Voices for Action Region 6: The Right Start in Michigan and Its Counties

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, July 14, 2011

The Right Start in Michigan and Its Counties - 2011

Michigan Mothers and Their Babies: Overview and Trends 2000-2009

The Right Start in Michigan is the Kids Count annual review of mothers' and babies' well-being. Over the decade between 2000 and 2009, Michigan improved on three of the five indicators where a trend could be calculated.

The biggest improvement was the 13 percent decline in teen mothers who were having another baby - dropping from 21 percent to 18 percent of teen births.
Teen births and preterm births also dropped over the decade.
The most dramatic worsening was the 20 percent increase in births to unmarried women.
The percentage of low-birthweight babies weighing less than 5.5 pounds rose slightly.

In 2009 more Michigan babies were born to mothers in economically insecure circumstances than in 2000. Roughly half of Michigan infants were born to low-income mothers eligible for Medicaid, and births to unmarried mothers represented roughly 40 percent of all births in 2009. Women unmarried at the birth of their child are likely to remain single parents with the heightened risk of poverty.

The full Right Start in Michigan and its Counties - 2011 report is available on the Michigan League for Human Services website.

Go to the Voices for Michigan's Children site...