The National Summit Will Help Economy Rebound
The National Summit will help the economy rebound from a downturn of historic proportions.
More than 1,000 tickets have already been sold for The National Summit, which will be held June 15-17 at Ford Field in Detroit. It will bring the country’s business leaders together with government officials and academic experts to discuss and advance a national economic agenda. William Clay Ford Jr., Executive Chairman, Ford Motor Company and Andrew N. Liveris, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Dow Chemical Company, will co-chair The National Summit.
Currently, forty-five Speakers, including leaders from energy, technology, communications, transportation and other sectors have agreed to address The National Summit:
- Richard H. Anderson; CEO, Delta Air Lines, Inc.
- Steven A. Ballmer; CEO, Microsoft Corp.
- Eva Chen; Co-founder & CEO, Trend Micro, Inc.
- Dr. Mary Sue Coleman; President, University of Michigan
- Richard E. Dauch; Co-Founder, Chairman & CEO, American Axle & Manufacturing, Inc.
- D. Scott Davis; Chairman & CEO, United Parcel Service, Inc.
- Samuel A. DiPiazza, Jr.; CEO, PricewaterhouseCoopers International Ltd.
- Thomas J. Donohue; President & CEO, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
- Anthony F. Earley, Jr.; Chairman & CEO, DTE Energy Co.
- Matt Ferguson; President & CEO, Careerbuilder.com
- Marvin S. Fertel; President & CEO, Nuclear Energy Institute Ltd.
- William Clay Ford, Jr.; Executive Chairman, Ford Motor Co.
- J. Erik Frywald; Chairman, President & CEO, Nalco Co.
- Christopher Ilitch; President & CEO, Ilitch Holdings, Inc.
- Christopher J. Kearney; Chairman, President & CEO, SPX Corp.
- Martin M. Koffel; President & CEO, URS Corp.
- Timothy D. Leuliette; Chairman, President & CEO, Dura Automotive Systems, Inc.
- Andrew N. Liveris; Chairman & CEO, The Dow Chemical Co.
- Timothy M. Manganello; Chairman & CEO, BorgWarner Inc.
- Peter J. Marks; Chairman, President & CEO, Robert Bosch LLC
- Michael B. McCallister; President & CEO, Humana, Inc.
- Charles G. McClure; Chairman, CEO & President, ArvinMeritor, Inc.
- Harold W. McGraw III; Chairman, President & CEO, The McGraw-Hill Cos.
- Alan R. Mulally; President & CEO, Ford Motor Co.
- James J. Mulva; Chairman & CEO, ConocoPhillips Co.
- Robert L. Nardelli; Chairman and CEO, Chrysler LLC; Board of Managers, Chrysler LLC
- James B. Nicholson; President & CEO, PVS Chemicals, Inc.
- Dr. Jay Noren; President, Wayne State University
- Keith D. Nosbusch; Chairman & CEO, Rockwell Automation, Inc.
- Steve Odland; Chairman & CEO, Office Depot, Inc.
- W. Douglas Parker; Chairman & CEO, US Airways Group, Inc.
- James H. Quigley; Global CEO, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu
- Matthew K. Rose; Chairman, President & CEO, BNSF Railway Co.
- John W. Rowe; Chairman & CEO, Exelon Corp.
- Tom Schmitt; President of Global Supply Services, Senior Vice President & CEO, FedEx Solutions
- Dr. Lou Anna K. Simon; President, Michigan State University
- David P. Steiner; CEO, Waste Management, Inc.
- Dr. Anthony R. Tersigni; President & CEO, Ascension Health
- James S. Turley; Chairman & CEO, Ernst & Young LLP
- Timothy Wadhams; President & CEO, Masco Corp.
- Donald J. Walker; Co-CEO, Magna International Inc.
- Joseph L. Welch; Chairman, President & CEO, ITC Holdings Corp.
- Ronald A. Williams; Chairman & CEO, Aetna, Inc.
- Deborah L. Wince-Smith; President, The Council on Competitiveness
For more information on The National Summit, please visit nationalsummit.org.
Source: Detroit Economic Club
One in 31 U.S. Adults are Behind Bars, on Parole or Probation
Pew Report Finds States Can Cut Prison Spending, Improve Public Safety By Boosting Support for Community Corrections
Explosive growth in the number of people on probation or parole has propelled the population of the American corrections system to more than 7.3 million, or 1 in every 31 U.S. adults, according to a report released today by the Pew Center on the States. The vast majority of these offenders live in the community, yet new data in the report finds that nearly 90 percent of state corrections dollars are spent on prisons. One in 31: The Long Reach of American Corrections examines the scale and cost of prison, jail, probation and parole in each of the 50 states, and provides a blueprint for states to cut both crime and spending by reallocating prison expenses to fund stronger supervision of the large number of offenders in the community.
“Most states are facing serious budget deficits,” said Susan Urahn, managing director of The Pew Center on the States. “Every single one of them should be making smart investments in community corrections that will help them cut costs and improve outcomes.”
In the past two decades, state general fund spending on corrections increased by more than 300 percent, outpacing other essential government services from education, to transportation and public assistance. Only Medicaid spending has grown faster. Today, corrections imposes a national taxpayer burden of $68 billion a year. Despite this increased spending, recidivism rates have remained largely unchanged.
Research shows that strong community supervision programs for lower-risk, non-violent offenders not only cost significantly less than incarceration but, when appropriately resourced and managed, can cut recidivism by as much as 30 percent. Diverting these offenders to community supervision programs also frees up prison beds needed to house violent offenders, and can offer budget makers additional resources for other pressing public priorities.
One in 31: The Long Reach of American Corrections provides a detailed look at who is in the corrections system and which states have the highest populations of offenders behind bars and in the community. Key findings include:
- One in 31 adults in America is in prison or jail, or on probation or parole. Twenty-five years ago, the rate was 1 in 77.
- Overall, two-thirds of offenders are in the community, not behind bars. 1 in 45 adults is on probation or parole and 1 in 100 is in prison or jail. The proportion of offenders behind bars versus in the community has changed very little over the past 25 years, despite the addition of 1.1 million prison beds.
- Correctional control rates are highly concentrated by race and geography: 1 in 11 black adults (9.2 percent) versus 1 in 27 Hispanic adults (3.7 percent) and 1 in 45 white adults (2.2 percent); 1 in 18 men (5.5 percent) versus 1 in 89 women (1.1 percent). The rates can be extremely high in certain neighborhoods. In one block-group of Detroit’s East Side, for example, 1 in 7 adult men (14.3 percent) is under correctional control.
- Georgia, where 1 in 13 adults is behind bars or under community supervision, leads the top five states that also include Idaho, Texas, Massachusetts, Ohio and the District of Columbia.
The report also analyzes the cost of current sentencing and corrections policies. The National Association of State Budget Officers estimates that states spent a record $51.7 billion on corrections in FY 2008, or 1 in every 15 general fund dollars. Adding local, federal and other funding brings the national correctional spending total to $68 billion.
While total correctional spending figures have been available before, new data collected by the Pew Center on the States for the report provides the first breakdown of correctional spending by prisons, probation and parole in the past seven years:
- In FY 2008, the 34 states for which data are available spent $18.65 billion on prisons (88 percent of corrections spending), but only $2.53 billion on probation and parole (12 percent).
- For eight states where 25 years of data were available, spending on prisons grew by $4.74 billion from FY 1983 to FY 2008, while probation and parole spending increased by only $652 million. This means that while prisons accounted for one-third of the population growth, they consumed 88 percent of the new corrections expenditures.
- The 34 states that were able to provide data reported spending as much as 22 times more per day to manage prison inmates than to supervise offenders in the community. The reported average inmate cost was $79 per day, or nearly $29,000 per year. The average cost of managing an offender in the community ranged from $3.42 per day for probationers to $7.47 per day for parolees, or about $1,250 to $2,750 a year.
“Violent and career criminals need to be locked up, and for a long time. But our research shows that prisons are housing too many people who can be managed safely and held accountable in the community at far lower cost,” said Adam Gelb, director of the Pew Center on the States’ Public Safety Performance Project, which produced the report. “New community supervision strategies and technologies need to be strengthened and expanded, not scaled back. Cutting them may appear to save a few dollars, but it doesn’t. It will fuel the cycle of more crime, more victims, more arrests, more prosecutions, and still more imprisonment.”
One in 31: The Long Reach of American Corrections provides states with a blueprint and specific case studies for strengthening their community corrections systems, saving money and reducing crime. Research-based recommendations include:
- Sort offenders by risk to public safety to determine appropriate levels of supervision;
- Base intervention programs on sound research about what works to reduce recidivism;
- Harness advances in supervision technology such as electronic monitoring and rapid-result alcohol and drug tests;
- Impose swift and certain sanctions for offenders who break the rules of their release but who do not commit new crimes; and
- Create incentives for offenders and supervision agencies to succeed, and monitor their performance.
Launched in 2006 as a project of The Pew Center on the States, the Public Safety Performance Project seeks to help states advance fiscally sound, data-driven policies and practices in sentencing and corrections that protect public safety, hold offenders accountable and control corrections costs.
The Pew Charitable Trusts applies the power of knowledge to solve today’s most challenging problems. Our Center on the States identifies and advances effective policy approaches to critical issues facing states. Online at www.pewcenteronthestates.org.
Schools Receive Grants to Help Kids be Active, Eat Healthy
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan supports physical activity and nutrition programs for students and their parents
More than 16,600 Michigan children and their local communities will get an opportunity to participate in walking, climbing and other physical activities and to learn to eat healthily, through a partnership with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.
They’ll join youngsters like those at Detroit’s Maybury Elementary School who now have more options to stay fit.
“The rock climbing wall installed last year gives students in all grade levels the opportunity to succeed at challenges, develop balance, upper body strength and problem solving as they travel along the wall,” said Linda Almeranti, a physical education teacher at Maybury Elementary, a recipient of a BCBSM grant.
Thirty-six schools throughout Michigan will share in a $333,400 grant with awards ranging from $1,000 to $15,000. Physical activity and nutrition programs vary from installing new playground equipment to hands-on organic gardening programs. Grant applications were offered to schools statewide based on certain criteria such as student participation rates in free and reduced lunch programs along with a population historically at risk for obesity.
“Even though our students have 20 minutes of recess time each day and are encouraged to engage in physical activity, they seldom do because our playground equipment is outdated and there’s simply not enough equipment for all students to use. With the funds secured from this Blue Cross grant, and a matching funds grant from GameTime Playground, we’re going to purchase new equipment and structures that will increase students’ physical activity,” said Scott Hutchins, principal, Bennett Elementary School in Jackson.
Since 2004, the Blues have provided nearly $1 million in funding to address childhood obesity among more than 113,000 school children throughout the state as part of our Building Healthy Communities grants.
“Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan has a mission that is unique among health insurance companies, and these grants are examples of how we help create stronger, healthier Michigan communities through partnerships with schools and others,” said Lynda Rossi, Blues vice president of Public Policy and Social Mission. “The grants promote physical fitness and nutrition to help children prevent serious health conditions down the road.”
As part of its unique social mission, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan is committed to focusing on reducing health care costs and improving quality, increasing access to health care coverage and services, and improving the health status of Michigan’s residents, particularly children.
The schools receiving grants are:
- Adrian – Michener Elementary School. Construct an outdoor fitness course for use by the school and local community. Grant amount: $15,000.
- Battle Creek – Doris Klaussen Developmental Center. Purchase fitness books and software designed for special needs students; supply pedometers for walking program; offer healthy food choices. Grant amount: $12,620.
- Detroit – Carstens Elementary School. Continue the Stop Everything and Start Exercising Now -SEASEN- program. Grant amount: $13,110.
- Detroit – Clara W. Rutherford Academy. Continue the “5-2-0-1″ program emphasizing fun physical activities and healthy lifestyles. Grant amount: $12,202.
- Detroit – Detroit Edison Public School Academy. Introduce a swimming program through collaboration with the Boll YMCA. Grant amount: $15,000.
- Detroit – Fleming Academy. Provide nutritional counseling, stage a health screening fair, issue pedometers for a stepping challenge and sponsor a field day. Grant amount: $15,000.
- Detroit – Greenfield Union Elementary and Middle School. Establish a healthy food co-op and erect a hoop house greenhouse. Grant amount: $15,000.
- Detroit – Isaac Crary Elementary School. Implement nutrition programs and involve families to participate in physical activity through new and enhanced playground equipment. Grant amount: $15,000.
- Detroit – Katherine B. White Elementary School. Add a dance program and complete the Healthy School Action Tool. Grant amount: $2,000.
- Detroit – Mark Twain School and Academy. Renovate a barren playground to include a track, basketball and tennis courts; add a climbing wall to the indoor gym. Grant amount: $15,000.
- Detroit – Maybury Elementary School. Purchase sports equipment, support physical activities during the day, and offer a healthy eating and cooking class to parents and students. Grant amount: $13,400.
- Detroit – Parker Elementary and Middle School. Develop an outdoor fitness track and supply pedometers to students; dietitians will provide programs on healthy eating habits. Grant amount: $11,000.
- Grand Rapids – C.A. Frost Environmental Science Academy. Install interactive playground and fitness equipment made from recycled plastic. Grant amount: $14,290.
- Grand Rapids – Central High School. Teach students how to shop for and create healthy meals; offer more physical activity programs and implement the Grand Rapids YMCA Healthy U program. Grant amount: $14,325.
- Grand Rapids – Creston High School. Open the gym facilities before and after school to students and the community. Increase academic opportunities which encourage health promotion and disease prevention. Grant amount: $15,000.
- Grand Rapids – Kent Education Center High School. Complete a YMCA fitness assessment and supply pedometers to start walking. Grant amount: $1,790.
- Grand Rapids – Sherwood Park Global Studies Academy. Implement a smart eating program, add a salad bar for middle school lunch program, provide healthy snacks and purchase pedometers for a walking club. Grant amount: $2,200.
- Ionia – Douglas A. Welch Community Center. Provide pedometers and heart monitor for a fitness program, add a climbing wall, soccer goal and indoor equipment. Grant amount: $7,620.
- Jackson – Bennett Elementary School. Install new playground equipment. Grant amount: $15,000.
- Lansing – Mid-Michigan Leadership Academy. Update playground and gym equipment and promote nutritious eating habits. Grant amount: $10,000.
- Mt. Clemens – M. L. King, Jr. Academy. Construct a fitness trail with activity stations available to the local area. Grant amount: $15,000.
- Saginaw – Francis Reh Academy. Students will create a healthy community awareness campaign focusing on how nutrition affects chronic diseases and how to engage in fun physical activities to improve health. Grant amount: $15,000.
- Taylor – Blair Moody Elementary School. Construct a playground play pad and a hoop house for hands-on organic gardening and farming. Grant amount: $15,000.
- Traverse City – Traverse Heights Elementary School. Improve fitness equipment, conduct after school physical fitness activities, implement healthy food options by cooking from scratch in the kitchen, and provide healthy snacks to students. Grant amount: $15,000.
- Waterford – Sandburg Elementary School. Increase fruit and vegetable consumption through a weekly free, fresh fruit program, cooking demonstrations and nutrition education for students and their parents. Grant amount: $13,840.
- Whittemore – Whittemore Prescott High School. Add a healthy food station in the cafeteria. Grant amount: $15,000.
BCBSM is also helping schools develop Healthy School Action Tools which are designed to help Michigan schools create healthier environments. The HSAT process offers schools a method to assess their environment and focus on one or more specific topics.
These schools are receiving $1,000 to complete their HSAT assessment:
- Detroit – O.W. Holmes Elementary School
- Grand Rapids – Aberdeen Elementary School
- Grand Rapids – Alger Middle School
- Grand Rapids – Ottawa Hills High School
- Ionia – Emerson Elementary School
- Jackson – Cascade Elementary School
- Jackson – Frost Elementary School
- Jackson – Hunt Elementary School
- Jackson – Northeast Elementary School
- Taylor – Myers Elementary School
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, a nonprofit organization, provides and administers health benefits to 4.7 million members residing in Michigan in addition to members of Michigan-headquartered groups who reside outside the state. The company offers a broad variety of plans including: Traditional Blue Cross Blue Shield; Blue Preferred, Community Blue and Healthy Blue Incentives PPOs; Blue Care Network HMO; BCN Healthy Blue Living; Flexible Blue plans compatible with health savings accounts; Medicare Advantage; Part D Prescription Drug plans, and MyBlue products in the under-age-65 individual market. BCBSM also offers dental, vision and hearing plans. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network are nonprofit corporations and independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. For more company information, visit bcbsm.com.