Andy Holmes, Jim Richardson, Ashley Prew, and David Smith
Jerry Knoodle and Jim Richardson
An intrepid (if slightly damp) crew of volunteers prepared vegetable transplants for distribution at the annual Edible Flint Garden Starters day. Thank you to all the Rotarians who showed up to lend a hand, especially to Jim Richardson for organizing it.
Upcoming Opportunities for Service and Fellowship
Mott Foundation Centennial Family Fun Day Volunteering
In celebration of the C.S. Mott Foundation's 100th anniversary, there will be a family fun day at the Cultural Center on June 5-7. Volunteers are needed to help with the event, and multiple slots are available. Please register at this link and put "Rotary Club of Flint" in the comments field. For more information, please contact Amy Krug.
NASCAR, Anyone?
NASCAR is inviting Rotarians to purchase discounted tickets ($40) for a NASCAR Cup Series Race at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday, June 7. For questions, please contact Kylee Moenter at 517-594-4375 or kmoenter@nascar.com. Tickets can be purchased here or by using the QR code on the right.
Crim Volunteer Registration
And... since this week has us enjoying a taste of summery weather, let's talk about the Crim Rotary Mile. District 7 clubs will once again be staffing the water station and intersections along our section of the Crim Festival of Races on Saturday, August 22. We are getting an early start on recruitment-- please sign up to volunteer! It starts with a fabulous breakfast at Mike Chaffee's at 6 am and you will be done before noon. It's a great way to be part of one of Flint's premiere events as you enjoy some Rotarian fellowship.
Photo booth at a previous Crim race
Identifying and Explaining Disparities in Order to Meet Needs
Last week's story about our guest speaker included information about disparities in certain educational outcomes (proficiency rates on standardized tests) between students in Flint and students in some surrounding areas. That opens up room to explore an important topic-- how to identify disparities (differences in results between two or more groups), why explaining them is important, and what you can do to apply this frame to your own work. Over the next few weeks, we will take a closer look at each one of these parts.
Spotting Disparities
In order to spot disparities, it is important to identify what groupings are relevant and examine data across those groupings. This process is known as dis-aggregation.
Data can be disaggregated in order to check whether different groups are having different outcomes. Let's take an example around employment data.
The 2024 American Community Survey showed the unemployment rate for Genesee County was 8.1%. However, that was the average rate. The realities were quite different, though, for different groups within Genesee County.
When disaggregating the data, we can see that Black residents of Genesee County experience unemployment more than twice as often as residents who are White. Breaking down data in this way is not divisive- it is revealing. When disparities are uncovered, we can then try to understand why they occur-- which is what we will look at next week.
Next Up: Thirsty Thursday- Market Tap on May 21, 5-7 pm
Please note: the second regular meeting in May is May 29 at noon due to the Memorial Day holiday
