Our Kids are Better Than the Neighbor's

[XLFD]

As far as our kids are concerned, we are in a bad neighborhood.  Yet this is actually a good result since the kids in Mason County are apparently doing alright when you compare what's going on next door in the three counties that border us.  

This is the comprehensive result of the 2019 Kids Count in Michigan Data Book as it concerns our area.   The book compiles data to help illustrate the state of Michigan’s children and consists of four general indicators:  1)  Economic Security, 2) Health & Safety. 3) Family & Community, and 4) Education.  Each indicator has between 3-5 objective areas of data that can be quantified and allows a comparative ranking between counties in Michigan for each area. 

Compiled together and weighted appropriately, the best county to be a kid in Michigan in 2019 is Livingston County.  The worst happens to be our neighbor to the east, Lake County.  Manistee and Oceana County aren't that far behind them as the map and legend indicates:

Mason County, nestled betwixt those three, is actually in the top half of counties.  Looking deeper at the findings, we may come to some better understanding of why.  Let's look at what the general trend throughout the state is first.

The study compares current data with a base year, typically 2012 or whenever the previous comprehensive study was done for that statistic.  The population of children has decreased by over 3% during a time when overall population increased.  Each of the indicators have seen general improvement over the period.  Children living in poverty are down over 20% since 2012, deaths among children and infant mortality are both down about 3%, teen births are down over 30%, and students are more likely to graduate on time.  

Our neighboring counties have a couple of statistical outliers among them.  In Lake County, for example, a whopping 95.3% of students qualify for free/reduced price lunch, nearly twice the state average and much higher than Livingston County:

While Manistee County leads the counties by a landslide in not graduating kids on time (the asterisk indicates a county has a 'virtual school'):  

Reviewing the reports, Mason County never cracks the top five of the best counties, but at the same time, it never cracks the worst five.  Lake, Manistee, and Oceana Counties repeatedly do so, which seems kind of surprising given that the latter two are shoreline counties with populations just a little under Mason County and possess much of the same general resources.  

Mason County adults appear to be doing something a lot better in providing for their children (even getting their kids' elevated blood lead levels down which put the county as worst or second worst for the period of 2013-2015) than those around us.  Government and school officials should be able to claim a little of the credit, if there's some actually policy or curriculum making the difference, but the lion's share of credit really needs to go to the Mason County parents of those kids managing to make ends meet, while keeping their children safe, healthy, and in a stable environment.  

[Willy]

The study sounds good but I'm afraid the MLPP is one of those progressive leftist organizations funded by the Kellogg Foundation who also backs George Soros's pro socialist organizations. I doubt that much of what comes out of the MLPP is not much more than propaganda and should be viewed with suspicion. The Kellogg foundation also has ties to La Raza, the Clintons, Black Lives matters and other left leaning groups. I wish I could take this study seriously but the connection to the left makes it hard to support. 

[XLFD]

That's a valid point, Willy, the MLPP is a supposedly non-partisan group unaffiliated with the Democratic Party, but it has an effectively liberal directive in doing their main job of affecting public policy to aid the 'economically vulnerable'.  They believe that using the power of government will accomplish this goal.  

It's much different than the other non-partisan group called the Mackinac Center for Public Policy which does the same objective but through different means and who also use research and statistics to challenge government overreach and advocate for free-market approaches to public policy so that free people can realize their potential and their dreams.

Because of their philosophies, a Republican/Libertarian will be receptive to MCPP and wary of MLPP, while a Democrat/Socialist will be receptive to MLPP and wary of MCPP.  It's easy, however, to tell the two groups apart if you recall the mnemonic device that the second letter of their acronym defines their philosophy:  liberal and conservative.  

So while I'm suspicious of the MLPP, I won't be too suspicious of a 'research' effort like this that looks objective on its face, but I will likely not find their solutions feasible.

[Willy]

I might also add the MLPP is a pro illegal alien organization while advocating for Government benefits for the illegals. Everything they do is for the benefit of establishing a socialist society. The Mackinac Center is based on Constitutional adherence unlike the leftists anti Constitutional doctrines that want to eliminate the Constitution so that Government has no obstacles in controlling the population. MLPP is only one of many organizations disguised as do gooders but are actually actively subverting our rights. The proverbial wolf in sheep's clothing.

They want to establish 'Safe zones" which are essentially sanctuary cities under a different name. This is who they are.

Safe Zone Policies and Why They Are Needed

With vulnerable immigrant communities under attack from the Trump administration and deportations rising at an unprecedented rate across the country, governors and attorneys general are using their executive powers to create policies intended to help immigrants feel safe in their communities—safe to attend schools, to use the courts and to seek necessary medical attention without the fear of deportation or family separation.

Safe zone policies can be created through executive order by the governor’s office and implemented through advisory and guidance documents issued by both the governor and attorney general. These policies generally provide that state facilities, including state-funded schools, universities, healthcare centers and courts, may not grant access or provide information not otherwise required by law to Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents without a valid court-issued warrant reviewed by appropriate personnel at the facility. Safe zone policies may also preclude law enforcement officers and other state officers and employees from asking about immigration status where irrelevant to the services being provided, or in the case of law enforcement officers, the illegal activity under investigation.

We have to wake up people. This is a never ending battle to save America. It is well funded and disguised in many instances as well meaning groups of caring people.

[snide]

But according to our city's "elite" our schools are beyond repair and YOU (not the tourists) have 110 MILLION just lying around to spend on this ........