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

What are the next steps for Health Care reform?

Congress passed a historical bill this weekend to expand health care coverage to over 30 million Americans. What the Health Care Bill will accomplish for lower-income families cannot be understated:

MEDICAID Expands the federal-state Medicaid insurance program for the poor to cover people with incomes up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level, $29,327 a year for a family of four. Childless adults would be covered for the first time, starting in 2014. The federal government would pay 100 percent of the tab for covering newly eligible individuals through 2016.

Near-poverty Americans not covered by Medicaid: Some 15 million more Americans than currently have it will get health care through Medicaid.

Middle class families who can't afford to buy insurance: Some 15 million will eventually get subsidies.

INSURANCE MARKET REFORMS Major consumer safeguards take effect in 2014. Insurers prohibited from denying coverage to people with medical problems or charging them more. Higher premiums for women would be banned. Starting this year, insurers would be forbidden from placing lifetime dollar limits on policies, and from denying coverage to children because of pre-existing medical problems. Parents would be able to keep older kids on their policies up to age 26. A new high-risk pool would offer coverage to uninsured people with medical problems until 2014, when the coverage expansion goes into high gear.

Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/03/18/1823150_whats-in-the-health-care-reform.html?storylink=omni_popular#ixzz0iuYu01I7

As many are aware, medical debt is one of the leading causes of bankruptcy. And among those who filed for bankruptcy, 75 percent reported having some type of medical insurance. But The Washington Post says people in bankruptcy with insurance were nearly $18,000 in the red. And those without insurance had an average of almost $27,000 in medical debt.

This bill is only a first step towards providing affordable health care to all Americans. There will be more tough decisions and more reforms to face in the future. However, surviving for a century of battles on the very topic, it is long overdue.

What are the next steps to assuring all Americans have access to affordable health care?

Low Literacy Affects 14 Percent of American Adults

"When Richard Handziak was hurt on the job in 1998, he was forced to share his secret.

Doctors couldn't understand why he was resistant to filing for worker's compensation. But after meeting with a counselor, Handziak revealed he was reading at a third-grade level.

"I didn't want these people to know I couldn't fill the paperwork out," said Handziak, now a 50-year-old semi-truck driver."

According to an article on literacy in the Lansing State Journal, "Demand for literacy remediation services statewide is high and waiting lists are common..."

www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/99999999/AAAA/3210575/-1/news0302

State Supreme Court to Hear Case Against Underfunded Indigent Defense System

"Michigan was a 19th century pioneer in providing legal aid to poor criminal suspects.

Now, it has one of the nation's stingiest and most fragmented systems for representing the 80 percent of defendants who can't afford a lawyer, a wide range of critics say."

See:

www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20100320/NEWS01/303200003/1002/NEWS01/Michigan-pays-big-for-underfunded-indigent-defense

Cass County Woman: Clean and Sober for 100 Days Starts to Turn Her Life Around

According to the Dowagiac Daily News,

"How does an intelligent, vivacious young woman wearing a cross around her neck land in Cass County Family Treatment Court after losing her home and three children?

Jessica, a recovering drug addict and alcoholic, took her first drink at 12. At 14, “I not only drank, but I started smoking pot as well.”

Sweet 16? “I became severely addicted to cocaine, along with drinking and using pot every day,” which cost “thousands of dollars.”"

For more on Jessica's story and how Family Treatment Court, Hope's Door (a recovery residence), Southwestern Michigan Community College, and others helped her get a second chance, see:

www.dowagiacnews.com/2010/03/19/meth-addicted-mother-of-three-turning-her-life-around-slowly/

St. Louis Has a New Policy to Protect Rather Than Dispose of the Possessions of the Homeless

"St. Louis (Missouri) has established a policy which now provides sturdy bags and waterproof identification tags to make it easier for homeless residents to store their stuff — and to retrieve it when it does get (thrown out by city clean up crews.)

"We keep an inventory and make arrangements for people to pick up whatever they've left behind," Siedhoff says the Director of Health and Human Services in the city.

It's an unusual policy. Cities are more likely to confiscate and destroy the property of the homeless than to monitor and store it."

www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124735830

Residence for Homeless & Disabled Veterans In Galesburg May Close

"Dozens of homeless and disabled veterans could be out on the street as the place they call home is in danger of shutting down. The Stone Cottage Residence, is a 29 bed facility in Galesburg. Many of the veterans living there have psychological problems and some of them were homeless before Stone Cottage took them in," per WWMT-TV3 Kalamazoo.

The full story may be found at:





www.wwmt.com/articles/margin-1373831-bottom-newschannel.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

The new poor: In hard times, lured into trade school and debt

From the New York Times:

One fast-growing American industry has become a conspicuous beneficiary of the recession: for-profit colleges and trade schools.

At institutions that train students for careers in areas like health care, computers and food service, enrollments are soaring as people anxious about weak job prospects borrow aggressively to pay tuition that can exceed $30,000 a year.

But the profits have come at substantial taxpayer expense while often delivering dubious benefits to students, according to academics and advocates for greater oversight of financial aid. Critics say many schools exaggerate the value of their degree programs, selling young people on dreams of middle-class wages while setting them up for default on untenable debts, low-wage work and a struggle to avoid poverty. And the schools are harvesting growing federal student aid dollars, including Pell grants awarded to low-income students.

“If these programs keep growing, you’re going to wind up with more and more students who are graduating and can’t find meaningful employment,” said Rafael I. Pardo, a professor at Seattle University School of Law and an expert on educational finance. “They can’t generate income needed to pay back their loans, and they’re going to end up in financial distress.”

For-profit trade schools have long drawn accusations that they overpromise and underdeliver, but the woeful economy has added to the industry’s opportunities along with the risks to students, according to education experts. They say these schools have exploited the recession as a lucrative recruiting device while tapping a larger pool of federal student aid.

“They tell people, ‘If you don’t have a college degree, you won’t be able to get a job,’ ” said Amanda Wallace, who worked in the financial aid and admissions offices at the Knoxville, Tenn., branch of ITT Technical Institute, a chain of schools that charge roughly $40,000 for two-year associate degrees in computers and electronics. “They tell them, ‘You’ll be making beaucoup dollars afterward, and you’ll get all your financial aid covered.’ ”

Read the full article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/business/14schools.html?pagewanted=1&hpw

The obesity-hunger paradox

The perceptions of what hunger is in America have changed quite a bit since the 1970's. With Lyndon Johnson's Great Society came programs such as food stamps, and in their current form the they are known as the bridge card. With these programs, hunger was significantly reduced in America. Our poorest populations could use these food credits to afford enough food to allow for basic nutrition.

However, things have changed drastically since the creation of government food assistance in the 1970's. The United States convenience economy has created the fast food industry, as well as a plethora of quick-stop style shops that offer foods and snacks high in salt, sugar and fat. Obesity is an epidemic and our belts are growing at an alarming rate.

One could assume that food stamp assistance could be a fuel to to that obesity trend, as people in poor neighborhoods use food stamps to purchase pop, unhealthy snacks and other items that would inflame their health maladies.

So why not cut food stamps? Isn't the obesity epidemic evidence that Americans need a reduction in food, not a subsidized fund for unhealthy habits?

The situation is in fact far more complex than it first appears.

A recent article by the New York Times speaks to the obesity-hunger paradox that is a common experience in many American cities and communities:

WHEN most people think of hunger in America, the images that leap to mind are of ragged toddlers in Appalachia or rail-thin children in dingy apartments reaching for empty bottles of milk.

Once, maybe.

But a recent survey found that the most severe hunger-related problems in the nation are in the South Bronx, long one of the country’s capitals of obesity. Experts say these are not parallel problems persisting in side-by-side neighborhoods, but plagues often seen in the same households, even the same person: the hungriest people in America today, statistically speaking, may well be not sickly skinny, but excessively fat.

Call it the Bronx Paradox.

“Hunger and obesity are often flip sides to the same malnutrition coin,” said Joel Berg, executive director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger. “Hunger is certainly almost an exclusive symptom of poverty. And extra obesity is one of the symptoms of poverty.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Such studies present a different way to look at hunger: not starving, but “food insecure,” as the researchers call it (the Department of Agriculture in 2006 stopped using the word “hunger” in its reports). This might mean simply being unable to afford the basics, unable to get to the grocery or unable to find fresh produce among the pizza shops, doughnut stores and fried-everything restaurants of East Fordham Road.

Precious, the character at the center of the Academy Award-winning movie by the same name, would probably count as food insecure even though she is severely obese (her home, Harlem, ranks 49th on the survey’s list, with 24.1 percent of residents saying they lacked money for food in the previous year). There she is stealing a family-size bucket of fried chicken from a fast-food restaurant. For breakfast.

That it is greasy chicken, and that she vomits it up in a subsequent scene, points to the problem that experts call a key bridge between hunger and obesity: the scarcity of healthful options in low-income neighborhoods and the unlikelihood that poor, food-insecure people like Precious would choose them.

Full-service, reasonably priced supermarkets are rare in impoverished neighborhoods, and the ones that are there tend to carry more processed foods than seasonal fruits and vegetables. A 2008 study by the city government showed that 9 of the Bronx’s 12 community districts had too few supermarkets, forcing huge swaths of the borough to rely largely on unhealthful, but cheap, food.

In Kalamazoo, we have struggled to maintain a grocery store on the North Side Neighborhood that is economically sustainable. It doesn't make the need any less apparent. Our communities need healthy food options and we need to work together to create ways to generate these opportunities.

One final though from the article:

Poor people “often work longer hours and work multiple jobs, so they tend to eat on the run,” said Dr. Rundle of Columbia. “They have less time to work out or exercise, so the deck is really stacked against them.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/nyregion/14hunger.html?hpw