Sarah Alvarez

Michigan tops another list, suburban poverty grows

Sarah Alvarez — Tue, 21 May 2013 15:15:48 +0000

Yesterday the Brookings Institution released some new data about the rise in suburban poverty. Across the nation there are now more people living in poverty in suburbs than in urban areas.

Why aren't Buena Vista's kids in school yet?

Sarah Alvarez — Tue, 14 May 2013 15:12:05 +0000

This post has been updated to reflect new developments:

Tuesday, 2:07 p.m.

Mixed Messages on Teachers Appreciation Day

Sarah Alvarez — Tue, 07 May 2013 15:38:34 +0000

So, is it Teacher Appreciation Day or Teacher Appreciation Week? And is it a national "holiday" or not?

I can't say definitively, but it looks like both of these are just traditions kept alive by teachers unions and parent groups.

How hard is it to tell what you know? It just got easier.

Sarah Alvarez — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 15:23:17 +0000

I spend a lot of my time, as many journalists do, trying to convince people to share their experiences and stories. Sometimes it takes a lot of work.

Most of my persuasive skills have to be channeled into convincing people they have a story worth telling, that their experiences matters. It does matter. The telling of every day experiences informs and connects people. Reporters can put connective tissue made up of context and background around these experiences and out comes a news story.

A Supreme Court case about a little known law could be a big deal for Michigan's kids

Sarah Alvarez — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 09:00:00 +0000

Yesterday the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments on a case involving the Indian Child Welfare Act. The law is designed to make sure Native American children in the child welfare system stay connected with their tribes.

Why? Because for decades, American Indian families all over the country, including in Michigan, were wrenched apart by private and state child welfare workers.

Often with little reason, these workers removed Indian children from their families and tribes and tried to assimilate them into white and usually Christian culture. As barbaric as that might sound, it is not ancient history.

Judge Alli Greenleaf Maldonado's mother was taken away from her family after her mother, Maldonado's grandmother, died. She could have been placed with any number of relatives," Maldonado says. "But instead, she was sent to another state to be a domestic worker for a Mennonite minister and his wife."

Maldonado's mother was only four years old when she started working as a maid. Maldonado says it was common practice for young girls to be sent to be domestic workers, while boys were sent to be farm hands in an attempt to give the children job skills.

Balancing the budget on the backs of... guess who?

Sarah Alvarez — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 15:08:48 +0000

President Barack Obama will be releasing his budget tomorrow. Already, organized labor and others who side with the President more often than not are upset with cuts he's willing to make (likely to be around $200 billion worth).

The Republican leadership in congress isn't happy with the budget either. Most Republicans don't want to raise taxes in order to help raise revenue and decrease the deficit.

Accusations the budget is getting balanced on the back of seniors, children and people in poverty can seem like tired political rhetoric. But, those are the people that disproportionately rely on government services.

So as the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities points out in a handy chart, for the last few years it's true these groups have borne the brunt of the budget battle.

A cartoon about kids in prison might be a winner

Sarah Alvarez — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 14:17:41 +0000

It feels like juvenile justice is getting more attention as of late, with reform efforts picking up steam.

There's the first federal case to end a school to prison pipeline in Mississippi, and a new book on the brazen corruption of judges who locked kids up in exchange for kickbacks in Pennsylvania.

The concern around kids in the justice system might turn out to be a cultural blip, in danger of being crowded out by national interest in something like gun or immigration reform.

But maybe not. The State of Opportunity team has been sending this short animation back and forth for about a week. Something about it seems to signal society might be willing to change the way we look at juvenile offenders.

What we just learned about ladders, bootstraps and the American dream

Sarah Alvarez — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 21:08:12 +0000

Your participation and insightful guests made for a spirited discussion about themes ranging from power to policy, but really the question was if all kids have an equal shot at an American dream. (Spoiler alert: none of the guests think all kids have an equal shot.)

Listen to parts of the show below. If you want to listen to the whole thing, here you go.

Call us. We'll be here at 3 p.m. with some amazing people

Sarah Alvarez — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 14:12:12 +0000

Today at at 3 p.m State of Opportunity is having a call in show on Michigan Radio. Tune in or stream it live.

Our focus will be on structures and policies that make it hard for Michigan's children to get ahead. What's keeping us from understanding the lives of low-income families? And what policies are keeping the cycle of poverty going.

You can join the conversation about poverty, privilege and political power with local and national experts. Here's the crew that we'll be talking with:

Doak Bloss, Health Equity and Social Justice Coordinator at the Ingham County Health Department.
Erin Currier, Director of the Economic Mobility Project at the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Linwood Cousins, Director and Professor at the School of Social Work at Western Michigan University
David Callahan, Senior fellow at Demos and co-author of the report, Stacked Deck.
State Rep. State Rep. Rashida Tlaib, representing 6th district SW Detroit.

Call in with your questions (866-255-2762) or email us in advance (michiganradioquestion@umich.edu).

Are we making stuff up about disability benefits?

Sarah Alvarez — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 15:37:00 +0000

Chana Joffe-Walt's recent piece on This American Life about how disability payments are the new welfare has a lot of people pretty mad. Media Matters put out a