EDITORIAL: Obama and Snyder Agree

THE 6.3 PERCENT unemployment rate in Michigan at the end of December 2014 was the lowest on record in a dozen years. Gov. Rick Snyder in his State of the State was quick to take credit for the improvement. Democrats attribute increased numbers of manufacturing jobs in the auto industry, as well as the improved unemployment rate to policies implemented by President Obama.

While elected officials arm-wrestle over taking credit for the creation of what Gov. Snyder claims are 300,000 private sector jobs since 2010, it was refreshing to hear Michigan’s governor and President Obama admit that both state and local governments can and need to do better. After all, hunger, unemployment and homelessness are still profound problems that face as many as 1.7 million of Michigan’s 9.8 million residents.

Children, in particular, are hard hit in Michigan by hunger and homelessness. Last year, Michigan was listed as having the nation’s fourth highest increase (42 percent) in student homelessness over the past decade. There are more than 31,000 homeless students in Michigan, according to most recent state estimates. In 2013, the federally-funded Education Project for Homeless Youth (EPHY) program assisted 1,300 Washtenaw County students. That was up from 370 homeless students who received services in 2006. In 2013, approximately 318 AAPS students—2 percent of the school district’s population—received assistance from EPHY.

Gov. Snyder and President Obama proposed dramatically different strategies to address these problems. However, it’s heartening that politicians on both sides of the aisle acknowledged the importance of tackling poverty with relentless positive action, to quote Gov. Snyder’s somewhat cloying catch-phrase. We urge county and local elected officials to follow suit and come up with strategies in 2015 aimed at reducing child poverty and homelessness.