I read an article in the newspaper today regarding several Detroit Public Schools that are slated to be closed. I read it near the beginning of my school day, fighting back tears, not for myself, but for those affected, such as colleagues with whom I have stood with, laughed with, shared lesson plans,classroom management strategies, and other events that are part of being in the teacherhood.


Before I could read the posted story twice, one of my co-workers told me to get the wrinkles out of my face and to remember the source of my strength. Instead of "grieving", fight back with faith, and focus on the fact that there are blessings yet to be experienced, even in the midst of a happening such as this.


She was right. I slowly began to turn my mind around and instead wish favor on those colleagues and the communities that they serve.


I also prayed that they would have strength for the journey...and an ability to look ahead and not look back.


You see...the "List" affects everyone.
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Erica M Dean currently teaches at Clippert Academy, A Detroit Public School.

You can follow her on Twitter @msdean4dps

Southeast Michigan has two resources that anybody can use to help someone find available emergency shelter.

Both services keep track of all available shelter beds in the area, and the information is updated constantly throughout each day.

Shelter Hotlines:

• (313)-963-STAY (963-7829) 

• (800)-A-SHELTER (274-3583)

It's best to call in the morning (between 8 and 10 a.m.) as beds fill up fast throughout the day.

TIP: with A-SHELTER, they will need to speak to the person you're advocating for directly because they will ask for personal information like his/her Social Security number. If you are not comfortable letting a stranger use your phone, you may want to try the STAY hotline first. 

If beds are available, and the person needs help getting to a shelter, use common sense. Do not give the person money. That is not helpful. More on that issue in previous posts on this blog.

You may choose to purchase a bus ticket for the individual, give them a ride yourself (again, excersise common sense and extreme caution), or simply tell the person that you're not comfortable with or able to meet his/her transportation needs. Setting appropriate boundaries is never a bad thing, so don't be afraid to simply say "no" at any point. 

John Azoni assists with reducing homelessness in Detroit through United Way for Southeastern Michigan's 2-1-1 service. For more information, check out http://uwsem.org/211, or follow @UnitedWayJohn on Twitter.

Sunday, March 6th began the National Anti-Hunger Policy Conference in Washington, DC. The opening breakfast and plenary housed a packed room with over 500 employees, volunteers, fellows, and execs from 45 states and a wide-ranging variety of organizations fighting tirelessly to "End Hunger by 2015."

Over the course of three days workshops and training programs provided in-depth knowledge and training on communications, advocacy strategies, research, data use, child nutrition, programs, legislative discussions, capacity building and information on SNAP, and CACFP, to name a few. Luncheons included speakers like Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who spoke to the importance of Hill visits and the work that the organizations were doing to help Americans win the war against hunger.


Carrie Leach
carrie.leach@liveunitedsem.org

As I was completing progress reports for my 5th / 6th grade homeroom class that I teach within Detroit Public Schools, I realized that I was actually diagnosing the strengths and weaknesses of my "patients" or students. I also reflected upon the parents and families that I have met who rely on myself and others  to recommend books, educational games, and at-home strategies that can help their child improve.

While I do not earn the same as the surgeon or pediatrician, I know for a fact that my job is just as important: I do save lives. In fact,  my attitude as an educator has the power to heal hearts broken by dysfunctional homes...and provide a safe haven from 9am - 2:45pm. This thought overwhelms me...

Just this past week, a school counselor came to me and revealed that a certain student in my class was feeling so much better about being a part of my homeroom. Now, it's not that I do anything special, and I don't claim to be the best teacher...I guess it is the fact that I try to provide some sort of stability while he is in my presence...along with the reading, writing, and mathematics.

The school district I work for has many issues that are beyond my scope and realm of control. Yet, as I work the front lines, and leave the educational politics to the professionals, I know that in 2010, I am still teaching and healing as well.

Erica M Dean

Clippert Academy-A Detroit Public School

5th / 6th Split Homeroom

My son, Tommy, is 5 and in kindergarten at Monteith School in the Grosse Pointe School District. This week, I learned that the School Board approved all day kindergarten for all students, beginning in 2010-2011.  That's a good thing - studies show that all day kindergarten improves academic outcomes for students beyond kindergarten.  Grosse Pointe Schools isn't perfect, but it does provide a quality learning experience for children.  Tommy is in a class with 22 other children.  His teacher, Mrs. DiVirgil has an aide, Mrs. Farnsworth, who supports the classroom throughout most of the day.  The children follow high curriculum standards (Tommy can count to 100 by 2!), time for play, specials (library, art, gym, music) and access to high quality learning materials.

Contrast that with the Detroit Public Schools.  In the same week that I learned about GPS, I also heard from several DPS kindergarten teachers about the status of kindergarten in Detroit:

• "I have 30 students in my classroom"
• "We have no aides/staff support"
• "Children are coming to class without the knowledge how to hold a pencil or a book"
• "Parents are uninvolved"
• "I had a student show up one day, then not show up again until 60+ days later"
• "One child the other day hit another child in the head with a chair"
• "I can tell the difference between a child that went to preschool and a child that didn't"
• "All we can do is crowd control, forget about actually supporting children's learning"

They say that "charity begins at home," but in one family's case, charity began with their home. The family choose to sell their luxury home, downgrade to a home half the size, and give the profits to charity. 

What could you give up half of to benefit the greater good?

Check out the story, along with commentary from United Way Worldwide CEO, Brian Gallagher, here: Selling your home for charity.

I'm assuming most can agree that the system of care for the homeless is not set up to be an adequate solution to the problem. 2-1-1's role in this issue is to help people navigate through this fragmented system, and access resources that will lead to stability through its mobile outreach effort: 2-1-1 On the Go!. But we're by no means the experts.  

So we're asking those who have a voice on the issue to weigh in on this topic. Your responses will be used to improve our work with the homeless in Detroit:

In your view, what are the major gaps in services for the homeless, and how can 2-1-1 be better at addressing those gaps?

If you're not familiar with how 2-1-1 works, before you respond, give us a call and present a need - could be for yourself or on behalf of a client experiencing homelessness (in the Metro Detroit area, just dial 2-1-1 from a landline, or 800-552-1183 from a cell phone). Then let us know in the comments section whether or not the call was worthwile, and your thoughts on the above question. 

John Azoni is a homeless outreach associate with 2-1-1 On the Go! and United Way for Southeastern Michigan. He welcomes additional fluff-free conversation about homelessness on Twitter: @UnitedWayJohn  

Where did we see those savings? In K-12 Education ($221 million), Reduced Govt Spending and Increased Tax Revenues ($594 million), and Reduced Social Costs to Public ($347 million).

An estimated 80,000 adults, ages 18-29, are in the labor force today are high school graduates who likely would have dropped out of school if not for Michigan's investment in early childhood education. The estimated economic impact is $1.3 billion annually, including the $584 million in reduced govt spending and increased tax revenues and $700 million in additional wages they have generated.

Let's continue to realize costs savings and increased revenue in Michigan.  We must maintain and increase public and private investments in early childhood programs that work - including preschool (Head Start and Great Start Readiness Programs) and child care quality improvement initiatives, like QRIS and United Way's Early Learning Communities program. 

Panera Bread is supporting United Way for Southeastern Michigan's Early Learning Communities program by hosting FREE Family Fun Days on the second Saturday of each month during the school year. 

From 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. on select dates, children will participate in educational crafts and reading activities. While the children play, parents will have the opportunity to learn about the Early Learning Communities program and how to best prepare children for school. The events are open to all ages.

United Way for Southeastern Michigan is Panera Bread’s Operation Dough-Nation® partner in metro Detroit. For all donations made to Panera’s Community Breadbox, located near the registers, Panera matches a portion back to UWSEM.

Panera Family Fun Day dates and locations:

Feb. 13 | 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Panera location:

Rochester Hills, 2508 S. Adams Rd.

March 13 | 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Panera location:

Southgate, 13665 Eureka Rd.

April 10 | 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Panera locations:

Dearborn Heights, 26580 Ford Rd.

Sterling Heights, 36808 Van Dyke Ave.

Livonia, 37091 Six Mile Rd.

Farmington Hills, 37611 Twelve Mile Rd.

Allen Park, 3112 Fairlane Dr.

May 8 | 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Panera location:

Roseville, 31960 Gratiot Ave.

June 12 | 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Panera location:

Southfield, 23719 Greenfield Rd. (between 9½ Mile and Greenfield, located in a shopping plaza)

Sept. 11 | 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Panera locations:

Woodhaven, 23061 Allen Rd.

Troy, 823 East Big Beaver Rd. (located in the Troy Commons Plaza)

Oct. 9 | 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Panera location:

Livonia, 28551 Schoolcraft Rd.

Nov. 13 | 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Panera location:

Farmington Hills – KT Plaza, 34635 Grand River Ave.

Dec. 11 | 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Panera locations:

Orion, 4804 S. Baldwin Rd.

Canton, 41950 Ford Rd.

In Michigan, 65,000 children in poverty are supported by the child care subsidy program. 65% of these children are being cared for by family, friends and neighbors. In Metro Detroit, we have about 15,000 FFN subsidy providers.

They (FFNs) have an important job - providing high quality early learning development opportunities for the children in their care, setting the foundation for success in both school and life. The problem is, most of them aren't aware of this most important role. They see themselves as helping out their daughter, friend or neighbor who's looking for or is working. In addition, they are at a significant disadvantage - in poverty, undereducated, in crisis - to focus on being a quality caregiver.

The only way to get to school readiness is to have caregivers that support a child's learning and development. Since 2008, United Way has been supporting caregivers through the Early Learning Communities program - a quality improvement initiative providing training, resources and support to all caregivers delivered by neighborhood-based hubs.

The state of Michigan has also entered the arena of quality improvement by requiring that all FFN subsidy providers receive mandated training.  We are at the beginning of a cultural transformation - that training and continued learning are essential to be quality caregivers.

This morning, I attended an informational session hosted by one of our Hub Partners at a Detroit child care center.  More than 100 FFN subsidy providers attended.  Yes, they were there because DHS is requiring them to take training.  Yes, many of them were frustrated and annoyed.  But they showed up and they registerd for training.  Not just the mandated training, but also the child development courses that ELC offers.  

In Metro Detroit so far, 500-750 have signed up for training.  We have a long way to go.  But we're going to achieve our ultimate goal:  improving the quality of early care and education that our most vulnerable children receive so that they have the proper foundation for school and life success. 

"Walk faster."

That's how my interview with Mike Tenbusch began.

He had ten minutes between back-to-back meetings, a lunch to finish, more than his fair share of emails and phone calls to return and thousands of kids to graduate from high school. The only time he could squeeze in for an interview with me was while walking between meetings. And it was when Mike began to answer my first question that he stopped, mid-sentence, asked me to walk faster, and then promptly picked up where he left off.

Mike is clearly a man with no time to waste.

Mike is United Way for Southeastern Michigan's Vice President of Education, working to ensure that kids enter school ready and that they stay in school. He'll be the first to tell you that everything he does, he does with the mind-set of serving the kids first. It's up to you to decide if he's talking about the thousands of metro Detroit school-aged children that aren't getting the education he knows they deserve, or if he's talking about his three kids at home – the kids that he makes a point to eat dinner with and read to every night (along with his "lovely" wife), no matter how busy he is.

And, just in case I haven't made it clear, Mike is very busy. Always has been...

Mike grew up in Detroit in a family of educators. In fact, between Mike, his grandfather, his father and his mother, the Tenbusch family has over 100 years of educator experience.

Between kindergarten and his senior in college, three people on Mike's block had been killed. This is the part where I say, "It's not a story unlike many you hear in Detroit every day..." But the story is different because Mike didn't just move on and move up. He decided to spend a lifetime making sure that the things he loved about his neighborhood and his neighbors would prevail. And he didn't waste any time starting.

After college, Mike went on to law school and, by the time he was 27, had started his own nonprofit - Think Detroit, an organization to build character in Detroit children through sports and leadership development. A few years later he joined the Detroit School Board and found the conditions that children were forced to try and learn in were downright deplorable. But he knew they didn't have to be and joined University Preparatory High School in Detroit as the COO because, he knew, they were doing it "right."

As the COO, Mike was the person responsible for turning parents away when there was no room left at University Prep. But turning away parents that had no other options didn't sit well with Mike. He eventually left University Prep, convinced that he could, and he would, create those other options. That is the desire, and the drive, that led Mike to United Way.

I remember when Mike first joined this organization, and gave his first presentation to our staff about the new programming he was instituting to curb the drop-out rate in metro Detroit. It wasn't just his enthusiasm that made his speech so memorable, it was the fact that he was the first person that ever truly helped me understand that the need to build public will was a key component to getting anything done.

What Mike was proposing was different and, honestly, exciting. He wasn't proposing that we put some band-aids on a big problem or that we simply throw some money at an issue for the sake of "doing something." What Mike was talking about that day was using the power of the United Way movement to create a holistic approach - research, advocacy, monetary resources, relationships, system design - to get at the root causes of the problem.

Now, I'll take no exception with those of you out there reading and thinking to yourselves, "Duh. You can't change anything in community unless the community wants it to change (i.e., there is public will behind it)." It seems so simple, and so smart, to me now too. But I'll be the first to admit that it's an all-too-often forgotten piece of the puzzle.

Mike was the first person that empowered me to feel that we truly had the power to move the needle forward on such a big issue.

As for Mike, he clearly never had a doubt.

You can read more about Mike's work to turnaround local schools at www.UnitedWaySEM.org/venturefund, or view the media below to hear it from the man, himself.

OneD.org | What the United Way is Doing [video]
Mike Tenbusch, Vice President for Educational Preparedness at the United Way for Southeastern Michigan, talks about how the United Way is working to improve graduation rates in metro Detroit – and how others can make a difference.

NPR.org | Nontraditional Teachers May Be In Mich.'s Future [podcast and story]
Michael Tenbusch, a former teacher who works for the United Way, says that when it comes to teachers, there should be a bigger pool of talent to draw on.

Mike Tenbusch on the United Way blog.

I read an article this morning that’s been passed around Twitter since it was published, about how the number of first-time homeless people are soaring in metro Detroit.  Below are the main points quoted from the Detroit Free Press (full article here):

• The number of people who say they are homeless for the first time is increasing in metro Detroit, spurred by unemployment and foreclosures, experts say.
• In Oakland, Wayne and Macomb counties, advocates say people who are homeless for the first-time make up 20% to 40% of those seeking services, out of more than 10,000 homeless people in metro Detroit.
• Jason Weller, executive director of the Michigan Coalition Against Homelessness, said estimates for 2009 are expected to increase by at least 10%. 

With all the contributing factors that define a “poor economy”, many people who until now thought their basic needs were a given, are forced to rely on the help of others to sustain themselves and their families.

 “...many who previously had jobs, cars and homes -- are straining already crowded shelters, having worn out their welcome with family and friends, and are unable to come up with money for motel rooms or gas for their cars.”  

No matter what kind of work you're involved in, it is important- now more than ever - for nonprofits and individuals to be capacity-builders. We need to daily consider how we can make deposits into other people’s work and lives, and help them do what they do better. We need to be willing to shift gears, take risks, and respond to the growing need in new ways.

GIVE
Build capacity through a financial gift to a family or organization you trust.


ADVOCATE
Identify one person who could use a boost and advocate for his needs within your personal and professional networks. 


VOLUNTEER
While money can be a quick and necessary fix, giving of the intangibles (our time, our priorities, our strengths, our personal space) has the power to plant seeds that will bear lasting fruit in people’s lives. Consider who you are as an individual and what you bring to the table, then block out some time to give it away (seriously, put it on the calendar). If you’re not sure where to volunteer, find out who needs an extra set of hands in your area: www.volunteersolutions.org/uwsem  

John Azoni assists in working on solutions to homelessness in Detroit through United Way for Southeastern Michigan's 2-1-1 service. For more information, check out http://uwsem.org/211, or follow @UnitedWayJohn on Twitter.