First of two parts
Pure Michigan is shining under bright sunlight on this cold winter day. On the slopes of Boyne Mountain, skiers and snowboarders carve their way downhill. In the nearby Gaslight District of Petoskey, servers steam milk for lattes or pour craft beers with winking names like Trophy Wife Blonde or Cabin Fever. It’s the slow season for sure, but the Up North paradise at the tip of the lower peninsula still draws visitors and their bulging wallets.
A few miles away in Alanson, the Church of the Nazarene is about to open its doors for the weekly food distribution. Volunteers gather in a circle to pray before admitting those who’ve come for a box of donated groceries. The line has begun to wrap around the wall of the multipurpose room.
Pastor Catherine Greenhoe looks at the people in sweatpants and shabby overcoats, some holding laundry baskets to carry home their cans and boxes.
“It never seems to get shorter,” she sighs. “Just longer.”
On the shores of two Great Lakes, two Michigans are pulling away from one another. For one, graceful summer homes rise on waterfronts, equipped with boats, tubes and toys. For the other, life is lived in trailers on back roads, or small houses tucked into the woods. One comes north in May and enjoys a summer of festivals, fun and restaurant dining. The other Michigan lives here year-round and waits tables or changes hotel beds. One is, like the state at large, recovering from the recession and building wealth. The other slips deeper into, or closer to, poverty.
Three counties ‒ Charlevoix, Emmet and Cheboygan ‒ sit at the tip of Michigan’s mitten, looking out on glistening waters, looking in on a restless, largely invisible population still grappling with unsteady wages and the haunting sense that opportunity ‒ at least, for them ‒ has passed. Solutions do not come easily for thousands of such families, as they labor in the shadows of a tourism economy that comes out to play only a few months a year.
In this series, Bridge chronicles the journey of workers, business owners, students, families and community leaders in the three counties. In the process, we hope to look beyond the frustrations and traps of life on the margins and consider policies and programs, both inside and apart from government, that offer promise when working hard is not enough.
The view from above
Those at the top rank among the wealthiest in Michigan.
Median income for the top 5 percent of households in tourist- rich Charlevoix and Emmet counties is well above the average in the rest of the state, according to the Census Bureau. The poorest, those in the bottom 20 percent generally are faring better than their peers elsewhere in the state. But the gap between the top and the bottom, in Charlevoix, Emmet and Cheboygan County is among the widest in Michigan.
April Keller remembers when she was hired at American Spoon Foods 15 years ago. She was 25, had recently become a single mother, and was working as a cook at a bar/restaurant in the area. She was earning $6.75 an hour and worked nights and weekends, standard for restaurant work. When she was hired at American Spoon, a Petoskey-based purveyor of expensive jams and preserves, earning $9 an hour for regular daytime hours, no weekends, and year-round, she figured she’d lucked out.
“Prior to that I had entry-level jobs, worked for minimum wage, the kind of jobs you do when you don’t have a degree,” said Keller, who eventually worked her way up to co-managing production at American Spoon. That’s the way it is for people like her, she added; many in her extended family would be considered working poor, and simply expect seasonal jobs and regular layoffs.
“You have to do more than one (job) to get by,” she said.
A faster slide
In Charlevoix-Emmet-Cheboygan, more people are tumbling into poverty even years after the depth of the economic downturn. The conditions aren’t extreme when considered against the rest of Michigan ‒ in comparison, Emmet’s poverty rate is low and Charlevoix’s is average, though Cheboygan’s is far higher.
But poverty in Emmet and Charlevoix has grown faster than the average among all Michigan counties since 2009. The ratio of Emmet and Charlevoix families with children living in poverty increased by one-third in that four-year period. In Cheboygan, poverty had risen 10 percent by 2013 with 26 percent of families with children in poverty.
Seasonal Swings in Unemployment (2001-2014)
Hover over the graph to show data
And, as Keller well knows, seasonal work sometimes means no work at all ‒ the average March unemployment rate spikes to more than 18 percent in Cheboygan County, and to nearly 12 percent and 13 percent in Charlevoix and Emmet counties, respectively - stark reminder of why it’s called the “slow season.”
The three counties lost 3,603 jobs in manufacturing, construction and natural resources between 2000 and 2013, according to an analysis of federal Bureau of Labor Statistics supplied by Scott Gest, regional planner for Networks Northwest, a 10-county planning body. In the same period, 2,272 jobs were added in services, including 573 in leisure and hospitality, which are far more likely to be seasonal, he said, and by definition, part-time.
Manufacturing plants like Continental Structural Plastics in Petoskey and Dura Automotive in Antrim County closed in 2007 and 2008, respectively, taking with them 400 jobs. With few alternatives, idled workers either left the region for better prospects or fell into long-term unemployment or underemployment.
More ominous, the region could be facing a less robust economic future as young professionals look for work elsewhere. The Charlevoix-Emmet-Cheboygan region lost a staggering 22 percent of people in the coveted 25-44 age group between 2000 and 2013.
Justin Rashid, who founded American Spoon, the company that saved April Keller from the minimum-wage merry-go-round, said he understands why some people leave.
“When people lose a job in northern Michigan, they fall out of a treehouse – often they have to move,” he said. “It’s not, ‘I lost my job, I’m going to work at a different place across town,’ it’s ‘I lost my job, I’m going to Grand Rapids. Or Chicago.’”
Yet the solution is not always as simple as “just add jobs.”
Even as some workers leave, manufacturers like surgical instrument maker Precision Edge Inc. in Boyne City and DCL in Charlevoix, which makes dust control and loading systems, say they have good, well-paying jobs they can’t fill for lack of qualified skilled-trades employees.
Transportation can be another barrier to employment. For workers, particularly at the lower edge of middle-class wages, who live miles from their jobs, the cost of commuting can eat a large chunk of their budget. It is an especially critical obstacle in Emmet County, which lacks a robust transit system.
And looking into the future, children attending schools in the counties’ rural districts face twin obstacles ‒ poverty at home and tight budgets in the classroom ‒ as they study to meet the challenges of a competitive job market.
A view of the bay
In some sense, much of this is nothing new in a region of nearly 85,000 people spread out over more than 3,000 square miles. Resort areas have always had seasonal economies. Rural areas have always had fewer job opportunities. That’s the price residents pay for glorious summers by blue bays and the chance to be paddling a kayak down a river 15 minutes after punching out of work.
But with fewer year-round jobs available that allow a middle-class standard of living, the gap in these counties may only grow.
Consider, for example, the schools.
According to the Michigan Department of Education, rural Inland Lakes Schools in Cheboygan County spent about $8,500 per pupil in 2012-2013. About 20 miles due west, the more affluent Harbor Springs School District spent over $12,000 per pupil, allowing its students to learn in smaller classrooms, among other advantages.
About 60 percent of Inland Lakes students qualify for free or reduced-priced lunch, a common measure of poverty, and the districts sends just over half its students to college. Harbor Springs’ poverty rate is half that of Inland Lakes; and Harbor Springs sends more than 8-in-10 of its students to college.
Glimmers of change
Still, amid economic challenge, there are some blueprints for progress, including some not so far away. Consider:
Just outside Onaway, a town of about 900 residents in Presque Isle County, Tom Moran, owner of Moran Iron Works, was having trouble finding qualified welders for his growing business in Cheboygan County. A custom fabrication firm, its recent contracts include a $4 million order from Shepler’s Ferry to build a new ferry to Mackinac Island and a $50 million project for Consumer’s Energy to build a greenhouse-gas reduction duct. “They’re just not teaching this in the schools,” he said.
So last year Moran spent more than $1 million to open the Industrial Arts Institute in Onaway, an all-day, 15-week training program that teaches all aspects of welding. Fifteen students graduated in November. All got jobs.
Networks Northwest, the planning body that includes Emmet and Charlevoix, is planning this year to launch a $3,000 scholarship skills training program for 25 high school students, largely funded by a $65,000 grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. It will combine high school career technical training with community college class work and internships with area employees.
The Northern Lakes Economic Alliance, a business support group based in Boyne City, operates a mobile computer-controlled machining training lab, with 12 work stations, that can be driven to companies to train employees and high schools to bring students into 21st-Century entry-level manufacturing jobs.
A few young professionals who left have returned, determined to forge a place in this region’s future. They include a former dance instructor who returned to buy a small bookstore in Harbor Springs, now flourishing, and a former ski racer and employee of the 2008 Obama campaign who came back to start an Internet business incubator.
At a crossroads
There is a common refrain among many of the young in this region: I like it here, but I may have to leave.
Danielle Wager, 30, was born and raised in Charlevoix, graduating from Charlevoix High School and Grand Valley State University with a degree in education. She was hired in 2007 to teach social studies at Charlevoix High School but was laid off in 2009 amid budget cuts.
The Charlevoix resident finally found work helping clients determine if they are eligible for welfare with the Michigan Department of Human Services, while her husband, Kreg, works as a child protective services specialist for the state. They have a daughter, Nila, 2, a mortgage and a tight budget on their $75,000 joint income.
“I have been looking for a teaching job ever since I was laid off,” Danielle Wager said. “We're at the point where we are thinking of leaving the area or leaving the state. It's just so hard to find a good-paying job here, especially for someone who has an education.
“We both grew up here. My husband is a big skier and snowmobiler. We love the small-town feel without being tiny.
“But,” she asked, “can we afford to stay?”
Comments
They have been discontinued. "Why?"... the forever-asked question...
spot on!
very true!
And would that welding was still taught at high schools-- as many "skilled trades" once were!
You sound like yu have found and appreciate the many strong reasons to stay. All the best to you and yours!
Thank you for sharing, you definitely have your priorities right! Making a conscious decision of where you place value, despite the difficulties life may bring, you're teaching your children and family what is most important. Not that my opinion matters, I just wanted to tell you that I admire and respect you.
I think they stop there Carol because of the big money people that own homes there. I'm from Munising where people also survive on the tourist trade and even though there are wealthy people in town, it hasn't been the problem that you see in Grand Marais for example where people rent their houses to the wealthy but seasonal help cannot afford to stay there. The same thing has been happening in West Branch on the inland lakes forever.
I have similar thoughts... how much to "second-home" non-residents or vacationers contribute-- or take--from the communities they enjoy part-time? I have a small "vacation home" (not in prime Northern MI area); I pay taxes, of course, but don't vote in local elections and don't really understand local community concerns. I don't support much local economy except via taxes -- everything costs way more than in the Detroit area.
I wish that Presque Isle County was included in the 'tip of the mitt' as we are right there to the east of Cheboygan County. We are in this boat, too. We 'enjoy' some of the highest unemployment in the lower peninsula.
I grew up in Chesaning Michigan. Growing up was a good childhood. The town has lost most of the good paying jobs and the people still living there have to travel up to 2 hours of driving to get to work. The town is very uninviting for businesses and residents. I chose to move to West Michigan (Grand Rapids) area because it is a nice place to live and many jobs for those eager to work. I hate change but you have to do what is necessary.
It seems like when I stay in a hotel in northern Michigan, all the workers are from out of the country. I understand they are seasonal low paying jobs, but why don't they go to Michigan people before Jamaicans?
It's nice to see civil discourse in this thread. I love Michiganders. Workers need to demand a living wage from employers. Yes, some small business owners struggle and sacrifice to get their company off the ground, many make less than their employees at first. There are also many business owners that make a very comfortable living off the backs of underpaid workers. We can talk about risk/ reward and what an entrepreneur deserves for their vision. That's a fair discussion, but in the end, working folks need to expect a living wage. We can do without unions but collectively we need to make sure people working 40hr weeks get fair compensation. I realize this doesn't provide an instant fix for folks who don't have a job at all, but spreading the wealth creates new opportunities. Trickle down economics haven't worked in the past. We need to prioritize community over self indulgence. $14 an hour shouldn't be out of the realm of expectation for Labor. More workforce pay means more goods and services bought and sold! There are several edible parts of a pine tree.
My wife Danielle and I were quoted at the end of this article. In August of 2016 we left Northern Michigan for jobs in Lansing. It's a shame that we could not find jobs to advance our careers in Northern Michigan.
Mass transit is a nice idea, but only functions with taxpayer subsidy. And it's not "green" when you consider that most buses run at a fraction of capacity in rural areas. Also, the mileage needed to get into the areas where workers actually live in these counties would be prohibitive.
This is all too true.
I grew up in Petoskey, ("half your pay is the view of the Bay") as did my parents and grandparents. They arrived from Ireland and Germany, to labor in the "industries" of the day-- lumber, fishing and the "tanneries"-- where animal hides were stripped of their hair (dumped into the lakes), cured in chemical baths and worked into leather.
After the landscape was lumbered almost treeless, people didn't suffer from Hay fever ( seasonal allergies). City dwellers were persuaded that here was relief-- from allergies, heat and perhaps even polio. Locals leased rooms, opened boarding houses, built small neighbourhoods of "Hay Fever" cottages to earn money from the newest industry- tourism. Soon, large resort hotels and colonies of large "cottages" were commonplace and the economy shifted to a hybrid service/industrial. As the industries of one era -- logging, limestone extraction, cement production -- faded, tourism and service took its place. With the steady rise of the "resort" economy, the two-tier "haves and have nots" were firmly established. As manufacturing faded, retail, health care and other service jobs were growth sectors, fueled by the resort economy and it's wealth. And "development"-- the art of selling land for upscale purposes-- arrived. More money poured into the most "desireable" communities, increasing class differences.
By the 1930's, people were leaving, seeking work in the auto factories and other opportunities in cities. That continues to this day.
I miss Petoskey-- it's great beauty, the majesty of the lakes and forests, and the charm of rhe town, still not completely buried under the relentless monster of "development". I too, had to leave for work-- but I've never really left. Thank you for an insightful look at a place I love.
Real facts and news about real people in my area. Thank you.
I'm from Ptown and I made it on my own. NO MATTER WHAT. I was determined to succeed. Worked two jobs while going to school full time, until I could work towards getting a better career. It's easier to be lazy and collect welfare than work. This is unoriginal reporting and biased towards those who worked their whole life to afford a better lifestyle.