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The Front Porch
Wish Lists |
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1. Money to pay staff. 2. Money to pay insurance. 3. Money for food or a donation of healthy food. 4. Money to expand our academic advocacy program. |
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(last updated April 15, 2008)
The top 9 most pressing issues for kids in school in Detroit 1. Falling Behind
2. School Transportation 3. Social Issues 4. Reading 5. Exclusion 6. Truancy 7. Jobs for Teens 8. Community Use of School Buildings 9. Class Size 1. Falling Behind Issue: Kids do not access tutoring because it is not at their school and after school hours. Kids are often pushed to the next grade without adequately understanding the concepts taught in the grade they are leaving. Solution: Tutoring should be during school hours. It should be at the school site. It should be something teachers can require students to attend for their grade. Tutors can be trained kids who are in older grades or kids brought from the high school. There could be a workshop for teachers before school starts again in fall. A workshop for kids interested in being tutors would be offered in the first two weeks of school and tutoring starting the third week of school, no later. Issue: Teens who would do better moving at their own pace through classes because of home situations such as staying home from school to watch younger siblings, inability to get to school, or lack of desire to be in social situation Solution: Michigan Virtual High School (www.mivhs.org) HOWEVER Issue: This costs money, offers no scholarships, and must be approved by school youth goes to. Many youth do not have the funds and not all schools work with MVHS Solution: Scholarships for classes, the ability for after school programs to have kids in the program and get credit without approval of their school, or for all schools to be required to review/accept the credits, particularly for failed courses. 2. School Transportation Issue: Kids cannot get to school because parents cannot afford the bus. For example, girls who attend Catherine Ferguson with their children need to have free transportation. Kids who move mid year or who no longer get along socially/academically in the school they are at need free transportation. Free bus passes are extremely difficult to get from schools. Reduced fare still makes it $1.50/day to go to school. Many parents do not have that. In addition, it involves giving children cash. They do not always spend it correctly. In their out-of-school hours, this also ghettoizes them. Many cannot afford to get to events, other family member’s houses, the library, or friends houses. At the very least, kids should have free transportation in the winter. If kids get a bus card to ride for free and loose it, they cannot get a new one. Solution: ALL youth get bus cards with photo to ride for free. There needs to be the ability to cancel a lost card and get a new one. Cards should have photos on them. Their student ID can have a strip on it to use on the bus. Coordination between DDOT and DPS. A new strip on the ID cards for 2008-2009 school year. 3. Social Issues at School Issue: Many individual kids get lost. They need one person who is monitoring them, communicating between parents, school, and after school. This would also unburden less serious cases from the social worker. Kids sometimes need to vent or talk with a caring adult at school about problems they may have in school or out of school. For example: when they are excluded. School social workers have too many restrictions and are too busy. We have come to understand that a student may talk to a social worker once informally, then parents must sign a slip for regular appointments. Many parents don’t sign for many reasons. Solution: A person at school kids can talk to. If serious issues come up, then the child can be referred to the social worker. Have all parents sign the waiver to talk to the social worker at registration. More support staff in schools, such as academic advocates Example: Front Porch Academic Advocacy Program, Learning Mentor/Connexions Program in England Issue: Many school social workers have caseloads of hundreds of kids. Solution: More social workers in schools. More mental health services available in school. 4. Reading Issue: Kids are not reading well Solutions: Kids need individual attention in this area. In-school tutoring, reading with older students, directly after school tutoring at the school itself. More attention paid to test/care for reading disabilities. Method of teaching reading should include phonics (many children we work with cannot sound out words) and games to make reading fun. Boys should be given material to read that interests them. Every school should have a school library and trips to the public library ($40 per class). Increase partnership with Detroit Public Library to hire in mobile librarians whose whole job is to go to school, promote the library, read stories, bring reading activities for older youth and bring bookmobile. Youth often have fines they cannot pay. Make an amnesty fund they can apply for. Kids need books to take home and each school needs book clubs. Issue: Kids who need eyeglasses are not being noticed. Some of the kids in our group have gone for years without being noticed. Solution: An eyeglass-mobile where children’s eyes are tested and glasses given on the spot or a field trip to the eyeglass shop. More attention needs to be paid to testing children’s eyes systematically. Also, their eyes should be tested the day they register for school. 5. Exclusion Issue: Kids who misbehave are excluded from school, giving them lots of free time out of school, putting them behind on class work. Exclusion is just school mandated truancy. Truancy is the gateway crime that leads to worse offenses. Why encourage this? Solution: In house detention with tutoring and counseling. Lots of kids who misbehave are also not doing well academically or have issues at home. Why not take care of all of it at once? 6. School Truancy Issue: Kids in middle and high school are able to come and go out of school and classes as they please. Security and hall monitoring is lax, consequences of skipping are null. Solution: Effective hall monitors and security. Heighten consequences. Tighten rules on how many times students can skip, be sure these are being enforced at every school, especially at high schools. 7. Jobs for Teens Issue: The summer job program cut its amount of applicants and there are very few other job programs. Solution: More summer job programs, job seeking help, career counseling and transportation to summer jobs in the suburbs. One summer job program could be community gardens throughout the city, where teens grow fresh produce on vacant, fenced land. Build on assets, right? Gardening teaches children responsibility, science and environmental awareness. It could be used for science credit in school. Possible Partners: Greening of Detroit, Detroit Agriculture Network, DPS Golightly Horticulture and The Front Porch 8. Community Use of School Buildings Issue: The high cost of using a school after school, reportedly to pay for the operating engineer to be on call. Solution: Be like most school districts in the country and allow youth and community groups to use schools for free. 9. Class Size Issue: Class size is too big Solution: If unable to obtain funding for smaller classes, have classes broken into groups. Use support staff and older youth doing community service to provide more attention for each child. Example: The Front Porch does partner reading, where 4th and 5th graders are partnered with 1st and 2nd graders. The younger kids read to the older kids who help them sound words out. The older kids learn responsibility, sharpen their reading skills, and give back. The younger kids get much needed individual attention, feedback, and skillbuilding. HELPING INDIVIDUAL YOUTH AT SCHOOL AND IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD SOCIAL ISSUES AT SCHOOL Issue: Kids lack social skills. Solutions: Kids lack social skills for many reasons. Many are not learning to play, the primary place to learn social skills. They should be taught to play games at recess, in gym, or in class (educational games) and their behavior monitored or corrected. Kids do not have social rules so etiquette should be taught. Disagreements should be mediated and mediation should also be taught, with mini-Balanced and Restorative Justice (BARJ), where victims and perpetrators work toward a repairing harm to the victim and rebuilding relationships in the community) so that victimized youth are cared for and perpetrators have real accountability. BARJ Example: Used successfully in Belleville and Western Wayne County. For full explanation of BARJ visit http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/pubs/implementing/balanced.html Issue: Kids overweight, restless in class Solution: Gym, exercise class, and/or recess every day. Especially in middle and beginning high school where kids need to be up and active to keep behavior problems low. Winter coats, hats and scarves should be given to kids who need them so they can have recess when its colder out. Issue: Kids (usually teens) who live in a home environment not conducive to the regular schedule of school, or who are having a hard time with family members. They need a place where they can eat dinner, do their homework, have a curfew and sleep at a regular time. We have seen many children take the path of: local high school, another high school, alternative school, then JobCorps or night school. Solutions: Boarding schools. There should be at least one boarding school on the east and west side. Examples: Job Corps, Boys Hope Girls Hope Issue: Kids dealing with family members with substance abuse issues Solution: A class or series of workshops in a group (with the opportunity for individual counseling after). Possible Partner: Henry Ford Hospital Maplegrove Children's Program Issue: Kids dealing with incarcerated parents Solution: Time to write letters, free stamps, trips for families to prisons, a class in dealing with feelings about it. Possible Partners: Any of the many groups in Detroit that already have these programs. Issue: Kids dealing with sexual abuse Solution: This is not something that should be addressed once a year. This should be part of a regularly scheduled workshop or class. It could be paired with other topics, but it needs to be made into an issue the kids feel comfortable enough to speak out about. Possible Partner: The Children’s Center SCHOOL BASIC NEEDS Issue: Kids coming to school with dirty clothes. Solution: Schools need washing machines and dryers. Kids who come with dirty clothes need them washed. There needs to be a washing machine and dryer or a laundry service who will wash uniforms. Families without washing machines/dryers should then be encouraged to apply to a program for free/low cost washers/dryers. Possible Partner: Local appliance stores, thrift shops, laundry soap companies or laundry services Example: Greenfield Union School has a washer and dryer. Issue: Kids who need their hair done. Solution: Coupons to local barber/beauty or in-school hair day for kids who need it. Possible Partner: Local beauty salons, associations, barbers Issue: Even hungry kids are not eating school lunch. Solution: Survey kids in schools to find out if they are eating school lunch (there are some schools who do it right). Kids will eat healthy if they are fed food that is culturally appropriate and tasty. Monitor school lunch workers and inventory more closely. Do not give them cooked vegetables. Most children HATE that. Possible Partner: Food Science Department of a university. Have students do it as a project. Example: Brenda Scott Middle School reportedly has a good lunch that students must pay for. In England, one chef has taken on fixing their school lunches.Why isn't every schoolyard (or at least a vacant lot nearby) an edible schoolyard ? Issue: Kids do not take advantage of school breakfast. They want a hot breakfast and more time to eat it. Solution: School breakfast should be a required part of the morning for kids. It should be hot and tasty so they want to eat it. Fruit served should be fresh and cut up. Water should be cold. Issue: Kids who need eyeglasses are not being noticed. Some of the kids in our group have gone for years without being noticed. Solution: An eyeglass-mobile where children’s eyes are tested and glasses given on the spot or a field trip to the eyeglass shop. More attention needs to be paid to testing children’s eyes systematically. Example: Brewer Elementary does a field trip to the eyeglass shop Issue: Children are not accessing the mobile dentist/mobile doctor Solution: This is often because of bad experiences. There needs to be a trust relationship built between the service provider and the children they serve. If they could come before the scheduled date, do a presentation, play a game, explain what they do, and get to know the kids, children may be more likely to tell their parents it is a good thing. We find parents discouraging their children from going for routine dental cleanings, only to subject kids to dentist visits when they are in pain. It wouldn’t have to be the dentist him/herself coming out to classes and parent days, maybe a hygienist or outreach person from the service. The mobile healthcare should also be able to treat the whole family and come to the school on days parents are there to establish a reputation and relationships. Possible Partner: CATCH Pediatric Mobile Health Services, Mobile Dentist SCHOOL READING/WRITING Issue: Kids are not writing well. We have seen too much being skipped over in this area. Solution: Aside from reading, teaching should focus on learning to write a good sentence, a good paragraph, then on writing a whole paper. Institute more phonics/spelling exercises to improve spelling. Many kids in our program cannot spell because they cannot sound out letters and blends. ACADEMIC SUCCESSES Issue: Lack of recognition for kids who do academically well and those who are beating the odds and for teachers who are doing a good job. Solution: Awards for kids who are nominated by teachers or other involved adults and teachers nominated by students and parents. Recognition in the press. Example: Beating the Odds Scholarships from Wayne County Neighborhood Legal Services JOB TRAINING AT SCHOOL/JOBS Issue: VoTech is excellent, but limited to certain grades. Solution: Keep Votech as excellent as it is, but expand it to 9th grade to catch kids before they drop out. Allow 12th graders to take classes. Be sure it can accommodate all the kids who want to be in it. Possible Partner: DPS Votech and corporations who already support the trainings Issue: VoTech requires uniforms bought by students. Solution: Make a scholarship fund for uniforms, or make a way for outgoing students to sell their uniforms to incoming students. Issue: The summer job program cut its amount of applicants and there are very few other job programs. Solution: More summer job programs, job seeking help, career counseling and transportation to summer jobs in the suburbs. One summer job program could be community gardens throughout the city, where teens grow fresh produce on vacant, fenced land. Gardening teaches children responsibility, science and environmental awareness. COMMUNITY SERVICE Issue: The community service requirement is not being followed at some schools. There also needs to be coordination of matching opportunities with students. Solution: Schools need to follow through. There should be one number students and organizations can call or a website where matches can be made. SCHOOL AND COMPUTERS Issue: Teachers assigning computer typed homework before children have had typing lessons. Solution: Require typing lessons at a certain grade and allow requiring typing assignments only after that point. Issue: Teachers assigning computer/internet homework to youth who do not have access to a computer, printer or transportation to the library. Solution: Require teachers to give enough time to students to complete computer and internet assignments in school. SPORTS Issue: School athletes are not reaching their full academic potential because schools let them slide. Solution: Students on school athletic teams should be monitored by an independent program and independently tested. Issue: After School sports are too intense – too long, too many days/week Solution: Make a maximum number of hours youth can practice. SCHOOL MATH Issue: Kids do not know multiplication tables. Solution: Reward for kids once they memorize them. Make it a rite of passage. Issue: Most parents cannot remember or know how to do math past 5th grade. Solution: In school tutoring. Slow the pace down and do homework in class. Do not give homework in this class. Do not allow kids to move forward until each section is fully understood. Incorporate games and computer software. Possible Partner: Wellspring Kumon math. There are lots of possible partners for this. SOCIAL STUDIES AT SCHOOL Issue: Social Studies is very hard and boring. Solution: Change the curriculum, add lots of projects and experiences. SCIENCE AT SCHOOL Issue: Many kids hate or don’t understand science. Solution: Hands-on activities, basic scientific concepts should be taught and class should not move on until understood. Bring in more outside presenters like Greening of Detroit, World Wildlife Fund, Mobile Metropark, Cranbrook or the Detroit Science Center. Provide science teachers with support staff to gather hands-on materials, get ideas and schedule presenters. Visit this directory for science programs for groups in Southeastern Michigan. POLICE Issue: Juvenile Justice System It seems to be working well for the kids we have seen come through it. A shift to Balanced and Restorative Justice would be a good change for the community. Also, add a TV in the waiting room with DVDs running about conflict resolution, parents dealing with adolescents, discipline and communication. Issue: Bike theft, usually the first experience of major theft for kids, is not seriously addressed from a victim or perpetrator standpoint. We have seen this be the first step toward car theft. Solution: ID bikes, police or other program make an effort to recover stolen bikes, have a social worker visit child who is perpetrator, make perpetrator apologize to victim and restore justice. (BARJ) Issue: Car theft. This is a rite of passage in our neighborhood, spread through generations of kids in local middle and high schools. Solution: Police coming to school to talk about it in 5th grade, consequences. Special public consequences that are for kids who do it to deter others. NEIGHBORHOOD FOOD Issue: Healthy food is not cheap or available in neighborhood. Solution: Put healthy food on ice cream trucks, at party stores, after school, and at Coney Islands - subsidize it to be cheap. Choose tasty healthy choices. Issue: Summer lunch program is neither healthy nor tasty. Solution: Change menu with help of professional nutritionist and group of taste testing youth. Summer breakfast is a nice theory, but most kids don’t get up until noon. A summer dinner would be more effective. Progress: The summer lunch menu looks like it has changed to be healthier! EVICTIONS OF RENTERS WITH CHILDREN Issue: Families who are evicted from rental properties (of whom many are single parents) move around the city, putting children in the position of changing schools frequently. Children also suffer the trauma of leaving a place where there may be a social support network they will have to rebuild in a new neighborhood, in addition to the horror of having all their belongings put out in front of their house. Solution: Have special rules for evicting families with children. SWIMMOBILE Issue: Kids LOVE the Swimmobile. It is an easy community builder. We were told it went into the garbage dump because it was not up to health standards of having showers and it was too costly to run. The city was using a forestry truck only on weekends, paying overtime to the staff. Our kids have written to the City Council about this issue. Solution: Get a new one, with its own truck cab. SWIM LESSONS (AND OTHER LESSONS) AT RECREATION CENTERS Issue: Lessons offered in 3 days a week sessions of blocks of weeks. Kids who need the recreation center the most in our neighborhood do not usually show up for such a rigorous schedule. It wouldn’t be necessary to completely get rid of those old-fashioned style lessons – there are still a few kids and parents who would find that sort of schedule acceptable, but the schedule needs to include drop-in style lessons offered as a stepping stone to more regular lessons. Without this stepping stone, you will have lessons that are not filled to their capacity and children who come for open swim and have no idea how to even float. We think this is cheating kids. Solution: Post a chart with the kids names listed who come to the drop in lessons. Have the different levels listed and have the instructors mark off where the kids are. When and if those kids return, put them in the group they were previously in – just one minute lost. Lessons should not be a full hour – kids no longer have that attention span. You could also fit more lessons in with smaller groups that way. If centers offered 4 drop in sessions each week, about ½ hour each, they would have more kids in our neighborhood who would have at least swimming basics. During drop-in swim lessons, they could also then have a sort of “commercial” for the old-fashioned swim lessons.
HELPING YOUTH ORGANIZATIONS
Making financial, personnel, computer, transportation services available as packages or singly can save overhead and time for groups. They could be offered either as a part of the grant, free, low cost, or as part of a membership. A simple survey of non-profits would decide this. Offer the services as part of a grant – like in the TAP from the Youth Development Commission program. If not part of a grant encourage participation by: offering groups a bonus for taking advantage, pay individuals to participate (thereby taking the burden of paying the hours from the organization) or pay the groups to cover the participation hours. If registrants don’t show up, no money. Each program should be evaluated by participants. It is important that there is one contact point to access these services. The difficulties nonprofits face are: to find the services, find quality services, find the money to fund the services, the time to take advantage of the services, and technical assistance after. FINANCIAL SERVICES Issue: Many nonprofits do not have very complicated audits and should not be charged what a corporation would be charged. It is hard to know if you are picking a good auditor. Its not as if we are at the golf course with the other high powered folks comparing! Solution: Have some professional pick CPAs and get us a discounted or free rate Possible Partners: CPAs or other places like Deloitte and Touche Issue: Insurance costs too much. Solution: free or low cost Director’s and Officers Insurance Possible Partners: ANI-RRG Insurance through the Michigan League for Human Services. Issue: Accountants cost too much. We don’t know if we are choosing a good one. We don’t know how much they should cost. Nonprofits need an accountant on call for questions. We need the 990 filled out correctly. Solution: Why not use the same idea Volunteer Accounting Services Team (VAST) already has helping low income folks with their taxes and apply it to us? Possible Partner: VAST Issue: Bookkeeping is time consuming if you are not a professional. If the group does its own, they still need a bookkeeper to just look over their process and methods and offer advice. Solution: Retired bookkeepers. Issue: Cost and ability to use accounting software Solution: Free software, training, and technical assistance Possible Partners: TechSoup for software Issue: The Michigan Nonprofit Management Manual is no longer published Solution: Bring this back and update it, put it online. Allow access by a small fee or by membership or free for nonprofits. Include financial policies and procedures in a Word document that can be changed by groups. Possible Partners: VAST and Detroit Executive Service Corps (DESC) Issue: The cost of payroll service, selecting one, and knowing if what they are charging is fair Solution: Have a professional evaluate services or tell us how to evaluate rates and services and get us a discounted or free rate COMPUTER ASSISTANCE This could be offered as a package. Running a computer lab is always more trouble than what we bargain for as non profits. We often make bad choices such as fixing up donated computers which can cost more than getting new ones. Computers: Often monitors/keyboards are readily available from donors. Just the CPU donation is important. Tech support/hardware repair and support line for free. Possible Partners: NPower or other computer group. Free training for organization to do basic tech support itself Possible Partners: Npower or other computer group Free Antivirus software Possible Partners: Tech Soup offers inexpensive software Website design/domain name/ hosting and training for maintenance Really good educational children’s game software/websites Possible Partners: Some corporations to donate it, and some group of kids to evaluate it, or some group who already does evaluation High Speed Internet Service – youth non profits need free high speed because kids are the fastest with changing technology. Possible Partners: Any Internet provider. Computer instruction For youth: Typing - Possible Partner: Mavis Beacon Typing software. Internet safety- Possible Partner: Wayne County Sheriff Office. Web Page Design - Possible Partner: Detroit Public Library. Searching for Information - Possible Partner: Detroit Public Library. Enrichment workshops - Newsletter editing Possible Partner: Aquent or local college. Movie making/editing - Partner: MOLLIE (Grand Rapids Mobile Filmmaking) or SCOOP. Others as requested. For staff: Youth Internet safety - Possible Partner: Wayne County Sheriff Office. For administration: Searching for grants, Managing your lab, Accounting software, Database Management Free Pick up and disposal of old computers PERSONNEL Issue: Master copies of employee handbooks are very expensive. Solution: It should be available on internet in Word to adjust. Encourage DESC to finish this and publicize it. Possible Partners: DESC is working on this. Issue: Needing legal consultation about employee issues Solution: A lawyer on retainer that is shared by many small groups. Issue: The cost of employee insurance, minimum fee ($750) is too much for small groups – they are getting charged the same as groups with many more employees Solution: Free insurance Possible Partners: State of Michigan, ANI-RRG Issue: The cost of drug testing Solution: Free Drug Testing Issue: The cost of employee health care Solution: Free health care Issue: Low wages for youth workers. The ability to pay employees a decent wage so we can keep good employees. Solution: Foundations that take this into consideration. Some sort of monetary award groups could nominate their youth workers for. Winners could have their picture in the paper. Issue: Cost/time involved in background checks. Fingerprinting is $60 or $70. It is free to police check on ICHAT from State Police. There is a fee in each city to get police check. Solution: Work with govt agencies to make it all free. Issue: Cost of training and employee time spent in training. Solution: Free or low cost training Types needed: Risk Management - Possible Partner: ANI-RRG Food Safety - Possible Partner: Detroit Health Department, Schoolcraft or OCC Culinary First AID/ CPR/AED and Safety: AED Machine and lock box, First Aid Kit, emergency radio, first aid instruction book, policies in Word for group to adjust Bookkeeping Basic Child Development (for ages group deals with) Group Management (Like Classroom Management) Creating a Helping Relationship and Finding Help Other Training as requested TRANSPORTATION Centralized transportation should be available for youth groups. This takes away lots of issues: auto insurance, training and oversight of drivers, licensing, maintenance etc. Buses could be used efficiently by dropping off one group, then going to pick up another and returning to pick up groups. Groups could call for a bus/small van up to 3 days in advance to schedule field trips or appointments. Youth would always need to be chaperoned by adult in their group or parent. Services should be evaluated by groups and sent to an independent evaluator. Possible Partners: Local non-profit transportation companies. Bikes/Helmets: Should be available for all youth groups to get around with bike riding safety lessons. Bike lanes should be made to connect recreation centers, schools, parks, and libraries. GROUP FOOD Issue: The process for applying for the Child and Adult Food Program for after school providers is too long. Solution: Figure out what is wrong with it and make it quicker Issue: Groups have to travel far/often to get quality meat and produce. Solution: Produce and meat delivery to youth groups Example: Recreation centers used to get fruit and granola delivered. Issue: Groups often have to share refrigerators/freezers with other groups Solution: A donation of appliances would help preserve food and relationships where they are shared. Issue: Groups trying to make healthy choices without professional advice. Solution: Give groups access to a professional to look over their menu and help them FUNDING Government Money Issue: NOF funding is issue ridden for groups. Solution: Groups need a loan upfront to access the NOF funding, then an advocate to help them keep their funding on track with the city and HUD. Issue: Larger groups should be writing for more federal grants that are then shared with smaller groups. Foundations Issue: Many foundations only take applications from groups who have large budgets/audits. Solution: Make more accessible by offering free/low cost audits and lowering budget requirements. Issue: Funding initiatives often cut out groups from particular areas or who offer specific services. Solution: Through limiting, sometimes groups/programs are created just to fill the funder’s requirements. Organic programming that evolved from established group’s core work often gets lost. Most human needs are being met by groups in the area. When data indicates that there is a lack of services in an area (not serving enough people, not in the right area etc.), funders should meet with the groups already providing those services and assess the groups’ stability. If stable, funders should ask them what they need and give them money, resources, partners, or advocacy as needed. This makes the difference between building capacity in the community and getting short-term results. Corporations Issue: Finding corporations who give money is very difficult. The only library in Michigan that offers the full foundation center database is at MSU. Other libraries have the cheaper version. Solution: Offer groups funding to search the expensive database, or search it for “children” and “Michigan” and offer that information to all local non-profits for free. Individual Donors Issue: Grassroots groups do not have access to wealthy donors. Solution: Find ways to mingle executive directors of groups with wealthy, upper class, and upper middle class donors |
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The Front Porch P.O. Box 24744 Detroit, Michigan 48224 USA frontporchdetroit@yahoo.com |