Voices for Action: 2008 Poverty Summit November 13, at COBO Center
Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm and Martin Luther King III are keynote speakers for the summit.

The Department of Human Services, the Governor's Commission on Community Action and Economic Opportunity and the Michigan Community Action Association (Voices for Action Network) are sponsoring the Poverty Summit on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2008, in Detroit. Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm and Martin Luther King III are keynote speakers for the summit.
Nearly one in eight Americans live at or below the national poverty level. Nearly one in five people in Michigan are living at or below the national poverty level. For Americans, this includes 13.5 million children. For Michigan, this includes 500,000 children. Over the last several years, poverty conintues to grow in America and in Michigan.

This summit will launch a statewide initiative to reduce poverty and maximize economic opportunitites.

BACKGROUND
The Poverty Summit builds upon former President Lyndon B. Johnson's War on Poverty and Dr. Martin Luther King's Poor People's Campaign to reduce poverty and maximize economic opportunities.  The one-day summit on November 13, will begin at 7 a.m. with registration and continental breakfast and will close at 6 p.m..

The summit embraces Governor Granholm's 2008 State of the State priorities of a job for every worker, education for every child, training for every citizen, health care for every family and safe places to live and work for all of us. These priorities serve as the state's core strategies in reducing poverty and maximizing economic opportunities.

Finally, the Poverty Summit adopts the national strategies from Rooting out Poverty: a Campaign of America's Community Action Network, House Congressional Resolution 198 of 2008 (expresses the sense of Congress that the United States should set a national goal of cutting poverty in half over the next 10) and the Center for American Progress to cut poverty in half in ten years.

GOALS
The Poverty Summit is not just a one-day event, but also a kickoff for a statewide initiative to reduce poverty and maximize economic opportunities.

This initiative takes into consideration the six statewide and public forums sponsored by the Governor's Commission on Community Action and Economic Opportunity with assistance from the Michigan Department of Human Services between December 2007 and February 2008 that enabled families facing economic challenges to tell their story.

This initiative will utilize the same eight regions as the Michigan Campaign to End Homelessness to maximize state resources at each of these regional levels to reduce poverty and maximize economic opportunities.

The regional planning grant will address the themes (health, employment, education, corrections/public safety, child welfare, race and poverty, aging/seniors and vibrant communities) from the poverty summit and identify strategies to enhance three or more of the following statewide initiatives to reduce poverty and maximize economic opportunities:

Create 400,000 jobs.
Provide 100,000 displaced workers with the training needed to access new opportunities through the No Worker Left Behind project.
Reduce the number of people who cycle between welfare and employment.
Ensure that the approximately 40,000 Michigan high-school seniors who live in poverty are able to complete their high-school education and achieve success in post-secondary education.
Ensure access to college for every student.
Ensure access to healthcare to Michigan's 1.1 million uninsured residents.
Promote Save the Dream.
Promote Asset Building.
Improve and ensure equity in child welfare.
Tie workforce development training programs to available job opportunities.
Promote the resources available through the Insurance Advocate.
Promote the Michigan National Career Readiness Certificate.
Increase enrollment for high school completion and community colleges.
End homelessness in Michigan.
Implement a Full Day Kindergarten program.
Invest in Early Childhood Development.
Increase the number of Family Resource Centers from 64 to 100.
Eliminate 1,500 blighted properties.
Recruit 10,000 more mentors.
Basedon the full federal adoption of the national strategies, Michigan's goals embrace the Governor's 2008 State of the State priorities and include the following:

Reduce poverty in Michigan by 50 percent by 2019.
Reduce child poverty in Michigan by 60 percent by 2019.
Reduce the racial poverty gap by 40 percent by 2019.
CONCLUSION
As we move forward with the Poverty Summit, we seek the continued support of the governor and her staff to reduce poverty and maximize economic opportunities for all in this statewide and life-changing initiative. This poverty initiative will ensure that the Michigan Department of Human Services, the Governor's Commission on Community Action and Economic Opportunity (2003 Public Act 123), and the Michigan Community Action Agency Association (Voices for Action Network) fulfill its mission to reduce poverty and maximize economic opportunities.