Now in its 33rd year, the Michigan Blind Athletic Association’s Sports Education Camp, which will be held this month at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, teaches youth basic adaptive sports skills and activities.
Since November, two young men have died in separate incidents that involved exchanges of gunfire at the Campus Pointe Mall. Public safety are receiving increasing calls to manage unruly crowds and nuisance partying there. Local leaders, police, and business owners gathered May 8 to address the issues and brainstorm solutions to increase safety.
Raised on a potato farm, Brenda Hunt grew up comfortable on a tractor cultivating the fields. She brought that skill for cultivation to her position as CEO of the Battle Creek Community Foundation, but after 30 impactful years, she says she's ready to step down. And return – at least in part – to the tractor (which she still loves to ride) and her family farm.
The Kalamazoo Nonprofit Advocacy Coalition has launched an $11 million fundraising campaign to preserve and renovate the 167-year-old First Baptist Church, which it now owns. Started five years ago, KNAC's mission is to create an inclusive, collaborative, affordable space for artists, nonprofits, and start-ups. "I believe a shared story of Kalamazoo is evolving," says KNAC Board Director Dann Sytsma, "and a shared space like KNAC can be an agent for that positive change."
Among the mantras at Batlle Creek's Sunlight Garden is "Food is medicine." Now you can get your prescription for fresh produce filled at Farmacy, located at the two-acre urban farm, 245 N. Kendall Ave. Farmacy, which will feature affordable, local organic produce, eggs, and wholesome snacks, will be accepting Double Up Bucks and other programs, and seeks to dispel the myth that healthy food is more expensive.
Battle Creek Voices of Youth Artist Athena McCarthy focused her artist's lens directly on anxiety, creating digital artwork that personified her feelings. In her accompanying artist statements, she shares about the empowering process. Athena says, "There are ways to help with anxiety and to help those with anxiety, simply by being there for each other."
These nonprofits are taking innovative approaches to supporting and empowering people with disabilities so they can truly achieve the rights promised to them by the law.
Voices of Youth Battle Creek participants, Elisha Willis and Cordell Barnes, listen to a lot of podcasts and wanted to try one of their own. They decided to focus on social media and its impact on teen mental health. In this conversational format, Elisha and Cordell, with their mentor Gerald King, touch on negative and positive impacts of social media and how to keep it all real. Listen to the CnE Podcast to get the real scoop on social media and teens today.
NorthWest Initiative offers food distribution, community gardens, nutrition education, cooking programs, school-based gardens, and a mobile farmers market.
Despite an increased awareness around symptoms and treatment options, a lot of stigma around seeking mental health care still exists. For leaders and professionals in esteemed positions and industries, this stigma can be even more difficult to overcome.
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