Beyond sports: Battle Creek group known for Midnight Basketball offers safety net for entire family

Cool People Community Savers is a different kind of community group. “Our whole model is that we want to be a community extended family,” says founder Keith Matthews. He’s created an extended family support system that also surrounds youth with positive peers and adult mentors.

Join the Great Apple Crunch and be part of 2 million apple crunchers across the region

This is the eighth year for the Michigan Apple Crunch. Organizers hope 2 million people will crunch into apples this year. 

Albion College works to create a ‘protective bubble’ around students to keep out COVID-19

Testing of wastewater samples is part of a three-pronged approach that Albion College officials developed in their efforts to mitigate and contain the spread of COVID-19 on campus.

Kalamazoo’s Milwood Neighborhood: Everything you could want without leaving the neighborhood

With residential, commercial, and industrial properties Milwood could be a town unto itself. 

Grants help give COVID-stressed businesses a restart; lets one Kalamazoo company take a coffee break

Mamaleelu Cold Brew is among 1,434 small businesses in Southwest Michigan that are receiving grants averaging $5,000 as part of the Michigan Small Business Restart Program.

Traumatic past prepares Raul Maysonet for life as a street minister in Battle Creek’s hot spots

From gang life, to a jail cell, Raul Maysonet found God had a plan for him and his wife Carrie.

Dr. Caelan Soma, Starr Commonwealth's chief clinical officer.
Michigan health care workers grapple with stress and trauma during pandemic

Medical professionals are certainly not immune to a widespread spike in mental health challenges, and several new initiatives have sought to provide them much-needed support.

Calhoun County approves more nurses for schools as they deal with COVID-19

Being a school nurse is one of the many jobs that has changed with the spread of the pandemic. In keeping with the request of local school districts, Calhoun County has now deployed more nurses. 

New pastor looks to bring church spirit to young people in Kalamazoo, inspire positive social change

“I want to be a part of a larger movement – of interfaith dialogue and conversation,” says the new pastor of Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church, Rev. Millard Southern III.

Four-year-old Heritage Fund fosters an accurate appreciation for Native Americans and their history

The Native American Heritage Fund is becoming a model that the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi would like to see being used to promote positive relationships for more Native American Tribes.

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