by ·Comments Off on Reaching Motherly Intercession’s “Let’s Unlock the Future” Goal

By Mona Munroe-Younis

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We are excited to recognize the local nonprofit Motherly Intercession, and share how the UM-Flint community is and can work with this organization to create bright new futures for children with incarcerated parents. The organization’s vision is that the children will realize that their parent’s destiny does not have to be their own and chart successful career paths for themselves. 

A Passionate Grassroots Beginning

Shirley Cochran is the soft spoken and eloquent Founder and Executive Director of Motherly Intercession. Under her leadership, Motherly Intercession is hard at work to break the cycle of intergenerational incarceration. Mrs. Cochran essentially started the organization 15 years ago at Christmas time when she and her spouse wanted to support a family that could not be together during the holidays because the mother was incarcerated. She reached out to mothers who were held in the Genesee County Jail, and received 23 responses. As she went through the families’ applications, trying to determine who most needed her help, Mrs. Cochran could not pick one family over another. “In an effort to support all of the families, I solicited the assistance of five other community members, which quickly grew to 15 volunteers,” explained Cochran. 

What started as a hope to brighten the holiday of one family, soon grew into a volunteer-based network of support for children with incarcerated parents. This was the start of something bigger than any of the volunteers imagined, and they developed Motherly Intercession into a non-profit organization in 2001. After the holiday project, the group surveyed incarcerated mothers, and spoke with their children and alternate caregivers to understand their greatest unmet needs. They found that the most profound challenges the children faced were:

  • Family separation – children had not seen their mother since her incarceration 
  • Emotional trauma – separation anxiety with the sudden loss of a parent
  • Truancy – not attending school, dropping out or failing school
  • Detrimental behavior – shoplifting, rebellious attitudes or entering the juvenile system   

The volunteers quickly realized that the families’ needs far exceeded the capacity of the community to respond, because no agencies in existence at the time were dedicated to this particular vulnerable population. Mrs. Cochran shared that they were “troubled by the magnitude of the problems the young, innocent children were facing, so the group changed its focus to the children of incarcerated parents.” Over time, the growing organization worked with the UM-Ann Arbor School of Public Health to develop evidence-based programs, helping to ensure that Motherly Intercession’s programming achieved desired results for the well-being of the children and their families.

Forging a Mutually-Reinforcing Relationship

On November 1, 2014, Motherly Intercession proudly awarded Dr. Suzanne Selig, Department Chair of the UM-Flint Department of Public Health & Health Sciences, an Essential Piece Award for her contributions to the organization over many years. 

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Dr. Suzanne Selig (left) accepts the Essential Piece Award bestowed by Motherly Intercession Executive Director Shirley Cochran at the organization’s annual fundraiser dinner.

Shirley and Suzanne met in 2009 when Motherly Intercession looked to UM-Flint for interns. The organization, by then an official 501(c)3 nonprofit, needed “interns to fill critical Group Leader positions for a two-year research project [with the UM Prevention Research Center] that focused on developing a system of support for the incarcerated families of Genesee County.” According to Mrs. Cochran, “Suzanne willingly agreed to collaborate with us and provided two excellent young women to fill those positions.  The internship placements continued throughout the project from which our Strengthening Incarcerated Families program derived.” 

In turn, Motherly Intercession’s internship placements gave UM-Flint public health students coveted real-world experiences within peer-reviewed research projects and leadership potential. For example, Shirley credits Suzanne with placing then-intern Michelle Fairley with Motherly Intercession, ultimately leading to Ms. Fairley becoming the President of Motherly Intercession’s Executive Board of Directors. Shirley also shared that Suzanne’s relationship with the organization ran deeper as she supported Motherly Intercession through her personal involvement “by attending our Annual Dinners, and the children’s Reading And Counting to Success (RACS) after school tutorial program graduation ceremonies.”

For her long-standing and diverse contributions, Motherly Intercession recognizes Dr. Selig as an “Essential Piece” champion for children with incarcerated parents.

Each Day, Unlocking Children’s Futures

Now, in the Winter 2015 semester, a group of UM-Flint students in professor Tony McGill’s capstone Senior Seminar in Professional Communications (COM 426) class is working with Motherly Intercession to raise awareness about the organization’s latest fundraising campaign.

The students in this service-learning class will put their social media, written, and face-to-face communication skills to work and gain resume-building, real-world experience by helping the organization reach its goal of raising $14,000 in 30 days through the online crowdfunding campaign “Let’s Unlock the Future.” The funds will be used to purchase an urgently needed van.

Recently, Motherly Intercession was troubled to find an essential piece of its tried-and-true service delivery model out of commission and in need of replacement. The vast majority of families that Motherly Intercession serves are in poverty and do not have access to transportation. For that reason, Motherly Intercession requires its 15-passenger van to ensure that children from all over Genesee County consistently access the organization’s academic and other support services, as well as wrap-around services of complementary agencies (i.e. mental health assessments, arts enrichment, etc.).

In fall of 2014, the van was a victim of a hit-and-run accident. Then, on Devil’s Night, a mischief-maker smashed the windows of the van and other vehicles down the block (a first experience for Motherly Intercession). These damages, plus the fact that the van was already worn down and needing increasingly costly repairs, rendered the van in need of replacement.

Stay tuned for more news about this partnership as the semester progresses!

Get Involved

 Are you inspired by Motherly Intercession’s mission and interested in supporting its work? Consider these ways of getting connected and making a difference:

  • Join the COM 426 students in spreading the word about the Indiegogo campaign through your networks. Send emails, call your friends, and share the campaign through social media.
  • Volunteer to provide academic tutoring for the Reading and Counting to Success after-school program.
  • Call the organization at (810) 424-9909 to explore other ways to get involved through service-learning, research, or other forms of volunteer service. 

Check out this video to see Motherly Intercession in action and learn more about the transformation it brings to the Greater Flint community!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TQkc2h5rtg[/youtube]

by ·Comments Off on Cultural Humility in Community Engagement

[youtube]http://youtu.be/_Mbu8bvKb_U?list=PL879555ABCCED8B50[/youtube]

Today, University Outreach wants to share a little bit about the conversations higher education institutions across Michigan are having through Michigan Campus Compact (MiCC) about diversity, inclusion and the concept of “cultural humility”. These insights are important for strengthening the community engagement work we do at UM-Flint through class projects, research, internships, and other ways our campus ties academic learning with the community.

MiCC is an organization housed within the Michigan Nonprofit Association, and its mission is to promote the education and commitment of Michigan college students to be civically engaged citizens through creating and expanding academic, co-curricular and campus-wide opportunities for community service, service-learning and civic engagement. UM-Flint is represented on MiCC’s statewide Network Committee, which recently engaged in a strategic planning process and established five new priority areas for the organization. One way that MiCC is addressing its new priorities is by embedding professional development on the topics into twice-annual state-wide gatherings of university staff, directors and faculty who support universities’ missions with regard to civic engagement.

As we shared with campus last semester, the Network Committee chose Diversity and Inclusion as one of five priority areas. This priority was selected because embracing diversity and inclusion is vital for ensuring the success of higher education’s community engagement – both in terms of how we engage with the community (e.g. understanding and breaking down barriers of race, educational level, income, gender, etc.) and the outcomes we generate (e.g. working together collaboratively and respectfully in order to maximize our collective impact). It is also crucial for preparing students to be effective future professionals, as they will inevitably need to be skilled in working in and with diverse communities to succeed in their professional careers.

MiCC’s last gathering, in November 2014, featured a riveting presentation/dialogue on the concept of cultural humility, presented by Shari Robinson-Lynk, Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and Assistant Director for Engaged Learning at the UM Ginsberg Center. Shari is also part of the Network Committee and co-leading MiCC’s Diversity and Inclusion Working Group.

Shari shared with us that the concept of “cultural humility” was coined by civically engaged scholars Jann Murray-Garcia (University of California, San Franscisco) and Melanie Tervalon (Children’s Hospital Oakland) from the field of Nursing in the late 1990s to address the significant health disparities that existed due to cultural misunderstandings between doctors/nurses/health care administrators and clients.

The tenants of cultural humility are: lifelong learning and critical self-reflection; recognizing and challenging power imbalances; respectful partnerships; and institutional accountability. This approach challenges individuals and institutions to ensure that the relationships they engage in are truly healthy, informed by deep thinking and understanding of diversity and inclusion that goes beyond the incomplete ideas of multiculturalism and cultural competency. This way of thinking about diversity and inclusion is not only important in the medical field, but also for how we engage within our campus and with members of the community.

It is important to recognize that “cultural humility” addresses a number of critiques of “cultural competency,” which was coined by Cross, et al. in the late 1980s. For example, cultural competency implies a limiting belief that a person is capable of reaching some undefined end point in their learning and achieving “competence” when it comes to recognizing and addressing one’s own prejudices and understanding how to work respectfully with people of different backgrounds. Cultural humility asserts that such learning must be life-long because we don’t know what we don’t know and we must commit to continual improvement and accountability in our relationships.   

Cultural humility is a holistic concept that has been overlooked for far too long. As UM-Flint and other higher education institutions in Michigan strengthen their practices of diversity and inclusion, we are challenged with adding “cultural humility” to the way we talk, think, operate, and engage.

Cross, T., Bazron, B., Dennis, K., & Isaacs, M., (1989). Towards A Culturally Competent System of Care, Volume I. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Child Development Center, CASSP Technical Assistance Center.

Tervalon, M. & Murray-Garcia, J. (1998). “Cultural humility versus cultural competence: a Critical discussion in defining physician training outcomes in multicultural education.” Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 9 (2) 117-125.

by ·Comments Off on UM-Flint Students team up with the Center for Hope

by Mary Black

UM-Flint FYE students team up with the Center for Hope to help raise awareness about Flint’s homeless population

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During the fall 2014 semester, students in two UM-Flint First Year Experience (FYE) classes, “I am UM-Flint” and “So U Want to Change the World” partnered with Jon Manse, director of community services for Catholic Charities of Shiawassee & Genesee Counties to help raise awareness about Flint’s homeless population and develop social media fundraising campaign projects.

Students in the “I am UM-Flint” class worked with local community members on a PhotoVoice project to help raise awareness about the homeless population in Flint. Students worked closely with community members that utilized the services provided by the Catholic Charities’ Center for Hope in downtown Flint throughout the semester.

Community members were provided disposable cameras and asked to take photos of their daily lives in Flint over a one week period.   At the end of the week, each community photographer chose one photograph that best told his or her story about living in Flint. Students then worked with the photographers to record and share their stories about living and working in Flint and what the Center for Hope meant to them.

Using the photos and stories collected through the “I am UM-Flint” PhotoVoice project, students in the “So U Want to Change the World” class worked in groups to develop a social media campaign with the goal of raising one million dollars for the Center for Hope. Each student group created an unique social media campaign strategy around the “Million Donors, Million Dollars” campaign theme that asked people to give one dollar each and encourage their friends, family and community members to do the same.

The projects culminated with a community event held at the Center for Hope. Students in the “I am UM-Flint” class introduced their community photographers and shared their photographs and stories with the audience. Afterward, students in the “So U Want to Change the World” class presented their “Million Donor, Million Dollar” fundraising projects.

These projects illustrate how service-learning and civic engagement help UM-Flint students engage with the Flint community in new and exciting ways, while contributing to the great work of community leaders and organizations like Jon Manse and Catholic Charities of Shiawassee & Genesee Counties.

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by ·Comments Off on Alternative Spring Break Students Volunteer with Carriage Town Ministries

By Alicia Gillman

When you think of a homeless shelter, what comes to mind? Do you envision a rundown facility full of people wearing rags for clothing? Do you think of unmotivated people with poor hygiene habits? Do you imagine a dreary room full of cheap bunk beds? If you did, you’re not alone. A year ago, I had some of these same thoughts as I was told that Carriage Town Ministries, a homeless shelter in downtown Flint, would be housing the immersion group for Alternative Spring Break (ASB).

Untitled5The 2014 Alternative Spring Break Board, now known as the Alternative Breaks Committee, wanted to pilot a STAY-cation program that would provide a “traditional ASB experience” for ten UM-Flint students. For those that are not familiar with the “traditional” ASB model, most schools organize service trips that allow them to travel to a different city or country. Given the tremendous need in the Flint community, the Alternative Breaks Committee keeps our ASB trips local. While keeping it local allows students to become familiar with the Flint community by exposing them to the needs right in our own backyard, it does change the student experience during ASB. With limited funds and lodging options, the Alternative Breaks Committee was struggling to find suitable housing for the STAY-cation participants until Carriage Town Ministries generously allowed the group to stay in one of their transition homes for the week. As one of the team leaders, let me be the first to tell you I was skeptical of this arrangement. Was it going to be safe? What about the cleanliness of the transition home?

Untitled2When the week of ASB arrived, I was pleasantly surprised. The transition home, one of several owned and operated through Carriage Town Ministries, was a beautifully remodeled Victorian home just a few block from campus. Our four day stay there was wonderful and humbling. Our group had the pleasure of staying with two other residents who were transitioning from homelessness to living on their own. They were friendly, hard-working (& clean) people who just needed a little extra support getting back on their feet.

During our ASB, the STAY-cation service project was also at Carriage Town Ministries. In fact, our project was conveniently located next door to our transition home. With the help of a $5,000 grant from Southwest Airlines, ASB was able to purchase enough drywall for the entire transition home and we spent the entire week hanging it. Carriage Town Ministries is a non-profit organization that serves the Flint community year round, providing meals, shelter, clothing, medical care and more to the homeless and hungry. As a result work on the transition homes is dependent solely on donations of time, money, and supplies. Though we were not able to drywall the entire house during our short time at Carriage Town Ministries, we have since gone back to continue our project.

Untitled3It is amazing to see where we started and the condition of the house now. We started with studs and cracked plaster ceilings. Now, the house is slowly coming together as our group, the staff at Carriage Town Ministries, and other outside organizations continue to work on it. For ASB 2015, we will continue our work on the transition house and plan to spend the week painting.

Alternative Spring Break is advertised as “The week that lasts a lifetime” but I didn’t know how true this statement was until I stayed and served at Carriage Town Ministries this past March. I am thankful for all that I have. The friends, the family, the education, the experiences, and the opportunities that I have are truly wonderful. During ASB I realized how important it is to be open-minded, to be hardworking, to be humble, and most importantly, to be kind. When I look back on this experience, I am reminded that while my service may seem like only a small contribution, collectively, we can make an impact and change lives for the better.

For more information about Alternative Break Programs, please visit: www.umflint.edu/outreach/alternative-breaks

by ·Comments Off on See a Community Need? Fill it!

by Nic Custer

There are so many social and environmental problems affecting the world we live in today that sometimes things look pretty bleak. But instead of letting this be a stumbling block, a different kind of entrepreneur has been able to address these needs as opportunities to positively affect the community with radical, new solutions.

These social entrepreneurs are in business to provide a service or product that directly responds to a pressing social need. This can include providing a sense of self-sufficiency to at-risk individuals through offering job skills and work experience, bringing inexpensive water filtration and irrigation products to the developing world, or composting local food waste to create nutrient-rich soil and reduce the impact on landfills. Many social entrepreneurs follow a triple bottom line business model, where not only are profits important to the company but so is its environmental and social impact.

University Outreach’s Innovation Incubator, 432 N. Saginaw St., suite 207, is a co-working and business incubator space that works with community and students to establish start-up businesses and non-profits. Many of these businesses address a need in the larger community through social entrepreneurship.

For example, Charma’s Organic Kitchen is a business that sells locally-grown dehydrated kale and collard green chips. This business is tackling the issue of access to affordable, healthy snacks in “food deserts” or places where availability of healthy, fresh food is limited.

UM-Flint student business, Moses Music Productions, is specifically trying to address a large gender gap in the professional music industry. Part of owner Aleah Moses’ mission is to inspire girls, who are underrepresented in the music industry, to become producers and songwriters.

Stephan McBride is planning his business, Gamerz Den, to be a video gaming and social space. Another UM-Flint student, McBride would like his business to specifically cater towards creating a safe space for less social and autistic gamers, who may feel more comfortable socializing with other people around video games.

Lastly, Nick Looney, a UM-Flint student, is developing his own social entrepreneurship venture which will work with Habitat for Humanity to build and sell tiny houses, which are roughly defined as less than 200 square-foot houses. He plans to hire homeless and at-risk individuals to build the houses and will contribute a portion of his company’s equity to the local Habitat for Humanity to help fund construction of housing for people in need.

There are many ways someone can engage in social entrepreneurship. The Innovation Incubator provides start-ups with business plan development, workspace, referrals, mentoring and workshops including tax accounting, grant writing, business pitches, intellectual property and the triple bottom line business model. All services and programming are available at no charge.

Do you have a business idea that can benefit your community or environment? Fill out the Bright Idea form on the Innovation Incubator’s website at www.go.umflint.edu/in and start your own social venture today!

by ·Comments Off on Our Home Transitional Wins Start-Up Business Award

563531_391180014313509_1364912815_nby Nic Custer

Our Home Transitional, a housing and social services business for female veterans located in the University of Michigan-Flint’s Innovation Incubator, has won the 2013 eTEAM Spark Award.

The eTEAM Spark award recognizes the “determination, vision, identified market, growth potential, and setting and achieving business goals” by a newer business.

To qualify for a eTEAM Spark award a business must be less than two years old and have partnered with an eTEAM member organization among other criteria.

The award, which includes a plaque, was given to ten start-up businesses around Flint and Genesee County. These included Consolidated Barber Shop, 107 W. Kearsley St., Healthy Dollar, 138 W. First St., New Thought Movement of Davison, and Our Home Transitional, 432 N. Saginaw St., Suite 207.

Joyce Hitchye, OHT volunteer grant writer, accepted the award on behalf of Executive Director Carrie Miller.

She said, “I have just recently met Carrie through our BEST Project Leadership Program, but her energy and her honest vigor to see the single female homeless veteran housing come to fruition has greatly inspired me.”

Our Home Transitional was presented the award Feb. 28 at the Genesee Regional Chamber of Commerce 2013 Jumpstart Entrepreneur Conference.

The conference was held at the Holiday Inn Gateway Center in Grand Blanc. Dave Zilko, vice chairman of Garden Fresh Gourmet, was the keynote speaker. There were two breakout sessions where attendees could choose between subjects like tax planning, government contracts vs. grants, 21st century marketing and legal structures.

Sherry Hayden, of the Innovation Incubator, originally nominated the start-up business for the award.

by ·Comments Off on UM-Flint Student Business Working With Female Veterans

by Nic Custer

Carrie Miller, founder and executive director of Our Home Transitional, didn’t have answers for the “20 questions about your business” online form when she applied for a space in UM-Flint’s Innovation Incubator.

But Miller, a senior studying psychology, and her business have come a long way in the past year.

Her business offers female veterans housing assistance and connects them with social services like job training. She returned home to Flint in 2010 with a strong desire to work with struggling women and children.

After sending in her 20 questions to the Incubator, she met with Danny Bledsoe, a military veteran and business coach who was working with [IN]. He suggested she serve returning veterans as they transition to civilian life. She agreed and Bledsoe has since joined Our Home Transitional’s five-person board of directors. The board is made up of UM-Flint students and faculty.

Our Home Transitional is in the process of purchasing their first home for veterans. It is a 3-storey, ten-bedroom house, north of campus, which is owned by another nonprofit. Besides cosmetic repairs, the house is ready to be lived in. Miller needs to raise $20,000, which is more than 35% of the house’s cost in order to qualify for a Veterans Administration grant, which could cover the other 65% of the price. Our Home is working directly with the Detroit Veterans Administration on the project.

In addition to a GoFundMe page, Our Home has a couple of grant writers applying to both the C.S. Mott and Ruth Mott foundations in order to raise the $20,000 down payment. One of the grant writers is a female veteran.

The house will be a large space to fill so the business is also looking for donations of furniture in addition to money. In the mean time, Our Home could also use a donated storage unit for the furniture it already has.

The Genesee County Land Bank has told Our Home Transitional that they would be willing to donate future homes that aren’t being planned for rehabilitation.

Miller is appreciative of the support she gets from the Incubator. She said that the workshops, business coaching and office space in NBK 206 have been huge helps.

“The Incubator’s been a huge support system for me. We have board meetings in the co-working space every month,” she said.

Miller has had family members serve in the armed forces including her sister who in Desert Storm. She said Michigan is 53rd in providing benefits to veterans, dead last behind other states and U.S. territories. This is because most veterans who returned to the state used to just get a job at GM, now without any substantial jobs, many more people are applying for their benefits including current service men and women but also Vietnam and even Korean war vets. Miller said the current backlog of 375,000 applications takes two years to process.

The business is very rewarding for Miller who has two daughters, 6 and 16 years old. She said her teenager is very proud of her and has even written reports for school about what her mom is doing.

Visit www.ourhometransitional.org or http://www.facebook.com/OurHomeTransitional for more information.

by ·Comments Off on UM-Flint Lecturer Tony McGill Receives 2012 Community Leadership Award

Communication Department Chair Heather Seipke (right) stands with Professor Tony McGill as he accepts the award.

Congratulations to Professor Tony McGill, Lecturer IV in the Communication and Visual Arts Department, for being the recipient of the 2012 Community Leadership Award presented by Richfield Public School Academy (RPSA) & the City of Flint as a result of his service-learning classes!

For many years, Tony has challenged his senior-level communications students to apply what they have learned in their Professional Communication concentration to real-world service-learning projects with 3-4 community partners each semester. In each of the Fall 2011 and Winter 2012 semesters, a team of students in his capstone Senior Seminar in Professional Communications (COM 426) class mentored 7th and 8th graders in the RPSA Girls and Guys Leadership Club, building their skills and confidence.

Kathryn Hoover, the RPSA School Counselor, developed the nationally recognized mentoring program which involves peer mentoring, after-school youth clubs, and positive reward structures. In 2011, she asked University Outreach about the possibility of working with UM-Flint students in order to help her students see college as a possibility for their futures. Tony’s class was the perfect fit! Kathryn has been an energetic community partner and provided guidance to Tony’s students throughout the COM 426 service-learning project.

According to Kathryn, “Dr. McGill’s students represented the University of Michigan-Flint with the utmost of professionalism and integrity. They taught the material by also sharing personal experiences about themselves to help inspire our students. One of our students in the program has struggled greatly in the past and has even felt like life is not worth living. This student grew by leaps and bounds and said that their outlook on life completely changed and now looks forward to what the future holds. This is some powerful stuff! This program also enhanced the leadership ability of the college students.”

Upon receiving the 2012 Community Leadership Award, Tony shared this reflection: “It always surprises me when a student or alumnus tells me that the greatest learning experience they had in their undergraduate or graduate program was when I required them to do a service learning project. It does not surprise me that they found the experience so rewarding, what surprises me is the frequency with which I hear this. After well over 20 years of doing these projects I have come to believe that service learning projects are an integral part of higher education and an important responsibility of  each University of Michigan-Flint student, faculty, and staff employee.”

University Outreach thanks Kathryn Hoover and Mayor Dayne Walling for bestowing this award on Professor McGill, and appreciates the students who made such a difference at RPSA (Kevin Galloway, Ryan Garland, Dan Lynch, James Murphy, Randy Owens, and Julius Taylor).

by ·Comments Off on UM-Flint’s Alternative Spring Break Program Continues to Expand

The University of Michigan-Flint’s Alternative Spring Break (ASB) program enables students to learn about issues such as homelessness, poverty, hunger, violence, environmental issues, and complex social and cultural issues. Students listen to and understand community needs and continue a commitment to community service and social change. 2012 was the most successful year since the program began in terms of numbers of participants, sites, volunteer hours, etc. This year, instead of travelling to other areas to volunteer, the ASB board decided to stay back and serve with the Flint community. The focus areas included: education, homelessness and hunger, urban gardening, urban renewal, veterans, and underprivileged children.

At the sites this year, the participants impacted the community in various ways. Regardless if it was reading to elementary students in an inner city school, helping renovate a home for homeless veterans, or working in urban gardens, the participants made an enormous impact. Through the different sites, the participants were able to see different parts of the Flint community that needed help and many of them decided to continue their volunteer efforts after the week was over.

 

This year, our students donated their time at Alternative Veterans Solutions, Boys & Girls Club of Greater Flint, Carriage Town Ministries, Durant Tuuri Mott Elementary School, Flint River Farm, Food Bank of Eastern Michigan, Genesee County Habitat for Humanity, Salem Housing and Whaley Children’s Center. We had 69 individual students volunteer throughout the week of spring break, for a total of 211 service days. At 5 hours per day, the students donated approximately 1,055 hours throughout the week. According to the Independent Sector, these hours can be billed at $21.79 per hour for $22,988.45 worth of service. The University of Michigan-Flint students once again made colossal impact on the Flint community and beyond!

The one site that stuck out this year was the Alternative Veterans Solutions. The “Alternative Veterans Solutions was founded in 2010 on the belief that all veterans deserve to be honored and supported upon their return home from active duty. Our focus is to assist homeless veterans and those at-risk of becoming homeless by providing basic amenities and helping to connect those individuals with the training, education, counseling and rehabilitative services that they need. Alternative Veterans Solutions partners with federal, state and local agencies to offer a full range of services to area veterans. Together, we are working to break the cycle of homelessness while eliminating the barriers that veterans face in re-adjusting to civilian life.” For more information, please click on the following link: Alternative Veterans Solutions

Tredel Kennedy and Tina Harris are from the Flint area have devoted their lives to Alternative Veterans Solutions. They purchased a house on the Northwest side of Flint, and are currently re-modeling this house for homeless veterans. They have come to a standstill due to funding which is delaying the house from opening. The house is a 5 level house that can house up to 7 homeless veterans at a time. This project will help veterans get back on their feet, by offering them a stable place to live up to 18 months to get the ball rolling for them. Services will include building resumes, offering them school alternatives, finding jobs and offering them benefits that they might not concentrate on because of not having a home to live in.

We were able to work with Tredel and Tina to make their dream come true! Brandon Boone (ASB student and a student veteran here at the University of Michigan-Flint) made this project his personal mission to make this program work. Brandon and Bradley (Brandon’s brother) went to Michigan Works/Career Alliance work force development on day two of ASB and they spoke on a panel and stressed the issue of the transitional process for veterans coming home from active duty. This issue was seriously considered and they are working to acquiring 2,000 square feet of space from the Habitat of Humanity for a veterans center. They eventually hope to open a Veterans center open to the veterans and their families. The Student Veterans of America-Flint Chapter (SVA) is helping finish the project in hopes of meeting their deadline of opening in June. SVA will be conducting a house warming party, where community members can bring house items to the home from furniture, cloths and dishes. Also, they will be holding a spring clean-up, where Greek society members will be partnering with SVA in the landscaping of the house before the house opens to the 7 homeless veterans.