CONYERS & GOODLATTE Launch House Judiciary Community Policing Strategies Working Group In Detrot

I was joined in Detroit by my colleague Congressman Bob Goodlatte and other members of the bipartisan Congressional policing strategies working group for a press conference to discuss strengthening the relationship between law enforcement and the community.

I am hoping to see discussions in addressing child welfare practices and reporting of fraud within this national legislative work group.

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International Intentions of Detroit

The question should not be what a state elected official can do for Detroit, but what Detroit can do for the rest of the world.

My intentions are to market Detroit to the world. In order to accomplish this task, we must come together to inspire individuals and communities to be their own job creators. Innovation demands resources and resources demand innovation.

The role of the elected official is in dire need of innovation in order to identify and deliver custom designed resources to create the tools to improve our quality of life. While we know jobs will eventually come to our region, we can no longer sit and wait for its pending arrival. We must create our own jobs.

As an elected official, there exists the obligation to be a conduit for advice and resources to encourage the creation of entrepreneurs, micro-enterprises and small businesses. This same opportunity must be extended to the cities of Detroit and its ensconced enclave of Hamtramck, to stimulate innovative bonds with the business communities to generate the optimal benefits of social impact.

I would be remiss not to emphasize that our non-profits are major innovators and are important members of the Detroit business communities.

Promoting the community productivity of entrepreneurs and small businesses on an international platform opens up new markets for exportation of our goods and services, inclusive of Detroit's rich musical and artistic legacies. The elected official must market this message through its passionate creativity.

The focus is not to be exclusive to international exportation of Detroit goods and services, as we must import investment. Detroit possesses a transportation infrastructure of railways, freeways and waterways, with long-term plans in place to improve bus service, expand green bike pathways, reutilize Detroit City Airport and open access to the Internet, which becomes the selling point to bring back manufacturing and families.

The elected official can only successfully execute the task of international marketing Detroit only if the priority of investing in the best interests of the children in order to generate a productive citizen. For this matter immediate focus must be placed on transforming how and why we educate our children through the obviation of innovative policies.

Detroit has world renown research and development institutions of art, culture, science and technology; therefore, representative leadership must enjoin with the community to guarantee our children will have the opportunity to carry on the work of these institutional legacies.

The time has come to offer the world Detroit's cultural heterogeneity, showcasing our amalgamated spirits in economic diversity. Businesses, families and tourists will come if we market our progress in improving the quality of life in Detroit. This can be the global model of rebirth that can be transposed for other cities to rebuild.

Whether I am elected or not this is what I intend to do for Detroit.

Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

Detroit Cafe Haven: Community Beauty Through Art

In the late of the night on Detroit's east side, I was startled by the sounds of musical rhythms that could only emanate from the passion of artists who are calling to share the beauty of life in a community struggling to rebuild.

I was drawn to the Detroit Cafe Haven.

Illuminating Harper Avenue like beacon of hope, I was drawn in to be a part of Detroit Rebirth, The Beauty of Community.

It was Tuesday night poetry where poets and artists come to pour their heart and soul out into the crowd to share their personal messages of hope and peace.

As I have no words that can do justice to the performances, I leave you to watch the performance of Pierre of the Detroit Dreaded Poets' Society.

Yanie, owner of Cafe Haven

More than the Tuesday night "Feeling the Community", hosted by BLK, there is the Friday Night Jam Session hosted by Larry Stewart and the Music Makers and Sunday Church Gospel Explosion.  Asking more than the traditional donation, Cafe Haven asks to bring in non-perishable foods.

The owner, "Yanie" began to tell me the story of the community.  The food donations are shared with the community either by her cooking up dinners on Sunday or delivery food boxes to needy families.

More than making sure people do not go hungry, she is planning a community action day.  Offering the volunteer services of professionals in the community, there will be free haircuts, nurses, maternal-infant health programs but her work does not stop there.

There are plans to have needle exchanges and HIV/AIDS awareness activities and she has no intentions of stopping there.

Space is available to sell artistic creations to encourage and promote local entrepreneurs.

Cafe Haven will soon be holding a special auction for an evening with local community leaders to raise funding for more community programs.  I plan on being there.

Cafe Haven is located at 7738 Harper, Detroit, MI 48213.  Contact Yanie, 313-617-9469 to find out how you can celebrate the Detroit Rebirth of Community.

cafehaven@gmail.com

http://www.cafehavendetroit.com

http://facebook.com/cafehavendetroit

These are beautiful people.  Support them.  Please.




Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©

The Educational Restructuring of Child Welfare

Oh dear, it seems there is much activity at the federal level on "amending" the current structures of the nation's child welfare philosophies.

Not since the introduction of the factory school model did we have any movement to invest in family and community to generate the best interests of society.

The factory school model is exactly what it is.  It is a model to give just enough education for a public school child (mainly designed for the inner city) to learn the basic skills to go and work in a factory.  It was the dumbing down of America.

The factory school model also came with a disciplinarian component.  Not corporal punishment of the child, but a discipline far more severe, moral discipline for the parent as a result of the removal of opportunity barriers and the enfranchisement for political participation.

Complete with the destruction of independent thought, the model was quickly adapted to form the child protection model.

During the 1960s and 1970s, these newly developing social service channels motivated the public to begin reporting suspected abuse. David Gil’s 1965 public opinion poll revealed that although only 23 percent of respondents said that they would report families they suspected of being involved in child maltreatment to the police, 45 percent said they would report such suspicions to social service agencies.⁹ The increase in formalized channels for reporting helped to build the field of child maltreatment prevention as a scientific and applied endeavor. It also advanced the professionalization of practitioners working with children and families affected by maltreatment. The focus of these systems, however, was on responding to reports of maltreatment, rather than on prevention.

And the State to make it first to the front of the uncapped federal funding handout line was...

Michigan, the automobile manufacturer of the world.

I could go on, but I already covered this in detail in my book.  

The interesting piece to this restructuring child welfare puzzle is not many people are catching the funding issues.  This is a Medicaid funded project.  This is the expansion of Medicaid, a singular funding source for community health.

S. 3769 To amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to promote  family and community engage...