Every time Kim* brings her daughter in for a free new hairstyle courtesy of the
Dream of Kalamazoo Foundation, she finds a new product or styling tool to buy. The Kalamazoo resident, who has fostered 29 children and has adopted three, is part of the region's economic growth and development cycle.
“Every single time I go (to the salon) I buy something from the community,” Kim says. “Just this last time I was asked, ‘Oh, what brush is that?’ And (Lalonie Willhite) said, ‘Oh, it’s this brush and you can go down to Kali and get it.’”
Nonprofit organizations contribute to economic development across the state and in Southwest Michigan. One nonprofit in particular, Dream of Kalamazoo Foundation, led by Lalonie Willhite, is an example of how a nonprofit contributes to economic growth right here in the community while fulfilling its core mission of giving back.
Willhite says free access to culturally appropriate hair care provided by Dream of Kalamazoo Foundation makes a difference in health and wellness outcomes for children. Youth in foster care are referred to the Foundation for hair care services. The Foundation calls on one of its six partner salons and barbershops to fulfill the need. The service is paid for by the Dream of Kalamazoo Foundation.
The hands-on approach works well for foster and adoptive parents — many of whom have been white parents caring for Black or multiracial youth, says Willhite, who has been a cosmetologist since 2010.
“They’ll say they tried to get on YouTube to do this, but still couldn’t get it. That’s because they’re more hands-on learners,” Willhite says. During visits, the health of the youth’s hair and scalp is assessed, and foster and adoptive parents receive lessons teaching them how to maintain hair health and hairstyles.
Dream of Kalamazoo
Willhite opened her salon, Dream of Kalamazoo, in 2012. Willhite grew up cycling through foster homes that couldn’t help her take care of her hair as a Black girl and the result was damaged hair and self-esteem struggles, She founded Dream of Kalamazoo Foundation to make sure kids growing up in similar circumstances didn’t encounter the same struggles, and that foster and adoptive parents could gain the skills to care for all textures of hair.
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Lem MonteroBrianna Cox of Braids by Brie, one of six partner hair professional salons and barbershops that work with Dream of Kalamazoo Foundation, to provide hair services to multi-racial and Black foster children.“We help build up the youth that come to the different service locations, and part of the Foundation is building up their confidence,” Willhite says. “In return, not only is it building their confidence, it’s building a better community for us.”
Kim values the work that Willhite and her team put into the nonprofit. Kim says she knew as a white woman who was regularly caring for multi-racial and Black foster children in her home, that she needed to learn how to care for their hair.
“I think there’s this misunderstanding that people think they can take any kids, and they have no idea about hair care or how important it is,” Kim says.
She says there can be a lot of judgment from others for being a white person walking around with Black children whose hair looks dry or not cared for, and there is a stigma that’s attached. Kim researched haircare tips online but still didn’t have the confidence to manage alone. After asking around, she was led to Dream of Kalamazoo Foundation. Her children have now been clients, learning and receiving services for the past couple of years.
“It definitely is a huge need, especially for kids to have the self-confidence. It has been a huge benefit to us,” Kim says. “I would get kids in care, and they would wash their hair every day, and I would tell them they can’t do that. They came with pretty damaged hair because of a lack of education. A lot of this is you don’t know what you don’t know.”
The Foundation stylists often recommend products to foster parents for the upkeep of the child’s hair, as they’re offering services. Foster parents will often go to local beauty supply shops to buy those products. Dream of Kalamazoo Foundation began offering these services in 2022.
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Lem MonteroBrianna Cox of Braids by Brie, one of six partner hair professional salons and barbershops that work with Dream of Kalamazoo Foundation, at work braiding hair.Cox says she feels proud to partner with Dream of Kalamazoo Foundation. She provides braids and natural hair care services from a suite on Gull Road, doing business as
Braids by Brie. On a recent day in April, Kim brought her daughter in for box braids – a $100 style with individual braids that include extensions. The braids take a few hours to complete but can last several weeks with proper maintenance. The price for Cox’s other braiding services varies from $30 to $270, depending on the style.
Contributions of Nonprofits
Nonprofits like Dream of Kalamazoo Foundation contributed more than $1.4 trillion to the U.S. economy in 2023, according to the
2024 Health of the U.S. Nonprofit Sector: Annual Review. Because of the nonprofit’s existence and the public service they offer, they stimulate the economy on a number of levels. Michigan has held steady over the last decade with about 10 percent employment in nonprofit organizations contributing to the overall total private employment, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Willhite also wants to keep stylists and barbers employed in the region and throughout the state by continuing to expand her nonprofit. She’s hoping to partner with four more sites in Kalamazoo and Battle Creek by the end of this year.
“The Foundation actually helps sustain the businesses that are a part of (it). As the families come in, the service is free to them when they go to different service locations, but we pay the businesses to render the services,” Willhite says. “That helps with sustainability as well.”
Locally, entities such as the Southwest Michigan First Chamber have long bolstered efforts to help grow, retain and attract businesses to the community. Chamber Vice President and Director Clarence Lloyd says that good-paying jobs help people feel “plugged in” to the community, giving them a vital role in economic development.
“No matter what walk of life you’re from, when you think about a successful community, it requires that people have a good job that provides them with dignity and sufficient resources to take care of the things that are important to them,” Lloyd says. “Our role is to support businesses so that we can have good jobs, so that people have access to resources to help us build strong communities.”
Cox says she’s boosting the economy as she rents her suite to provide services. She’s using oils that are from a Black-owned business, she pays for snacks and streaming services on TV for her clients, and she even has coloring books and crayons for children. Even more than that, she’s educating children and parents on wellness and hair care and boosting their self-esteem.
“I have a bigger purpose in helping maintain their hair so they’re always confident. As a woman, confidence and self-love are big things,” Cox says. “Being able to build that as a child is a great accomplishment.”
Full Circle
Kim has supported fundraising for the Dream Foundation of Kalamazoo to make sure it remains accessible and available for families like hers. She values the relationships her children have developed with their stylists — so much so that she’s even paid for services on her own when the Foundation couldn’t cover it.
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Len MonteroBrianna Cox of Braids by Brie, one of six partner hair professional salons and barbershops that work with Dream of Kalamazoo Foundation, at work braids hair. “There is that trust factor that kids have with someone that looks like them. When they have questions, they’ll say ‘Lalonie has hair like me, she looks like me, so she’s going to know,’” Kim says.
Beyond the trust factor, the financial relief offered by a free hairstyle is welcomed, as the state does not provide additional funding for variable haircare expenses.
“I think it’s so important for everyone involved to learn about hair care, to learn about products used. Every single child is different,” Kim says. “I don’t have one kid in my home that uses the same products. When I was doing foster care, I was buying everything because I was getting tons of kids in.”
Lloyd says that one of the things the Chamber likes about organizations such as the Dream of Kalamazoo Foundation is that the founder took something that was important to her based on her own history and built something that will have ripple effects across the community.
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Lem MonteroBrianna Cox and her client shake out the wiggles after spending two hours in the salon chair at Braids by Brie on Gull Rd.“(Poor hair care) can be a distraction for school-aged kids from getting a good education,” Lloyd says. “So, while on the surface it might seem like ‘oh, that’s cute,’ what this is really doing is literally life-changing, and it’s something as simple as a haircut or a hairstyle.”
For Willhite, she’s looking for the Foundation to keep touching lives in many ways – health, wellness, and empowerment for youth; employment and sustainability for stylists and barbers in the community; continued education for community members caring for foster children; and the trickle effect for community businesses who serve the families.
“It’s more than just hair. It’s about really touching these youth in ways that hair couldn’t even do all by itself. It’s all the other things we’re doing that really change the lives of these youth. Where they didn’t have hope, now they have hope. Now they’re able to touch what their culture is … they’re able to experience a more inclusive community.”
Editor's note: *We are using first names only to maintain anonymity for this family at their request.
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This story is part of Southwest Michigan Journalism Collaborative’s coverage of equitable community development. SWMJC is a group of 12 regional organizations dedicated to strengthening local journalism. Visit swmichjournalism.com to learn more.