One trend belies the notion that a rising economy lifts all boats: Michigan’s growing poverty rate. Michigan’s economy bottomed out near the end of 2009, and employment and incomes have been creeping upward ever since. But so has poverty. The share of Michigan residents living in poverty jumped from 13.5 percent in 2009 to 16.8 percent […]
Michigan League for Human Services
Posted inChildren & Families
Welfare reforms put care-givers in a wrenching bind
Todd Stafford has an uncontrollable neurological disorder that causes him to beat himself in the head hundreds of times a day. The beatings have made him blind and caused his head to “look like Frankenstein,” he says. His wife, Tina Stafford, doesn’t have a job because someone needs to be at their St. Joseph County […]
Posted inChildren & Families
Welfare reform leaves families without a net, and off the radar
Three months after the launch of an aggressive welfare reform, Michigan has kicked more people off the dole than expected and saved the state millions of dollars. How the approximately 15,000 families cut off from cash assistance are surviving, though, isn’t as clear. We may never know. The state isn’t monitoring the impact on those […]
Posted inMichigan Government
Deja vu: Biz tax cuts head agenda in Lansing
“At the end of the day, we’ll be a stronger, more vibrant state,” Gov. Rick Snyder asserted a year ago in his first State of the State speech that offered the first outlines of his 2011 legislative agenda. But he didn’t say what day that would be. As he prepares to deliver his second “SOS” […]
Posted inChildren & Families
Michigan zigs, the nation zags
Michigan is clamping down on food stamp recipients while many other states are easing requirements. A report produced by the Michigan League for Human Services circulating among Lansing policymakers reveals that a number of states have dropped asset tests for food stamp recipients in the wake of a tough economy. According to the report (no […]
Posted inMichigan Government
How 15,000 lost a lottery they didn't even play
Did one man’s luck turn into a financial catastrophe for Michigan’s poor? Mention the name Leroy Fick in a room of social service agency directors, and the temperature drops. Heads shake. Shoulders slump. Curses are mumbled. Fick won the lottery — and 15,000 people will lose their food assistance, as of Oct. 1. That’s the […]
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