By Jack Kresnak

Even as Michigan’s Children staff helped 40 young people find their voices that Sunday afternoon, a massive storm of sleet, freezing rain and heavy snow rolled up from the Ohio Valley threatening to shut down Detroit KidSpeak on February 21, President’s Day, 2011.

This KidSpeak – called A President’s Recipe for Success: Prioritizing Education – would come at a time when lawmakers in Lansing and in Washington are proposing severe cuts to education that lead to eliminating many vocational and alternative education programs, as well as high-quality pre-school programs.  Our KidSpeak events help bring the voices of the people most directly affected by cuts to public schools, alternative education and early childhood learning programs – youths themselves.

Those voices needed to be heard now. But would these teens get the chance to speak up, and would there be anyone there to listen?     

The storm began as the training session ended Sunday afternoon, complicating travel home for the youths and our staff. Eventually, it dumped a good 10 inches of snow on Detroit, making it nearly impossible for many people to get out of their driveways, much less find their way downtown to hear what young people say about how to improve education outcomes for urban school children.

We expected 37 adults for the listening panel – legislators, public leaders and policymakers had been confirmed.  But when I got to the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center at 8:30 a.m. on President’s Day, I wondered how many of those adult volunteers – and how many of the 100 youths who told us they were coming – would actually get there.

As it went, we had a respectable listening panel of 15 adults, including former Supreme Court Justice Maura Corrigan who is now the new Michigan Department of Human Services Director, Skillman Foundation President Carol Goss, who also is a member of the Michigan’s Children Board of Directors, and Detroit City Council Members JoAnn Watson, Kenneth Cockrel, Jr., Saunteel Jenkins and James Tate. 

And there were a dozen youths, including three young journalists from Michigan’s Children’s Our Life in the D project in Detroit, who had the determination to brave the storm and the courage to speak in a public forum about how to better educate urban youths.

“I believe what you guys need to change is this weather,” began 18-year-old Abraham Aiyosh, of Hamtramck High School and the Generation of Promise project. Everyone laughed, and Aiyosh went on to share his thoughts on how to help young people succeed in school.

“Build on the student’s natural drive to learn and (rely) less on artificial goals like Grade Point Averages and standardized tests,” Aiyosh said. “The students need to be prepared for the real world. The real world isn’t a multiple-choice test. People, events, places, interactions – all these come together to form what we call experience. Through our choices, our experiences come to life. … I don’t believe I’ve been equipped with the right experiences to make all those important real world choices that you guys make.”

Kinita McDaniel, a 20-year-old mother of two children, was passionate about the need for schools and others to help students with babies.

“My problem is helping us, helping the young girls like me who have been through a lot stay in school and stay focused; I graduated, but it was not easy,” said McDaniel. She cried as she described the sexual abuse she endured by a step-father who is now in prison.

“I just appreciate you guys being here,” McDaniel told the Listening Panel as she wiped away her tears. “We need more resources for teen parents.”

Richa Jordan, a 17-year-old Osborn High School student, offered a list of changes she’d like to see, including what is available to students to eat.

“Lunch should be buffet style. We should have a variety of foods to choose from. We need to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables so we can all be healthy,” Richa said.

When she finished, Goss asked Richa, “Do you feel safe and secure in your high school and your community?”

“Do I feel safe? No,” Richa said. “I cannot walk alone on any street.”

China Johnson, a 17-year-old Detroiter who attends Taft Education Center in Ferndale and is a writer for the Our Life in the D project, told the listening panel: “The main reason kids drop out of school right now is the lack of support. Many get bullied because they’re gay or because they don’t have the right clothes or boots, or if you ain’t wearing Prada.”

Despite a lower-than-expected turnout, the energy and excitement at the Detroit KidSpeak was palpable. Members of the Detroit City Council suggested that Michigan’s Children arrange for several youths to talk to the entire Council at a special session to be scheduled later.

This successful KidSpeak was made possible by the collaborative work of Michigan’s Children, the University of Michigan School of Social Work’s youth and Community Program, and the Detroit Parent Network.

Special thanks for this successful KidSpeak event go to the Skillman and Kresge Foundations, and the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan. We also are grateful to City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson for hosting the event and for being a longtime supporter of Michigan’s Children

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By Jack Kresnak

“How are the children?” is the proverbial African greeting.

But, in places like Detroit, Wayne County and other parts of Michigan, it’s not a question that anyone can answer with any real specificity.   That’s especially true when it comes to this variation of the question: “How healthy are the children?”

The questions begin when a woman becomes pregnant: Does she have high blood pressure, a history of diabetes, a life full of stress?  Does she have access to a doctor? Does she live in a neighborhood with high levels of air pollution?  Does she eat healthy food?  Does she drink alcohol or take illegal drugs?  Does she have a safe home or a high school diploma?

They continue after the child is born: Was the baby premature?  Do the parents understand the importance of getting immunizations for their child, of reading to their infants and toddlers, of the value of a full night’s sleep and frequent naps for their young children?  Does the child live in a home environment that puts him or her at risk of asthma?

While the questions are out there, there are very few answers for most children, especially kids who are not yet in school and who live in communities of poverty.

Now, a nationwide effort to find answers to these questions and many others has begun a longitudinal study that will study children from pregnancy to age 21.  On January 26, the Michigan study was launched in Wayne County with four other target counties ramping up in the coming months – Genesee, Grand Traverse, Lenawee and Macomb.

“This has been on the drawing board for 10 years,” said Dr. Nigel Paneth of Michigan State University, a pediatrician and perinatal epidemiologist who is principal investigator for the Michigan Alliance for the National Children’s Study. “It’s a study that I think will completely change the face of child health in this country.”

In 2007, the MANCS received an $18.5 million, five-year National Institutes of Health contract to conduct the study in Wayne County and in 2008 an additional $57 million to conduct the study in Genesee, Grand Traverse, Lenawee and Macomb counties.  Organizers spent the past few years designing the study and are now set to launch the project in Michigan and will hire between 200 and 300 people, contributing important jobs to the economies in those counties.

The study comes as Michigan faces the latest in a long series of budget deficits that have hurt public health systems and hindered efforts to enroll an estimated 160,000 uninsured Michigan children into either Medicaid or the MiChild health insurance programs.

Former Michigan Surgeon General Dr. Kimberlydawn Wisdom, vice president of community health education and wellness for the Henry Ford Health System, told a group gathered at the Detroit Athletic Club to launch the study in Michigan that it is important to study the “links between a child’s environment and their health.”

“There is so much more to health that we still don’t know,” Wisdom said, “and so much more than we still need to do.”

This generation of children, Wisdom said, could be “the first generation of children who for the first time may not out-live their parents.”

According to the latest Kids Count report released on February 8 by the Michigan League for Human Services in collaboration with Michigan’s Children, more than one-third of our state’s toddlers do not receive their full immunizations, and 21.3 of every 10,000 children suffer from asthma. And nearly 7 percent of our children have no health insurance even though most of those kids probably are eligible for either Medicaid of the MiChild insurance programs.

Paneth said the study will focus on the root causes of conditions or illnesses in children such as premature birth, asthma and autism, and would not just be about gathering data. “We’re not going to stop with knowledge; we’re going to try to get that knowledge implemented in policy and action.”

The study will seek to identify 100,000 ethnically diverse families from 105 communities across the United States, and select women aged 18-49 who are either pregnant or about to become pregnant who live in those communities.  The children of those mothers will not only be studied until age 21, but assisted through enrollment in health programs.   

For more information about the MANCS, call 877-406-2627 or visit www.mancs.us or www.nationalchildrensstudy.gov

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By Jack Kresnak

Like many Michiganders, I was surprised and pleased when Governor Rick Snyder said this during his State of the State Address on January 19:

“As I said earlier, we must do more to help students achieve academic success. We’ve been spending money without delivering results to give our young people a bright future. It is time that we view our educational system which runs from prenatal to lifelong learning. It’s time to start talking about P-20 instead of just K-12. We need to establish a system that focuses on real achievement for all of our children. We cannot leave children behind without the tools for success in their adult lives, but we also need to encourage better and faster opportunities for children that can go farther and faster in our system.”

So, what is the “P-20” concept and why does Snyder believe it means “Prenatal to age 20?”

Michigan is one of only 12 states without an official task force or council devoted to aligning programming, funding and expectations from the earliest years of a child’s development, through the K-12 system, and into and through postsecondary education and workforce participation. These groups identify, create, incentivize and support interagency, public/private partnerships toward an end goal of educational and workforce success for all young people.

As a successful business executive, Snyder clearly understands the need to conceptualize development from beginning to end and that systems that are not aligned – both financially and programmatically – will not result in a favorable outcome.  The same is true for a child’s successful transition to adulthood – Michigan has seen far too many failures of our fractured and disconnected systems that are supposed to help children develop.

The states that have P-20 Councils – and many advocates for children – perceive those councils as part of a high quality system of public education. Unfortunately, the “P” in those councils typically means Pre-school or Pre-Kindergarten. Such a mindset neglects the critical first few years of life, the most significant period of growth and development of children’s brains – birth to age 3. Also, what happens in the womb is critical so adequate prenatal care for pregnant women is essential for a child to get a healthy start in life.  

Earlier last year, we at Michigan’s Children began talking about the P-20 concept and how that “P” should really mean “Prenatal.”  And I have made that point in several discussions with policymakers and others with what I thought was limited success – until now.

At last summer’s Sandbox Party rally organized by the Early Childhood Investment Corporation at the Breslin Center, both major party candidates for Governor appeared.  While waiting to go on stage to address the enthusiastic crowd with hundreds of boisterous children, Candidate Snyder was speaking with a group of child advocates when the P-20 concept came up.

“You know, Mr. Snyder, that when we say ‘P-20’ we don’t mean ‘preschool,’ we mean ‘prenatal to age 20’,” I said.  He looked at me and nodded, but didn’t really agree or disagree with my statement.

I don’t know whether I am the first or the only person to talk with Snyder about “Prenatal to 20,” but in my mind our new Governor appears to have done what good leaders and business executives do – he listened, he considered what he heard, and he chose to align his strategy with what makes sense to him.

So, we are excited that Governor Snyder has put the focus on the development of the whole child, beginning with adequate prenatal care for those babies’ mothers and ending with a path toward lifelong learning and success.

Michigan’s Children has an excellent “Issues” brief on P-20 Councils on our website.

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The case for increasing the public investment in our youngest and most vulnerable children just got a whole lot stronger.

Research by economist Timothy J. Bartik of the Upjohn Institute in Kalamazoo in his new book “Investing in Kids: Early Childhood Programs and Local Economic Development” provides a compelling argument to expand early childhood programs for vulnerable children. Sure, investments to give kids more opportunity to succeed in life are morally sound, but they’re also great for our state’s struggling economy.  

Would you like higher property values?  Lower special education costs? Fewer high school dropouts? A highly skilled and better paid workforce that can contribute to our state’s economy instead of becoming a drain on public resources?

The answer, Bartik’s research shows, is to invest more in preschool children, particularly those from low- and middle-income families.  Many upper- and middle-income families send their young children to high quality preschool programs because “they know it works” and their children will be able to earn higher wages when they enter the workforce later in life, Bartik said. Michigan can get more “bang for its buck” by creating more high-quality preschool opportunities for at-risk children from families in lower income brackets.  

Bartik’s research reinforces work that has been done by others, including those involved in the Perry Preschool Project in Ypsilanti that has shown an economic cost-benefit ratio of 1 to 17 – for every $1 invested in high-quality pre-school programs for vulnerable children, society receives $17 in benefits in the form of better-paying jobs, more taxes paid, family stability and less criminal activity.

At Michigan’s Children, we believe – and research proves – that state investments that ensure the health and safety of children aged 0-3 also have significant long-term positive impacts. Michigan’s Children is asking the state Legislature to set aside at least 20 percent of all new funding for state-funded preschool programs to support evidence-based services for children aged 0-3 and their families.  (For more on the 0-3 issue, see our new Legislative and Administrative Policy Agenda also on our website.)

Bartik’s book deals with the return on investment from preschool programs and because he is based in Michigan, much of his book is focused on our state and it promotes the benefits of having local communities take ownership of developing high quality preschool programs. A top-down construct will not work as well in Michigan as a bottom-up approach to developing the programs, he said.

Many states that compete with Michigan for jobs do invest in such early childhood programs and are reaping the economic benefits, Bartik told a group of funders and child advocates at a meeting organized by the Council of Michigan Foundations on January 11 in Detroit. 

To illustrate, Bartik listed the enrollment rates for several state-funded preschool programs for 4-year-olds: Oklahoma, 71 percent; Florida, 67 percent; Georgia, 53 percent; West Virginia, 51 percent. 

And what about Michigan?  State-funded preschool programs pay for just 19 percent of eligible 4-year-olds, below the U.S. average of 25 percent, and far behind other states.  Bartik pointed out that none of those high-percentage states are seen as liberal tax-and-spenders.

Bartik’s research shows that high quality preschool programs for vulnerable children reduce high school dropout rates, lower the number of kids who have to repeat grades in school or be enrolled in special education because of behavioral problems, and raise standardized test scores in elementary schools. Those higher test scores actually improve property values because parents want to buy houses in neighborhoods with good schools.

High quality early childhood programs that actually make a difference in kids’ lives don’t merely help children develop better “hard” or cognitive skills, Bartik said. Such programs also help kids develop the “soft” skills of “character and behavior” that prepare them for the school environment and vastly improve their odds of success throughout their education.

On his blog Bartik says: “A child entering kindergarten who is more confident, who believes that his or her plans can affect his or her surroundings, and who can get along with other students and teachers, will be more successful in kindergarten. This success in turn will encourage the child’s confidence and planning, and change how the child is viewed by peers, teachers and even parents. All of this leads to success in first grade and beyond.”

Putting that research in economic terms, Bartik said that “soft skills actually appreciate; they don’t depreciate.”  While some cognitive skills may slip when a student switches schools or teachers, those emotional and social “soft” skills actually help a student throughout life.

One could make an argument that Michigan’s poor economy today is the result of doing too little to help vulnerable children come to school ready to learn and become successful.  The majority of our state’s prisoners, for example, are high school dropouts.  

What’s clear to us at Michigan’s Children – and to increasing numbers of business leaders, as shown by the Children’s Leadership Council of Michigan – is that our state will not get out of this economic malaise without significant investments in our children.

Bartik’s book is available at Amazon, or at the Upjohn Institute website.

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By Jack Kresnak

In January 1993 – with the senseless murders of children in Detroit and its suburbs reaching a heart-breaking nadir – Neal Shine, who had finally risen to publisher after decades as a writer-editor at the Detroit Free Press, created a newspaper campaign called Children First.

The Free Press had been dutifully reporting many tragic stories, tallying numbers of child victims of shootings and describing some ideas for solving the crisis of youth violence in the city. But the stunning numbers left some readers wondering whether the newspaper where I worked for 38 years as a reporter and editor had become merely “the scorekeeper,” tabulator of the body count in an awful epidemic of violence.

Shine – my mentor and a father figure to many reporters – thought we should “move the paper beyond its traditional journalistic role to assume a more active role in responding to the most crucial need in this community and in the state: saving the children.”

The goal of the Children First campaign, Shine said, was “to mobilize against some of the biggest roadblocks to raising children safely, educating them properly and nurturing them in a safe environment.”

For the next 14 years, I worked to keep Shine’s visionary campaign alive and well, not always successfully. Most newspaper campaigns expire within a year. Children First lived for more than a decade. During that time, Neal retired, came back, retired again and then died a Detroit icon in 2007.

I have proudly worn the Children First pin on my lapel ever since 1993, and even without the imprimatur of the Children First logo on many of my stories, I tried to keep the spirit of Shine’s Children First campaign alive, writing stories I hoped would help improve conditions for vulnerable children. Significant changes in public policy resulted from my stories, as many readers were shocked and angered by my detailed multi-part series about tragedies that could have and should have been prevented by a better functioning child protection system. Shine’s mission to “get in the game” instead of merely reporting numbers paid off for the children of Michigan.

Over the years, whenever I saw Neal, he would mention a story I’d done and say, “Way to go, Jake!” (No one else ever called me Jake.)

When I transitioned to President/CEO of Michigan’s Children in February 2008, I hoped that a journalistic champion for kids in Michigan would emerge. There have been some: Angie Hendershot (reporter) and Chris Carr (videographer/photographer) at television station ABC-12 in Flint, and columnist Rochelle Riley at the Free Press come to mind.

But, sadly, the newspaper business isn’t the same and there are not enough reporters still employed as journalists who are able to take on the complicated, challenging and often tragic children’s beat.

So, today I am jumping back into advocacy journalism. This will be the first column for Michigan's Children called Children First. At least twice a month, I will tell you stories that will inform the debate on how to improve public policies in Michigan to help vulnerable kids. These Children First stories will complement – and not replace – the many issue and budget analyses that Michigan’s Children is known for. The staff of Michigan’s Children works hard to be the “go to” place for timely information on public policy issues affecting children in our state.

Many thanks to the Free Press for letting us use the old Children First logo. My mission will be to write the kinds of stories that would make my personal champion, Neal Shine, proud. And, I hope to hear his voice in my inner ear saying, “Way to go, Jake!”

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