My Advocacy
My nonprofit work has revolved around making the case for laws and public investments that improve the well-being of people, especially children, youth, and people who care for them. Here is an assortment of my written advocacy pieces as well as key comments for stories.
Quotes
To Give Youth a Chance for Improved Outcomes, We Should Recognize Foster Care and Juvenile Justice as the Educational Systems They Are | Michigan’s Children “Speaking for Kids” blog | June 7 2023
“Our foster care and juvenile justice systems are always teaching young people something. They are often the unintended lessons by individual adults acting within these systems. It’s up to us, and to our policymakers, to decide what we hope young people learn from their time involved…”
The Hidden Costs of Juvenile Court | Detroit Free Press | Jennifer Brookland | February 20 2023
“‘One thing that I’ve noticed is that fines and fees can really drive families apart and ultimately set young people back in that way from rehabilitating from their offense,’ said Bobby Dorigo Jones, vice president of Michigan’s Children. ‘Ultimately,’ Jones said, ‘it’s just another barrier in the rehabilitation process for a young person who’s trying to learn.’”
Calls Are Growing to Increase Support for Michigan’s Kinship Families | Michigan’s Children “Speaking for Kids” blog | September 26 2022
“Kinship care is all around you; you just might not recognize it. Grandparents, aunts, and uncles caring for their relatives’ children, young adults taking in their younger siblings. Even close family friends helping each other’s kids out during periods of instability.
My family for a brief period housed the child of a close family friend during a stressful period. We didn’t think of ourselves as kinship care; we were just helping out a family who was close to us. That’s how many informal kin caregivers see themselves at first…”
Report: COVID funds, state investments are improving lives of Michigan kids | Bridge Michigan | Julia Forrest | July 28 2022
“Robert Dorigo Jones, vice president of the advocacy group Michigan’s Children, cautioned that while many families were aided financially through the pandemic because of investments like those in the FCTC and federal EITC, those expansions have expired. At the state level, Michigan has one of the lowest earned income tax credits in the country.
“We did even better than those current stats when we were working through the pandemic, but those things are expiring, and we're gonna see a rebound back over time,” Jones said. “
Michigan’s Mental Health Sector Could See A $565m Boost | MLive | Jodryn Hermani | June 15, 2022
“The lack of investment in our mental health system - whether it’s access or professionals - is the number one reason why people in the state are not able to access the mental health services they need.”
Michigan doesn’t require companies to offer paid leave. Should it? | FOX 47 News | Tianna Jenkins | April 11, 2022
“‘Year after year, there have been bills in Michigan’s legislature with a proposal to enact a paid leave system. There’s even been a ballot proposal. But no progress has been made in our law. And one of if not the major roadblocks to passing a paid leave system has been business community interest groups,’ said Bobby Dorigo Jones, vice president of Michigan’s Children, a nonprofit that advocates for public policies that support children.
He says each time business interest groups have basically refused to engage in negotiations around the hard details of a proposal.
‘How much time off? How is it accrued and earned? And who pays really?’ Jones said. ‘The question of who pays is very political and very costly for a lot of different people. And really no progress will be made until people across the state demand that folks come to the table and negotiate around the plan that fairly rewards time off for workers who’ve earned. And that’s paid for equitably based on who has resources and who can afford it.’”
Report finds more than 20,000 children without a stable home in Michigan | WDET Radio | Tia Graham | March 25, 2022
Bobby Dorigo Jones is the vice president of outreach for Michigan’s Children, which brings organizations together that serve youth without housing. “We know that there’s no better advocate for young people than young people themselves,” Jones says.
Report finds more than 20,000 children without a stable home in Michigan | Michigan Radio | Briana Rice | February 25, 2022
“Bobby Dorigo Jones, vice president of Michigan’s Children, an advocacy organization, said the study's findings show Michigan needs more homeless shelters and services for teens. ‘We have 19 counties in our state that do not have a contracted runaway homeless youth service provider.’”
Why wasn’t the pandemic worse? Federal funds and public programs, experts say | Michigan Advance | Anna Gustafson | August 31, 2021
“Public investment in services that are public goods or provide a public benefit, like child care, education and housing, is essential when a crisis arises,” Dorigo Jones said. “Having state investment in our public sphere, having a strong state and local government, that helps us respond faster when things come down from the federal government. If, for example, we had a stronger database for renter and landlord information, rental assistance could have gotten out faster.”
Feds Extend Summer Food Assistance to Low-Income Students | Detroit Metro Times | Suzanne Potter | April 28, 2021
"It's a strain on young people's ability to grow when nutrition is hard to find," he said. "This will be one less nightmare for a lot of families in Michigan.…..”The students who are most likely to continue to face that are disconnected from school - experiencing homelessness, foster care or migrant status," he said, "and the schools and our state need to invest in programs and services that can connect them."
The real state of Michigan education: Improving outcomes costs money | Bridge Michigan | Ron French | February 12, 2019
A “children’s cabinet” that would put officials from various state departments such as Michigan’s Department of Education and Department of Health and Human Servicesthat deal with children’s issues into the same room. Often, departments work in silos and don’t know what other departments are doing, said Robert Dorigo Jones…. “It’s not a good system for information sharing,” Jones said. “Other states have done a better job of finding ways for departments to work together.”
Report Finds Foster Kids Shortchanged | Public News Service | Suzanne Potter | November 14, 2018
Bobby Dorigo Jones, with the nonprofit Michigan’s Children, says that many young people, especially children of color, get bounced around in foster homes. He tells us that disrupts their relationships with family, friends, and counselors, and can make it harder to graduate from high school.
Blogs written for Michigan’s Children
(1/2022) State Should Invest in Needed Professionals to Support Students and Relieve Overburdened Teachers