Kalamazoo Promise Returned: In pictures and words

Simon Borst presents a look at what the Kalamazoo Promise has meant to some of those who benefited from the generous scholarship program.

By Simon Borst

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Community Development

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February 13, 2014

Graduating in 2007, Simon Borst was part of the second class to receive the Kalamazoo Promise, a scholarship that covered up to 100 percent tuition at any Michigan public university or college for those who attended Kalamazoo Public Schools. Now Borst is among those who have returned to Kalamazoo. The artist tells their story in a graphic news form. This is the first of a two-part series.

(i) https://www.kalamazoopromise.com/

(ii) http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/16/magazine/kalamazoo-mich-the-city-that-pays-for-college.html?_r=0
(iii) http://www.upjohn.org/sites/default/files/promise/trends.pdf
(iv) http://swmichigan.secondwavemedia.com/features/communityprogress0815.aspx

Read part 2 of Promise Retuned here.

More stories told in comic form by Simon Borst for Southwest Michigan’s Second Wave can be found here:

Community Progress in Kalamazoo’s Edison Neighborhood

Through Our City: A comic about the Kalamazoo River Valley Trail

Simon Kalil Borst is a Kalamazoo artist and works for the People’s Food Co-op of Kalamazoo. His work appears regularly in the Co-op Scoop.

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