Though just three years removed from graduating from Central Michigan University in 2017, Marine City native Kyla Hatcher is quickly establishing herself as one of St. Clair County’s youngest, brightest leaders.

James Siegal, CEO of KaBOOM!: "Play is an essential part of childhood, but kids are too often denied the benefits of play. Play is an equity issue, and the opportunity to play should not be determined by zip code, socio-economic status or race." Riverfront RockOut and the Musical Parklet – in Algonac and Marine City, respectively – are adding a sense of musicality to the Bridge to Bay Trail.

While brand new bikes may be hard to come by this summer, Alpine Cycles, the Port Huron Parks and Recreation Department, and the Port Huron Police Department have partnered together on a number of programs to get a set of two wheels under the feet of as many a Port Huronite as they can.

"If every cloud has a silver lining, it’s what COVID has done for us. We’re blown away by the response we’ve been receiving in just trying to keep our social media active," says Port Huron Museums' Andrew Kercher. "We always knew that we’d do more tours but their popularity on social media made us expand our vision. You can’t say that people here aren’t interested in their history, that’s for sure."

Jody Parmann was driving through downtown Detroit, admiring the murals that adorn the walls of city buildings. Why weren’t there more of these in Port Huron, Jody asked herself. Then she did something about it.

Twelve area minority- and women-owned businesses have received a total of $25,000 in grants, this thanks to the work of the Economic Development Alliance of St. Clair County and the Community Foundation of St. Clair County. Outreach efforts have proved critical to the process. "In our march toward progress, we left some behind. Now it’s catch-up time," says small business consultant Kanchan Wankhede.

Port Huron businesses are enrolling in the MI Local Biz program, an extension of the state’s placemaking initiative Public Spaces Community Places. The MI Local Biz program was created by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation to help Michigan small businesses get back on their feet as the state re-opens.

Jazmyn Thomas leads the Community Foundation's Equity & Inclusion Committee in St. Clair County. We wanted to ask Jazmyn Thomas about her work with the committee. Considering the demonstrations occurring throughout the country, we asked her about police brutality through the lens of inclusion and equity, too.

The loss of health journalism has had wide-ranging impacts on the communities health reporters once served. But a variety of innovative solutions have arisen to fill the gap and restore some of the coverage that's been lost.