Detroit Talk City | Head Start funding; Ferndale parking

Thanks for joining us on this Thursday, October the 15th. I'm your host, Charlie Langton. Welcome to Detroit Talk City. Let's get right into today's topics. There is a national threat to Head Start funding, pre-kindergarten funding, early learning, that type of thing. Dr. Bobbi Hayes-Goodham from Matrix Human Services is here, and she will tell us the potential, what those potential cuts could mean for low-income Detroit children and working parents. Plus, let's go to Ferndale now. Some say there is a parking crunch putting the squeeze on your favorite local spots. And Dana Tauscher is here, the owner of Syndicate Ferndale. She will discuss the loss of parking and some new apartment buildings coming up in Ferndale as well. Don't want to miss that. All right, that brings us to our poll question. Is bad parking enough to ruin a city? Just take a look at that QR code right there at the bottom of the screen to vote. We'll show you the results a little bit later on in the show. As you know, this show is all about hearing from you, the viewer. We want to have a conversation. Just weigh in. A lot of ways to do it. You can text us or call us. That number is 313-765-8844. You can also jump into the live Zoom room. Our meeting number, 892-4909-0290. and of course on social media hashtag us at Detroit Talk City all right let's get right here uh dana tauscher is here the owner of syndicate ferndale that's a uh it's a restaurant right it is yeah our seasonal cycle menu yeah and you've been open since about 2023 or so about three years we just celebrated three years in september and you also own the place across us through the smokehouse is that right i did yes yep we are currently closed for the season uh kind of working on this parking situation that we got going on before we reopen. Is parking that bad in Ferndale? On the east side, yes. Right now we are definitely at a deficit. We're at a loss of over a hundred parking spots. And the big, besides the city, besides Syndicate Ferndale, a great spot there, but Como's is there, Imperial, Danny's. Yeah, how about you, all of those locations that have been there and been in the vibrant city for a long time. And there's park, is there any parking on the east side we do have a couple lots we have a lot behind Como's that fits about 35 40 cars and then uh right across Nine Mile there we have the public library space and can you park in there the public library you can but we're looking at about uh 96 percent occupancy by 4 p.m. on the peak days yes yep on the peak days are Thursday Friday Saturday Thursday Friday Saturday yes yep so that's good for you isn't it yeah yeah i guess you want that right well well we we want those to be our peak days but with no parking it does limit us to who can get in through our doors but the people that are parking on the east side of Nine Mile probably are going to go to one of your places ones i just met we sure hope so but they could cross Woodward now there's a bend so just in general do you think that parking is really that big of a deal for the success of a downtown so Well, you know, before I owned a business, I would say no. I was someone where if I wanted to go to a location and I had my mind set on it, that's where I was going. I wanted their food. I wanted, you know, whatever, that shop. But being a business owner now, I do see the impact that it has created. You know, I've had a couple people come in and say, hey, you know, my husband went to go park the car. I've already finished my appetizer and had a drink before he's gotten back. He's trying to find parking. Right, he's trying to find parking, and it really discourages people to want to come back. So there was a parking lot there that had about 75 spaces or so, and it was torn down by the city to make room for an apartment complex, which is in the process of being built, is that my understanding? Yes, yep, yep. It's on the Vester, we call it the Vester Street, that's the street you're on. Yep, yep. All right, so that apartment complex is going to have about 72 units or so, and you told me before that's going to be done in January? Hopefully, yep, this January. They say that they're on track, so we're hoping so. So when the parking lot was there, did you have any problem parking? Absolutely not. Nope. So we're talking about 75 spots. 75 spots, but they're right there, right in our little corridor, in our little neck of the woods, over in that little corridor between Hambos, Elks Club, Imperial, Syndicate, and Valentine Distillery. So you're saying then when you lost the 75 spots to the apartment complex, and I'm assuming when you're where they're going through all the city council meetings you were right there weren't you oh yeah yes don't build the apartments there's actually a big lawsuit against it actually because we knew that it was going to create a huge deficit and ultimately those those um individuals who had that um i'm sorry who had um the lawsuit against it ended up losing but the deficit though but that's a parking complex it was losing money though wasn't it as far as what i right it was losing a lot of money well you have to do something about it not not it was privately owned and they weren't making money on it they didn't want it anymore and so they wanted to see more than what they were getting in yeah and they wanted to see a development now with the parking ordinances to create that development they had to also put up a parking structure which they had approved at the same time as that apartment complex but unfortunately the funding went through on that parking structure and the parking structure never got built but it was a privately owned a construction, a privately owned apartment, a parking lot, losing money. Owners said whatever, and who bought it? Did the city buy it? No, the contractor for the apartments. Yes. Yep. Well, you guys have no say in that. What could the city have done? Well, because there was a parking structure in queue to be built, it was- What does that mean? I don't understand. A different one? Yes. So because that apartment complex was going up and they were going to be taking away some of our parking due to parking surveys they had to inject more parking for that apartment complex so you're saying that the city was required to have another 75 or so parking spots yes correct based on what based on the parking uh their survey their survey that's not mandatory is it uh yes and no it said to be mandatory and to be followed as a guideline but it was overruled It's a guideline, yes, but there's nothing mandatory about that. You had a private park construction losing money. It's sold to an apartment complex. See, I'm baffled a little bit by this. You're a bar, you're a restaurant, one of the best in Ferndale, I understand. And now you've got 75 or so apartments literally next to your place. You're gonna make a fortune. So actually, I was wondering. And they all love to drink. And they all love to drink. always say that. I say when they're looking out of their windows, they're going to say, we got to go there tonight. But the truth is, is that- And they don't need parking. That's the best part of it. Well, they're deficient 26 spots for their tenants that then they got to come out. Yeah, they can walk across the street and walk back. You'll make more money at this apartment, God bless you, you should have a party. I sure hope so. I hope that that is the case. But that is a reality though. It is, yeah. We're hoping for the injection of new customers for sure when the apartment complex goes up. All right. So we're not against development. I'm not against development. I just want to make sure that we're not crushing the businesses that ultimately want to bring those people to the to the city. The reality is parking. And I understand that parking is an issue. And I know. But isn't a lot of people Uber now? They don't even drive. Yeah. And especially if they're going to a bar, you serve the best cocktails around. I mean, they don't want to drive. So we thought that, too. You know, in twenty twenty two, they did the moves impact where they eliminated a lot of the parking on the street to utilize the bike lanes and what we've noticed is there's not that much traffic of you know people on bikes or walking around like we thought that there would be with that with that you know moves impact so an alternative is put some cars instead of those bikes you'd be sort of yeah i think that all those businesses on Woodward would like it too have you been on the bike trail i have not no i haven't i haven't either and the other thing about parking, though, in Ferndale. Listen, I understand parking is a convenience, and I get it. If it's convenient, that'd be good. But there is another parking stretch called the Dot, right? Yep. Where it's huge. It's how many stories tall? Yeah, it's like four or five. And it's got, I remember in my notes, there's 300 plus spaces in there. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, how popular is Ferndale? I mean, that seems like there's a lot of parking. And the Dot, yes, it's on the other side of Woodward, but you can just walk. Well, it's interesting. It's interesting because they built the dot on the west side when they had sufficient parking over there and no one utilizes the dot and so the city looks at at the dot as a waste of funds that they spent because there's not much utilization because there's so much available parking over there and so the city moving forward really doesn't want to invest in any more parking structures and it's parking is becoming an issue sounds like there's a war between the east side of Ferndale and the west side of Ferndale, I think, isn't it? I'm going to say we hope not, but maybe for parking, we would love some of that parking. For parking, there is. All right, bottom line is you're worried about your business, you're worried about the city at least. They do have a study. It did say they needed more parking, and they took away 75 or so parking spaces, right? So how important is parking for the success of a city when it relates to small businesses? That's kind of the topic today. All right, this is the part of the show we want to hear from. you. Bad parking isn't enough to ruin a city? Text us. Call us. 313-765-8844. We'll read them live on the air. Detroit Talk City back after this break. So you want to zoom on Fox 2? We want you to zoom on Fox 2, but we want to make you look and sound really, really good. So four easy steps. First of all, take the phone and turn it aside. We want you to fill up the entire screen. Then you got to look around and you've got to find the light. Remember, we want the light in front of you, not behind you. That's good. And then we want all of Detroit to hear you. And finally, turn down the television like I'm going to do right now. We want to hear you, not the TV. All right, let's review these easy steps. First, flip it, light it, unmute it, TV, and then you are ready to Zoom. Remember, You can be a part of Fox 2's Detroit Talk City and the sports office. Just zoom in. Live. Fox City, I'm your host, Charlie White. Tonight, we do want to hear from you. Bad parking. Isn't enough to ruin a city for you? Would you go to a place that has a little shaky parking? Text us. Call us. 313-765-8844. You can also join us in the Zoom room, 892-4909-0290. Dana Tauscher. She is the owner of Syndicate Ferndale, a restaurant in Ferndale on the east side of Woodward, just south of, north of Nine Mile. Yep. You're north of Nine Mile, right? Yes, north of Nine Mile. Yep. We have a couple questions. Let's get to those texts right now. Here we go. This person writes, parking in Ferndale is awful. I think the bike lanes are a big part of the problem. There's got to be an answer for all of those divider poles you mentioned that uh those bike lanes is there some i mean can you convince this now the city does own the bike lanes right yeah and they put a lot of money into it but you're saying no one's riding their bicycles i don't see that many and none in the winter right none in the winter no they should have known that yeah it snows in Ferndale right yeah yeah we're in Michigan right okay but so is there any any thought about uh about turning bike lanes into parking well it's been discussed ever since it switched over. I mean, it's been discussed at many city council meetings, whether it was beneficial or not. And a lot of the business owners have to say that, you know, ultimately it took away a lot of our parking off of Woodward. So those storefront facing businesses on Woodward now have really eliminated almost 50 to 75 percent of their available parking. So there is a valet parking though, isn't there? There's no valet system in Ferndale right now it is a topic that they were interested in looking at but the the issue becomes is there's a survey that has to be done with the distance of where valet car has to go and the only spot that we have on our east side to put those cars at is right where our Ferndale train as anyone may know uh stops three times a day for a full hour and so unless you want to wait an hour and a half for your car to get it back from when that train comes i mean it's just not a sufficient solution. All right. Let's take a phone call here. Rick from Oak Park, Detroit Talk City. Hello, Rick. How are you doing, Charlie? Good. You want to hear my comment? I want to hear your comment. Yes, I do. I can't wait. I lived in Oak Park for 16 years. I drive through Ferndale and Royal Oak continually, and I will not shop in either downtown area because of the parking. It's ridiculous. Well, I agree. I agree. You agree. I got a couple of spots here though, aren't we? You think, but really, especially in Ferndale's downtown, when we're talking about these bike lanes and they've taken away a lot of those, those spaces on Woodward, you've got to find these little tiny parking lots and hope that you get there before the rush. Like I said, 96% is occupied by 4 PM. That library, that library parking lot, 96 on Thursday, Friday, saturday and in Ferndale yep 96 because you got to think where are all of our employees parking now when you had the parking lot with the 70 so parking spaces were also 90 percent of those also occupied yes yep what's the person losing money for i mean you gotta do something on monday tuesday right that's the problem in ferndale uh let's take a text over here uh who are you to tell someone what they can do with their property you're saying that the private owner of the of a parking lot should not have been sold to an apartment complex? Not necessarily, no. We want to see developments. I'm not someone that's against developments at all. I want to see Ferndale flourish all over. But it was contingent on a parking structure being built at the same time to ensure that we had no longer a parking deficit. And I think that that would really need to be considered when these decisions are being made through city council. Do you know if there's another space in Ferndale that's city-owned, or I guess privately-owned, if somebody wants to invest in the parking structure, But is there a place, do you think, that the city could build a parking garage? Well, actually, there's two proposals right now on the docket. And there's one that seems to be making some headway. It's an apartment and parking lot hybrid that they want to put in that Como's lot. But then what that does to us is it takes away our only available parking for the next two and a half years. And so the second... How many apartments for that one? Um, so I believe that they wanted to have a hundred apartments and then, um, there was a hundred parking spots for their tenants. And then I might be butchering these numbers, but it's right in this realm. And then 70 additional parking spots for guests to come and park. Yeah, that sounds like it's good for you. Like, let's hold that thought over here. Uh, the Zoom room is open right now. Uh, is parking, bad parking enough to ruin a city for you? You can go to the Zoom room right now, 892-4909-0290. Quick break. Detroit Talk City back after this. Talk City, I'm your host, Charlie Light. And bad parking isn't enough to ruin a city for you. Text us, call us, 313-765-8844. You can also join us in the Zoom room, 892-4909-0290. That is our meeting ID number. Dana Tauscher is here. She's the owner of a syndicate, Ferndale, a restaurant bar in Ferndale. She says, yeah, there's terrible parking in Ferndale. She wants more parking. Let's go to the phones, okay? Kathy from Royal Oak, you're on Detroit Talk City. Hello, Kathy. Hi. Hi, Charlie and Dana. Yeah, I live in Royal Oak, and the parking is horrendous here. I live close to downtown. I sympathize with Dana. Ferndale is bad, too. I go there often, too, so I understand where the library parking is a problem, too. In the bike lane, I think it's miserable they're doing that. It's treacherous. I would never be a biker. I'm Woodward. Anyway, I think it's a dilemma. It's a real dilemma for all cities they're dealing with. Kathy, do you not go to a city like your own city, Royal Oak, or even Ferndale, because the parking is shaky? On the west side. And it's a shame I go to the bank there, where I have to pay for it for a lot of these 15 minutes, and worry that I'll get a ticket. And then in Royal Oak, I avoid it at all costs. And I live here. I love the Royal Oak. All right, Kathy. Sorry about that. Thank you for the call, anyway. Do you think a city can ruin a business because of parking? I think that it really can, ultimately. I don't think that people realize what a loss that we're at with a deficiency in parking. I mean, a lot of these businesses in the East Corridor, from what I'm hearing, are at a 40% loss due to it. And it's a huge impact at the end of the day. Pat, from East Point, you're on Detroit Talk City. Hello, Pat. Hi. My question is, what about a shovel service? Is that out of the question? Because in the summertime, it's all right to walk, but not for handicapped people. But in the wintertime, they're going to lose customers because it's going to be too cold or in a blizzard. They're not going to want to walk from one area. Is a shuttle service out of the question? That's a good question. Have they ever talked about a shuttle? Yeah, Pat, I think that's a great question. I think that we have talked about shuttles and valet services and trying to get some movement across from Woodward to the east side. but really we haven't seen anything go through city council or anything get approved to help create that impact uh let's go to Ferndale Kathy from Ferndale way in here on Detroit Talk City hello Kathy oh maybe is that the mayor no Kathy are you there oh we missed we missed missed Kathy miss Kathy uh oh she's there there's Kathy hello Kathy yeah yeah i got a question for you has Has anybody ever approached Credit Union One for a partnership to man their perfectly beautiful parking structure during nights and weekends? Kathy, that is a great question. So actually, that is where they wanted to put the valet service was at Credit Union One. But what they're running into is because of the train that stops there right past the Credit Union One, there becomes a huge traffic jam. And if you're in Ferndale, you know all about that traffic jam from the train. but really the cars getting to and from where they're coming from is really not going to work out with that train that stops three times a day for an hour at a time. A train? Like a big train? A big train, yeah. We do deliveries in the middle of Ferndale. It stops three times a day for a full hour and we get traffic jams all around the city. I didn't know that. Oh yeah, that's a big problem too. We can talk about that another time. We'll have to do it another time. Dana Tauscher, Thank you, Kathy, for the call. Dana Tauscher, Syndicate Ferndale, check her out there. I still think you can make a lot of money when this apartment complex goes through. We'll see. Come see us. Even though we don't have parking, we need your support. There we go. All right, coming up our next half hour, is there a threat to the Head Start programs in the city? That is next on Detroit Talk City after the break. Back, Detroit Talk City. I'm your host, Charlie Langton. All right, still to come this half hour, When Washington cuts budgets to Head Start, for example, Detroit parents pay the price. So says Dr. Bobby from the Matrix Human Services. She is here with the truth on the fight to save Head Start. So let's get into it now. We'll get into it in a minute. Let's do a poll question first. One more time. Is bad parking enough to ruin a city for you? Just scan that QR code right there on the bottom of your screen. We'll show you the results later on in the show. And this show is all about hearing from you, the viewer. We want to have a conversation, and we want to know what you think. And so you can text us or call us, same number, 313-765-8844. You can jump into the Zoom room as well. Our meeting ID number is 892-4909-0290. and of course on social media just hashtag us at Detroit Talk City all right Dr. Bobby Hayes, that's your full name how are you i am great how are you today i'm doing just fine by the way before you became at the Matrix uh you're the vice president early childhood development so you know about uh funding for uh Head Start programs early learning programs that type of thing you were actually superintendent over in Ferndale schools yes i was do they have a parking problem when you were there? There is always parking problems where there is a booming And so with all the growth of Ferndale, I'm sure that that is continuing to be a problem. So yes. All right. Well, we'll figure out a Ferndale problem. I want to think about Head Start. So Head Start's a federal program, right? Yes. Money comes from the federal government. It goes to the states, all the states. And it's for, depending on early start, from birth to three and then from three to five is Head Start, right? So, yes. So we have Early Head Start, which actually we include pregnant mothers. We have a program for pregnant mothers. So you can sign up as soon as you know that you're conceiving or as soon as you are pregnant. So we have Early Head Start. You know why that is. You're going to need a lot more money for that one. Absolutely. All right. So we have Early Head Start programs. We have Head Start programs. And we also have programs with child care. We have our child care partnership program, which is when we provide Head Start slots to private preschool centers. We also have home-based programs. Head Start will go into the homes for early Head Start families to provide educational services. All is federally funded then, is that right? All is federally funded. It is based on need, though, right? Absolutely, absolutely. So you have to be, there's a certain number, you have to be under 100% of the poverty line. Is that how they figure it out? Yes, it is. It's based on your income level. There are also some other things that may make you eligible for Head Start, such as whether or not the child has been diagnosed as someone with a disability that might make them eligible for certain things. If they're a foster child, if they're homeless, there are certain other categories. So just to think of an argument, for low-income people to get their kids under five years old to start school. Absolutely. Is there anybody in this whole wide world that says it's a bad thing? I mean, you want kids in Head Start, right? Right, absolutely. And so that is one of the reasons why we have enjoyed bipartisan support for the last 61 years. In general, who can argue against educating kids? Now, so you're understanding, am I? I'm going to understand what it is there. Doctor, there is a threat to cutting the budget for Head Start. What the threat that we are facing right now is the new proposed rules. So the Head Start performance standards, which really kind of gives us a very clear guideline of what we're supposed to do for our children and our families, is about 130 pages. The proposed rules have been cut to 13. And so- Why is that bad? It's a significant thing. That's good. Nobody doubts that there are some redundancies, right? There's some streamlining that could happen. There's some additional bureaucracy we have in that. However, what it does is take some of the requirements out. I'll give you an example. But let me just say, let me say, I don't want to complicate it too much, though. Okay, okay. But this is a $12 billion program across the whole country, right? Across the country, yes. And Michigan gets about $416, or $400 million, give or take. Okay. This makes easy arguments, okay? Yes. So we're talking big numbers. Yes. But the argument is from the Trump administration is, it was all 100 pages of federal guidelines. Right. And so just correct me if I'm wrong. the administration is saying if we cut the bureaucracy and let the states decide a lot of different things we could save money and then therefore you get more money but the way the way they're trying to save money so some of the ways that they're trying to save money is looking at things like class sizes when you're talking about educating children especially well any children zero to five you don't want 30 kids in the classroom so so i would say the matrix head start staff works tremendously hard and to have them have twice the number of kids in the classroom with less services for instance mental health services and things like that that are required right now will no longer be required more kids less support is a threat well but i don't how is that happening though if you guys so it's instead of the feds decide the rules the state decide you you decide the rules right because you're part of the program that actually is going to make those rules exactly so the state does have licensing and it does revert to a lot of the state licensing things which varies by state which also means that head start will the quality of head start programs are going to vary from state to state right now michigan so let's talk about michigan yeah in michigan the ratios are very similar to the head start uh ratios but the class sizes are very different so that's what i'm talking about when i'm saying you could have twice the number of three-year-olds running around in your classroom. Now, with the developmental level of three-year-olds and their rambunctiousness and their busyness added to the complicated needs that a lot of our students bring into the classrooms, that is a recipe for disaster. You need more than 12 million dollars to do that It's that type of thing Coaching for our teachers. So here's our teachers Hold that. Hold that. We're going to get to it. I promise. We're going to get to it. I've got to take a break. We do want to hear from you. Is there a threat to the Head Start program? this thing is not working here uh is there a threat to the Head Start but we do want to hear from you 313-765-8844 that's our number Quick break, back in a moment. Back to Detroit City, I'm your host Charlie Light tonight, is there a national threat to the Head Start funding early learning that's what we're talking about here and uh Dr. Bobby Hayes Goodrum, she's with Matrix Human Services, Vice President of early child uh programs really, and everyone agrees the kids that get them into school as fast as possible okay uh let's get to, I know this is just for quick, I'm the Chief Program Officer for Matrix Human Services, I started as the Vice President of Early Childhood Education but I'm currently the Chief Program Officer, that's better, it is better no you're good all right yes let's get to these all right what let's let's let's do a text here uh what were the examples that you were going to share about bad things that could happen we're going to get to that all right let's go down the line all right so we talked a little bit about class sizes right we talked a little bit about the the potential to double some class sizes that and doubling class sizes while taking away certain things like coaching for teachers um and and i'll go right into my second thing which is a elimination of the need to consult with mental health services which really helps our teachers who many of them don't have specialized credentials and say working with children with disabilities or working with you know specialized students those mental health services really help our teachers create behavior plans and things like that that help our students be effective is that oh geez we only have 30 oh my gosh what else real quick we talk about class size doubling talking about mental health services what about teachers quality so the other part of it is that now and this is something that's not an option because we talked about some options yeah one of the things that they said is you cannot exceed or you cannot uh incentivize some any of the positions for having more qualifications than what is required in the Head Start Act now And the Head Start Act does not mention the credentials for all. So we're talking about having some issues with obtaining quality staff. And they have to speak English, too. You've got to teach English. Yes, that's a big piece. English-only instruction, which is not the way to acquire English. Take a break. All right, you're watching Detroit Talk City. Back in a moment. Detroit Talk City. Are children in Detroit, for example, at a disadvantage due to Head Start cuts? Assuming there are cuts. I don't know if there are cuts. Are there cuts? It's a threat. It's a threat. 3-7-6-5-8-8-4-4. Jump into the Zoom room, 8-9-2-4-9-0-9-0-2-9-0. Dr. Bobby Hayes, I'm good. No matter what happens, you've got to come back and do some work. Dr. Bobby, let's talk to Dr. Bobby. Let's take a phone call, all right? Yes. William from Wyandotte, you're on Detroit Talk City. Hello, William. Thank you, Charlie, and your guests. You know, I was just, I'm an old guy, older than you. But years ago, when my children were young, there was no such thing as Head Start or early childhood development. It just seems that this has become a huge bureaucracy that aims to indoctrinate our children into leftist ideology. You know, I know at one time it was five and six years old. Now they're, you know, even going back, like your guest said, to prenatal registrations. What are we doing here? Do we want the state to start raising our children for us or are our parents going to raise their own children? All right. Thank you. All right. Thank you, William. What do you think about that? That is that. I mean, that is a great question. And that's a great point. And that's how many people that's how some people feel. I won't say that's how many people feel. That's how some people feel. But you have to understand. So right now, with all of the executive orders, Like, the Head Start curriculum is about reading, mathematics, scientific exploration, social-emotional. There's not any indoctrination going on. We're teaching little kids how to read. We are actually helping families also. We're supporting families get the resources that they need so that there are no barriers to school readiness for the child. But there's no indoctrination going on. And I will also say that, and I don't want to make any assumptions about our caller's age or their generation. Right now, we have a lot of places where two parents are working or where there are single-parent homes and the parent is working. And so there's not necessarily the time that people don't have the same amount of time that they have historically had to do the types of things that we are doing for children in our Head Start program. And I think everybody agrees, a bipartisan effort for years, it's a good program. Head Start's a good program, no matter financing and bureaucracy. Let's go to the phones again. John from Farmington, you're on Detroit Talk City. Hello, John. Yes, how you doing, Charlie and Dr. Hayes? Look, I want to ask you something, Dr. Something. Back in the 60s, I went to Weber Junior High School, and we was having the same kind of problems back there at Eaton because we used to get secondhand books from the suburbs. And I was just wondering, why are we still having this kind of problem going on today? Because that was back in the 60s. And for another thing I'd like to ask, it's the lottery that's giving so much money, so they say, why are the schools in the city still having these kind of problems? I really don't believe that that's true, because I just can't see all that money going. And we still, plus you can close down schools in the city, so where is that money going? And why are the schools in the city still having problems? Good point, John. Thank you. So, John, we want to separate state funding, which is how our public schools, our K-12 public schools are funded and some of our preschool programs are funded through state money. We have Head Start readiness programs and federal funding. So as far as whether or not they're still in the state of Michigan, there are still a lot of inequities between school districts because of the way that our schools are funded, which is by the property values in every particular school district. So I don't want to get too much in that because we want to focus on Head Start. But I agree with you, John. It is still an issue. There are still big issues with equity in education. Can I just do some math? I'm going to get to the phone because I mean, let me just do some math. All right, let's do it. We got $12 billion for state, countrywide. It's a federal program. Every state gets Head Start money. And we all agree Head Start's good. Yes. Okay. Michigan gets about $416, give or take, million dollars. You agree with the number, right? Yes. Okay. And how many kids are in the Head Start program in the state? About $26,000. Yes. But you don't disagree. That's about right. That is correct. Okay, just doing the math, it comes out to about $16,000 per kid. Absolutely. So no one said that Head Start was an inexpensive program. But let me tell you the difference between Head Start or why Head Start is not just daycare. So Head Start is a holistic program. We are not just providing the child with education, which we do do. We also have health and medical things that we do with making sure that they get to be given their eye checks, their ears checks, their teeth checks, making sure all of that happens. As a matter of fact, Matrix Human Services has a health fair tomorrow for our families. But we also have family advocates who work with families on their family goals. So we help our families obtain housing, obtain job opportunities, any issue that may pose a barrier to the family. So, again, it's not just about teaching that kid in the program. It's about making sure that child has the support in the home that they will need to be a lifelong successful learner. Oh, you should this. You're a good doctor. Let's go to Michelle from Detroit. You're on Detroit Doc City. Hello, Michelle. Hi, how are you? Good. Great. OK, I have two questions. One question is, in what way are we honestly helping our parents navigate through those barriers and hold them accountable when they are bringing the children late to school, when they are not doing all the things that they need to be doing, making sure that they are working, things like that. And the other question is, in what way are we supporting the teachers and the coaches with the adequate things that they need to know how to do in the classroom with those children with disabilities? Fantastic questions, Michelle. So with respect to the parents, like one of the things that is important, because you have to remember, we think about education as a right of the child. So we have parents, because of the nature of Head Start, we have parents who have some enormous challenges in their background. So yes, children come to school late sometimes, but we don't stop that child from attending school. We don't exclude children for that. We do work with parents in Head Start. We work with parents to develop an attendance support plan to find out what barriers are keeping that child from attending school on time or period. And we work with those families to do that. That's part of one of the things that our family advocates do at Matrix Human Services. I bet not many people miss Head Start. What's the absentee rate? I bet your attendance is pretty good, isn't it? We do have pretty good attendance, yes. We have excellent attendance for the most part. But again, our families have some significant issues that they're overcoming. And so we take that into account. With respect to children with disabilities or children with suspected disabilities and Matrix Human Services, we have specific staff who are trained and who are trained to train other teachers and to work with families and children for those children who have special needs and we also have a fantastic partnership with the Detroit Public School district and so when they need specialized support like occupational therapy speech and language therapy we have a student um who is totally um visually impaired and we have orientation and mobility specialists that come from Detroit Public School so we work in partnership to make sure that our kids and our families get what they need, Danielle from Oak Park, you're on Detroit Talk City. Hello Danielle, hi, how are you? Good, okay, I'm calling because i absolutely agree with you I believe that kindergarten and preschool is the most important thing to begin a child's education. This is how babies believe and learn how to read. They don't only just be there. They teach them education. They teach them how to spell. They teach them the alphabet. They teach them everything. So for people to just not think this is important is ridiculous. I feel like kindergarten is the most important and the first start of life for education. Right. And so there's a big difference when you can have Head Start first and you can start kindergarten already with letter recognition because we have so many children who start kindergarten and cannot identify any letters, any numbers because their parents haven't had the opportunity or don't have the skill set to teach them that at home. So those are the types of things that we do at Head Start. We also, as Matrix Human Services, our fantastic team works very hard to instill a love of learning. Because if we get them, when there's play base and they love school, then they have a positive ideation of school and they're happy to go to school. Dr. Bobby, we have another call over here. Jeanette from Palmer Woods. You're on Detroit Talk City. Hello, Jeanette. How are you? Good. Good. What's your question or comment? Oh, my comment is, you have a difference between the suburbs and the city. The suburbs is going to come before anybody. They're going to leave us behind. My kids went to school, preschool and everything like that. But they're not thinking about the city of Detroit because they last on the list. So I'm from Timberwood Yeah. Yeah, do you, the suburbs, they have, well, they have the program, but it's still income-based. Some Head Starts, yeah, there are some Head Start programs in areas that are considered suburban, but they all have income eligibility requirements. Most, so Detroit's probably one of the largest cities in the state that has Head Start. Yes. What percentage would make, would be Head Start kids go into the public schools? Ooh. Do you know? I do not have that information. What percent? Well, no. Okay, I don't have that information, but I would say that basically 100% go into the public schools when you're talking about the, are you talking about the alternative? I'm talking about the other one. I'm looking at the other, of a kid starting kindergarten at Detroit Public School, how many of them took advantage of Head Start? We're not sure. We don't like. But they probably would be qualified though, right? Many of them. Not all, but many. Not all, right. See, everybody should be qualified. You should get into Head Start. It's a great program. Absolutely. We agree 100%. But we want to make sure that we have quality service. We don't want to water down the program because that is what is important, quality. We don't want to just focus on the number of kids being served if we are sacrificing the quality of the program. Dr. Bobby, Matrix Human Services, thank you so much. All right, stay with us. We've got the question of the day. Our results coming up. Thank you, sir. Detroit Talk City, it's time now for the results of our question of the day. our poll which is, is bad parking enough to ruin a city for you? Well I think it's yes, everybody except for two people it looks like there, they say no of course parking is a big deal and it is for me too, we're gonna walk across Woodward and we talked all about that especially in the city of Ferndale hopefully they can figure out what to do all right uh that is all for Detroit Talk city remember you can contact us using the hashtag Detroit Talk City on Instagram and X and of course tune in every Monday through Friday right here at four o'clock and go to our website as well all right the five o'clock news with Rupa is next