Feeding America West Michigan Looking for Matching Donations to Expand Benton Harbor Distribution Facility

From the Feeding America West Michigan web site:

We’ve just been promised the support of the Frederick S. Upton Foundation for our efforts to expand the capacity of our new Benton Harbor warehouse – but only if you step up, too!

To provide families in need in Berrien, Cass, and Van Buren Counties with the 10 million pounds of supplemental food they need each year, we’ve got to equip the building with a REALLY BIG cooler/freezer and lots of shelving (racking, really) designed to hold full pallets of food.

Help us meet the Foundation’s challenge to raise $20,000 and they’ll send us a matching $20,000 – enabling us to increase the flow of food to the southwest Michigan families who need it most.

For more information including how to donate, see the Feeding America West Michigan web site at:

www.feedingamericawestmichigan.org/blog/2011/06/17/upton-match-donation-challenge/

WMU partners to open new center to help autistic children in Portage

The vacant Moose Lodge on Portage Road could become the home of a new center that will help autistic children and their families from Southwest Michigan as well as the entire state.

The Great Lakes Center for Autism Treatment and Research, which would provide both outpatient and inpatient care, could open as early as March 2012, said Scott Schrum, chief executive officer of Residential Opportunities Inc. ROI is a Kalamazoo nonprofit organization that serves people with disabilities.

Schrum said ROI hopes to finalize the $675,000 sale of the building at 9616 Portage Road late next month or early August and begin a $1.7 million renovation project in September, in time to open its doors by early next year.

So far, ROI has raised $636,000 of the $2.5 million needed to buy and refurbish the old 18,500-square-foot lodge.

Schrum said the new center could help 20 children a year who would otherwise be stuck on a waiting list trying to get into intensive inpatient treatment at the other three autistic centers in Michigan. The outpatient program would serve up to 100 children annually in the greater Kalamazoo County area.

"The impact for these children will be huge," Schrum said of the center, which would be a partnership between ROI and the Western Michigan University Department of Psychology.

A professor, two graduate assistants and interns from the psychology department would join 35 other employees to run the center, which would be staffed 24/7.

Autism is a disorder that affects one out of every 110 children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2011/06/center_to_help_autistic_childr.html

Linking Education, Activity, and Nutrition (L.E.A.N.) Growing A Garden for Area Food Banks & Providing Education Training

Marking its second year, The Project Linking Education, Activity, and Nutrition (L.E.A.N.) Community Garden officially took roots this week in Paw Paw with a county-wide partnership that includes the Community Based Transition Center for Disabled Students ages 18-26, the Community Mental Heath Adult clients, the Van Buren Intermediate School District Learning Center for special needs students, as well as the VBISD Summer Migrant Education Program, and various other community organizations

The Community Garden Project will provide produce for local food banks. In addition, it will provide gardening and nutrition education programs, canning and food preservation classes, food for the disadvantaged youth and their families, as well as produce to be sold at local farmers markets for entrepreneurship training for youth and disabled populations.

www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20463113&BRD=2188&PAG=461&dept_id=560363&rfi=6

Kalamazoo County Considers November Ballot Requesting Funds for Housing for Homeless

The Kalamazoo County Board of Commissioners will talk today (Tuesday) about putting a tax question on the November ballot to fund more housing for the homeless.

The discussion will take place during today's 4 p.m. Committee of the Whole Meeting at the Kalamazoo County Administration Building, 201 W. Kalamazoo Ave.

The Kalamazoo County Public Housing Commission Chairman David Anderson is expected to ask the county commissioners to put a 0.33 mill request on the Nov. 8 ballot.

www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2011/06/tax_proposal_to_fund_housing_f.html

Food Bank of South Central Michigan Sponsors Friday Battle Creek Food Giveaway Throughout the Summer

Adora Johnson watched contentedly Friday morning as dozens of people, including some of her neighbors on Battle Creek's north side, walked up the driveway of the Washington Heights Community House.

A longtime resident of the Washington Heights neighborhood, Johnson helped the travelers, many of whom arrived on foot, sign up for free groceries. She later pointed them toward several long tables where polite young men bagged milk, eggs, potatoes, cereal and other produce for each customer.

"If you can help fix a meal for one child, you're doing a lot. There's a need for help in a lot of ways," Johnson said in the shade of the community house, one of seven food distribution sites in Battle Creek that began summer operations Friday.

The weekly giveaway of fresh produce from mid-June to late September is part of an annual feeding operation by the Food Bank of South Central Michigan, which provides truck loads of food to the sites, which in turn give it away every Friday on a first-come, first-served basis.The dispensation was especially sweet Friday in central Washington Heights, a community with hunger needs that hasn't had a weekly pick-up site since the last one ended several years ago at the Washington Heights United Methodist Church on Wood Street. Users of the summer food program in that area have had to drive or get rides to one of the other sites; the closest is Second Missionary Baptist on Washington Avenue.

www.battlecreekenquirer.com/article/20110618/NEWS01/106180302/Free-food-offered-every-Friday

Michigan League for Human Services Releases Public Spending & Young Adults Report

From MLHS:  The latest Tax Dollars at Work: Public Spending for Selected Health and Social Programs in Michigan (pdf) report is now available. It outlines, by county, the amount spent on major health and social programs as well as the number of recipients.

It's invaluable information to have to understand the economic impact and needs of residents at a local level.

In addition, a new report from the Michigan League for Human Services and Demos finds that young adults in Michigan have lost major economic ground over the last four decades. The paper, Building Michigan's Future Middle Class: Addressing the Economic Challenges Facing Young Adults, (pdf) was released today at a policy forum on young adults.

Please go to www.milhs.org to see the press release and PowerPoint presentations from the four speakers.

Berrien County Needs More Foster Homes/Parents

Within two weeks of having their first foster child reunite with his mother, Brandon and Pam Lubbert had gotten several phone calls from the Michigan Department of Human Services about taking in other children.

The Buchanan couple say it’s evidence of the drastic need for more foster families in the county.

There are currently about 400 foster children in Berrien County and only 130 licensed foster parents, according to the Michigan Department of Human Services (DHS).

“We are definitely always in need of more foster homes,” said Heather Hoffman, children’s services supervisor with DHS in Berrien County.

The Lubberts, who have been licensed foster parents for about a year, believe it’s difficult to find families willing to commit the time and energy into foster parenting.

“It’s not an easy job by any stretch of the imagination,” Pam said. “There are time constraints, money constraints. You have to have people that are very committed to kids.”

But, for Pam, the smile of their 7-month-old foster daughter makes it all worth it.

“They become a part of you, even after they leave. A little part of you will stay with them,” she said.

www.nilesstar.com/2011/06/15/county-in-need-of-foster-homes/

Elder Rights Workshop to be Held in St. Joseph County

St. Joseph County will host a first of a kind Elder Rights Awareness Training Day at the St. Joseph County Courthouse on June 21. The event is being held in recognition of June 21 being recently proclaimed “Elder Rights Awareness Day” by the St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners.

The program will be held from 1 to 5 p.m. in the lower level conference rooms of the Courthouse.
Probate Judge Thomas Shumaker said everyone is welcome.

There will be a diverse group of presenters and topics concerning elders rights including:

* Court interventions and strategies to keep elders safe, guardianships and conservatorships.
* St. Joseph County Vulnerable Adult Protocol — What is it? Who should use it?
* The role of the Department of Human Services, Adult Services Division.
* An update on the Estate Recovery Act implementation in Michigan.
* Law enforcement intervention.
* Domestic and Sexual Abuse Services & Personal Protection Orders.
* A community response panel discussion regarding community resources, how groups work together to inform, serve and protect vulnerable adults.

www.sturgisjournal.com/features/x1732973864/Elder-rights-training-set

Berrien County Grant Seeks Alternatives to Jail for the Mentally Ill

For too long, police officers have felt perplexed in dealing with mentally ill people who crowd jails and prisons.

Now, Berrien County officials are pursuing a different approach to address the problem.

On Friday, 71 police officers, firefighters, school officials and mental health professionals met at Lake Michigan College's Mendel Center to discuss steps to break the cycle that shuffles mentally ill people from hospitals to lockups and back again.

In October the county received a $50,000 federal planning grant "to look at how we create better collaboration between the entities of justice and mental health (agencies)," said Terrie Mattes, intake manager for the Berrien County Trial Court Family Division.

"Out of that (money) we've done a variety of training events and developed a three-year strategic plan," she said.

The grant was awarded by the U.S. Bureau of Justice Administration. The project is an effort of the courts, the county prosecutor's office, the county Juvenile Center, which is operated by the Family Division, and mental health agencies.

"We're targeting Benton Harbor and Niles, because 70 percent of all juveniles on probation reside in those communities," Matthes said. "If we can reduce the number of kids that are entering the criminal justice system from those two communities, we will reduce the probation caseloads, costs to the courts, things like that."

The next step is training police officers and first responders in dealing with the mentally ill's behavior while helping families get the services they need, Matthes said.

www.heraldpalladium.com/articles/2011/06/12/local_news/5186752.txt

Upjohn Institute Economist to Address Importance of Pre-School Education at SW Michigan College

Tim Bartik, Ph.D., a senior economist with the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research in Kalamazoo, will be the keynote speaker at the Cass County Great Start Business Summit on Tuesday, June 28, from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. at Mathews Conference Center at Southwestern Michigan College.

The summit is sponsored by the Great Start Collaborative of Cass County, in partnership with Midwest Energy Cooperative of Cassopolis.

The summit will address how investing in quality early childhood education and programs impacts economic development and the business community...

For more information or to RSVP, please contact Heather Merrill at (269) 445-6217 or

hmerrill@lewiscassisd.org

Reservation deadline is June 20.

The Great Start Collaborative is a group made up of parents, clergy, business people and health and human service organization leaders, with a mission to insure that all children arrive at the kindergarten door ready, willing and able to succeed in school and in life.

www.dowagiacnews.com/2011/06/09/great-start-business-summit/