Second Waves asked several community leaders to consider the greatest challenges they or their organizations face as we head into this new year, as well as what they most look forward to. Here is what some of them had to say.
The Northside Association for Community Development is working to build 21 new houses in the neighborhood and recently hosted the first in what will be a series of meetings to allow people to ask questions and learn what they need to know to buy one of the new houses.
The Bronco Promise is set to provide a tuition-free WMU education for up to five years for first-year students from Michigan families who earn $50,000 or less or who have $50,000 or less who have net assets. It's the first step WMU is making after it received a $550 million gift from anonymous donors earlier this year.
The Kalamazoo City Commission has put in place the steps needed to assess properties that could become the location for POD housing for those who currently do not have stable housing conditions.
The president of the Milwood Neighborhood Watch Association has died. The Executive Director of the Edison Neighborhood Association will retire this month. Two other core neighborhoods have executive directors who are planning their exits when major projects are finished. How will this transfer of leadership affect Kalamazoo's neighborhoods?
There have been many accomplishments in the Edison Neighborhood over the past 21 years that Tammy Taylor has been Exective Director. But she says it has been the small things she and the association have done to help people that have meant the most to her.
Roosevelt Lee-Fleming learned how to keep expensive sneakers in pristine shape as a teen. Now he's turned that skill into a business of his own. The Drip Sneakers restores shoes for sneaker-heads. It also sells unique women’s apparel.
Workers who have quit their jobs or whose job have quit them talk about why they are not going back. An economist and two other people from Kalamazoo who help entrepreneurs build their businesses give their thoughts on where are all the workers.
An idea that had been rolling around Dan Kay's brain for a couple of years came together at a time when all seemed lost. Now his Perfect Paint Edger is getting national attention from all the right people.
Despite the quarantining and social distancing Kzoo Makers has continued to attract creative builders, engineers, artists, and crafters and has even been a home for growing businesses.
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