Barrera, a first-generation student at Columbia University in New York City, was born in Saginaw and raised here until she was 10, when her family moved to Grand Rapids. She brings her deeply personal perspective to the film, which tells the story of a Latino family in the Midwest. Focusing on three brothers — her father and uncles — whose coming of age was marked by violence, poverty and incarceration, the documentary offers an intimate exploration of love amid adversity.

Directed, written, filmed and edited by Barrera, and supported by the Oakland, California-based organization Still I Rise Films, “Still Here” has received widespread acclaim, including recognition at prestigious film festivals such as DOC NYC, Urbanworld and the Cleveland International Film Festival, all of which are Academy Award-qualifying festivals. Barrera has garnered numerous awards and accolades, including the Gold Award in Film from the National YoungArts Foundation.

“We are thrilled to host the public screening of ‘Still Here’ at Saginaw Valley State University” said Roberto Garcia, director of SVSU’s Office of Multicultural Student Affairs. “This film offers a compelling perspective on important social issues, and we believe it will resonate deeply with our community. We invite everyone, especially aspiring filmmakers and those impacted by incarceration, to join us for this special event.”

Following the screening, there will be a Q&A session featuring the writer(s), director and subjects of the film, including Mariah Barrera, Robert Barrera, Ramon Barrera and Michael Barrera. Attendees will have the opportunity to engage with the creators and protagonists of this powerful documentary, gaining insights into their experiences and the filmmaking process. A reception will close out the evening, providing an opportunity for further discussion and reflection.

For more information on the screening, contact SVSU’s Office of Multicultural Student Affairs at (989) 964-7090 or msa@svsu.edu.

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This year’s strategy for both is to seek voter support for renewals of both as far ahead of time as possible, controlling the “will of the people” in the direction of approving the taxes.

• If the public says “yes,” then budgeting may proceed as usual with no further referendums.
• If citizens were to reverse past voting and suddenly say “no,” this allows the governing bodies to come back in future elections again, and again if needed, until the desired approval is attained.

That’s why STARS, Saginaw Transit Authority Regional Services, is seeking renewal of the 3.2 mills on this year’s Aug. 6 ballot, even though the millage does not expire until the close of calendar 2025.

City Council approval of the proposal language is scheduled during the next meeting at 6:30 p.m. Monday, April 22.

A similar vote-in-advance strategy took place during the February political primary election to re-ratify the 7.5 mills for police and fire.

Each 1 mill represents an assessment of $1 for every $1,000 of a property’s SEV, State Equalized Valuation, which is half the estimated sales value. If your home would sell for $50,000, your annual payment to STARS is $80 and your cost for the public safety millage is $187. If your property has a sales value of $100,000, then double those dollar figures. Costs for tenants are included in rent.

For sake of comparison, the city schools’ annual millage for Saginaw United High, the new Handley School and the relocation of SASA to the former Arthur Hill is roughly $150 for the owner of a $50,000 property, or $300 for the owner of a $100,000 home. The school tax, unlike the levies for buses and public safety, does not require five-year renewals, which is why residents still will pay the original 2005 tax for Thompson Middle and the new Loomis Elementary until the end of this decade.

City Council meetings can be viewed at saginaw-mi.com, on YouTube or on Spectrum cable Channel 191.

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Of course, the temporary ecstasy from his illicit drug of choice, which he kicked 18 years ago, is far more destructive than the excessive calories from a sweet-tooth dessert pie.

His layman’s message is that temptation always will exist. Self-discipline, and self-respect, are cornerstones in all aspects of a faith-based honorable life.

Alexander, age 64, makes his official debut at Bethel from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday, April 25. He will review his personal background in advance on Joyce Harvin’s “Community Connections,” KISS-107 FM, airing at 5 o’clock on Sunday, April 21.

“Any addiction has changing faces,” he says. “It can be drugs, clothes, eating, sex, the casino, anything.”

Stories of individuals who engage in misbegotten behaviors often are rooted in negative childhoods, but Felix grew up in a solid Philadelphia family, with a father and several elders among clergy in the City of Brotherly Love.

As an adolescent, his experiments with recreational drugs — any and all, he recalls — seemed innocent enough. He was what therapists would describe as a “functional” addict. But his conduct bottomed out with stealing from his closest kin and eventually cost him a pair of marriages, although he remains close with a son and a daughter, now in their 40s.

“I would be at the (counseling) table, go into rehab, come out and start all over,” he says.

Family, friends and social workers decided he needed new settings, which led to his move to the Midwest, starting with Indianapolis in 2006, Detroit ’09 (“three blocks from Comerica Park”), Flint ‘2012, and finally Saginaw seven years ago.

He never became an SSI case, gaining income from jack-of-all-trades skills he gleaned from helping at his father’s junkyard. This continues in Saginaw with his “All In One Enterprise,” finding work through word-of-mouth that includes his Facebook page.

“I’m a handyman and a mechanic,” he notes. “I can do landscaping, painting, drywall, hardwood floors, I buy and sell cars.” Indeed, he squeezed our interview in between a busy schedule of spring grass-cutting chores. This means his addiction ministry is self-funded and free of charge at this point, with hopes of attaining a state certification at some point.

Even amid the worst throes of his struggles, Alexander was “functional” to the point where he would imagine himself as a motivational addiction counselor. In effect, some of the “curriculum” he will offer took root while he was high on crack and whatever other substances he added to the mix. Sometimes he will opt for a “tough love” approach, other occasions a shoulder to cry upon, even with the same individual.

“Everybody needs something different,” he explains.

Felix Alexander may be contacted via Wallbuildersrec24@gmail.com or through the Detroit-based telephone number he has maintained, (313) 318-2798. To view his initial sermon at Bethel AME, click here.

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A followup forum from January’s “State of Black Saginaw 2024” is set for 6 p.m. Monday, April 15, at First Ward Community Center.

Saginaw CAP, Community Alliance for the People, is hosting the event. Topics on the table will include education, public health, literacy, civic engagement, youth perspectives and more. 

For a report on the initial summit at the time of the Martin Luther King holiday, click here.

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That’s how 6-foot-8 Jerome Barnes describes three years of diet, exercise and born-again salvation that have led him to shed 120 pounds from his peak of 468.

He serves as a model of success that our local care and treatment specialists always aim to achieve. Among their next steps is creation of an annual Obesity Summit, set for Friday morning at Saginaw Valley State University.

Barnes, 59, has earned his living as a home maintenance professional, a.k.a. handyman, a career with more physical activity than most. Going back to childhood, he was one who would rather play than watch.

“We were sports fanatics,” he explains. “Football and basketball, of course, but also baseball, softball, hockey, soccer. We played them all.”

And so what happened? From his Chicago upbringing, young Jerome came up to Saginaw and settled in, so to speak. And in spite of his athleticism, he was not strictly a meat-and-potatoes couch potato.. 

“Cakes,” he says. “At least four or five times, I tried to slow down, but those cakes would get me.”

Stories of recovery may differ slightly with each individual. Barnes is humble in regard to his accomplishment, telling jokes on himself, but he is firm in stating that a return to church life has been the source of his strength to challenge overeating and also nicotine, cutting his pack-a-day cancer sticks by more than in half at this point.

“I probably would not be alive right now if I had not changed,” he says, now attending “informative classes where they give advice on choosing fruits and vegetables. As for the cigarettes, one day I’m going to throw them all out, I get so sick of them.”

He is aiming to get down to 300 pounds, and not thinking beyond, keeping his steady pace to be there for offspring on through a quartet of great grandchildren.

“I might have to stop (dieting) at some point,” he adds with a laugh, “because all this buying new clothes that fit gets really expensive.”

News in local health care

Friday’s free-admission Obesity Summit is an initial outgrowth of the 18-month-old Health Equity Council in Saginaw County, one of 11 formed under Gov. Whitmer in response to the covid pandemic. The agenda is geared to health care and social service professionals, but anyone may attend under the Health Department’s new “BWell” moniker.

Topics range from “exercise is medicine” to prescription medications to the impact of being overweight on mental health.

Leaders of the Health Equity Council are aiming in early May to release their initial overall report on obesity and other concerns.

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Sadly, the division that I described 25 years ago seems even more severe today. Some people said then, the same as some will respond now, that my outlook is negative. The opposite is true, there are numerous steps we can take, in order to boost Latino families as part of uplifting all people, from children to elders.

What’s YOUR viewpoint? We all still are young enough to learn.

We Need a Village First

(from 1999, keynote to the former Bridge Center for Racial Harmony)

Just as I am, many of you may be tired of hearing, “It takes a village to raise a child.” It has become so common and almost like a catchphrase, but what do we mean by it? In order for a village or a community to act, first it must exist.

Let’s face it. We need to ask, think and take note. Do we even have a village? Or are we each just concerned with our own tribe, racial or religious group? Too often we think, if it does not affect my group, it’s not my problem, I don’t have to be concerned about it or get involved. The greedy among us ask, “What’s in it for me?”

The Good Book, the Bible. tells us we are our brother’s keeper, which is another way of saying we are the village. But are we really? Or is it simply easy to say the right thing than to do the right thing.

Growing up, we learned that what you give away returns to you tenfold. This also holds true when we fail to share, and to work together.

My experience in Saginaw generally is that whatever racial, ethnic, religious or political faction is the first to obtain a special project or a grant, whatever the case may be, this is theirs to have and to hold and nothing can part them from it. If it is information that may assist other programs or lead to collaboration, they cannot pass it on to others, lest someone else get credit for doing it.

The village should not be about who got the funds, who started the programs, who gained the info. It should be about the community.  If it’s the schools the primary focus is the students, not the adults and their jobs. If it’s the city, it’s the citizens, not the politics. A business, customer service, not endless greed. For clergy, saving souls, not always soliciting dollars. And so on. If all would cease acting as factions in competition, then we form a true village.

From our schools, our children will gain the education they need to succeed, and one day in return to help provide for the generations that uplifted them. Politicians will succeed via the citizens, business through the customers, clergy for serving as role models for our values and morals.

That is the village because everyone has a part to play. It is not merely a cliche that sounds good, but a plan to live by and to work by, not just words to simply spout off. Doing the right things, not simply saying them.

Indeed it takes a whole village. Are we finally ready to make Saginaw a village?

After years as a parent volunteer, Minnie Rosales in 1993 became the only Latino ever elected to the Saginaw Board of Education, before or since. She also has been a leader for 50 years in establishing an Hispanic senior citizen center. With her husband of 60 years, Arturo, the family still grows, now from grandchildren to more great-grands.

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Chief Hausbeck began his career with the City as a Firefighter in August 2009. Brandon was  promoted to Lieutenant in June 2016. In August 2018, he was appointed the Department  Training/Safety Officer. Brandon serves as the Saginaw County Coordination Team Leader and the  Department Grant Coordinator. He has also assisted Human Resources in recruitment and has  organized the fire employment proctoring for the past few years since he was appointed Fire  Training/Safety Officer.

As Acting Fire Chief, Brandon was responsible for the overall operation of the Fire Department.  His responsibilities included the development and administration of the Fire Department’s budget, management of the department’s grant program, and oversight of all fire operations, fire apparatus, fire prevention, and fire training activities. He has completed several safety and fire education training programs to enhance his skills with the Fire Department, and is certified as a Fire Officer 3, Fire Instructor 2, a Certified Fire Inspector, and a live Fire Instructor.

Brandon attended Delta College where he received his Associates of Applied Science degree in  Fire Science and received a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Management from Northwood University. Brandon currently serves as an adjunct faculty member at Delta College assisting with the Fire Science program.

After serving in the department for nearly 15 years, Brandon is humbled and honored to step into the role of Fire Chief. “I feel very fortunate to have this opportunity. I know how committed this  team is to our community, and I am excited to lead them into the future.”

Throughout his Fire Department career, Hausbeck has received numerous commendations,  including the 2014 Firefighter of the Year, the 100 Club of Saginaw County Silver Chalice Award, 4 Unit Citations, and 2 Meritorious Service Commendations

Chief Hausbeck, who has lived in the Saginaw area for over 30 years, commented on serving in  the City of Saginaw. “I grew up in this City. My passion for Saginaw is strong and I want to provide the  citizens of Saginaw with a fire department they are proud of. We are here to serve.”

“The city has already greatly benefited from Brandon’s commitment to the fire service in  Saginaw,” said City Manager Tim Morales. “His enthusiasm for improvements to safety and additional resources has made him an excellent candidate for the position. We know he will excel, and we look forward to what he will continue to bring to the city.”

For additional information, please contact Tim Morales, City Manager, at 989 759-1401. 

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“Saginaw County Community Mental Health Authority, together with our local partners, is excited to be chosen as one of the expansion sites for the development of an Early Childhood Court at our Family Division of the 10th Circuit Court,” said Sandra Lindsey, Saginaw Community Mental Health Authority CEO. “Ultimately our goal is to reunite families and to support them by ensuring the safety and developmental needs of their young children as the focus of our collective interventions.”

MDHHS received a grant from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to provide funding for three counties to support the implementation of Early Childhood Court Programs. In addition to Saginaw County, services will also expand to St. Clair County. Wayne County, which has had a Baby Court since 2008, became a part of the program in January 2023.

“MDHHS is committed to keeping kids safe while expanding access to behavioral health supports,” said MDHHS Director Elizabeth Hertel. “Early Childhood Court Programs help us address the needs of parents and their young children, so they can build strong families and stay together.”

Community and health disparities can be a contributing factor to families living in crisis and unstable environments. Michigan’s Early Childhood Courts seek to understand the disparities and needs of families living in poverty and the connection to child welfare removals. Maltreated children are at particular risk for poor outcomes and need coordinated services across systems to support their physical and emotional well-being. Children age 3 and under are over-represented in Michigan’s child welfare system, with 27% as victims of child abuse or neglect when only 14% of Michigan’s population is made up of children in that age group.

The Early Childhood Courts program is for young children, birth to age 3, and their families if the children are at risk of entering foster care due to abuse or neglect or are already in foster care and could be reunified safely if the family receives services. With individualized services and community resources to meet families’ unique needs, many children are safely reunified with their biological parents or caregivers.

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Wait.

Today’s kids, or at least a growing number, don’t really go for those old stand-bys. You might do better with chicken wings.

These are only a few of the findings from a survey that received responses from Saginaw city K-12 students, conducted by Food Service Director Payton Strobel.

Did you know:

• Bacon is a big fave, of course, but not sausages.
• If you want the young ones to eat their eggs, you’ll have to sneak them into the waffle or pancake mix. No omelets, no quiches.
• Hominy, hominy. Apparently grits are considered old folks’ food. But some students wish coffee could be included among the beverages. 
• Put cheese on that burger, but don’t serve sammies all the time.
• They say kids won’t eat their veggies, and indeed “overcooked broccoli” was first on the thumbs-down list, but fresh fruits are easier to swallow. Try some parfaits.
• Bowls, like breakfast bowls and KFC-type lunch bowls, are replacing burritos and wraps as the popular way to mix food items.

Are today’s youngsters spoiled, in contrast to generations raised on “eat what’s on your plate or go hungry?” You be the judge. Strobel is an SVSU product who started his career as a dishwasher, and he reports that some of the Saginaw High students suggested cafeteria meals served on hibachi grills, prepped at the tables for their own viewing.

To view the school board discussion, click here.

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• If your collection day is Monday, your first date for Yard Waste collection is Monday, April 1.
• If your collection day is Tuesday, your first date for Yard Waste collection is Tuesday, April 2.
• If your collection day is Wednesday, your first date for Yard Waste collection is Wednesday, April 3.
• If your collection day is Thursday, your first date for Yard Waste collection is Thursday, April 4.
• If your collection day is Friday, your first date for Yard Waste collection is Friday, April 5.

The City of Saginaw reminds residents that all yard waste materials must be placed in paper yard waste bags or in cans between 20 – 35 gallons in size that have a “Yard Waste” sticker affixed to the front of the can. Each container and its contents should weigh less than 50 pounds. All properly prepared materials should be placed at the curb no later than 7 am on your regular collection day.

As a reminder, one bundle of brush is allowed per week for residents. That one bundle of brush should be set out with the trash, not with the yard waste. Brush is defined as: larger branches (two to six inches around) which should be bundled and placed to the curb as trash. Branches should be cut to three by four feet in length and secured by twine or duct tape.

Yard waste stickers are available in the City Clerk’s Office at City Hall, 1315 S. Washington Avenue, Room 102 and in the Streets Division at the Public Works Building, 1435 S. Washington Avenue. For more information on yard waste guidelines, visit the MMWA website at www.recyclemotion.org.

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