How much federal funding did your school district receive?

In President Obama’s 2011 budget, he allocated:

• $1.8 billion for Michigan to develop better teachers and classrooms to meet 21st century challenges in an effort to foster educational excellence, improve student achievement and reward successful outcomes to prepare our nationa’s children for global competitiveness.
• $900 million nationwide for School Turnaround Grants to help provide the resources needed to turn around the lowest performing schools.
• $1.4 billion to enhance the President’s Race to the Top challenge$300 million in new grants to develop and implement curricula and improve teaching and learning in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

How much federal funding did your school district receive?

In addition, Congress has yet to authorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and yet, the President wants to increase the number of effective teachers and principals, support student achievement, invest in the next generation of scientists and engineers and others modernize the current education system in the US. I realize that every school district is faced with a number of difficult decisions in reducing their budgets, cuttings services and programs, laying off teachers and shuttering schools. I also know the importance of collectively working to bring more federal dollars to off set the lost revenue from the state and local community.

It is time we shift our focus and turn it onto our children. We have a lot of work to do in 2011.

A Second Stimulus

President Barack Obama is moving forward and pushing an aggressive agenda that includes climate change, immigration reform, financial reform and health care reform among others. This week, the President continues to push his health care agenda and Republicans continue to push back, saying, "Now is not the time." There are some in Congress that are also saying, "Now is not the time to talk about a second stimulus bill." However, there is some discussion about introducing a second stimulus bill to help bolster the economy. Such a bill would not come to pass until after Labor Day, however, if the economy does not improve, some further help will be needed and something even more significant than the first one.

Michigan...It is time to seize the opportunity

Although it is officially summer, there is a big chill across Michigan. With the auto industry firmly in control by the federal government, Congress continues to focus on the economy, the environment and on everyone’s health. Just before the July 4th recess, the U.S. House of Representatives passed The American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) Act (HR 2454), a major piece of legislation affecting climate change, energy and the environment. While Detroit and the entire state of Michigan continue to struggle, we must find opportunity amidst crisis and take advantage of every and any opportunity to restore stability to Michigan’s economy. There is no doubt that our struggling automakers and suppliers will receive additional help once ACES passes Congress. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) also will provide much needed assistance for Detroit and for Michigan.

Restoring stability and setting a path to economic diversity requires leadership to make a bad situation good. The climate change legislation contains a number of provisions that can bolster our state’s position, bring our auto industry into the next generation and help diversify our state’s economy so we are no longer a one-industry town. This includes:

Retooling existing and recently abandoned plants to meet new fuel and energy standards.

Retrofit plants to accommodate electronic vehicle production.

Securing funding for Detroit’s efforts to create light rail and mass transit in the region and become a model for other communities by adapting the latest and cleanest transportation technology.

Direct engineers leaving the auto industry to create new companies to support the development and commercialization of clean energy technology.

Lobby the federal government to have Detroit house one of eight regional Clean Energy Innovation Centers.

Celebrate our collaborative efforts to incubate new companies in partnership with our universities through the University Research Corridor and Next Energy and identify federal resources to expand Next Energy and Tech Town.

This bill also contains a number of provisions vital to the growth of green vehicles and a number of opportunities to keep the engineers, designers and line workers recently laid off, from the auto industry, employed in Michigan. By no means is this a perfect piece of legislation, and it does not necessarily favor Detroit over other regions. However, it is a blueprint by which Detroit and this state must change if we are to weather this storm and restore stability to our economy and to our people. We as a state must work together to leverage our assets and seize the opportunities provided to us in this legislation. By taking advantage of the tools given to us, we can take advantage of the incentives and financial opportunities to retool our economy and emerge much stronger than we have ever been.

Community Colleges Must Turn to Washington for Financial Aid

President Barack Obama is expected to announce today an initiative to invest $12 billion in community colleges nationwide over the next 10 years. According to today's Detroit News, Components of the initiative to be announced today will include $9 billion to fuel community college challenge grants, $2.5 billion for construction and renovation of buildings and $500 million for online curriculum development. The initiative will get under way within the first six months of 2010. However, the President has said, "Our community colleges can serve as 21st century job training centers, working with local businesses to help workers learn the skills they need to fill the jobs of the future. We can reallocate funding to help them modernize their facilities, increase the quality of online courses and ultimately meet the goal of graduating 5 million more Americans from community colleges by 2020." This is welcomed news as community colleges will rely less and less on the state to provide funding. In fact, more community colleges are finding more funding available at a federal level.

In May, the president outlined measures to make it easier for the unemployed to pursue a degree or training and get help paying for it. Through the White House Automotive Task Force, funding also is being made available to communities negatively affected by the auto industry.

According to the Detroit News, the Labor Department is providing job search services to approximately 15,000 auto workers affected by permanent plant closures through emergency grants. It also has boosted Small Business Administration loans to auto, boat and recreational vehicle dealers.

Today's announcement by the President provides great impetus for community colleges to aggressively seek federal funding for a variety of programs and projects that will help the President achieve his goals of increasing community college enrollment. For example, many community colleges throughout the country have received federal funds for nursing programs, workforce and job training related programs, homeland security and other opportunities.

In fact, here is just a sampling of federal funding individual community colleges will receive in FY 2010:

$200,000 to the Riverside Community College for construction of the School of Nursing in Riverside, California; $250,000 for Metropolitan Community College of Omaha, Nebraska, for construction of a Health Careers Center; $72,750 to the Southwest Tennessee Community College for expansion of a biotechnology building in Memphis, Tennessee; $97,000 to Hudson County Community College for construction of Union City Campus in Union City, New Jersey; $397,000 to Southeast Community College (Cumberland, KY) for facilities and equipment for an allied health training facility. (This is a continuation of the FY 2004 project that will be used to renovate 69,900 gross sq. ft. of an existing building to create the Southeast Education Alliance Center); $2,000,000 to Waubonsee Community College (Sugar Grove, IL) for science building at Waubonsee Community College in Illinois; $317,000 to Clatsop Community College, Astoria, OR, for equipment and technology for its Technology for Student Access Initiative; $250,000 to the Riverside Community College in Riverside, California for facilities construction and renovation improvements; $250,000 to the Montgomery County Community College for facilities construction of the Small Business Development & University Transfer Center in Pottstown, PA; $200,000 to Polk Community College, Lakeland, FL for a corporate college program; $99,000 to South Seattle Community College, WA for apprenticeship training programs; $199,000 to Central Maine Community College, for education programs, student recruitment and marketing activities; $50,000 to Dutchess Community College, Poughkeepsie, NY, for the upgrade of the college computer network; $317,000 to the Community College of Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, for it's Closing the Gap college preparation and retention initiative for minority students, including student scholarships; $96,000 to Washington State Community College in Marietta, Ohio for construction of a conference center; $248,000 to Western Nevada Community College to create an Occupational Therapy Assistant program; $496,000 to Iowa Lakes Community College to create a Wind Energy and Turbine Technology education program; $422,000 to Cuyahoga Community College, Cleveland, OH for equipment and programming for the Centers for Nursing and Health Careers; and, $397,000 to West Shore Community College (Scottsville, MI) for workforce investment and training for unemployed individuals'.

The President also has said that, "Without community colleges, millions of people would not be able to access the education and skills they need to further education or succeed in the workplace." And last month, Rahm Emanuel, White House Chief of Staff said, "What's been forgotten is how important our community college system is to the economy. As a competitive advantage for the United States, the community college system is essential, and the administration is intent on boosting funding for growth of the system.”

There are a number of community colleges throughout the country, including here in Michigan, that have recognized a renewed focus on community colleges by Congress and the President. In fact, a number of them have retained lobbyists to advocate on their behalf for individual earmarks and to help direct federal public policies that will affect their college, their research and the programs they provide the students and community. In Michigan, specifically, the following community colleges have retained outside lobbying counsel:

Schoolcraft College Kalamazoo Valley Community College Lansing Community College Mott Community College Oakland Community College Wayne County Community College

The following Michigan (public) universities and colleges have some sort of federal advocacy effort now under way and already retained an outside lobbying firm:

Eastern Michigan University Ferris State Grand Valley State Lake Superior State Michigan Technological University (uses in house counsel) Northern Michigan University Oakland University Central Michigan University

The University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne State University each have a Washington office and from time to time bring in outside legislative and regulatory counsel, while Saginaw Valley State and Western Michigan University have not retained outside advocates. The following private universities have retained outside lobbying counsel:

University of Detroit Ave Marie Lawrence Tech Michigan Jewish Institute Northwood University Walsh College

In addition to federal funding which is available to community college, Congress is working on a number of other issues that will affect your work. For example, Congress is still debating the Higher Education Authorization Bill with important provisions that will help or hurt students in capturing financial aid. The Labor-HHS bill actually increases funding for the NIH and NSF.

With the state of Michigan scaling back their budget, particularly the funding for community colleges, it is important that community colleges turn to the federal government for financial support, particularly at such a crucial time in Michigan's history. Our community colleges can provide Michigan with the economic lifeline for retraining and retooling an aging workforce and help us move forward into the next economy.

Funding for Community Development Corporations Exists, Even In Today's Economy

In this week's Crain's Detroit Business, reporter Nancy Kaffer writes about Detroit-based community development corporations rethinking their business model as funding becomes scarce to support their programs. (See Credit crunch forces CDCs to scale back, rethink). While it is true, in today’s economy, it is becoming more-and-more competitive to raise money. However, funding is available through various programs such as: Acquisition of real property; relocation and demolition; construction of public facilities and improvements (such as water and sewer facilities, streets, school conversions); business assistance; energy conservation and renewable energy projects; structural rehabilitation's; planning; transit oriented developments; homeless assistance grants; housing counseling; tenant based rental assistance; Self Help Home ownership Opportunity; Empowerment Zones/Enterprise Communities Program; Neighborhood Reinvestment programs; Mortgage Foreclosure Mitigation Assistance; and, others through the Departments of: Commerce; Education; HUD; the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation; Community Development Block Grants; The University Community Fund; Choice Neighborhoods Initiatives; Sustainable Communities Initiatives; Section 108 Loan Programs; Economic Development Initiative Grants; Compassion Capital Fund Grants; Office of Community Services funds; Energy; Labor; Health & Human Services; National Endowment for the Arts; and, other agencies and departments, depending on what you want funded.

In fact, the following community development organizations have turned to Washington to seek federal funds and have retained a lobbyist in Washington:

Reid Community Development Corporation Calhoun County Community Development (Michigan) Southside Community Development South Carolina Association of Community Development Jefferson Square Community Development Norwich Community Development New Man Community Development (Maryland) Paramount Community Development Town of Riverhead Community Development

HUD also is refocused on rebuilding and reinvesting in urban communities. President Obama has also made urban investment a priority, even creating an office in The White House, to focus on helping urban communities. Funding and support may also be available through The White House Auto Taskforce on Distressed Communities.

I cannot think of a better city than Detroit and its surrounding communities, for The White House and Congress to focus on. Detroit has been one of the hardest hit cities by the economic tsunami that rocked our world. And Detroit CDCs are the perfect organization, with an established track record of success and a dedicated group of leaders to help direct money towards the city of Detroit.

Detroit is a city of limited resources. The City government itself is focused on a number of priorities that may not necessarily be "neighborhood" priorities. Therefore, it is important that Detroit-area CDC's work collaboratively to secure additional funds for Detroit neighborhoods. Not necessarily working against the city for federal funding, but working alongside the city to secure funds it would normally not secure. CDCs can work alone in trying to work with Michigan's Congressional Delegation to secure funding or they can retain a lobbyist or advocate familiar with the process and personalities to identify the funding, apply for any necessary grants and work the requests through the legislative process.

Funding is available at a federal level. The CDCs need to identify the projects that need to be funded and then ask for Congressional support.