The Honorable Gretchen Whitmer
Governor of Michigan
P.O. Box 30013
Lansing, Michigan 48909

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Dear Governor Whitmer:

CEO Action for Racial Equity (CEOARE) is a Fellowship of over 100 companies that mobilizes a community of business leaders with diverse expertise across multiple industries and geographies to advance public policy in four key areas: economic empowerment, education, healthcare, and public safety. Its mission is to identify, develop and promote scalable and sustainable public policies and corporate engagement strategies that will address systemic racism, social injustice and improve societal well-being.

The Fellowship mobilizes the larger collective business community to facilitate change at the local, state, and federal level.  CEOARE is driving policy change across eight issues that disproportionately and systemically impact Black Americans – from cities to rural communities, offices and classrooms, and healthcare networks to criminal justice systems comprising of:

• A Path Toward Greater Food Equity
• Advancing a National Police Misconduct Registry
• Closing the Digital Divide
• Declaring Racism as a Public Health Crisis
• Decriminalizing Poverty by Reforming Justice System Fines, Fees, and Cash Bail
• Equity in Early Childhood Education
• Expanding Economic Opportunity Through Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs)
• Supporting Steps Towards Permanent Expansion of Equitable Telehealth Coverage

CEOARE is also advancing corporate engagement with our over 100 signatories, as well as over 2.000 CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion organizations across three areas:

• Advancing Corporate and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Collaboration: Expanding Reach and Sustaining Engagement
• Expanding Beyond Supplier Diversity to a Business Diversity Ecosystem
• Mobilizing Untapped Talent: Destigmatizing Reentry through Support for Fair Chance Hiring

We applaud the recently passed bipartisan supplemental appropriations plan that makes critical investments in Michigan to grow the economy and positively impacts several of CEOARE’s initiatives. These investments include $250 million to expand broadband access across the state and $25 million of Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Funds to provide grants to eligible community development financial institutions to promote community economic revitalization and development through community development financial institutions.

A key Fellowship policy initiative to highlight is A Path Toward Greater Food Equity, which applies a social justice and racial equity lens to advocate for state and federal legislation that increases access to and improves the affordability of healthy food options within Black communities. This is a critical societal issue as 19.1% of Black American households are food insecure compared to 7.9% of white households.¹ In the state of Michigan, an estimated 1.9 million citizens and 552,000 children are food insecure.²

We have followed the great food security work being done in Michigan, including the recent Food Security Council (FSC) recommendations,² items in the state budget proposal, and the recent $95 per person food benefits increase.³

Food insecurity is a highly relevant topic to the business community as well, given its impact on worker productivity, absenteeism, physical and mental healthcare costs, and education. This is a direct burden to Michigan’s economy that costs an estimated $1.8 billion in health care expenses related to food insecurity annually.²

We are writing to express our broad support for food equity-related recommendations in FSC’s report and the state budget as avenues to address food insecurity in Michigan, specifically:

• State Budget Proposals ⁴
  • $50MM to invest in Access to Nutritious and Affordable Food (general fund-one time investment), and
  • $500K for Community Supported Agriculture Program (general fund-one time investment).

• FSC Recommendations
  • Increase funding for fresh and culturally appropriate food through local and regional programs (Recommendation #1),
  • Pursue a federal 1115 waiver to develop a pilot program that addresses the social determinants of health for Medicaid beneficiaries that includes evidence-based interventions that improve access to medically supported food and nutrition services (Recommendation #5),
  • Increase feedback from Michigan residents utilizing community food programs (Recommendation #7),
  • Create a coordinated support system for clients seeking assistance through the Michigan Bridges platform (Recommendation #10), and
  • Improve infrastructure for food insecurity screening, referral, and diagnostic coding in health care organizations (Recommendation #11).

These recommendations can have a material impact on access to healthy and affordable food options for not only Black Michiganders, but all Michiganders. These initiatives may also drive greater transparency into program success and impact, streamline processes, and trial new methods of addressing food insecurity, from which the state of Michigan and the entire country may benefit.

While not explicitly stated in the FSC recommendations, we also recommend allocating additional funds to food equity-related programs, such as Double Up Bucks, 10 Cents / Meal, and school meal programs and food banks.

CEO Action for Racial Equity is non-partisan and is committed to working with policymakers to enact policies that bring equity, transparency, and accountability to our communities. We are eager and excited for the recommendations outlined in this letter to be considered and implemented as they unite us in supporting a path toward greater food equity in Michigan and across our country.

Thank you for your leadership.

Sincerely,
CEO Action for Racial Equity

[1]   Coleman-Jensen, A., Rabbit, M.P., Gregory, C.A., Singh, A. (2019). Household Food Security in the United States in 2019. www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/99282/err-275.pdf?v=6938.8

[2] Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, Food Security Council Report, February 2022, https://www.fbcmich.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/FSC-Final-Report-020622.pdf

[3] Michiganders to Receive Additional Assistance in March to Lower the Cost of Groceries, March 21, 2022, https://www.michigan.gov/whitmer/news/press-releases/2022/03/21/michiganders-to-receive-additional-assistance-in-march-to-lower-the-cost-of-groceries

[4] Executive Budget, State of Michigan: Fiscal Year 2023, February 9, 2022, https://www.michigan.gov/budget/-/media/Project/Websites/budget/Fiscal/Executive-Budget/Current-Exec-Rec/Current-Supporting/Fiscal-Year-2023-Executive-Budget-Book.pdf?rev=948bd48bee624cbe9660ea83c9955c5f&hash=E06C7E695D746A81B6BBD32FF7792490