Check out this week's spotlight feature: Friends of Belle Isle.

700,000...that is the number of individuals and families in metro Detroit area that are currently in need of food. Rising unemployment rates in our region are leaving an estimated one in six people facing hunger problems.

United Way for Southeastern Michigan has been working in partnership with foundation, community and business leadership to develop a solution for addressing this crisis with long-term, sustainable results.

Please join the us for a briefing on Wednesday, January 20, 2010, from
10:00-11:00 a.m. in the Cadillac Square Conference Room at United Way
Headquarters, located in the First National Building at 660 Woodward
Avenue in Detroit.

Oakland University student's class project lands a $979,400 federal grant for jobs program
By The Associated Press
November 30, 2009, 8:45AM

An Oakland University student's class project has landed $979,400 to help older laid-off workers find new jobs.

Bernice Kerner wrote a successful grant proposal to the U.S. Labor Department as part of a research project in a master of public administration class at the Rochester school. Hers was one of 10 successful grant applications among 130 made nationwide.

Kerner says people who are 55 and older often need to update their job skills to find new work.

The Southeast Michigan Works! Agencies Caucus will use the three-year grant to support 30 staff members who will help older workers find jobs.

Kerner is a management information system supervisor for the Macomb-St. Clair Workforce Development Board.


Resource:
http://www.mlive.com/business/detroit/index.ssf/2009/11/oakland_university_students_cl.html

Great news!

Detroit schools report financial progress
Marisa Schultz / The Detroit News
Nov. 12, 2009

Detroit -- Detroit Public Schools has whittled its deficit nearly $87 million and resolved most of the financial reporting issues that have plagued the district, according to an audit DPS released Wednesday.

The deficit had been estimated at $305.9 million if no action was taken to curb expenditures, but the recent Comprehensive Annual Financial Report and Annual Single Audit has put it at $219 million.

DPS submitted the report to the state Tuesday -- six days prior to the deadline, a change from DPS' history of late filings.

"We will not ever again repeat the actions and inaction that led to this budget being out of control, including seven consecutive years of deficit spending," said Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb. "And we know that our financial operations are directly linked to providing strong academic programs."

Gov. Jennifer Granholm appointed Bobb to oversee the district's finances in March. To combat the anticipated deficit, he closed 29 schools, announced layoffs of nearly 2,500 employees and conducted audits to weed out fraud and waste and boost accountability. Bobb agreed this fall to stay on for a second year.

"We fully acknowledge that significant work still needs to be done to completely eliminate the deficit over the next three to four years," said DPS Chief Financial Officer Ricardo Kisner.

Last year's audit found 84 areas the district needed to improve -- 53 involved financial reporting and 31 were for administering and compliance of federal programs. Bobb and his work group of financial experts have developed strategies that to date have resolved 76 percent of them.

The areas targeted include restructuring the finance division to recruit and retain competent staff; preparing comprehensive written policies for financial operations, establishing better oversight of bond money and other assets and leveraging new technologies for budget and forecasting systems.