afflicts somebody else. Truth is, it doesn’t always happen that way.

Homelessness is a problem everywhere and anywhere in this country. You can ignore it all you like.  You can look the other way or pretend local, state and federal government programs will take care of it so you don’t have to. But, again, it just doesn’t work that way.

http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/article/20120916/NEWS01/309160017/Chuck-Carlson-Homelessness-can-t-simply-wished-away?nclick_check=1

Voces establishes itself in Battle Creek Latino community

The memory still makes Kate Flores shudder.

She recounts the story of a local Latino woman who was in the midst of a miscarriage, could not speak English and had no way to make herself understood at the hospital because there was no interpreter.

So instead, she relied on her English-speaking 13-year-old son in the emergency room, the only person she trusted to make herself understood to doctors.

“Can you imagine?” said Flores, executive director of Voces, a nonprofit organization seeking to provide assistance to Latinos in the Battle Creek area.

It’s that story, and others too much like it, that convinced Flores and others concerned about the local Spanish-speaking community to get behind Voces, Spanish for “voices.”

http://www.battlecreekenquirer.com/article/20120913/NEWS01/309130001/Voces-establishes-itself-B-C-Latino-community