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Get information about upcoming events, meetings and other advocacy opportunties for Detroit area residents
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Promise Neighborhoods Legislation to be Considered by Congress
Posted 4-26-2011
Congress may consider legislative language authorizing the Promise Neighborhoods program as part of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) later this year. The legislation is currently being hammered out in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, the committee with jurisdiction over education issues in the Senate. It may include language covering Promise Neighborhoods.
Michigan’s Children is joining with United Neighborhood Center of America, PolicyLink, the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP), the Harlem Children’s Zone, and many other organizations in a letter to Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) supporting the proposed legislation. Harkin is the chairman of the committee.
While the language is not yet final, it would authorize 5-year grants for local Promise Neighborhoods efforts. According to the joint letter to Sen. Harkin:
We are pleased to see that your legislation focuses on high-quality early learning programs, effective family and community engagement, and better services for special populations, such as children with disabilities and English language learners. Additionally, we are pleased that it asks grantees to leverage public and private sector support, and coordinate the services and resources of local nonprofits, schools, health centers, universities, and foundations. By authorizing five year, renewable, grants, your legislation will help communities scale up their services and support a new generation of educated workers.
The committee could act on the proposal later this spring. This work follows the recent appropriation of $30 million for Promise Neighborhoods for the current fiscal year.
For more information on how you can get involved, contact Kisasi Brooks at
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or 510.663.4340.
Save the Date!
Posted 4-13-2011
Exploring Evidence-based Practices in School Community Partnerships: An in-depth assessment of the Promise Neighborhood Model and its impact across the state and Metro Detroit
Date: May 20, 2011
Time: 8:30am-4:30pm
Location: Wayne County Community College District, Northwest Campus
For more information, view the attached flyer.
School Community Partnerships remain supported in FY 2011 Budget!
Posted 4-13-2011
Details of the 2011 budget deal (H.R. 1473) just struck in Congress for the rest of the year are now available.
The measure specifically includes $30 million for school community partnerships models like the Promise Neighborhoods, an amount that will remain available through December 31, 2011. This would appear to provide enough funds for Promise Neighborhood implementation grants and a second round of planning grants later this year. The official grant notice is expected to be available within the next 60 days.
No further negotiating on this bill is expected. Congress is expected to enact the bill, HR 1473, by the end of this week.
It is not yet clear what the status is for Choice Neighborhoods and the Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation program. The Weed and Seed program at the Department of Justice, which was to be replaced by Byrne, was eliminated.
Resources Available to Evaluate Comprehensive School Community Change Efforts
Posted 4-13-2011
The Urban Institute recently authored a brief that explores the tricky task of evaluating comprehensive community change efforts, like the Promise and Choice Neighborhoods.
Evaluating such efforts can be challenging for several reasons, including the varying levels of service delivered to different residents of the community, difficulty determining which results are due to which services, and the varying program mix, which makes comparing one effort to another very difficult.
The Urban Institute recommends creating a high-quality performance measurement system that includes baseline information, the type and amount of program activities, and cost. Ideally evaluators should help design the database system. Further recommendations include a careful analysis of the initiative’s interconnected parts to determine causality and effectiveness.
View the full report here.
Register to Participate in the United Way Education Town Hall Meeting!
Posted 3-29-11
On Thursday, March 31, 2011, from 10am to noon, people from every corner of the country will gather for an online town hall meeting to discuss the best ways to fix our failing schools.
The United Way Education Town Hall, hosted by CNN's Soledad O'Brien, will bring together government officials, education experts, and concerned members of the public like you for an open conversation about our nation's educational system. We'll talk about the challenges ahead and the role we can all play in giving all our kids the best chance to succeed.
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and White House Domestic Policy Advisor Melody Barnes will be in attendance to hear your concerns and offer their insights into the problems facing our schools and how to overcome them.
Other participants include:
- Patrick Corvington, CEO, Corporation for National and Community Service
- Margaret McKenna, President, Walmart Foundation
- Alma Powell, Chair, and Michael Powell, Board Member, America's Promise Alliance
- Barry Salzberg, CEO, Deloitte LLP
- Sterling Speirn, President & CEO, W.K. Kellogg Foundation
- Ann Stallard, Chair, U.S. Board of Trustees, United Way Worldwide
This event will be webcasted. Comments and questions will be considered from the online audience before, during, and after the event.
For more information and to register visit, http://www.LiveUnitedSEM.org/TownHall
This Town Hall is a key moment in the ongoing effort to fix our nation's schools. I hope you'll participate.
Host a Youth Roundtable!
Posted 3-23-11
President Obama has a new challenge for America: hold 100 Roundtables with Young Americans between now and May 31st. We want Detroit to be among them. Administration officials will be dropping in on roundtables all across the country. Host one in your community and ask someone from the Administration to participate!
You can download a roundtable toolkit and tell the White House about your event by visiting http://www.whitehouse.gov/YoungAmericans
Important Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative Survey
Posted 3-15-2011
United Neighborhood Centers of America (UNCA) is supporting the White House Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative (NRI) by gathering responses to a short list of questions developed by the NRI. As you know, the White House NRI includes Promise Neighborhoods, Choice Neighborhoods, and the Byrne Criminal Justice Innovation program.
Answers to this survey will be shared with federal NRI staff and may also be used anonymously as the basis for an article on the Building Neighborhoods blog. All answers will be treated as anonymous and confidential unless permission has been granted to share identifying information.
Surveys will be collected through the end of the day on Monday, March 21. Surveys will be submitted to NRI staff by March 25.
According to a White House NRI announcement:
The NRI is developing an interagency policy brief that will highlight promising neighborhood revitalization efforts across the nation. The purpose of the brief is two-fold: to help communities think differently and creatively about how they can braid Federal funds to catalyze and drive a core set of results for revitalizing neighborhoods, and to help Federal agencies identify barriers that might prevent Federal funds from being used to maximum impact.
As part of this effort, we are hoping to identify examples and models of successful neighborhood revitalization efforts that the government - and other communities - can learn from. A selection of these examples will be highlighted later this year in an event and on the White House website.
To answer the survey, click here.
Posted 3/03/2011
Today President Obama signed legislation (HJ Res 44) into law that would continue funding for most federal programs through March 18. The temporary funding measure reduces federal spending by $4 billion.
The cuts are focused on several education-related programs, but not Promise Neighborhoods. The cuts represent a down payment on $100 billion in spending reductions that House Republicans pledged to enact during the 2010 campaign.
In February, the House also passed separate legislation (H.R. 1) that would cover the rest of the current fiscal year. That bill would cut spending by $61 billion below last year’s (FY 2010) levels. This bill, now before the Senate, would eliminate funding for both Promise and Choice Neighborhoods.
Along with some of our national colleagues, we have been reaching out to the Senate and they are aware of the proposed cuts for Promise and Choice Neighborhoods. The Senate has yet to act on H.R. 1. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-HI) is reportedly drafting a Senate counter-proposal.
Meanwhile, President Obama has threatened to veto the bill passed by the House if it reaches his desk. On March 2, the president announced that Vice President Biden, White House Chief of Staff William Daley, and OMB Director Jack Lew would begin negotiating with Congress on the administration’s behalf. The administration has indicated that it would support a plan to flat-fund domestic discretionary programs over 5 years.
The temporary funding bill (HJ Res 4) signed into law today eliminates the following education programs:
- Even Start ($66.5 million.)
- Striving Readers program ($250 million)
- Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnerships ($64 million)
- Smaller Learning Communities ($88 million)
It also eliminates $2.7 billion in earmarks, including:
- Teach for America: The bill eliminated an $18 million earmark for TFA, but leaves untouched its federal grant under the Social Innovation Fund.
- Reading is Fundamental: The bill eliminated a $24.8 million earmark for Reading is Fundamental.
Federal Budget Watch
Posted 3/02/2011
This week… the House and Senate are racing to negotiate a budget agreement before the temporary Continuing Resolution (CR) that is currently funding federal agencies and programs expires at 11:59 p.m. on Friday, March 4th. Without such an agreement, the federal government would shut down. As of this writing, it appears that an agreement has been reached between House and Senate leaders to extend government funding for another two weeks, through March 18. The bill has now been received d by the President and is awaiting his signature.
The House has already passed a FY 2011 Appropriations bill which makes an unprecedented $66 billion in cuts to federal programs such as Head Start, the Child Care and Development Block Grant, and the Title I education program for disadvantaged children between now and September 30, 2011. Once the new temporary CR has been signed, the Senate will debate its own FY 2011 Appropriations bill for this period. For more information on the federal budget process and how it works, click here.
As Congress continues the battle to fund spending for the rest of this fiscal year (through September), we also are preparing to fight next year’s budget battle as well. Earlier this month, President Obama released his budget for FY 2012, which essentially lays out a blueprint of the administration’s priorities and includes important increases in education, early childhood, and support for abused and neglected children, all intended to help support our future workforce. House and Senate action on the FY 2012 Budget will come after FY 2011 funding levels are resolved.
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Moving Ahead On Education Reform
Posted 3/02/2011
Amidst the budget frenzy described above, the one policy concern that seems most likely to get attention and even bipartisan attention in Congress this year is the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), better known as the “No Child Left Behind Act” (NCLB), a play on CDF’s trademarked mission statement to “Leave No Child Behind.” While data show that more than 60 percent of all children in grades fourth, eighth and twelfth grades cannot read or do math at grade level; children of color fare much worse: 80 percent of children of color in grades four, eight, and 12 cannot perform at grade level.
Congress has the opportunity with the reauthorization of ESEA to set American education on the path towards equality and excellence for all children. Children cannot wait. Michigan’s Children is committed to seeing that our children living in Detroit and in other areas across the state get the educational supports and stability they need. The U.S. Department of Education’s Blueprint for Education Reform provides a framework for a reauthorized ESEA that helps all children succeed, but Congress will have to go beyond the Blueprint in order for federal education policy to become the engine of equality rather than the locomotive of inequality. It’s time to truly Leave No Child Behind.
Please contact your Representative and Senators and urge them to act now on the ESEA Reauthorization in a way that will level the playing field for our most vulnerable children.
View information on who represents you in Detroit
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UPDATE: Federal Work that Connects to the Skillman Foundation’s Boys of Color Initiative
Posted 3/02/2011
The Black Community Crusade for Children (BCCC) is a campaign to confront the crises Black children in America face. New surveys of Black adults and youth were released along with the Portrait of Inequality 2011 report. Check out new videos of Black faith leaders addressing the crises.
Read a report that highlights the inequalities black youth face in accessing youth employment opportunities.
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Detroit-based Children and Youth Service Programs Are at Stake in the Federal Budget!
Posted 2/26/2011
Due to factors like the growing deficit, deep partisan disagreement and a divided Congress, we are in for a wild and crazy roller coaster ride on the federal budget. The fight is over a vision for America's future. Namely, how do we go about restoring our economic and fiscal health -- with a scalpel or a sledgehammer? The budget debate actually covers two budgets: one for fiscal year 2011, which ends this October, and another for fiscal year 2012, which ends October 2012.
President Obama's proposed budget for 2012 year makes deep funding cuts for community services and other programs many Detroiters have come to know well and rely on. Some of the few bright spots: budget increases in federal investments for education, infrastructure, technology and research to help the next generation come of age with the skills they need. The House leadership's proposals for the FY 2011 budget are to eliminate or deeply reduce funds for key domestic programs that serve children and families while keeping most defense and tax expenditure cuts off the table. The House has vowed to take a similar approach to the 2012 budget as well.
View Congress's spending cuts in the Continuing Resolution Bill
View information on the President's 2012 Budget Proposal on the White House Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative and how it will impact Detroit's Neighborhood-based work.
Detroit Youth Employment Dollars at Risk of Elimination in the Federal Budget!
Posted 2-26-11
On February 11, 2011, the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee released a comprehensive list of spending cuts included in the Continuing Resolution (CR) bill (H.R. 1). If the spending reductions and terminations are enacted, all funding for the Workforce Investment Act (youth, adult and dislocated worker) would be eliminated for Program Year 2011.
We are urging you to contact Your Members of Congress to highlight the value and the need for youth programs and to urge them to maintain funding for youth employment, education, and training.
View information on Which Congressional Members Represents you in Detroit and how to contact them.
Calling All Youth Serving Organizations in Detroit!
Posted 2-09-11
Public officials like to remind us that they work for us, but how often do we get to see that in action?
Here is a tremendous opportunity to have the youth you work with have their voices heard in Washington D.C. without the need to leave the city, or even your home.
February 26 will bring young people from across the country together with adults (many in leadership positions in the federal government) for the Department of Education's National Youth Summit - an authentic exchange on how to make it easier for all young people to leave high school ready for college or postsecondary opportunities.
Your Voice in Action: Sec. Duncan Answers Your Questions!
During the Summit, U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan has agreed to answer the top questions suggested and voted on by young people on SparkAction!
The vote goes live today, so check it out, submit questions and vote for your top five favorites -- you can also learn more about the organizations partnering with SparkAction to make sure the voices of young people are heard.
Hurry, voting closes on February 18th.
Adults can participate in this opportunity by spreading the word to young people in your networks! If you'd like sample text to tailor and share, or to cobrand your outreach with SparkAction, contact
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Participate in one or both of the Detroit Kids Count Data Book Press Conferences
Posted 2-03-11
In partnership with the Wayne County Great Start Collaborative, the Detroit-Wayne County Community Mental Health Authority and the Wayne County Health Department, Michigan's Children would like to encourage you to participate in the "Let's Connect! Detroit-Wayne Kids Count 2011 Data Press Conference". A discussion of indicators and recommendations for promoting socio-emotional and pediatric health for school success.
You can also participate via video conference at The Children's Center, 79 West Alexandrine Training Rooms A & B Detroit, MI 48201
Date: February 8, 2011
Time: 10:30am - 12:00pm
Location: Guidance Center's Center for Excellence, 13101 Allen Rd. Building 2, Southgate, MI 48195
The second event, scheduled later that same day at the Matrix center in the Osborn Neighborhood. This event is focusing on the status of children and families in Detroit neighborhoods and will provide the opportunity to look how the indicators impact youth representing the Our Life in the D project of Michigan's Children.
Date: Feb. 8, 2011
Time: 3:30pm- 4:30pm
Location: Matrix Center, 13560 McNichols E, Detroit, MI, 48205
For event information, contact Marcella Wilson, President/CEO Matrix via phone at 313-527-6973.
Save the Date! Detroit Kidspeak 2011
Posted 1-27-11
Michigan’s Children is partnering with the Michigan Youth and Community Project of the U of M School of Social Work and the Detroit Parent Network to offer Kidspeak 2011 on February 21, 2011 from 9:30 am to 1pm in the Detroit City Hall Auditorium of the Coleman A Young Municipal Center. In honor of President’s Day, the theme for this year’s event is “A President’s Recipe for Success: Prioritizing Education”. This event is designed to provide an opportunity for students in the neighborhoods an opportunity to practice and participate in the policy change-making process.
To register for the event, contact Angelique Day at 517-485-3500 or via email at
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.
View the Flyer
Read the Kidspeak Factsheet
Download the Registration Form
Federal Funding Opportunites for Detroit!
Posted 1-18-11
Improving our neighborhoods for our children in Detroit means that we need to be aware of all the federal funding opportunities available to bring more resources to the city.
Federal Funding Face to Face is a congressional sponsored event designed to not only inform nonprofits of federal funding opportunities, but also as a resource to improve your existing proposals.
The Workshop will be held January 31, 2011 from 8AM to 4:30pm at the Michigan State University- Detroit Center, 3408 Woodward Ave., Detroit, MI 48201.
All nonprofit organization are invited to attend. The event is FREE, but space is limited and registration will end capacity is reached or January 28th, whichever comes first.
For more information and to register for the event, contact Denise O’ Neal, Community Affairs Specialist, Detroit Office for US. Senator Carl Levin, 477 Michigan Ave., Room 1860 Detroit, MI 48226. Phone: 313-226-3538, Fax: 313-226-6534, or visit www.levin.senate.gov or contact Melanie in the Warren office at 586.573.9145.
The release of the Kids Count in Michigan 2010 Data Book is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, February 15, 2011.
Posted 1-11-11
The 2010 Data Book illustrates the connections that many indicators of child well-being have to educational success and makes clear that efforts to improve the educational performance of children must align with other key systems to improve all aspects of child well-being. As we have in the past, we would like to work with local communities to capitalize on the media attention to the book's release. This release provides an opportunity for you to highlight local issues, programs and connections.
To ensure that you have enough time to prepare a local strategy, we've scheduled three pre-release briefing conference calls well in advance of the release itself. (You need participate in only one). At that time we will review that state and county profiles and outline some of the major findings highlighted in the report narrative. Please let us know which one of the following you plan to attend:
- Tuesday, January 11, from 1:30 - 2:30 p.m.
- Friday, January 14, from 10:30 - 11:30 a.m.
- Wednesday, January 19, from 3:00 - 4:00 p.m.
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Participation in the release may also provide opportunities for you to use this as a venue to showcase your own innovative work around the issue of educational success as well.
If you are interested in participating in the calls, please respond to this message. We will forward instructions for participating as well as the link to the EMBARGOED materials. We will also connect you with others from your community who have indicated an interest.
In addition to the discussion of connections, the 2010 data book includes profiles for all counties and updates on the key indicators of child well-being (including rates and ranks).
Economic Security: poverty and free/reduced-priced lunch receipt.
Child Health: less than adequate prenatal care; low birthweight babies; infant mortality; and child deaths.
Child Safety: children in investigated families; substantiated victims of child abuse or neglect; children in out-of-home care.
Adolescent Well-Being: births to teens, high school dropout and teen deaths.
Education: assessment scores.
Demographics: population, economic support, special needs status and health care access.
The pre-release briefings are intended for people who are interested in being contacted by the media, or those that would like to be involved in the media release of the data book by issuing local press releases or fact sheets, contacts with local media, or serving as contacts that we can share with local media.
The calls will also provide an opportunity for participants to brainstorm potential media activities and learn from others in different communities about useful media strategies. Participants will receive a link to the EMBARGOED county data prior to the calls. The materials are not to be released to the public until the release date (TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15TH). In the past the print media have honored the embargo and waited to publish the information on the release date.
If you would like more information, please contact Michele Corey at
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Foster Care Story Coming to Detroit Public Television
Posted 12-22-10
There's a wonderful program scheduled that will highlight the challenges and tributes about foster care and adoption coming to Detroit public television. "Telling Our Story" will air on Sunday Dec. 26 at 2 p.m. and again on Thursday Dec. 30 at 5:30 on The American Black Journal Program on WTVS, channel 56.
Last year, Michigan families adopted 3,030 children from foster care. That's the highest number ever. But today in Michigan, there are still more than 15,000 children in foster care. Of those children, about 3,500 are available for adoption.
In the special report “Telling Our Story,” you’ll hear from an adoptive parent, a foster child, and a woman who has aged out of the system about their personal experiences.You’ll also meet the director of the Michigan Department of Human Services and the director of Children’s Services as they discuss the need for foster and adoptive parents in our community.Through these stories, you will learn about the need for foster homes and about resources available to accommodate both your and the children’s needs.
Jack Kresnak Covers the Boys of Color Conference in Detroit
Posted 12-07-10
Boys of Color: Perilous Times was the first of a series of community conversation in Southeast Michigan to build a shared understanding of the barries facing African-American and Latino boys, and suggest actions needed to improve outcomes. Held on November 20, 2010 in Detroit, the conversation was an opportunity for Michigan's Children to continue to strengthen its race equity work by connecting with community-level partners. The conversation was made possible thanks to the Skillman Neighborhood Program, the Community Foundation for Southeastern Michigan, the Knight Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, the University of Michigan School of Social Work and Marygrove College. Jack Kresnak's reporting of the event follows, and you can find coverage of the event by youth reporters engaged in Michigan's Children's Our Life in the D project by going to http://ourlifeinthed.com/
View the Report
Youth Legislative Day 2010
Posted 12-8-10
On November 18, 2010 Michigan's Children presented Youth Legislative Day. More than 140 youths from Ingham, Kalamazoo, Macomb, Oakland, Ottawa, and Wayne Counties converged on the Michigan House of Representatives to receive legislative training and participate in mock debates with legislators, staff and lobbyists.
The fall event focused on the issues of gang violence, school nutrition, and mental health services in schools.
Michigan's Children proudly presented this fall's Youth Legislative Day in partnership with the Skillman Foundation, the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan, New Detroit, the Detroit Parent Network and Western Michigan University's College of Health and Human Services (CHHS). We thank them, the youths, the legislators, staff and everyone else who helped make this special day possible.
View the YLD Agenda
View the YLD Sponsor List
View our News, Events, and Notices/Archive from August - October 2010
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