Mark Wedel, Author at Second Wave

Kalamazoo’s public health approach to gun violence opens doors to creative solutions, says expert

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February 2, 2023

A single gunshot that results in a homicide costs $1.2 million, robs feelings of safety, and rips a gaping hole into a family and community. Ahead of the national curve, both Kalamazoo County and City have declared gun violence a public health issue which moves the emphasis from penalty to prevention. Gun violence prevention expert, Reggie Moore, spoke to a large audience of invested community members last week at the Kalamazoo Community Foundation, calling on Kalamazoo to become a "healing-informed" city.

Kalamazoo Middle Eastern music groups connect cultures and people

By Mark Wedel

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January 25, 2023

Bahar Ensemble and its educational youth group Orchestra Rouh have made Middle Eastern music one of the many sounds of Kalamazoo's community. After going virtual over the pandemic, both gear up for a busy 2023.

Something to toot about: Kalamazoo has its own Mastodon server

By Mark Wedel

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January 11, 2023

Mastodon has arrived in Kalamazoo! Is it a large extinct mammal or a local ‘instance’ that’s part of the fediverse? Correspondent Mark Wedel will help you decide.

Home Start Initiative believes its approaches to affordable housing will help project move forward

By Mark Wedel

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December 22, 2022

Services from financial education to emotional health and daycare are part of the package that is Playgrown Home Start, a community of 10 homes near what was once a tent encampment of the unhoused. The project is seeking funding and the project leader says: "I have faith in our grantors, I have faith, I have so much faith in this project and our team."

Community Homeworks of Kalamazoo helps make the critical repairs that keep people in their homes

By Mark Wedel

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December 8, 2022

For Community Homeworks work is laser-focused on critical home repairs in homes that have health or safety issues its Executive Director Chris Praedel says. "Is there a current or imminent health or safety risk to the homeowner or their family? If the answer is yes, then that's the project we want to prioritize."

For everyday riders using bikes for short trips in Kalamazoo changes at the street level are welcome

By Mark Wedel

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December 1, 2022

City bikers looking to switch from gas-burning vehicles to pedals for everyday travel are finding reason to hope that newly configured bike lanes will make a difference for them.

Volunteers say besides housing, what Kalamazoo’s unhoused need is to know that someone cares

By Mark Wedel

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November 30, 2022

Volunteer Jan van Schaik says apart from the obvious need for shelter, Kalamazoo's homeless need to be seen as fellow humans. His work with the unhoused, handing out food, hot chocolate, coffee, and providing mentorship as needed, and as importantly showing them he recognizes them by name.

They call him ‘Pops’: Helping others and keeping the peace among the unsheltered earns their respect

By Mark Wedel

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November 9, 2022

Pops is a peacekeeper. He also advocates in any way he can to help others and is always trying to get people in need, the supplies they need. He is also a kind ear and sympathetic friend. And Pops has been homeless off-and-on for the past eight years, and unsheltered for the past two years straight until recently.

Director of Street Medicine Kalamazoo, Dr. Sravani Alluri, checks Pops' pulse.

Kalamazoo’s unsheltered say Street Medicine Kalamazoo is an organization that works for them

By Mark Wedel

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November 3, 2022

Street Medicine Kalamazoo came out of the Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine early in 2021 to take healthcare directly to the most underserved population, the unsheltered. Now they conduct an open-air clinic Mondays near PFC and Wednesdays at Ministry.

United for the Unsheltered meets Kalamazoo’s homeless where they are, often in the camps

By Mark Wedel

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October 26, 2022

The needs of people living outside are many. The volunteer group United for the Unsheltered works to get them food and they give out hygiene kits, clothes, supplies for pets, and more. Often they are traveling to hidden encampments where the need is greatest.

Mark Wedel

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