All of this stuff that is going on is inextricably related to poverty.

Most of the lyrics, if you listen to the poetry of hip-hop, is about taking a devastating situation and making it better, coming up out of poverty.

Detroit is a rising hub of hip-hop culture, and we have two million names in our database, and a large percentage of those names come out of Michigan. Detroit is a big strong base for us.

Middle-income living standards, and poverty for that matter, are best addressed through employment growth. By maintaining low inflation and low expectations of inflation, you can create new employment.

We had some very interesting reports on the figures and costs it takes to run a dual-track school system, and there are very few schools in the state that have both tracks. The real problem comes when in the same schools — overworking staff and teachers — so there are staffing issues that get interesting.

It was a beautiful experience for those who are already in the political arena as well as those aspiring to become involved. The activities were very informative, and the panel discussion allowed us the opportunity to tell how we got involved, our successes and our pitfalls, which may help them not make the same mistakes as they try their hand at the political arena.