Welcome


Voices for Action is a statewide effort to reduce poverty 50% in Michigan by 2020.

Led by the Michigan Department of Human Services, the initiative has created a network of organizations including human service organizations, government agencies, local faith-based and community organizations, non-profits, and businesses.


This space is for you to share your Voices for Action stories and current information. There are three ways to share.

- Submit a post via email to: voices4action6@haltpoverty.org and we'll post it for you, be sure to include contact info

- Submit a post through blogger: Google account required; request author invite by sending an email with
name & organization information to: voices4action6@haltpoverty.org

- Comment on published posts, no login required

You can use tags to highlight themes, such as 'asset building', 'workforce development', 'food assistance', etc.



Here are current poverty statistics for Region 6:

2009 Poverty and Median Income Estimates - Counties
Name Poverty Estimate All Ages Poverty Percent All Ages Poverty Estimate Under Age 18 Poverty Percent Under Age 18 Median Household Income
Allegan 12,850 11.5 4,601 16.2 50,487
Barry 6,038 10.4 2,111 15.2 53,566
Berrien 27,259 17.4 9,481 25.4 39,856
Branch 7,430 17.9 2,780 26.8 40,798
Calhoun 22,951 17.4 8,193 26.1 39,130
Cass 7,837 15.9 2,334 21.5 45,799
Kalamazoo 46,977 19.6 11,748 21.8 42,336
St. Joseph 10,265 16.9 3,710 23.9 43,402
Van Buren 12,755 16.6 4,409 22.8 41,731






Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Small Area
Estimates Branch

Internet Release date: December 2010




View Michigan Counties - Region 6 Poverty in a larger map

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Calling All Michigan Leaders for an Important Call on June 2nd!

Coalition on Human Needs
The Coalition on Human Needs, in partnership with the Friends Committee on National Legislation, present this important drill-down call for influential Michigan leaders on Thursday, June 2nd at 12:00PM EST. Please read on for more information about this call and please forward this notice to others in your state who should be included:
Dear Michigan Advocacy Leader,

To help social service providers, non-profit organizations and religious leaders engage in advocacy around the Federal budget, the Friends Committee on National Legislation and the Coalition on Human Needs, as part of the SAVE for All Campaign, are coordinating a conference call with advocacy leaders in Michigan on June 2nd (Thursday) at 12:00pm (eastern time).  The Friends Committee on National Legislation and the Coalition on Human Needs are led and supported by affiliates, constituents, and volunteers across the country who are committed to protecting programs that support low-income families. 

The call will last for less than one hour and will focus on the following:

* Update on the current situation (current budget negotiations for FY 2012, and proposals for dealing with the debt ceiling,  including a balanced budget amendment, and various kinds of spending caps)
* What’s at stake for Michigan in these negotiations?
* What’s happening in Michigan?
* What else can we do together? (Sign-on Letter, Calls, In-District Meetings, Editorials, etc.)
 * Q & A

It is important that members of your organization in Michigan be represented on this call, and we hope you will be able to join us.  If you would like to participate, please RSVP to Ruth Flower at flower@fcnl.org.  

In addition to the call on Tuesday, we would like to work with Michigan advocates to set up broad coalition meetings with Senator Stabenow to discuss budget issues. The meetings will likely take place in regional offices or over the phone. We’ll discuss how to organize these meetings on the June 2 call.  Before the Senate meetings, we would be happy to host a prep call with all participants. If you are unable to participate in next week’s call, but would be interested in participating in the meetings with Senator Stabenow or other opportunities, please e-mail Ruth Flower at flower@fcnl.org.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Ruth Flower at flower@fcnl.org / (202) 903-2524.

Thank you very much, and we look forward to talking with you next week.
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Why should your organization be involved?

As you know, Michigan is still suffering greatly from the effects of the recession.  Michigan’s state budget includes deep funding cuts that affect many of the programs we all work on and rely on, including education, employment, health care, and income supports.

But another shoe is waiting to drop -- the impact of cuts in the federal budget.

The SAVE for All Campaign has been organizing conference calls with networks of leaders in key states, to get their advice on dealing with their Senators, to hear about their in-state advocacy efforts, and to see if our national coalitions can strengthen that work in any way.  The goal is to strengthen the resolve of key senators to advocate for and protect programs for low-income people and families.

As a member of the Senate Budget Committee and the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Stabenow is a key player in the budget negotiations.  The Finance Committee, in particular, will decide whether there will be cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, and various income security programs, and whether there will be additional revenues on the table.  Under the House budget, Families USA estimates that Michigan would lose almost $64 billion in federal funding over the next 10 years, just for health care programs:  Medicare, Medicaid, and the new premium tax credits to help people by insurance.  Senator Stabenow is generally supportive of these and other programs that help low income families, but is also very concerned about the federal debt.

We in the SAVE for All Campaign believe that deficit spending can be brought under control, with a combination of judicious spending cuts that protect low-income programs and a fair revenue plan that closes tax loopholes favoring wealthy individuals and corporations.  But to get to that result, we need a stronger commitment from Senator Stabenow to protect low income families and individuals.

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