Government v. Philanthropy: The Case of Flint, Michigan

For months now we have been bombarded with stories of the water crisis in Flint, Michigan. The press, politicians, legislators, residents of Flint, even Tax Law professors, have been expressing their opinions on who is to blame for the crisis. Some people have called for the Governor’s resignation. The government — federal and state — eventually sprang into action by allocating funds to address the problems caused by the water crisis. Meanwhile, the people of Flint are waiting for the money to show up.

Yesterday’s Christian Science Monitor brought some good news to the people of Flint: ten charitable organizations have pooled their resources to donate $125 million toward recovery efforts in Flint. Highlighting the fact that philanthropy has bested the government, the Monitor states:

Funds are about to flood into Flint, Mich. — but they are not coming from the government.

The aid will support ongoing testing of lead levels as well as community groups, economic development, and other efforts to revive the largely black and low-income city. “This is the new normal, in terms of how philanthropy can really increase its impact and can be nimble while we wait for the state and federal government” to act, says La June Montgomery Tabron, CEO of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, one of the participating grant makers.

The responses by the foundations give credence to what some observers see as a trend for philanthropy to step in when bureaucracy and partisanship bog down government’s response in times of crisis. “It’s great that we have charitable organizations that are willing to step up and try to help,” said Charles Ballard, a Michigan State University economics professor. “But the only reason we’re talking about this in the first place is that governments, most notably the state of Michigan, just dropped the ball in a huge way.”

That’s one man’s opinion; what’s yours?

VEJ