Named after a neighborhood school, the Edison Environmental Science Academy, a magnet elementary school, which was in turn, named after Thomas Edison, America’s best-known inventor, the Edison neighborhood is largely comprised of production, service and construction workers, people who have literally helped build and rebuild the city, as well as healthcare, office, and food service workers, people who take care of the city and its residents. And in the spirit of its namesake, Edison continues to invent itself, even when growth and revitalization have failed to deliver on hoped-for promises.With recent economic upturns both for the neighborhood and the city, as well as community and police efforts to lessen violent crime, the future looks bright. Edison is the first neighborhood being covered in the “On the Ground" series which amplifies the voices of Edison Neighborhood residents. Over three months, Second Wave journalists will be embedded in the Edison Neighborhood to explore topics of importance to residents, business owners, and other members of the community. The On the Ground program is made possible by funding from the City of Kalamazoo, LISC, the Fetzer Institute, the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, United Way of the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo Region, Michigan WORKS!, the Kalamazoo Community Foundation and the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo.
Three new businesses have opened in recent weeks in the area along Portage Street, southeast of downtown Kalamazoo, and another is soon to open. It's all part of the ongoing evolution of Washington Square in Kalamazoo.
If you are an undocumented immigrant in Kalamazoo County who has been affected by COVID-19 the MI Gente fund can help. And you are eligible to be vaccinated, too.
As a historical survey of the Edison Neighborhood gets underway residents can expect to see surveyors taking pictures of every house and commercial building in the area.
Everyone wants more affordable housing but these days it’s not that easy to build, a Kalamazoo developer who put together The Creamery project in the Edison neighborhood says.
YWCA is continuing to plan for the opening of the YWCA Edison Children’s Center, a 24-hour drop-in center that will provide affordable child care for infants to 3-year-olds as well as second- and third-shift childcare for children up to age 12.
On a beautiful summer's day the Kalamazoo Farmers Market might draw 5,000 people. This market season that will not be the case as physical distance is maintained.
The Heritage Community, the first senior care facility in Kalamazoo may have been the fastest to react to COVID-19 by creating an isolation unit in case residents might catch the virus and early measures to restrict visitors.
New Mexican restaurant gets ready to move into space in Kalamazoo's Edison neighborhood after Jersey Giants moves on.
Kalamazoo’s largest community keeps plugging away.
The independently-owned George’s Appliance Co. on the southern edge of the Edison Neighborhood in Kalamazoo says business has never been bad.
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