Tag Archive | Michigan

MLPP calls for Michigan lawmakers to keep kitchen table issues at the forefront of budget and policy

Jan10

The Michigan League for Public Policy (MLPP) issued the following statement on the State of Michigan’s Consensus Revenue Estimating Conference (CREC) held today. MLPP president and CEO Monique Stanton shares:

“While revenues are coming in higher than expected for both the state’s General Fund and School Aid Fund, we are urging state lawmakers to keep in mind that there is a lot of uncertainty around how federal programs and funding will be impacted by the incoming administration at the federal level. Over the past few years, federal funding has made up more than 40% of Michigan’s budget, leaving our state’s economic standing particularly vulnerable if future cuts to federal revenue sources are made.

In these uncertain times, it’s critically important to remain focused on the people of Michigan and the things they need most. That means keeping kitchen table issues like healthcare and prescription drug costs, access to healthy and affordable food, strong education systems, child care access and affordability, and housing and utility costs at the forefront of budget and policy discussions in the weeks and months ahead. 

These are the issues that remain top of mind for many Michigan families, especially the approximately 4 million Michigan households facing financial hardship and could be just one emergency or missed paycheck away from severe economic decline. These are also the issues that remain critically important for the more than 2.1 million children in Michigan—nearly 1 in 5 of whom are living in poverty. Each and every child growing up in our state today needs and deserves to have a safe place to live, healthy food on the table, a strong education, and the quality early child care and healthcare they need to get a good start in life and grow up healthy and strong.

Given this morning’s projections, we also want to caution our state lawmakers not to heed calls for tax cuts, which we know will largely benefit the wealthiest Michiganders. Now is not the time to slash state revenues that are vital to helping communities flourish and to lifting up and providing stability for families who are struggling to make ends meet.”

MLPP recently released an overview of its 2026 State Budget Priorities, which have been developed by pairing community input with the League’s own data and research. The priorities are centered around what a state’s budget should value most: its people. For this reason, it is called The People’s Budget. The League urges state lawmakers and leaders to use The People’s Budget as a roadmap for their budget and policy decisions in the year ahead.

10 years and Counting Flint’s Water Crisis

May1

Reposted from the MEJC newsletter.

Remembrance of anniversaries are typically made from a standpoint of progress, but Flint activists say that though the crisis was the shot heard around the world, rallying outrage against the worst of the country’s environmental injustices, the call for help is still ringing from inside the city.

The city’s administration marked its 10-year anniversary by offering tours of its water plant, showcasing the latest upgrades and renovations. It’s a dystopian contrast considering the 3 demands from Flint residents —affordable clean water, pipe replacement, and healthcare—have yet to be met. Many still wake up to  leaded pipelines and are forced to buy bottled water while also paying steep water bills. 

“We’re seeing other communities like Benton Harbor, and Newark New Jersey, and everything, you know actually get work done. We’re so happy that [they] did. And we were a part of that, and happy for them, we’re still looking around saying, ‘we still can’t drink our water’,” said Melissa Mays, activist with our coalitional partner Flint Rising and founder of Water Are You Fighting For

This wouldn’t seem to be the case given that the Flint Water Crisis helped fine-tune critical state and federal environmental laws like the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Lead and Copper rule.  But the same week of the 10-year anniversary of its water crisis, Flint, Michigan, was not represented at the April 23 White House Water Summit and the city was not mentioned alongside Detroit, Milwaukee, and Chicago in the Great Lakes Lead Pipes Partnership, a plan meant to fast-track the replacement of an estimated 555,000 lead service lines in the “Great Lakes big cities.” It is a portion of the administration’s  Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and American Rescue plan, to replace all lead service lines within the next decade. These initiatives and the funding were only possible because of the Flint Water Crisis and its activists, said Mays. 

“We’re still sitting here 10 years later with the same rotting infrastructure. And everybody’s just looking the other way,” said Mays. 

Mays feels that Flint is overlooked as a result of perpetual “political finger-pointing” where the issues are tossed around in a game of Democrat v. Republican ping pong and the solutions dissipate between mayoral terms. The core of the water crisis is a human issue, not a political one, said Mays but this and the other growing crises that are grasping for public attention leave Flint in the nation’s blindspot. 

Progress inevitably grows in between the bitter sweet though. May’s son learn’s beside other rapt learners in the Flint Public Health Youth Academy, often coming home reciting information public health disparities. Overall, residents have been forced to become more educated and aware, making them more and more willing to make their voices heard, said Mays. 

“We still have a lot of folks that don’t believe this is what we deserve. We deserve better. And that’s what we hang on to and reminding us that we’ve changed the world. Flint changed the world for the better. And it’s not over yet.”

Hip hop artist Quelle Chris sends GR a personal message

Mar22

Hip hop artist Quelle Chris gave OKT special permission to share his new release, “We Eat It” a song that addresses the poor food choices that are making people sick in America’s urban neighborhoods. For more good hip hop, stop out to LadyfestGR 2013 tonight. Jean Grae and Invincible take the stage at the Pyramid Scheme , 68 Commerce SW, at 10 p.m. Tickets are $10.

You can follow Quelle on Twitter at  https://twitter.com/QuelleChris