A music festival in the key of awesome is how the I.D.E.A. Association plans to draw out the community and what they have to offer for fixing the ills of society. Rebecca Bakken talks with the group's founders to learn where it all leads.
Not every Kalamazoo County Park specifically prohibits digging. But that's rule No. 7 for dogs whose owners take them to the Kalamazoo area's latest dog park. Prairie View County Park now has six acres of Kalamazoo County park land devoted to dogs and their owners open to the public and their pooches.Volunteers who helped make the park a reality are expected to bring their dogs to the ribbon cutting and related festivities on opening day, June 17.Demand for the park emerged in two different planning processes: one during the overall master plan for Kalamazoo County Parks; and the second a plan for Prairie View, says David Rachowicz, director of parks and recreation. Since June 17 is a free day at all county parks, including Prairie View, Rachowicz may be too busy to bring Rory, his Brittany, to check out the park. The dog will have to wait to sniff out a five-foot fence surrounding the property. It encompasses three acres that are wooded with trails and three acres of open fields. Amenities include drinking water, dog waste bags, shady areas and benches. Dogs can run without leashes in the park, though they must be leashed from the car to the park entrance and as they are exiting the park.Dogs must be accompanied by an adult age 16 or older and parents should note children younger than age 8 will not be permitted in the fenced-in area as a safety precaution.The park is open year-around from 7 a.m. to sunset.Writer: Kathy JenningsSource: David Rachowicz, Kalamazoo County Parks
Battle Creek's International Food Protection Training Institute (IFPTI) is working with two federal agencies to train food inspectors who soon will be seeing sea food tainted with oil from the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.Already 20 inspectors have gone through the training in Pascagoula, Miss., another 20 are being trained there this week, and additional classes are being organized to take place in Baton Rouge, La.The training in "sensory detection" teaches inspectors to identify through sight and smell sea food tainted by oil. Training covers identification of taint in shrimp, oysters and finned fish.Inspectors will need skills in seafood safety monitoring so that food protection officials can take proper regulatory response measures, including issuance of advisories on opening and closing of fisheries.Inspectors from five states -- Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas -- have been asked to take the course in anticipation of the need for a larger pool of people with such training.IFPTI is reimbursing attendees' travel expenses to overcome the limited funding for training and tight travel budgets that would otherwise have prevented these food protection officials from getting the emergency training.IFPTI was asked by the University of Florida to develop the special training as a result of previous training the Institute had put together on recognizing decomposition in sea food. The institute coordinated and funded the training. The IFPTI is a leader in delivering food protection training to state and local food safety officials. Initial funding for IFPTI has been provided by a grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation.Writer: Kathy JenningsSource: Joan Bowman, International Food Protection Training Institute
Programs in Benton Harbor could provide as many as 5,000 summer opportunities for young people in the community.An initiative called Safe Summer 2010 is designed to improve economic and job development opportunities for youth and young adults throughout the summer.More than $250,000 in reallocated or new program funding has been identified for these programs. Funding is made possible through various state and federal programs in addition to local donors.Partners in the initiative are Harbor Shores Community Redevelopment Inc., Michigan Works!, the Consortium for Community Development, Whirlpool Foundation and Whirlpool Community Relations, the Boys and Girls Club of Benton Harbor, Cornerstone Alliance and many others. "As we are working our way through rough times," says Benton Harbor Mayor Wilce Cooke, "activities to engage young people in both recreational and job training will set the stage for future opportunities for them as individuals, as well as for the economic development efforts underway for the community as a whole."Safe Summer 2010 will include programming for recreational activities, such as summer youth sports and transportation to Jean Klock Park, job training and workplace experience.Michigan Works! will provide opportunities for local youth to gain summer work experience and prepare them for their future careers. "Today's employers are requesting skills and talents that come from specific experience, training and education. For six years, our Youthworks! Summer Jobs program has provided these opportunities. This year, despite funding challenges, we've enrolled nearly 200 Benton Harbor youth into the program." said Todd Gustafson, Executive Director of the Michigan Works of Berrien, Cass and Van Buren counties. The Benton Harbor Area Schools announced its summer lunch program and the locations and times for serving meals to area students. "This program helps to provide students a healthy diet, which is an essential part of their development and well being," said Dan McGinnis, President of the BHAS School Board. Writer: Kathy JenningsSource: Jamie Balkin, Cornerstone Alliance
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