This post is for my readers in and near Monroe, Mich.
The Project Connect community information expo will be held from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Wednesday Nov. 18 at St. Joseph Catholic Church, parish hall, 937 E. Third St., Monroe, Mich., immediately before the God Works! Family Soup Kitchen dinner.
It is free and open to all [...]

Homeless Awareness Week in Monroe, Mich., will be Nov. 15-21.
As has been tradition, there will be a variety of events during the week to help raise donations for needy families, get assistance information to those families and explain the cost of homelessness to the community.
Here is the main story in today’s edition of The Monroe [...]

I had a post on draft for a couple of days on how social media such as blogging, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. can help with job hunting, and was going to link to a lot of sites and how-tos.
Forget all the details. There are only two points you need to remember:

Social media is not just [...]

Homeless Awareness Week in Monroe County will be held Nov. 15-21. The planning committee is working on the schedule of activities, donation drives, the community resource expo now called Project Connect, and its marketing campaign.
I get copies of the committee’s minutes, since my job at The Monroe Evening News includes reporting on the local non-profit [...]

Following up on the incident a few days ago where a homeless man was beaten to death under the Winchester Street Bridge in Monroe, The Monroe Evening News had a report in Sunday’s edition about those who live under the bridge – and trying to find solutions for the homeless population in the area.
Main story: [...]

There’s been a lot of discussion in Monroe, Mich., this week about the homeless population: where they are, what they are doing to help themselves, who in the community is helping them, and what is the appropriate response to the situation.
The spark is this:
There have been some people living under the Winchester Street bridge over [...]

A few months ago, another local resident asked me “Where do all those foreclosed families go?”
Good question, I said.
Some of them are leaving Michigan, based on statistical reports. I told her about a moving truck company analysis I had recently seen in the news that showed more outgoing than incoming families. Since that time, other [...]

It was a class project born out of a discussion of the American Dream. Five months later, it made it into a speech given by President Obama.
“it” is an eight minute video titled, “Is Anybody Listening.” It’s the first person accounts of students struggling with foreclosures, hunger and the threat of becoming homeless.
This video [...]

The Monroe Evening News reports today at the number of county homeless is on the decline.
A snippet:
“I’m surprised to see that number going down,” said Joe Grifka, the director of Fairview. I’m wondering if people are just fleeing southeast Michigan.”
To apply for and maintain public grants, communities are required by the U.S. Department of Housing [...]

The Lansing State Journal has this article: Foreclosure freefall can be fast, so take charge.
A snippet:
It takes only about 10 months for a financially stable family to go from cozying around the fireplace to huddling in a homeless shelter.
Home foreclosure happens quickly, experts say. It’s best to know your options, be prepared and get the [...]