**FIRST EMAIL**/FIRST Adds District Event Model Alternative to FRC Program

[Karibou]

Originally Posted by IndySam

Michigan teams are going to get more plays per team, more bang for their buck while the rest of the country is still shelling out full price. Happy for my MI friends but quite frankly that sucks for the rest of us.

I always saw that as a problem. And while I would like to say "Hey. Our economy sucks, we deserve it," I realize that other states are having the same problem. However, it seems that we're losing A LOT of our support from businesses, which is a result of the auto industry crashing down around our ears. My team is losing a huge GM grant this upcoming year, which has historically been our main source of money, and I know the same is happing for teams all over. Thousands of job cuts have also been cutting adult support - Parents and mentors lose jobs, they have to spend more time looking for and working new ones to support their family, and have less time to support the team, down to transporting their kids to meetings and work sessions.

I don't mean to make Michigan seem like it's a poor state that needs pity, or anything like that. I'm sure that the same thing is happening everywhere around the world. It just seems like we're being hit harder, so it makes a lot of sense for us to get a break (though not necessarily such a large one). Michigan also has a very high concentration of teams, which magnifies the effect of the economy.