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National community enrichment program comes to Kalamazoo, Comstock

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Economic Development

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March 25, 2010

Temple University in Philadelphia has picked two Kalamazoo County Foundation projects to be a part of the school's national intitiative to create opportunities for young and old to live and work together. Local residents and the foundation worked for more than a year to figure out how to foster connections across generations and to develop projects based on what they learned. The acceptance from Temple's Intergenerational Center, which administers the Communities for All Ages, CFAA, project, will help those projects go forward. Specific programs to be implemented are in Comstock Township and the Northside neighborhood of Kalamazoo. It also brings dollars to implement the projects.Each will receive a $20,000 grant for each of the next two years for a total of $40,000. Temple is supplying half and the Community Foundation matches it. The two projects came about after a lot of ground work at the neighborhood level. Team members went door-to-door in specific number of blocks on the Northside. They found people worried that some youngsters are not ready to take advantage of the Kalamazoo Promise when they graduate from  high school, says Amy Slancik, of the Kalamazoo Community Foundation. A project working with middle school students in an Alternative Middle School connected with New Genesis Learning Center has been proposed.The hope is that the experience gained here will be applied to other communites, says Carrie Pickett-Elway, of the Kalamazoo Community Foundation.In Comstock Township, the teams on the project suggested the development of a Community Service Corp to build connections among residents who did not feel connected to their neighbors and who did not know how to connect to availablw services. One possibility is that the Community Service Corp be located in the Comstock Commuity Learning Center. The center is slated for renovation this summer. Work on the two projects is ongoing. The Kalamazoo Community Foundation is one of six community foundations working on the CFAA initiative. The work was in part made possible by a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, based in Battle Creek. In total, CFAA works with 25 urban and rural communities to promote the well-being of all age groups.Writer: Kathy JenningsSources: Amy Slancik, Community Investment Officer, Initiatives, and Carrie Pickett-Erway, Senior Community Investment Officer, Kalamazoo Community Foundation

National award recognizes generosity of Battle Creek’s Kellogg

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Economic Development

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March 25, 2010

Kellogg Company has the Spirit of America says the United Way.The company's generous giving and innovative leadership in the community inspired the United Way to give its top national award to Kellogg.Kellogg Company is the first Michigan-based company to win the Spirit of America award. United Way has recognized corporate giving with the Spirit of America Award for 23 years. Some past winners include 3M, FedEx and Pfizer. The United Way lauded Kellogg Company for going beyond food and financial donations to spearhead a downtown revitalization effort in Battle Creek, including the expansion of its global nutrition research facility, committing to move more employees downtown, donating a building for potential use as a math and science education center and partnering with various organizations to bring new businesses and jobs to the community.In 2009, Kellogg was the first to produce food solely for donation. The company donated an entire day's worth of cereal production — 3.7 million pounds — to Feeding America, the nation's largest hunger relief organization. United Way was impressed with Kellogg's innovative celebrity partnership with Katalyst, a social media studio co-founded by Ashton Kutcher. Kellogg teamed up with Katalyst to spotlight the plight of the hungry. An online video consisting of user-generated content and directed by Demi Moore illustrated the fact that one out of every eight Americans struggle with hunger."On behalf of our entire organization, I'm humbled and honored to accept the United Way Spirit of America Award," says David Mackay, president and chief executive officer of Kellogg Company.The United Way spelled out the other gifts that led to the award:-- Kellogg Company's $5.9 million campaign pledge in 2009 was 19 percent over goal. -- Kellogg also stepped up with a $600,000 grant to United Way of Greater Battle Creek to address increased basic health and income needs in the hometown of the company's headquarters. This grant provided, among other gifts, 20 pounds of fresh vegetables weekly to nearly 2,000 people.-- Kellogg employees across the United States conducted more than 45 food drives that collected more than 47,000 pounds of food. And Kellogg has donated more than 94 million pounds of food, or 66 million meals, over the past five years.-- Kellogg also worked with Action for Healthy Kids to improve healthy eating and physical activity among children around the country. This includes helping dozens of schools nationwide increase the number of kids eating a healthy breakfast at school.-- Kellogg partnerships around the globe, including working with United Way of Mumbai, India, to provide meals to underprivileged children. The company also  is a founding partner of The Global FoodBanking Network.Writer: Kathy JenningsSource: David Mackay, Kellogg Company

Communication technology expands to parts of Van Buren County 

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Economic Development

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March 25, 2010

Bloomingdale Communications Inc. will under take an $8.2 million expansion of voice, data and video service to most of Paw Paw Township and parts of Almena, Antwerp and Waverly townships. The service also will extend into Mattawan. The expansion is one of  22 projects nationwide to be awarded grant money from Rural Utilities Services. The services to be made available include telephone, IP video with digital video recording and high-definition video with Internet speeds up to 20MB. Faster speeds will be available in the future. The company provides digital cable, DIRECTV and local and long distance telephone services. Emegency services and hospitals can use added bandwidth that will open up when a second fiber path from Paw Paw to the main office in Bloomingdale is constructed. It provides a second path for service in case the fiber backbone is damaged or destroyed. Construction work is to begin this summer. Laying the backbone of the system is expected to take one year and the entire project, connecting homes and businesses to the backbone, is expected to take two years, BCI's Sales and Marketing Supervisor Shari Wykrent says. Bloomingdale Communications Inc. serves Van Buren County and parts of Allegan County. Writer: Kathy Jennings Source: Shari Wykrent,  Bloomindale Communications Inc.

Internships aim to keep young pros in Michigan

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Economic Development

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March 25, 2010

The availability of internships has been shown to help states keep educated young people from fleeing for other places to live and work.The importance of Internships definitely is on the rise. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, the percent of interns converted to full-time employment rose form 35.6 percent  in 2001 to 50.5 percent in 2008.Kalamazoo Valley Community College's Lois Brinson-Ropes, the internship coordinator for the Student Employment Services, works with local employers to find the right young people for intern positions, which ideally bring an advantage when seeking full-time work.KVCC's Community Partners Internship Program has recently arranged for five winter semester placements. They are:-- David Curtis, a graphic-design major, Paw Paw Wine Distributors.-- Graphic-design/illustration student, Amy O'Donnell, Wraps & Signs By Trim It.-- Brittany Bauman, another graphic-design enrollee, The Strutt.-- Morgan Wellman as an administrative assistant, Abies Chiropractic Clinic.-- Chelsea Spencer, a business-administration major will do a marketing internship at Global Clinical Connections, which is located at M-TEC of KVCC and sponsored a graphic-design intern during the fall semester.The placements are funded for a three-year period by the KVCC Foundation. With $100,000, at least 55 students can be placed with enterprises interested in a grow-your-own-workforce alliance.The bulk of the grant funds is being used to pay up to 50 percent of the wages for each intern. The companies they work for pay the balance. The program runs through December of 2011.Salary terms are established on a case-by-case basis and agreed upon prior to the start of the internship.  The pay can range from the minimum wage of $7.40 to $12 per hour.An internship usually lasts 15 weeks, but students can apply at any time and assignments are made year-round.Writer: Kathy JenningsSource: Lois E. Brinson-Ropes, KVCC

Portage man expands business from garage to commercial space

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Economic Development

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March 25, 2010

Two years ago, Steve Scott started a small-engine repair shop in the garage of his Portage home. Business has been so successful, he's ready to move out into the world, reports the Kalamazoo Gazette. His Something for all Seasons has moved into commercial space at 8139 Portage Road, just south of Centre Avenue, in Portage. Scott, who the story says repairs snowmobiles, lawnmowers, automobiles, tractors, combines, tillers, cultivators, boats, all-terrain vehicles and virtually anything else with a motor, said he is excited to be getting into his new, much larger work space. Excerpt: "This is heaven," he said of the 2,800-square-foot shop. He now has room to display the equipment he sells. The story goes on to say Scott was born with congenital glaucoma, and underwent 23 surgical procedures before his eyes were replaced with prosthetics when he was 17. Read the rest of the story to find out how his wife helps with the business.

Business booms nationwide for Kalamazoo’s iyeTek

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Economic Development

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March 18, 2010

Demand keeps growing for software developed for law enforcement agencies by the Kalamazoo information technology company, iyeTek.When iyeTek moved into Western Michigan University's Business and Research Park two years ago it had six employees and three interns. Today, 10 employees are on staff, and at any one time six to eight interns work on the company's software solutions for law enforcement agencies. Those are now used in 28 states compared to eight states that used iyeTek two years ago.When it moved into the research park in March 2008, iyeTek occupied 1,300 square feet of space at 4664 Campus Drive. Business has been so good since then the company has nearly doubled the amount of space it uses.The company's various software, including electronic ticket writing and crash reporting systems and information sharing with local, state and federal agencies, is now used all across Michigan. The software is used in handheld and mobile devices.Company co-founder and Director of Operations Salman Anwar gives much credit for the company's success to the support it has gotten in the BTR Park and its partnership with WMU. Among iyeTek's successes is the crash reporting system that has proved to be the most popular of its products, Anwar says."We're making the roads safer for people who drive on a daily basis," Anwar says. The iyeTek crash reporting system is one way it does that. The system helps police officers document crash details that give law enforcement agencies and traffic engineers information to analyze. It can help them determined the causes of crashes and also lead them, if need be, to take actions to make roadways more safe. "It's all about saving lives of police officers and citizens," Anwar says. Another popular software package involves information sharing that alerts officers during traffic stops and calls to be notified of any NCIC — National Crime Information Center — and FBI warnings related to a vehicle or suspect.The company was founded in Kalamazoo by Anwar and Jeremy Vainavicz, both alumni of WMU's College of Engineering and Applied Sciences.Writer: Kathy JenningsSource Salman Anwar

$350,000 supports WMU’s study of greenhouse gas storage

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Economic Development

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March 18, 2010

A total of $350,000 in grants to Western Michigan University will further studies into greenhouse gas storage as the push for clean coal energy heats up.WMU researchers are looking for ways to further develop clean coal technology by capturing the greenhouse gases it creates and storing them deep under the earth.Success could mean economic development opportunities for the state, including the creation of high-tech jobs, more affordable energy costs for consumers and reduction of pollution from the gases.The research, which has been ongoing in some form at WMU for six years, recently got a boost of $350,000 from federal stimulus funds.Most of the money comes from the U.S. Department of Energy and the University of Illinois, which is studying four states for their suitability to store the greenhouse gas or CO2. Together, they contributed $306,000. The remaining $44,000 comes from the Department of Energy and Wolverine Power Supply Cooperative Inc., a nonprofit member-owned utility in Cadillac and is being used for engineering design and cost estimates for the capture of 1,000 metric tons of CO2 per day from a proposed power plant in Rogers City, MI.In science-speak, what WMU is doing is carbon capture and geological carbon sequestration research. In layman's terms, they are looking at deep geological formations underground in Michigan to figure out if they could be used to store captured carbon gases.Dr.David A. Barnes, professor of geosciences at WMU, is the principal investigator on the two research projects funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009."Fossil energy has been fundamentally responsible for development in modern industrialized societies, but the associated greenhouse gas emissions are seriously threatening our environment," Barnes says. "The capture and deep geological storage of greenhouse gas emissions provide a critical bridging technology as we move, as aggressively as possible, to renewable energy technologies."Writer: Kathy JenningsSource: David A. Barnes

Gusts off South Haven among best in state for wind energy

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Technology & Innovation

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March 18, 2010

TThe winds that churn off South Haven's lakeshore are known for being a powerful force, and the city is looking at ways to control the turbines that could harness that wind for energy, reports the Kalamazoo Gazette.The city planning commission in August began to consider how to regulate wind turbines. A public hearing is set for April 1 to get input on the proposed rules."We know that the wind is very good here so we want to have something in place that will balance quality of life with these new technologies," says City Manager Brian Dissette. Excerpt:The wind-power potential in South Haven is maybe best seen by taking a drive along Monroe Boulevard, where trees atop a large hill that leads down to Lake Michigan are permanently bent from the west winds that blow unfettered across the open waters."There is a high level of interest in wind energy (in South Haven)," Dissette said. "That's the driving force behind this ordinance."Under the city's draft ordinance, only wind turbines 40 feet tall or shorter would be allowed within 3,000 feet of the lakeshore. Turbines taller than 40 feet but under 200 feet would be allowed in areas zoned industrial and in one area zoned for business near I-196 on the city's east side. Turbines 200 to 400 feet tall would be restricted to industrial areas.Special-use permits from the city would be required for all wind turbines, regardless of size. For those taller than 200 feet, a study of potential impact on wildlife and noise would have to be filed. Other requirements would include minimum setbacks from other structures of 1.5 to 2 times the height of the turbine. There are few parcels in South Haven that could accommodate those zoning requirements, according to Dissette."This ordinance is pretty doggone restrictive," the city manager said. "I don't see a line forming to seek installing these (turbines). Few can fund it and make it economically feasible."Read the whole story on the proposed wind turbine regulations.Source: Kalamazoo Gazette

Portage cheers $204,700 grant to improve city buildings

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Economic Development

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March 18, 2010

A number of projects meant to make Portage city facilities more energy-efficient are under way thanks to a $204,700 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.Thegrant comes from dollars set aside in the American Reinvestment andRecovery Act and will create additional jobs as work is done on fourseparate city buildings.City Hall will receive HVAC upgrades, window replacement, insulation and general weatherization. ThePortage Senior Center will also undergo similar work while the city'sPublic Services building will have its lighting upgraded.Fire Station No. 2 on Oakland Drive gets its boiler replaced and have a radiant heat system installed.The improvements could save the City of Portage $10,000 annually on energy bills.Writer: Kim North ShineSource: Devin Mackinder, CIO/IT Director City of Portage

DeVos firm, Portage company roll out energy efficiency technology

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Technology & Innovation

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March 18, 2010

A new joint venture between a Grand Rapids investment firm owned by Dick and Betsy DeVos and Portage company, Pro Services, has launched and is expected to employ 15 people this year.Their new company, Pro Renewables, will sell what is known as Green Machine.Excerpt:The patented Green Machine invented and manufactured by ElectraTherm Inc. in Reno, Nev. has been installed in six locations worldwide and has earned awards from such respected publications as The Wall Street Journal and Popular Science magazine.  One of the newest of the six Green Machine installations is in the Michigan Technical Education Center at Kalamazoo Valley Community College in Kalamazoo, where a demonstration and announcement about the new venture took place Wednesday morning.  "We are pleased to announce this new venture bringing the Green Machine to the Midwest," says Dick DeVos, president of The Windquest Group.  The venture, called ProRenewables, LLC, represents a partnership between The Windquest Group, DeVos' investment management firm in Grand Rapids, and Pro Services, a specialized trades contractor in Portage.The Green Machine uses heat and pressure recovery technologies to capture heat lost from virtually any geothermal or industrial operation and turn it into fuel-free, emission-free usable electricity. The escaping heat is a byproduct readily available from industrial sources, among them inefficient machines and manufacturing processes, and is abundantly available in the Midwest where there's a broad base of energy intensive industrial activity.Company officials estimate that more than two-thirds of the energy in fuel used to generate power in America is lost as heat. Read the whole story, to learn more about the company.Source: Rapid Growth Media