Spartan Newsroom (https://news.jrn.msu.edu/category/news/nonprofits-social-services/page/3/)
FOOD INSECURITY: Food banks across the state are facing increased demand at a time of inflation and are looking for additional ways to serve hungry people in need. We hear from three Metro Detroit programs. References to Livingston and Monroe counties. By Anish Topiwala. FOR MICHIGAN FARM BUREAU, DETROIT, MONROE, FOWLERVILLE, LANSING CITY PULSE AND ALL POINTS.
REENTRY GRANTS: Nonprofits based in Saginaw, Holland and Grand Rapids are among those receiving state grants worth $14.4 million for programs to help ex-inmates find and retain jobs. We talk to those two groups, the director of the Department of Labor and Economic Growth and an organization advocating more alternatives to incarceration. References to Montcalm, Alpena, Iron, Cheboygan, Marquette, Oakland, Midland, Chippewa, Wayne and Monroe counties. By Theo Scheer. FOR HOLLAND, MIDLAND, GRAND RAPIDS BUSINESS, CORP! GREENVILLE, WKTV, IRON MOUNTAIN, SAULT STE. MARIE, MIDLAND, CHEBOYGAN, DETROIT AND ALL POINTS.
STUDENT HOMELESSNESS: Homeless students often slip under the radar, and their plight draws insufficient attention from college administrators and others, advocates say. We learn about what Northern Michigan University is doing to address the problem, hear from the Michigan Association of State Universities and talk to a Lansing lawmaker who is pushing to establish a bill of rights for homeless Michigan residents. By Elijah Taub. FOR MARQUETTE, LANSING CITY PULSE, SAULT STE. MARIE, IRON MOUNTAIN, ST. IGNACE AND ALL POINTS.
ECL, originally the Beekman Therapeutic Riding Center, was founded by John Breaugh in 1979. Breaugh was the former principal of Beekman Center, the special education center next door to ECL. A welcome gate separates the indoor arena from the horse stables at the Equine Center for Learning on Nov. 27. The horses are led from their outside stables to the indoor arena for riding lessons during the weekday afternoons and evenings.
Lansing’s Human Relations and Community Service Department (HRCSD) hosted its Community Connect event at the Capital Area Transit Authority (CATA) downtown transportation center as a part of National Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week. HRCSD has been doing this outreach event for the homeless for some years now but this is their second year holding the event at the CATA center to accommodate the increase in attendees.
JUVENILE JUSTICE: Michigan is poised to change the rates at which it reimburses counties for juvenile justice services. That means more state funds for county-run residential and mental health services. The legislation passed the House and Senate and is awaiting the governor’s signature. Sponsors are from Detroit, West Bloomfield, Warren, Northfield Township and Taylor. We hear from the Michigan Center for Youth Justice in Ann Arbor, the Prosecuting Attorneys Association president, from Kalamazoo County, who supports the measure and an Oakland County senator who voted against it. By Stephanie Rauhe. FOR DETROIT, LANSING CITY PULSE AND ALL POINTS.
Department of Health and Human ServicesNatasha Bagdasarian is the state’s chief medical executive. By LIZ NASS
Capital News Service
LANSING – During the COVID-19 pandemic, neighborhoods with less access to traditional health care saw a lack of resources for treating the virus.
In September 2020, however, low-income neighborhoods received funds from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for COVID-19 testing in churches and college buildings.
Now, additional plans are in the works to expand the health care provided at these sites.
There are 18 neighborhood sites in churches in Lansing, Detroit, Roseville, Flint, Muskegon Heights, Niles and Grand Rapids, as well as on the campuses of Albion College and in the Wayne County Community College District.
Natasha Bagdasarian, the chief medical executive at the Department of Health and Human Services, said the CDC and her agency used an index of factors to categorize neighborhoods’ health vulnerability by general poverty rate and transportation access to medical care.
“We found during COVID that, No. 1, it was hard for people to get to a health care site because of transportation or not being able to take time off work or all kinds of reasons,” Bagdasarian said. “But also there’s some distrust of going to those sites, and there’s some fear.”
Bagdasarian said that when a local organization that residents know, like a church group, is providing medical resources, it can build more trust in the community and in the medical services being provided.
While neighborhood sites were created to respond to COVID-19, such as providing masks and prescriptions to lower the symptoms of the virus, Bagdasarian said the next step is for them to provide more of the types of services patients would find in most doctors’ offices.
Plans for more services are still being finalized for 2024 and would include substance use disorder services and blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol screenings for general health.
Lynn Suftin, a public information officer for Health and Human Services, said $17 million is set aside in the state’s 2024 fiscal year budget for the neighborhood health grant program.
Bagdasarian said that initiative comes from the social benefits her department found during the pandemic.One participating site is the Bethel Baptist Church East in Detroit.
Tonya Kennedy, the director of health and wellness at the church, said establishment of the neighborhood site was well received in early winter 2020, yet began slowly. “At the time, a lot of communities and groups and people were hesitant (to use the site) just because it was new and it was a pandemic,” Kennedy said.
While Bethel Baptist was not holding worship services at the time, Kennedy said the church found it important to use the facility any way it could to benefit the community.
Through its first months of operation, the number of visitors grew.
Although the number of residents affected by the pandemic has decreased since the site’s opening, Kennedy said the number coming in for testing and vaccines has remained steady for the last few years.
Kennedy said that it would be helpful to see more expanded, permanent health resources in the building.
LGBTQ+ HEALTH: $10 million in new state aid will help local organizations improve health services for LGBTQ+ residents of Michigan. We learn more from a Benton Harbor advocacy group and Transgender Michigan. Lawmakers from Livonia and Southfield championed the grant program. By Brandy Muz. FOR DETROIT, THREE RIVERS, HOLLAND, STURGIS, LANSING CITY PULSE AND ALL POINTS.
LONELINESS: A recent U.S. surgeon general’s advisory and a U-M study found that loneliness is a major public health problem for adults and children, worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. Among those most adversely affected are older and LGBTQ+ Michigan residents. We hear from the state’s chief medical executive and other experts about programs and groups based in West Michigan and Metro Detroit that are addressing the problem. By Kenzie Terpstra. FOR DETROIT, GREENVILLE, IONIA, WKTV, LANSING CITY PULSE AND ALL POINTS.
The senior discovery group at the Allen Neighborhood Center boasts “pretty good coffee and great conversation” as a way for senior community members to connect socially and learn something new each week.