Voices of Youth: Inside Kalamazoo’s Youth Mobility program that’s helping teens get to school, activities, and work

Editor’s Note: This story is part of our Voices of Youth program, sponsored by the Stryker Johnston Foundation. This series features stories created by Kalamazoo County youth in partnership with professional mentors, as well as features by adult writers that examine issues of importance to local youth.

KALAMAZOO, MI — Most cities have reliable public transportation systems, Kalamazoo included. Most cities, however, don’t offer teenagers free access to their public transit like Kalamazoo does. Kalamazoo Metro Transit’s Youth Mobility Fund for high schoolers sets this Southwest Michigan city apart from others in the nation, helping teens navigate around the county all for free.

Launched in the fall, 2019, the Youth Mobility program provides transportation to nearly 4,500 high schoolers in the city. The system allows students who don’t have licenses or cars to get around town. 

Kalamazoo Metro Director of Operations Keshia Woodson-Sow oversees the running of the Youth Mobility program. She works with Kalamazoo Public Schools and the Foundation for Excellence to manage and fund the project.

“We’ve been working with them on how we keep this process rolling,” says Woodson-Sow. “It’s based around the need for transportation outside of parents taking kids everywhere and higher cost things like Uber and Lyft.”

Once launched, the Youth Mobility Fund successfully provided free transportation for high school students for a few months, but problems began to arise. It was discovered that students were misusing the system after school hours, meeting up with other students at the transportation center to fight one another. 

“There were days where Facebook posts said school students were going to meet the other school students at the station, and there was a large police presence because of it,” says Woodson-Sow. “That went on for about five weeks before we decided we had to do something different.”

After several violent incidents were reported, Kalamazoo Metro was forced to suspend the program in early December 2019, disappointing families around the city.

With further collaboration between KPS and Kalamazoo Metro, the Youth Mobility program was finally able to reopen to students in late January 2020; however, the passes were no longer offered to all high school students. Instead, they were limited to just a few hundred across all high schools, and participating students had to sign non-violent agreement forms, meaning many students no longer had access to the program. 

Despite this, coordinators of the Youth Mobility Fund ensured students who had no other options were still able to access the buses. Fortunately, the fund has expanded in recent years, now offering 500 passes to students district-wide. As soon as the fall of their freshman year, students from local high schools can apply for a free pass to the program.

Despite the restrictions, students are still able to easily take advantage of the free passes, using them to get to and from school. The program allows students to arrive at school on time without taking a penny out of their pockets.

Woodson-Sow sees many positive reviews of the Youth Mobility program, showing that the passes lead to better opportunities for the teens in the program. 

“A lot of them talk about how they wouldn’t be able to have a job or they needed the transportation and they couldn’t afford it,” says Woodson-Sow. “It’s really important.”

Loy Norrix junior Kaesen Kanooka is one of the teenagers who uses the passes regularly. Since discovering the Youth Mobility program, Kanooka arrives at school punctually every day. 

“It helped a ton because my mom can’t drive me here too often,” says Kanooka. “She has to take my other siblings to school, so it helps me and her a lot.”

Kanooka says he is grateful for the program because of the convenience it has been to his family.  

“I would definitely recommend the bus to other people who can’t get to school on time,” says Kanooka.

Similarly, Norrix junior Bobby Palmore is thankful for his access to the Youth Mobility program. 

“If your parents are still at work but you need to get home or to your job, then I recommend it,” Palmore says. 

Palmore uses the network several times a week, easily arriving home safely after school.

Likewise, the Youth Mobility program directly affects Woodson-Sow’s life as a parent.

“I have a teenager, so I’m teaching her how to use public transit,” says Woodson-Sow. “It’s a valuable thing for me, teaching my kids how to use our system.”

Sage Lee is a junior at Loy Norrix High School and a chief copy editor for his student newspaper, Knight Life. He has been studying journalistic writing since August 2024 and plans to major in journalism after high school. In his free time, Lee enjoys reading, listening to music, and practicing pottery at the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts.