Families & Community

The federal ban on evictions has expired, but people in Michigan can still get help paying their rent.

The state has more than half a billion dollars available through the COVID Emergency Rental Assistance Program, known as CERA.

More information, and an online application, is available at Michigan.gov/cera.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer has toured much of the state this week to build support for using American Rescue Plan funds for affordable housing.

Whitmer’s stops included Detroit, Jackson, and Kalamazoo. She’s hoping to win legislative approval to commit $100 million from the federal government for housing.

She says that could leverage another $380 million dollars in private sector investment.

“Right now, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to give thousands of Michiganders a safe place to call home,” she said at the Detroit event.

Like other Michigan cities, Flint has seen a sharp rise in violent crime this year.

Organizers hope a month-long day-camp starting Monday will help quell the violence.

The city of Flint is partnering with local churches to offer activities for children under 16 years old.

Pastor Chris Martin hopes the Super Summer Fun Camp will give Flint kids a place to go.

The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department has received more than 24,000 claims of water damage from residents since the severe storms and floods that occurred on June 26.

5,400 of those claims are from households with senior citizens and those with disabilities. Those residents are eligible to have city crews come and clear debris from people's basements.

In the wake of devastating damage brought on by historic flooding, Wayne and Washtenaw County are waiting to see if President Joe Biden will issue a presidential declaration of disaster. In the meantime, the city of Detroit will provide low-income residents with contractors to help clean and repair flood-damaged homes.

Residents eligible for help from the city include homeowners with a poverty tax exemption, people with a disability, senior citizens, and people with children under ten. 

The torrential rain and flooding that struck parts of Metro Detroit on June 26 took a “devastating” toll on some households. That’s especially true in some Detroit communities, where many people lack insurance and there are a large number of low-income, senior, or disabled residents.

It’s summer in Michigan, and you’re going camping. You’ve packed the tent, sleeping bags, and bug spray. Now comes the fun part. Planning what you're going to eat. Bon Appétit’s current issue has some tips, gear and recipe ideas for cooking while camping so you can sit back around the campfire and enjoy the outdoors. 

For starters, don’t bring food that you wouldn't normally eat, said Alex Beggs, senior staff writer for Bon Appétit.

Detroit is the most segregated city in America, according to a new study from the Othering and Belonging Institute at the University of California-Berkeley. The study also ranks the Detroit-Warren-Livonia metropolitan area as the fourth most segregated metro area in the country.

Grand Rapids-based Bethany Christian Services is hoping to use a former nursing home in Alma, Michigan to house migrant children who were unaccompanied at the southern U.S. border.

The building Bethany would use to house the children is owned by Michigan Masonic Homes. The property would need to undergo conditional rezoning in order for Bethany to use it.

The city of Alma is still in the process of reviewing Bethany and Michigan Masonic Homes' request and proposal. It has scheduled a public comment hearing for July 12.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer outlined plans Monday to use $1.4 billion dollars in federal COVID-19 funds to expand childcare in Michigan.

The governor traveled to a childcare center in Oakland County to present her plan, some of which will require approval from the Republican-controlled Legislature.

JACKSON ─ As is her habit, Cathy Moore called out as she made her way through the kitchen toward the living room where her mother lay in a hospital bed.

“Hey, Puddin’, how are we today?” she asked, using her nickname for 92-year-old Willie Mae Dunlap, whose eyes fluttered in recognition of her daughter’s arrival.

Moore and her brother, Melvin Moore, who have spent much of their lives since 2018 caring for their mother in her Jackson home despite a progressive form of palsy that’s claimed her mobility inch by inch.

United States Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack is visiting Michigan this week. His first stop was at Huron High School in Ann Arbor, where the Washtenaw County Health Department was distributing COVID-19 vaccines.

Most of the people getting the shot at the popup clinic were young people, aged 12-18. Vilsack watched as a middle-schooler got the vaccine, and commended her responsibility to her community.

Chanting, "We can't wait," survivors of catastrophic auto accidents, their families, and friends gathered Wednesday to call on state legislators to take action to prevent deep cuts to payments to their long-term care providers.

Bills to prevent the cuts (HB 4486 and SB 314) have been languishing in committees in the state House and Senate, with no hearings scheduled before elected leaders leave Lansing for summer recess. The 45% cuts will be imposed on July 1 as part of Michigan's new auto insurance law.

On June 7, 2016, a pickup truck crashed into a group of bicyclists in Kalamazoo County, killing five people and injuring four others. Five years later, cyclists in the area are reflecting on the aftermath of the crash.

Paul Runnels is a member of the Chain Gang Bicycle Club, and one of the four survivors. He said the crash impacted him and other survivors physically and emotionally in ways he still feels today.

A grim chapter of the history of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan was remembered today. The Mt. Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School closed 87 years ago this week.

Mohamed Soumah was offered sanctuary by the Ann Arbor Friends Meeting House two years ago, after an immigration judge ordered his deportation. Now, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has granted him a stay of removal for one year. 

Soumah has polycystic kidney disease and needs dialysis, something he says he can't get in Guinea. He only left the Quaker meeting house for those appointments, accompanied by clergy members from the Washtenaw Congregational Sanctuary.

In Royal Oak, a controversy over a war memorial was a distraction hovering over Monday’s Memorial Day parade.

Thousands of people lined Main Street, listening to bands play, waving at veterans riding floats and hearing several groups of women dressed as “Rosie the Riveter” chant “Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.”

Normally, Memorial Day unites communities, but there is a division in Royal Oak.

People who receive unemployment payments must once again prove they’ve engaged in some type of state-approved job search activity or risk losing the benefit.

The rule had been suspended since March of 2020 because of the COVID-19 crisis. It was reinstated May 30.

Now, people will need to again show proof every week they’ve applied for a job, been through some type of training, or engaged in some other type of work-search activity.

Hundreds of people are expected to attend a picnic at the Genesee County jail in downtown Flint Sunday.

The picnic will be from noon 'til 2 p.m. After that, organizer Johnell Allen says Sunday’s picnic is part of broader day of service in Flint and other parts of the county.

“We’re going to do some paint. We’ll straighten up some fences. We’re going to be able to clean some stuff,” says Allen. “We’re going to make sure we go to these parks. We’re going to make sure it’s clean in Genesee County.”

Earlier in the pandemic, health officials were worried Indigenous populations would be hesitant to get a COVID vaccine. Now, they’re among the most vaccinated populations in the country. That's according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In Michigan, community nurses say there was already a lot of trust in tribal health centers that administer the shots.