February 14, 2020
By Ron Fonger
Flint - Advocates for Flint children (click here) say they have made strides in health, nutrition and education in the nearly six years since the city’s water crisis started, but stubborn problems remain for kids who grow up here.
“We realized that as a community what we really needed to do, really the only thing we could do” after the water crisis “was to move forward,” Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha said during a report on the State of Flint Kids Friday, Feb. 24. “We have been leaning on incredible and emerging science of child development ... to build a model public health program to mitigate the affects of this crisis.”...
...Data presented Friday showed the number of Flint 3 and 4 year olds in the Early On preschool has more than doubled since 2014, the year the city’s water source was changed to the Flint River for 17 months. Enrollment in Flint Community Schools has continued to decline from more than 11,400 in 2010-2011 to 4,500 in 2017-2018.
More than 98 percent of children in the city now have health insurance, and more than 26,000 are enrolled in a Medicaid waiver benefit that was part of the federal government’s response to the water crisis.
Doctors have prescribed more than 34,000 fruit and vegetable prescriptions since 2016, using federal funds, and more than 9,000 lead and galvanized water service lines have been replaced using federal and state funds....
Flint, Michigan was in fiscal trouble when Rick Snyder took over the city with his emergency manager. He not only took over the city to protect any schools still in operation, but he also took over the entire city government which was new for the State of Michigan when it's legislature, with Snyder as Governor, allowed it. Any idea that Flint can handle their own school problems and maintain a health program for more than 26,000 affected children (click here), replace water lines while attempting to run a city is not possible. The city was further impoverished by the Snyder Administration when every available asset was sold to the highest bidder. So, the city not only continues to have fiscal problems due to its new status of disrepair, it has no assets to even draw up bond issues to support any city government efforts. Flint is going to be on the federal dollar for some time to come.
I find it troubling that there is a need for a "State of Flint Kids" reporting. This is not a situation that is going to get better, it is a matter of intervening to give the children of Flint half a chance at life. They were disadvantaged by the Snyder Administration and the government at all levels needs to realize the children of Flint will need financial support most probably the rest of their lives. It is best to give them a chance to be successful after their lead poisoning in a method that provides a path to independence and achievement, but, there is a larger possibility they will be disabled for the rest of their lives. Only time and intervention will tell the tale. Some children will do better than others, but, there will be some that will not succeed. That reality has to be faced and a permanent fiscal solution put in place.
Flint, Michigan does not exist in a vacuum. It has the same problems as other cities and needs infrastructure improvements as well. But, Flint also has an issue with violence and that needs to be handled and brought to a minimum. The children can receive assistance, but, they also need to grow up in a city that is benevolent to their best outcomes. Given the problems Flint has and continues to experience, the state and federal governments are going to have to contribute to the enormous disruption Rick Snyder caused to this American city.
