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POWERED BY REAL TIMES MEDIA
Volume 80 – Number 38
michiganchronicle.com
May 31 - June 6, 2017
Obamacare repeal threatens Healthy Michigan
Governor struggles to preserve signature health care program By Keith A. Owens Senior Editor
No matter how Republicans in Congress try to spin it, it seems the majority of their constituents know the difference between when their elected officials are trying to screw them and when they are actually trying to do the right thing. A recently released poll shows that most Americans have little to no faith in the proposed American Health Care Act (AHCA) legislation, otherwise known as Replace and Repeal, that the Republicans in the House are putting forward. So much so, in fact, that Republicans in the Senate are essentially declaring the House proposal dead on arrival and don’t even want to be associated with it. But even before this whole thing got started, back when Trump was just Trump and we had an actual president of the United States doing presidential things without having to worry about being brought up on charges, and back when the Republicans were totally united in their desire to dismantle Obamacare, Michigan had a slightly different approach which, unlike most other states overseen by Republican governors, actually understood the value of not letting its residents die from lack of affordable and accessible health care. Recognized now as something of a Republican alternative to Obamacare (waivers were required for how the state implanted Medicaid expansion), Healthy Michigan supported the idea of helping Michigan residents get the health care they needed, but with some Republican-style ideas thrown in such as requiring more personal responsibility in the process. Obviously, it’s much more complicated than that overall, but the idea seemed to be that this was a proposal that could be sold as a Republican effort that would not completely and totally reject Obamacare simply because the name “Obama” was in there somewhere.
See HEALTH
CARE page A-4
WHAT’S INSIDE
Cinetopia Film Festival’s Top 10 must-see ‘uprising’ films Page B-1
$1.00
Hiram E. Jackson, Damon Creighton Jr., David Rainmaker and Gary Torgow
S.W.A.G. Awards 2017 features some of Detroit’s best By Keith A. Owens Senior Editor
The whole purpose of getting an education is to succeed. Nobody goes to school to learn how to be the most spectacular failure they can be. Trust me on this. Oh, and you can thank Chemical Bank Board Chairman Gary Torgow for the “killa S.W.A.G.’ Torgow coined the term during his remarks in what quickly became one of the favorite terms of the 2017 S.W.A.G. Awards. Last week at the Charles Wright Museum, the Michigan Chronicle recognized some of metro Detroit’s brightest young lights at the 2017 S.W.A.G. (Students Wired for Achievement and Greatness) Awards. A total of 13 local high school students were awarded checks (courtesy of the Chronicle and our S.W.A.G. partner, Chemical Bank) ranging from $1,000 to the top prize of $10,000. Last year’s top prize winner, Jay’la Logan, was present to offer this year’s awardees the benefit of her experience as a college freshman, as well as to express her gratitude to the Chronicle and Chemical Bank for enabling her to attend college. Although she was determined to go to college one way or another, and no doubt would have made it, the assistance of an unexpected $10,000, plus a summer internship at Chemical Bank, made quite a difference. Hiram E. Jackson, Michigan Chronicle publisher and Real Times Media CEO, also offered sound advice and counsel to the awardees. “This is an investment. We are investing in our community through you. So we’re hoping that once we give you this money, that you will use it wisely, you will get your degree, or maybe two, you’ll come out and
S.W.A.G. AWARDS 2017 $10,000 award winner Damon Creighton Jr. with last year's top winner, Jay'la Logan – Carla Jones photos be a productive citizen,” he said. “And as a productive citizen, maybe you’ll buy a house. Maybe you’ll come out and be a journalist, or a talented videographer. Maybe come work for the Michigan Chronicle. So don’t believe we’re going to give you this check and it’s the last time we’re going to see you. We’re investing in our community. We’re businesspeople. We don’t give money away. We believe that the stronger Detroit is, the stronger our businesses will be. We’ll be able to hire our own people. And once you become employed, you will take care of your families and take care of your neighborhoods, and it will create more opportunity for all of us.” Keynote speaker Dr. William Pickard, chairman and CEO of Global Automotive
Alliance and author of the book “Millionaire Moves: Seven Proven Principles of Entrepreneurship,” similarly instructed them that this was not free money they were receiving, nor should it be treated as such. “Learn, earn and return. Those are the three things that we expect of you,” he said. “I have a fundamental belief, and this is so critical for some of us who are born in certain zip codes. So critical for some of us who are born of a certain gender, a certain ethnicity. And that belief is this: Anybody from anywhere can accomplish anything. I beg of you to make good financial decisions, because if you make $1 million a year, and you spend $1 million a year, you are what? Broke.”
See S.W.A.G. page A-4
School board leader says partnerships are vital to DPSCD success By Ken Coleman
children with special needs and providing building maintenance.
Dr. Iris Taylor is president of the seven-member Detroit Board of Education. She recently discussed the issues that impact the Detroit Public Schools Community District and its keys to success.
And so, while we are starting anew and we have an opportunity, we have those challenges. We also have challenges around teacher vacancies. So, inherent in the enthusiasm about the future, and I do have enthusiasm for the future, I’m clear that the challenge we face, and being able to fund what we want to do, is enormous.
What is the District’s goal and vision statement? Providing an experience that allows our students to be able to compete anywhere in the world. To be equipped to navigate life in any vehicle that they choose to be in as they continue in the education trajectory in a fouryear project or in a vocational program, or being an entrepreneur. That we’ve equipped them to move to the next stage of their lives and we’ve defined the essence of excellence. What are major challenges the Board of Education is faced with working to resolve?
Dr. Iris Taylor Galvanizing all of our resources to ensure that we can provide the programmatic goals of the District. It’s going to be challenge. Financially, while the District is in debt, the money allotted for educating children is not enough to provide the extensive wraparound services, such as programs to provide services for
Have you completed contract negotiations with Dr. Nikolai Vitti? What was attractive about Dr. Vitti to you? We have completed a contractual agreement that has been accepted by Dr. Vitti and the board. He officially started on Tuesday, May 23, as superintendent. We were looking for an individual who had a proven track record in process improvement in schools that have programs that are failing. I was looking particularly for someone who had not only
implemented school reform programs and sustainability was evident. He did. I was looking for an individual ideally who would be nationally recognized and bring a set of data driven and researched based programmatic strategies to the District. He represents those key elements. Do you feel any pressure to help contribute to Detroit’s rebirth or renaissance? There is an enormous amount of expectation that we provide or facilitate a structure that enables the District to grow and strive. And as a person responsible for facilitating the board so that we focus on policy decisions and that we do indeed grow the talent within the District to produce the product that we are looking for. So yes, the city of Detroit will not complete our revitalization unless the school district is also performing.
See PARTNERSHIP page A-4