Partner Stories
Community: Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation
The mortgage foreclosure crisis in this country is touching every
American life in some capacity, so it is no surprise that vulnerable
individuals in Washtenaw County are seriously affected. In 2007 nearly
350 mortgage foreclosure sales for senior households were recorded
in Washtenaw County. The University of Michigan, as a partner in the
Foreclosure Prevention Collaborative, is working with others to develop
innovative strategies to reach out and engage residents whose homes
are being foreclosed. Members of the Foreclosure Prevention Collaborative
are working with the seven senior subsidized rental housing buildings
in the area, in anticipation of a flood of seniors in need of alternative
housing. The Collaborative is also providing financial literacy training
and one-on-one counseling to seniors. The
Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation is supporting these
efforts to reach out to our community’s senior citizens and come to
the aid of those whose lives have been suddenly and irreversibly changed.
Community: Ford Foundation
Race and gender inequality are contested topics that find their way into our schools, our offices, our living rooms, and into our courts of law. The Ford Foundation in New York has enabled a study by faculty in Psychology, Education, and Social Work in which intergroup dialogues are used to bring together an equal number of students from two identity groups to explore their own and the other group’s identities, analyze how power and inequality affect members of both groups, and examine ways to bridge the intergroup differences. These studies have demonstrated that participation in intergroup dialogues fosters active thinking, understanding institutional and other structural features of society that produce and maintain group-based inequities, and preparation for citizenship.
Community: The Skillman Foundation
The Skillman Foundation’s commitment to sending more Detroit teens
to college is the reason that the Foundation supports the University
of Michigan’s efforts in the Multicultural Engineering Programs Office
(MEPO). MEPO manages a unique program called the Summer
Engineering Academy, which aims to improve math and science performance for 7th
through 12th graders. The Skillman Foundation’s grants to the Summer
Engineering Academy have helped to attract Detroit area middle school
students to the program, and maintain strong diversity in the student
population served. The Summer Engineering Academy offers residential
and apprenticeship programs that offer plenty of hands-on experience
and instruction in mathematics, computer science, engineering, communication
skills, technical writing, and research protocols. The Academy has
a tremendous record of improving student academic performance and preparing
students to pursue college degrees in math, science, and engineering.