Remember, our Borrowers' & Burners' Luncheon is
If you haven't had a chance to send in your RSVP yet, hop over to our online registration page and sign up. The process is fast and easy, so check it out!
If you have any questions, feel free to give Melodie Balzer Sanford a call at 517-372-6001.
Also, don't forget that this year's game is an old favorite... Survivor.
Anyway, we're expecting another great event, so we'll see you at the Kellogg Center next week!
- Editorial: Breathe life into
cities
- Time is right to revive ailing urban
areas
- As city's economic health lags, study
pushes holistic approach
- Editorial: Urban Rebirth
- Study: Ohio full of depressed cities
But state government must become more of a partner in Michigan's urban revival. Cities are the economic engines, and cultural and educational centers, that drive Michigan. Right now, they're running behind.
It's no coincidence that both Michigan's economy and most of its cities trail the rest of the nation. Michigan's economy won't move forward until its major cities do.
City leaders must get creative and rebuild with the help of community-based organizations, grants and private capital. They cannot rely on massive financial assistance from the state. But state government can create tax and revenue sharing policies that help cities use their cultural, educational, physical and economic assets to benefit all of Michigan.
This is essentially what the Living in Michigan campaign has been arguing all along. If we invest in Michigan's cities, and build the type of vibrant communities that young workers want to live in, community-based organizations can be the spark that jump starts our state's economy and rejuvenates our cities.
Regardless of what happens with the Housing and Community Development Fund this year, Michigan's affordable housing and community development organizations will continue to do what they do best.
The work goes on...
Michigan was among the states featured in this study –– you can read the full profile here (PDF). There is a wealth of information in this report, but the following passages caught our eye:
For all their economic challenges, Michigan’s older industrial cities possess numerous physical, economic, and cultural attributes that, if fully leveraged, could be converted into vital competitive assets. These six cities have a total of 330 properties on the National Register of Historic Places, for example, a number that doesn’t include the additional homes and businesses that together help shape the many great neighborhoods located in these communities. These cities also have a concentration of education and medical facilities in their urban core: They boast a total of 14 four-year colleges and universities and five two-year colleges, as well as 30 hospitals and medicals centers employing approximately 42,000 people. Finally, these cities are rich with cultural amenities. With 14 museums and (in Detroit) five professional sports teams—not to mention the dozens of galleries, theaters, music venues, and minor league sporting events—these cities offer a range of regional attractions that can help fuel the revitalization of their downtowns and surrounding neighborhoods.
After decades of painful economic restructuring, the time is ripe for Michigan’s state and local leaders to seize upon new trends and attitudes that have begun to revalue cities’ special characteristics—and to again make them innovative, competitive, high-quality communities where their residents have the choices and opportunities needed to thrive.
The report more or less confirms what affordable housing and community development organizations in our state have know for years: that Michigan has a wealth of institutional resources that can be leveraged to rejuvenate our neighborhoods and jump-start our state's economy.
Just look at our Vision Statement:
"Where others see dilapidated houses...
We envision homes restored to provide shelter for generations of families.
Where others see empty, broken storefronts...
We envision the realization of the entrepreneurial dreams of successful small businesses which will create jobs.
Where others see hopelessness and overwhelming problems...
We envision new and renovated facilities through which non-profits can better serve their communities."
Sure, Michigan has been struggling lately, but we see an opportunity here to take what makes our state great, and use those resources to make it an even better place to live.
We'll take another look at the coverage this report has received from the media later in the week, but in the meantime, If you get a chance, go read the whole thing. There's also an easy-to-read slideshow version here (PDF).
04/04/07 Dawn Farms: $165,000
04/24/07 Architectural Salvage Warehouse of Detroit: $30,957.50
04/27/07 Avalon: $492,150.00
05/11/07 Liberty Hill: $199,410.00
05/15/07 Avalon: $499,950.00
05/17/07 Michigan Ave. Business Association: $45,000
There's lots of information about our affordable housing and economic development loan programs scattered throughout the site, so feel free to poke around.
For a list of our Borrowers from 2006, click here.
Keep in mind that our Borrowers' & Burners' Luncheon is right around the corner. If you haven't had a chance to RSVP yet, remember that you can register online.
Contact your
legislator today
The state Legislature heard our
collective voices at Advocacy Day: Lunch on the Lawn
- 1500 strong! The meetings that you and others have
had with state legislators is making a difference.
Support for our mission is gaining momentum. But we
have to keep it up. Please continue to meet with
legislators and report all findings back to Mark
Pischea at mpischea@rossmangroup.com. Our
legislative contact form is now online. Click here to see it. We must
keep pressure on the state legislature through
this budget process - your participation has
never been more important!
10 in 10
It is critical that we continue to register coalition members at our Web site, www.LivingInMichigan.org. We are launching a statewide push over the next 10 days for each member of our coalition to recruit and register 10 additional people to our cause. The more names we add to our coalition and the more voices that can be added to ours, make our message louder and more impactful. It is imperative that we continue this effort - new members can also sign up to send a postcard to their legislator right on the Web site. Please act today!We Are Recruiting New Organizations
Let us know if you have an upcoming meeting with an organization that would be a good supporter of Michigan's Housing and Community Development Fund. Someone from this coalition will either come and speak or help you build your own presentation. The coalition has recently added several statewide organizations to our membership list, and we are welcoming new members. All supporting member organizations will be listed on the Living in Michigan Web site with a link to their own site. We will also post any organization's relevant research or information that helps support the fulfillment of this fund.Contact Lisa Smith at Lisa@donovanandsmith.com to schedule a speaker or request materials for new member organization recruiting.
The workshops were great, the speakers were great. But the people were the highlight. Sometimes we get all caught up in the business of the work and we don’t take time to notice the folks doing it. Our sector is filled with some amazing individuals! All you have to do is sit quietly at a lunch table and listen to the stories, or see the furious scribbling when a presenter suggests a new approach that might help more people…
My daughter reminds me of the people I work with. There are two sides to every story, and you get to choose the one you hone in on. Instead of blocking out and running away from a world of poverty, inequality, violence, hunger and stuff-ism, I am surrounded with people who choose to jump in and make good of it. Lemons and lemonade, to be sure.
In our very first Emerging Leaders class, one of our participants made a bold announcement. Towards the end of the session, she proclaimed “These are my people.” We laughed a bit, but all took the sentiment to heart. (Somehow I still envision Maria in a Moses robe, raising her hands to the masses in a grand pronouncement of unity. If I remember correctly, she was actually in khakis and a sweater.)
I am happy to say, after 10 years with MNA and several conferences under our collective belts, I still feel like this sector is where I belong and I am ever grateful to have found my people.
You guys ROCK.
Sounds like it was another great event!
Remember, our Borrowers' & Burners' Luncheon is
If you haven't RSVP'd yet, you can save yourself a stamp by submitting your registration online. The process is fast and easy, so feel free to check it out.
Also, don't forget that this year's game is an old favorite... Survivor.
Anyway, we're expecting another great event, so we'll see you there!
Photo by Fabrizio Costantini for The New York Times
Last week we wrote two posts about what non-profits can do to get their work featured in the mainstream media.
Then on Thursday, we stumbled across this article from the New York Times, which features the Ruth Ellis Center, a Trust Fund borrower we've written about in the past. Coincidence? We think not.
Here are a few excerpts from the piece:
DETROIT — One girl said she started living on the streets after her mother beat her for dressing like a boy. Another said she ran away from home after her father pulled a gun on her for hanging around with so many “tomboys.” A third said she left home after a family acquaintance raped her because she was a lesbian and he wanted to “straighten her out.”
But gathered at Ruth’s House, a 10-bed emergency shelter for gay homeless youths here in east Detroit, they all said that for the first time they felt safe.
Ruth’s House is one of a small number of shelters for gay youths that have opened around the nation in the past four years, reflecting an increasing awareness among child welfare advocates of the disproportionately high number of gay youths in the homeless population and the special problems they face.
Five years ago, such shelters were rare, but now there are more than 25 nationwide.
In an eight-city study published in The Child Welfare Journal last year, Mr. Van Leeuwen and others found that gay homeless youths were more than twice as likely to have attempted suicide while living on the streets than heterosexual homeless youths.
“The center is the only place where I feel safe being me,” said Sarah Strickland, 18, referring to Ruth’s House. “Out there, I knew I wasn’t safe. I knew I might be killed by someone realizing that I’m a girl looking like a boy.”
Grace A. McClelland, who runs Ruth’s House, said it had a three-month waiting list for its 10-bed shelter, which opened in August. The shelter is named after Ruth Ellis, an African-American lesbian who in the 1930s opened her house in the same neighborhood to gay African-American teenagers. With a staff of seven, it provides school placement, psychological and family counseling and job training. The shelter is financed with private and federal money.
Be sure to check out this very touching A/V photo essay, which is a nice companion to the article. The photo essay includes testimonials from Grace McClelland, Executive Director of the Ruth Ellis Center, and two youths currently living in Ruth's House.
The Trust Fund has been a proud supporter of the Ruth Ellis Center since 2002. You can learn more about Ruth Ellis Center by visiting the organization's website, and reading this article from "Between the Lines." Also, for a little background on Ruth Ellis, the woman, take a look at this Wikipedia page.
Hmm. Don't know how we missed this, but the Living in Michigan website has a small gallery of pictures from Advocacy Day. If you haven't had a chance yet, head over and check it out.
I don’t know about you, but I often feel forgotten by the media when informing them of the great work my organization is doing. Assistance on Medicare for seniors? Sorry, there’s a water main break on High Street. 100 dogs and cats adopted in one week? Sorry, we’re about to learn who the father is of Anna Nicole’s baby.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not here to discredit any story the news decides to air. We all have stories to tell – the good, the bad and the ugly – which creates a battle for the ink or air time. It’s easy for the “soft” stories to be pushed aside when breaking news happens. It’s also easy for those of us doing great work, wanting our story to be heard, to be disappointed watching our stories hit the editing room floor.
Indeed. Fortunately, as Lisa Sommer reminds us, persistence pays off:
Every time you connect with the media, you are creating a personal relationship. Although your story may be ignored once, twice, five times - you are building your credibility and expertise. The media work one day at a time (correction, one hour at a time) so they can’t predict when they will need your expertise or use your story. But sit tight and trust that that reporter, producer or writer will think of you when they need an expert in healthcare, animal rights, educating our youth, you get the picture.
Also, persistence pays off. (Please note, there is a difference between persistence and stalking.) We all know repetition helps us learn and remember things. The more a reporter hears about your organization, the more likely they will be to think of you when assigned a story. Don’t be afraid to follow up with phone calls after sharing a story idea with your media contacts.
This is something all of us, as an industry, need to do a better job of.
It's nice to see articles about affordable housing and economic development in the news –– like this story about a new $225 million neighborhood revitalization program in Detroit from yesterday –– but we must take the initiative to make sure the media knows about our work, and why it's important.
Just some food for thought.
Here are the highlights from the State News article:
The organization, which previously rented office and storage space, built 64 homes and helped more than 70 families move out of substandard housing in the Lansing area.
During its 20 years of operation, the organization rented various spaces, including its most recent location, a 5,500-square foot building that housed administrative offices, a construction warehouse and ReStore, a home improvement thrift shop that sells new and slightly used items at discounted prices.
"The old building was uninviting and cramped, placed in a tucked-away area that wasn't completely visible from the road," Justin Rumao said, a mechanical engineering senior and spokesman for the MSU chapter of Habitat for Humanity, wrote in an e-mail.
Volunteers and staff will conduct tours of the new facility at the event. Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero and Rep. Joan Bauer, D-Lansing, will host a ribbon cutting ceremony at 4 p.m.
Burtch expects about 200 people to attend. This year, habitat volunteers put in almost 50,000 hours and Burtch expects most of them to attend.
"We always want more volunteers," she said. "We have volunteer training once a month and the next one is on May 17 so this is really good timing for us to reach potential new volunteers."
"The new facility will allow us to work with volunteers more efficiently in colder months as well as increase our ability to store needed items in quantity," said Denise Paquette, executive director for habitat. She added that habitat recently committed to doubling its housing production in the next five years.
If you like reading stories about affordable housing in your newspapers –– or would like the issue to receive even more coverage in the media –– don't be afraid to write letters to the editor asking them for more content. Sometimes a little extra nudge from faithful readers can help convince an editor to allocate more resources to a topic that's been ignored by other publications.
Whether you call it the participatory web, read/write web, Web 2.0, or ommunities cominating brands (my current favorite), there comes a point when all of us have looked up from the MySpace page or blog that we are reading and wondered if anyone outside of our geeky friends is actually looking at this stuff. And perhaps more to the point, many nonprofits are wondering if all this social networking and online participation is a good investment, or just a fun diversion.
Two new studies offer insights into this question by taking a look at who is using participatory technology. The ever-productive Pew Internet and American Life Project recent released a new report on the “Typology of Information and Communication Technology Users." They identified ten groups of IT users, ranging from ‘omnivores’ -- the 8% of the population who both use and participate in a wide variety of technology -- to the 15% of the population who are ‘off the network’. These ten groups are consolidated into three distinct types of technology users: Elite Technology users (31%), Middle-of-the-Road-Tech-Users (20%) and the Few Tech Assets group (49%).
Not surprisingly, younger people tended to fall into the more tech savvy group, while those over 40 were split into the other two groups.
For whatever reason, younger people are drawn to social media, like blogs. As more and more people start using the internet as their primary source of information, the impact of blogs will be even greater.
While there are some initial challenges to get a blog up and running, it's a great way to connect with a wider, younger audience, and expand the reach of a nonprofit's message.
This harkens back to a recent entry from the Michigan Nonprofit Association's blog:
Whether we know it or not, our organizations are constantly being marketed by the folks who answer the phone, our volunteers, our website, our newsletters, the list goes on and on. But how do we maximize all of that and put in our effort to get the most value? How do we make it worth it?
I think part of the answer lies in the audience. Who are we trying to reach? Taking the time to figure out where I want to go is the largest hurdle. If we’re looking to recruit youth volunteers, are we utilizing the tools that they are most comfortable with (websites, email, etc.)? If we’re trying to generate awareness of an issue, is it worth it to spend 25 hours creating a public service announcement that will only run at 3 a.m. on a station no one is watching? I evaluate my opportunities by asking a few questions. Does it really reach my intended audience? What will I get out of it? How will I measure whether or not it was “worth it”? Are there better uses of our resources?
As far as we can tell, there still aren't a lot of nonprofits in Michigan with an active blog. It's understandable... many nonprofits have a hard enough time keeping a website updated as it is, to say nothing about having the time, money, or resources to start a blog.
Like the folks over at the MNA said though, "Marketing doesn’t have to receive the biggest budget... it just needs to be effective."
Last month, we pointed out some helpful resources for nonprofits who might be interested in starting a blog. Many of these resources are free, and a lot of the how-to information you'll need to get started can be found on the web through simple Google searches.
The point we're trying to make here is that blogging has been a great way for the Trust Fund to reach out to a new audience, and we think some of our fellow nonprofits in the affordable housing industry would benefit from this new social medium.
If you have any thoughts, questions, or suggestions, feel free to leave them in the comments section below.
Please submit resume and salary requirements to the Director of Lending at 1000 S. Washington Ave., Suite 100, Lansing, MI 48910 no later than May 31, 2007. For more information, please call 517.372.6001.
We've written about our work with the Ruth Ellis Center in Detroit numerous times, but it's still nice to see them featured on other websites.
From "Our Michigan":
Grace McClelland, Executive Director of the Ruth Ellis Center, says we are in the midst of an epidemic of LGBT homelessness. "The estimated number of homeless youth not receiving shelter services in Detroit on any given day ranges from 1,600 to 2,000. Of those, 640-800 homeless LGBT youth are on the streets of Detroit every day, according to a recent report by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, titled "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Youth: An Epidemic of Homelessness."
The Ruth Ellis Center, created in 1999, provides short-term and long-term residential safe space and support services for runaway, homeless and at-risk LGBTQ youth in Detroit and southeastern Michigan. It is one of only four agencies in the nation that specifically focus on the needs of LGBT youth and it is the largest youth drop-in center in the country, straight, gay or otherwise, says McClelland.
If you get a chance, be sure to check out the entire post.
The Trust Fund has been a proud supporter of the Ruth Ellis Center since 2002. You can learn more about Ruth Ellis Center by visiting the organization's website, and reading this article from "Between the Lines." Also, for a little background on Ruth Ellis, the woman, take a look at this Wikipedia page.
Michigan's leaders have been moaning so long and so loudly about the lack of opportunities here that our fresh, young grads have come to believe they have no future here, says the director of MSU's Collegiate Employment Research Institute.
That's where the same old woe-is-me hand-wringing has gotten us.
How about a completely different response for a change, Bay City?
Finally! It's nice to see a little optimism from the pages of a Michigan newspaper for a change of pace...
We all know this is a great place to live. It's pretty, it's clean, it's safe. Affordable houses. Good schools. Friendly people.
The question too often heard hereabouts is, why would they come here?
Rather, why wouldn't they?
That's the attitude, and the message, we all need to project.
Bay City - the entire Tri-Cities - needs you. We want you.
Most of all, we will help you get started.
If that sounds just too darned radical, we always could embrace the alternative.
Do nothing, roll over and die.
Listen, we can do this.
Thousands of graduates are about to leave their colleges, looking for opportunities.
They ought to find them here. Or, at least, see a place where the people - the very culture of the place - could make things happen for them.
Here, in Bay City.
What say we go grab us some grads?
We're with the Bay City Times... enough of the doom and gloom! We've wasted enough ink giving graduates reasons to move out of the state.
Remember, this all goes back to what we've been harping on about the Living in Michigan campaign:
If Michigan's economy is to experience true transformation, there must be a connection between the creation of jobs and the availability of safe, high quality, affordably priced housing. And, for companies from across the country to considering re-locating to Michigan — or to encourage existing Michigan companies to stay — we must prove that we can maintain a state full of vibrant cities where their workers will want to live.
It's nice to see that at least some of the folks in Bay City have finally made this connection. Hopefully other cities will realize that this sort of can-do attitude is exactly what our state needs right now.
No one is going to come along and fix our economy for us. If we want to build vibrant communities that will attract the next generation of workers, then we need to start promoting innovative solutions like the Housing and Community Development Fund.
We must become the change we want to see in the world.
–Gandhi
Okay, so for folks who come to our Borrowers' & Burners' Luncheon every year, you might remember that we played Survivor a few years ago.
Well, it was one of our most popular games, so we decided to bring it back for another go-around.
We don't want to spill the beans about the various challenges within the game just yet, but suffice it to say, we think folks will have a lot of fun with this one... again.
See? That's the beauty of our spring luncheon. The weather is finally starting to get really nice, everyone's in a good mood... it's the perfect setting for a fun game like this, and a great opportunity to show your support for the Trust Fund!
Remember, if you haven't had a chance yet, you can register for the luncheon online. It's fast and easy.
We'll see you at the Kellogg Center on June 6...
if you think you can survive.
- Lou Gossett, Jr., Actor and Advocate
- Susan Kenny Stevens, author of Nonprofit
Lifecycles: Stage-based Wisdom for Nonprofit
Capacity
- Rip Rapson, President & CEO, The Kresge
Foundation
- Over 40 workshop in nine targeted tracks
- Exhibit Hall and Exhibitor Reception
- On-site Bookstore
To learn more about the event, be sure to check out the full conference brochure (PDF). It sounds like the folks over at the MNA have another great event in store for us. We'll see you there!
Okay, it's been a week, but we're pleased to announce that the photo series from the 2007 Michigan Conference on Affordable Housing is finally ready. You can check it out here.
Remember, if you would like a copy of any of these pictures, you can always send us an email request. Just let us know the name of the picture in the comments field.
Once again, the Trust Fund staff was proud to be a part of this year's historic conference, and we're already looking forward to next year. Remember to mark April 27-30, 2008 on your calendars. See you there!
A poll of undergraduates at three big state universities released over the weekend found most expected to leave the state after graduation - and Chicago was a popular destination.
That's not news to Michigan State University President Lou Anna Simon. Last Friday at the LSJ, Simon gave an unintentional preview of the weekend poll on the destination of students at MSU, the University of Michigan and Wayne State.
"I can't place a teacher in Michigan; there are no jobs," Simon noted in response to questions about a Michigan brain drain.
Simon sees a simple equation: No jobs, graduates leave - "and our experience is that Chicago is the hottest market for our kids right now."
This "brain drain" of young workers is exactly what we were talking about in this blog post from a couple weeks ago.
Over the past few months, we've seen numerous editorials from several prominent newspapers that said essentially the same thing. Here's another one from the Flint Journal, just as an example.
Michigan has heard enough doom and gloom. Instead of lamenting all the reasons these graduates are leaving our state, we need to start giving students a reason to stay in Michigan, live in Michigan, and work in Michigan. It's time to start promoting workable solutions like the Michigan Housing and Community Development Fund, which can help reverse this trend.
There's not going to be a magic bullet that will fix our state's economy, but the Living in Michigan campaign can be part of the solution:
If Michigan's economy is to experience true transformation, there must be a connection between the creation of jobs and the availability of safe, high quality, affordably priced housing. And, for companies from across the country to considering re-locating to Michigan — or to encourage existing Michigan companies to stay — we must prove that we can maintain a state full of vibrant cities where their workers will want to live.
There's still time to join our campaign, and show your support for the fund.
Remember, our Borrowers' & Burners' Luncheon is less than a month away, so don't forget to mark June 6 down on your calendars if you haven't done so already.
Formal invitations to the luncheon went out last Friday, but you can save yourself a stamp by submitting your registration online. The process is fast and easy, so feel free to check it out.
We've been dropping some cryptic clues about this year's game. We're still putting the finishing touches on the rules right now, but we'll let you know what it is within the next week or so, so be sure to keep an eye here on the blog...
First off, Michigan can still proudly say that it has the largest affordable housing conference in the country. We hosted more than 1,800 attendees over three days at the Lansing Center last week, so give yourself a pat on the back for another record-breaking year!
Also, the Lunch on the Lawn was "one of the biggest crowds since the 60s," according to Senator Mark Jansen. The Capitol Police estimated that there were over 1,500 people at last Wednesday's rally! Thanks to everyone who joined us for this historic event!
We'll have a full photo series from the conference a little later in the week, so stay tuned...
Our call for testimony on Thursday, May 10th has been cancelled. We have received a call from House Majority Leader Steve Tobocman's office stating the agenda for the 10th has been changed. There is no longer a need to show up. The meeting is still on the horizon and will likely take place in the next few weeks. You will receive word when we hear more.
However, as a reminder...
Things are heating up in the budget debate. The industry has rallied around its cause, and now we must support those who influence our legislators. Join us:
· Next Tuesday, May 8th, 2:30 p.m. at the Farnum Senate Office Building, (125 West Allegan St, Lansing MI, 48933, corner of Allegan and Capitol Ave.) - MSHDA will present before the Senate Commerce Committee.
There's still plenty of work to do. Thanks again to all the members of the coalition for your continued support!
There were a number of legislators at the rally, which is exactly what we were all hoping for.
Sen. Mark Jansen kicked things off with a rousing speech, and called on the legislature to fund the Michigan Housing and Community Development Fund. Senate Minority Leader Buzz Thomas was up next, and delivered another passionate speech. Rep. Bill Huizenga was the third speaker, and he reminded folks that the Living In Michigan campaign is also being supported by a number of business groups, including the Michigan Association of Home Builders and Michigan Association of REALTORS. To finish things off, House Majority Leader Steve Tobocman –– a veteran of the community economic development industry here in Michigan –– gave a stirring speech that got the crowd revved up one last time before heading back to the Lansing Center to finish up the final hours of the Housing Conference.
So, Advocacy Day was a big success... but our work doesn't end today. As we reported this morning, MSHDA and the Living in Michigan Coalition will be offering additional testimony before various legislative committees over the next week, so the campaign still needs your support. If you haven't signed up to join the coalition yet, you can still do so on LivingInMichigan.org. You can also contact your legislators and tell them that you support this fund. Encourage your family, friends, neighbors, and coworkers to do the same.
We'll have a full photo series from the 2007 Michigan Conference on Affordable Housing next week, but for the time being, here are a few more pictures from today's rally:
Rep. Steve Tobocman addresses the crowd
Just part of the 1000+ person crowd
Sen. Mark Jansen
Sen. Buzz Thomas
Things are moving along in the legislature. There are three things on the schedule that require our show of support.
The coalition for Michigan's Housing and Community Development Fund needs to show support as MSHDA presents ...
• This Thursday, May 3rd, 9 a.m. at the Anderson House Office Building (124 North Capitol Avenue, Lansing MI, 48933) - MSHDA will present before the House of Representatives Future Economy and Quality of Life Committee.
• Next Tuesday, May 8th, 2:30 p.m. at the Farnum Senate Office Building, (125 West Allegan St, Lansing MI, 48933, corner of Allegan and Capitol Ave) - MSHDA presents before the Senate Commerce Committee.
Two new Housing Trust Fund bills ...
• Next Thursday, May 10th, 9 a.m. at the Anderson House Office Building, (124 North Capitol Avenue, Lansing MI, 48933) - the coalition for Michigan's Housing and Community Development Fund needs to show support as the Future Economy and Quality of Life Committee introduces two new Housing Trust Fund Bills. We can support Senator Tobocman by filling out cards that show support and by testifying in favor of the bills. The coalition will organize a group that can speak to represent our goals and objectives.
Later in the morning, the Trust Fund got a pleasant surprise from Bill Merry, Executive Director of HomeStretch Housing. Mr. Merry came by our booth to present us with a lovely plaque to commemorate ten years of collaboration between the Trust Fund and HomeStretch Housing. The piece was created by a Northern Michigan artist, and will be proudly displayed in our Lansing office, following the conference.
Today's Awards Luncheon was also a big success. This year's prestigious Duvernay Award went to Ronald J. Calery, Executive Director of Chippewa-Luce-Mackinac Community Action Agency. Mr. Calery gave a very heartfelt (and at times, very funny) acceptance speech after receiving the award. For those who don't remember, we featured CLM-CAA's Senior Housing development in St. Ignace in our Community Quarterly newsletter last month.
Tomorrow is the big day. We're expecting over a thousand –– yes, over one thousand –– people to join us for Lunch on the Lawn of the State Capitol tomorrow morning. The forecast is looking pretty good at the moment: mostly sunny, 66°, and 0% chance of rain. Of course, this is Michigan we're talking about, so be prepared for anything.
We'll kick things off tomorrow morning with a Plenary Session at the Lansing Center, featuring House Majority Leader Steve Tobocman and State Sen. Mark Jansen. We're hoping to have a big crowd for the legislators' session, so make sure you can make it to the dining hall bright and early at 8AM to show your support.
The march to the Capitol will begin later in the morning at 11:30AM. Buses will be available for folks who need a ride, but since there will be a fairly large crowd, it might actually be faster to make the trip on foot. If you haven't had a chance yet, you might want to stop by the Living in Michigan booth before you leave, so you can make a sign to take to the rally.
And remember our chant for the day: HOUSING = JOBS!
We're looking forward to tomorrow's rally. See you there!
Ronald J. Calery, Executive Director of Chippewa-Luce-Mackinac Community Action Agency, and winner of the 2007 Duvernay Award
Trust Fund President/CEO Christine A. Coady, HomeStretch Housing Executive Director Bill Merry, Trust Fund Director of Lending Wendy Landes Hatem