United Way for Southeastern Michigan took a major step forward in its mission to improve educational preparedness levels across the region with the recent launch of Operation ABC, and is currently looking for volunteers to join the effort.

Operation ABC is part of a literacy movement United Way is championing, and focuses on educational preparedness, with a specific goal of assuring that children in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties are reading at grade level by the time they enter the third grade. Educational preparedness is a component of United Way's Agenda for Change for the region.

Through this innovative initiative, United Way is bringing together local school districts, nonprofits, corporations and an army of volunteers to improve  the reading skills of metro Detroit students in grades one and two. To make this a reality, more than 2,000 area residents will be recruited and trained, then head out to southeast Michigan classrooms to tutor children in reading. All volunteers commit to spending one to five hours as a tutor each week.

UWSEM President and CEO Michael J. Brennan unveiled Operation ABC during a Jan. 24 press conference at the UAW Solidarity House in Detroit. Accompanied by a representative group of Operation ABC sponsors and 30 students in first and second grades from area schools, Brennan issued a formal call to action for potential supporters.

“Part of our mission is to mobilize the caring power of the region to effect positive, lasting change,” said Brennan. “Additionally, as a member of One D, we took on the mantle of educational preparedness as a primary focus. Operation ABC is an example of that commitment in action. We are addressing an immediate need in our community by directly aligning resources – 2,000 volunteers, with a vital need-- tutoring first and second graders in select schools throughout the tri-county region.”

Operation ABC is critical because third grade is the first major milestone in early childhood literacy, according to United Way research.

"If a child fails to read at the recommended reading level by the third grade, a potential domino effect begins, diminishing that child’s chances of completing high school,” Brennan said. "Now more than ever, the success of the region in the 21st century will require a renewed commitment to a culture of achievement in our schools and communities. Unless more youth graduate from school prepared to succeed, southeast Michigan will be unable to compete in the global economy. Early education is the key."

Nationally, 46 percent of children come to school unprepared to succeed. Within southeast Michigan, the gap in early education is reflected in 2006 MEAP results. While 2006 MEAP Reading Test results showed improvements over those of 2005, nearly 7,000 third graders throughout the tri-county area are not reading at grade level. 

For the past year, United Way has been working to build the framework, along with the partnerships and collaborations needed to make Operation ABC possible. Following extensive research, United Way began to shape the model for Operation ABC, including securing the necessary resources to support volunteers in the effort.

“Aside from the amount of human resources needed, we had to shape a training process and develop specific security clearance procedures for each volunteer,” said Dona Ponepinto, UWSEM vice president, Community Investments and Partnerships.

“Once accepted, each volunteer will participate in two basic training sessions that will cover areas such as emergency procedures, child interaction coaching, and specialized training on a school-specific tutoring model. Volunteers will then be placed based on their skills, location preference, or a school’s program needs.”

Though statistics indicate gaps in early education around southeast Michigan, United Way is working to bridge the gap in quality early childcare and educational opportunities that greatly increase readiness through programs such as Operation ABC.  Additional United Way early education programs already in progress include Success by Six™ and the Virgil H. Carr School Attendance Initiative.

Individuals interested in becoming an Operation ABC volunteer can click here for application details, or dial 2-1-1. Organizations may get involved by adopting a school (committing at least 10 people to serve as volunteer tutors) by e-mailing Laura.Stanton@LiveUnitedSEM.org for more information.

A little innovative fundraising and a lot of generosity helped United Way surpass its latest campaign goal.

United Way reported raising just over $58 million toward the $59 million fundraising goal in November. At the time, 2007 campaign chair Troy Clarke, president, General Motors North America, along with United Way President and CEO Michael Brennan, vowed to keep the momentum going to meet the goal. On Jan. 19, we did it.

To put United Way over the top, GM graciously donated the proceeds from the sale of a 2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 at the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction in Scottsdale, Ariz. NBC late-night celebrity Jay Leno drove the prized Corvette ZR-1 prototype onto the auction block and it sold for $1 million -- in spirited bidding -- to Dave Ressler, a Chevrolet dealer from North Dakota. Dubbed the Blue Devil for its custom (LeMans Blue) paint job, the uber muscle car comes with a 6.2-liter V-8 capable of producing 620 horsepower, and tops out at over 200 mph.

As the winner, Ressler will take ownership of the first production version of the 2009 Corvette ZR-1 later this year, at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Ky.  He also received tons of extras including tickets to The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, a personal tour of Leno's garage, and a driving experience in a Corvette Z06 from the Bondurant School of High Performance Driving, with special instructor, Ron Fellows.

“GM presented United Way with an incredible opportunity to benefit from this auction,” Brennan said. “Through their generosity and the support of the Barrett-Jackson Auction Company, we were able to meet our fundraising goal during a critical time for our community. The $59 million we raised will be put to work to greatly help individuals and families thrive in southeast Michigan.”

Total dollars raised through United Way’s annual campaign support the organization's Agenda for Change, which focuses on educational preparedness, financial stability and basic needs.

Volunteer Spotlight
Helping further the Agenda

Leadership Next member Chris Uhl, a commercial banker at Comerica, is lending his time and talent to United Way for Southeastern as a volunteer on an important process for the organization.

As United Way moves forward its Agenda for Change for the region, requests for proposals from area organizations interested in partnering in the future are currently being reviewed. It is a painstaking process involving a core group of key volunteers -- who make a considerable commitment -- providing subject matter expertise in support of United Way staff. Uhl has stepped up and says he is excited to participate.

As a reviewer, Uhl will be reading RFPs related to possible funding for financial stability work and helping to evaluate prospective future partners for United Way as we continue to work towards measurable outcomes. Educational preparedness, financial stability and basic needs are the Agenda for Change focus areas.

UWSEM and Leadership Next would like to thank Uhl and all the volunteer reviewers from Leadership Next who are giving a substantial amount of time to help UWSEM ensure that meaningful impact happens in our region. Chris and the rest of the review team, Michelle Peters, Albert Berger, Nancy Robinson and Marcus Harris, are true leaders.

Upcoming Events
Spring breakers invade Detroit … to serve

Approximately 50 college students from across the nation will invade Detroit for spring break this month, but they aren’t here to relax. They’re here to serve the community.

United Way for Southeastern Michigan will host the students, who are participating in a national effort called Alternative Spring Break, sponsored by United Way of America, Deloitte, FedEx and thinkMTV. UWA is also sending volunteers to Hancock, Miss., and Lake Charles, La., to complete service projects.

UWA began its Alternative Spring Break program two years ago to help repair the devastation left in the wake of Hurricanes Ivan, Katrina and Rita. This year, the organization is expanding its reach beyond the Gulf Coast to provide college students an opportunity to learn about inner cities and the challenges they face.

“We are excited to bring ASB to Detroit,” said UWSEM’s Angela Walker, volunteer program specialist, who is overseeing the project. “It’s a unique opportunity to shed light on the issues present in Detroit and engage a group of college students who are eager to play a role in creating solutions to those issues.”

During their weeklong stay, volunteers will build wheelchair ramps for homebound residents, construct affordable housing, renovate childcare facilities and create safe play spaces. When they’re not volunteering, the students will explore Detroit culture and learn about some of the city's challenges and areas of opportunity.

Volunteers will be in Detroit from Feb. 24 through March 2. During that week, they’ll be blogging about their experiences, so stay tuned to United Way’s Web site for more information.

Kurt's Corner
Low birthweight’s tie to reading performance

While a number of factors contribute to a child’s ability to read effectively – mother’s education, socioeconomic status and lead exposure to name a few – a child’s weight at birth  may be the most significant. Research indicates low birthweight babies are much more likely to fail in school than those of average weight or better.

As United Way for Southeastern Michigan pursues its Agenda for Change, which targets educational preparedness as one of three focus areas, it is critical to increase awareness of contributing (root) factors that impede progress. Getting more children to read at grade level is one of the priorities of the educational preparedness work, as evidenced by the recent launch of Operation ABC -- a unique initiative focused on improving grade level reading by mobilizing at least 2,000 volunteers and rallying multiple sectors of the community around the cause. Research shows that what a child weighs at birth is an important factor in future educational success.

Low birthweight is defined as less than 5 pounds, 8 ounces, and very low birthweight is defined as less than 3 pounds, 4 ounces. Because the chance of living a long and healthy life improves as the pounds increase, low birthweight infants are at a higher risk of death or long-term illness and disability than those of normal birthweight, and very low birthweight infants have the lowest survival rates.

Infants born so small are approximately 100 times more likely to die in the first year of life than are infants of normal birthweight. Very low birthweight infants who survive are at a significantly increased risk of severe problems, including physical and visual difficulties, developmental delays and cognitive impairment, which require increased levels of medical, educational and parental care.

Studies have found that children born extremely premature, less than 28 weeks, or with a very low birthweight perform more poorly in school than children born at term and at normal weight. Much less is known about children of higher gestational ages and birthweights. 

The association between birthweight and reading, as well as spelling and arithmetic disabilities, have shown a graded relationship, with children who weighed less than 5 pounds, 8 ounces having the highest risks. Even children who weighed between 6.6 pounds and 7.7 pounds had an increased risk of all three learning disabilities compared to children who weighed 7.7 pounds and over.

The same was true when the focus turned to children born at term (39–40 weeks of gestation), suggesting that the association could not be explained by a low gestational age. Compared to children born at term, children born at 33 to 36 weeks and 37 to 38 weeks (gestational ages) more often had reading and spelling difficulties, but no relation was established between gestational age and difficulties with math.

Survival rates for extremely premature infants and infants with very low birthweight are increasing. This development is expected to result in a greater number of children with brain injuries. Researchers have followed premature children from birth up to school age and found that they have higher rates of difficulties with language skills, cognitive function, visuomotor integration and problem behavior than their peers who were delivered at term.

While most studies have focused primarily on very low birthweight children or children born extremely premature, only a few have looked at those with a birthweight closer to what is considered normal. The few available studies indicate that these children may have an increased risk of a lower school performance than children born at term and within the average birthweight range.

More infants have been born underweight in recent years. One reason for the increase is that the number of twin, triplet and higher-order multiple births has grown. Multiple births are much more likely than singletons to be of low birthweight. For instance, 57 percent of twins and 94 percent of triplets, compared with 6 percent of singletons, were of low birthweight in 2004. However, even among singletons, low birthweight has increased. Changes in the obstetric management of pregnancy with increases in induction and cesarean delivery, and an increase in the use of assisted reproductive technologies, called ART, may also have played a role.

Nationally, the percentage of infants with low birthweight was 8.2 in 2005, up from 7.9 percent in 2003 and 8.1 percent in 2004. The rate has increased slowly but steadily since 1984 (6.7 percent), and the 8.2 percent in 2005 was the highest since 1968.

The percentage of black, non-Hispanic infants with low birthweight is significantly higher than that of any other racial or ethnic group.  (Figure 1) From 1990 to 2003, the percentage of low birthweight black or non-Hispanic infants varied between 13.1 and 13.6 percent, but rose to 14 percent in 2005. Infants of other racial and ethnic groups also experienced increases between 1990 and 2005.  Among white, non-Hispanic infants, the rate rose to 7.3 percent from 5.6. Among Hispanic infants, it rose to 6.9 percent from 6.1 percent. Rates were up for Asians/Pacific Islanders infants from 6.5 percent to 8 percent, and for American Indian/Alaska Native infants, from 6.1 percent to 7.4 percent. 

The percentage of infants born with very low birthweight (less than 3 pounds, 4 ounces) has increased gradually in recent years. In 2005, 1.49 percent of infants were very low birthweight, up from 1.48 percent in 2004, 1.42–1.46 percent from 1997 to 2003, 1.28–1.37 percent from 1989 to 1996, and 1.16–1.24 percent in each year from 1981 to 1988. 

Figure 1.  Percent Low Birthweight Infants by Race and Ethnicity in the United States, 1995 - 2005

The Annie Casey Foundation has collected a number of birth-related indicators, based on the characteristics of both mother and infant.  The latest data available on birthweight is from 2004.  Table 1 ranks the states, showing Michigan at about the midpoint -- a ranking of 30th at 8.3 percent -- just above the national average of 8.1 percent.

Table 1.  Ranking of States by Percent Low Birthweight Infants, 2004

The last figure (Figure 2) looks at low birthweight trends in southeast Michigan.  While the rates for Macomb, Oakland and out-Wayne counties all fall slightly below the state average (and have over the 1995-2006 time period) they have each shown a slow, steady growth.  The low birthweight rate in the city of Detroit, while demonstrating a degree of variability, has averaged about 1.8 times that of the remainder of Wayne County.  This is not surprising given the national trends of higher rates in the African-American community and that fact that the vast majority of births in the city are to African-American women.

Figure 2.  Percent Low Birthweight Infants in Southeast Michigan, 1995 – 2006

United Way’s Agenda for Change guides our work for the next 10 years, so focusing on children reading at grade level and associated barriers will remain a focal point for the immediate future.  The trends show low birthweight rates increasing, with the highest numbers appearing in the African-American community.  While many factors contribute instances of lower birthweights, efforts to decrease teenage births, coupled with better access to primary care, particularly prenatal care, must be a priority for our community.