Fire Arts Collaborative is a 10-year-old nonprofit in Edison.
Fire Arts Collaborative is a 10-year-old nonprofit in Edison. Fran Dwight
Fire Arts Collaborative is a 10-year-old nonprofit in Edison.
Fire Arts Collaborative is a 10-year-old nonprofit in Edison. Fran Dwight

Voices of Youth: Racism is a hard lesson for young people in high school Read Article

Jaden Davis

Seeking a less stressful, elegant wedding option? Consider Elopement Day at Battle Creek farm Read Article

Courtesy: Of the Land

'We're all related, we're all connected': Many march for Missing and Murdered Indigenous People Read Article

John Grap

Final Chapter: Kalamazoo remembers Dean Hauck and the legacy of Michigan News Read Article

Fran Dwight

Antique expert to share tips, tricks, and treasures at Battle Creek’s Regional History Museum Read Article

UnSplash: Alexander Schimmeck

Voices of Youth: Burnout in high school can happen, but you’re not alone Read Article

UnSplash: Nguyen Phan Nam Anh

Features

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Longform SWMI Journalism Collabe CTAC Encore Healthy Communities

Evaluando el Trauma en los NiñosEs clave para ayudarles a prosperar, y el centro de la WMU lidera el camino

Marie Lee, Revista EncoreMonday, April 10, 2023
Hace aproximadamente 23 años, un grupo de profesionales del área de Kalamazoo inauguró el Centro de Evaluación de Trauma Infantil del Suroeste de Michigan en la Universidad de Western Michigan para evaluar a los niños traumatizados que no solo se ha convertido en el modelo para centros similares en Michigan y Colorado, sino que también ha producido un cambio en el estado. sistema de bienestar infantil y más allá.
Longform Grace Health Healthy Communities

School-based clinic offers convenient mental-health care for Battle Creek Central students

Nicole Morehouse, New/Nueva OpinionMonday, April 10, 2023
As mental-health concerns for youth rise, behavioral health consultants provide onsite counseling services to students in schools across Calhoun County. The social workers there have a high level of expertise and experience in conditions such as stress, anxiety, grief, and depression. 
Longform Grace Health Healthy Communities

Clínica para alumnos de Battle Creek Central que ofrece una conveniente atención a la salud mental

Nicole Morehouse, New/Nueva OpinionMonday, April 10, 2023
A medida que aumentan las preocupaciones sobre la salud mental de los jóvenes, los consultores de salud del comportamiento brindan servicios de asesoramiento en el lugar a los estudiantes en las escuelas de todo el condado de Calhoun. Los trabajadores sociales allí tienen un alto nivel de conocimientos y experiencia en condiciones como el estrés, la ansiedad, el duelo y la depresión.
Longform SWM Journalism Collab Portage Schools Healthy Communities

Portage Public Schools get proactive, invest in mental health

Natasha Robinson/Southwest Michigan Journalism CollaborativeMonday, April 10, 2023
In Marianne Joynt’s new role as mental health initiatives coordinator for the district, she’s able to go wherever support is needed for staff and students and put together plans to meet their needs as best she can.
Longform SWM Journalism Collab Portage Schools Healthy Communities

Las escuelas públicas de Portage toman la iniciativa e invierten en salud mental

Natasha Robinson/Southwest Michigan Journalism CollaborativeMonday, April 10, 2023
En el nuevo rol de Marianne Joynt como coordinadora de iniciativas de salud mental para el distrito, puede ir a donde se necesite apoyo para el personal y los estudiantes y elaborar planes para satisfacer sus necesidades lo mejor que pueda.
Feature Story KID GRID Healthy Communities

Welcome to Kid Grid

Monday, April 10, 2023
Kid Grid provides an easy-to-read grid to quickly preview service options. The listing at the end of the document has more details on mental health services, listed alphabetically by provider. This guide also includes a listing of inpatient facilities for youth with more severe mental health issues.
Longform Charlie-Jo Sauceda is a recent graduate of The Haven’s Women’s Life Recovery Program Healthy Communities

Battle Creek's Women’s Life Recovery Program is for all women

Jane ParikhThursday, April 6, 2023
Battle Creek's Women's Life Recovery Program, housed in the beautiful historic Andrus House, has successfully supported women in recovery for almost 70 years. Andrus House welcomes women from all walks of life, race, ethnicity, and age (over 18), including mothers with their children. Program Manager Gloria Givhan is implementing an aggressive marketing campaign to invite BIPOC women seeking support with addiction recovery to apply for this transformational program.
Longform Kalamazoo Lyceum Arts and Culture

Kalamazoo Lyceum panelists promote 'DIY Culture' if you want something you can't find

Mark WedelThursday, April 6, 2023
The second Kalamazoo Lyceum focused on the city's culture and whether our community has a shared story. Panelists Kama Tai Mitchell of Rootead, Daniel May of Dabney & Co., and Jennifer Hudson-Prenkert of Sounds of the Zoo, spoke about what culture means to them in Kalamazoo where they all agree race has divided a sense of a common story. "Culture is safety," says May. "It's being able to be yourself."
Longform Valhalla Entrepreneurship

Valhalla: Kalamazoo meadery with all the Viking feels

Mark WedelThursday, April 6, 2023
Is trying mead on your bucket list? The world's oldest known alcoholic beverage (not a beer, not a wine) made with honey and yeast is available at Kalamzoo meadery Valhalla, a BYOF, open hall with all the Viking feels – longtables, Runes, and Valkyries serving flights of artisan mead. When you visit Valhalla, Hunter Dodge, CEO of Norse Nector Meadery, says "time stands still." Just ask Second Wave's Mark Wedel.
Feature Story Stuart Plan 2025 Community Development

Kalamazoo’s historic Stuart Neighborhood has a new plan for progress and preservation

Al JonesThursday, April 6, 2023
As the City of Kalamazoo begins its historic conversion of downtown streets from one-way to two-way, the Stuart Historic Neighborhood has submitted its neighborhood plan to work closely with the city and for the neighborhood's own placemaking and wellbeing. As part of Imagine Kalamazoo 2025, Stuart is the eighth of the City's 22 neighborhoods to submit its plan, which will be reviewed by the Kalamazoo Planning Commission on May 4.
Feature Story National Spelling Bee Kids and Education

Lakeview Middle School student spells her way into National Spelling Bee

Jane ParikhThursday, April 6, 2023
The odds of making it to the Scripps National Spelling Bee are the same "as being struck twice by lightning in your lifetime," says Barb Galonsky, who runs the Lakeview Public Schools Spelling Club which has sent an impressive four students to the Scripps National Spelling Bee since 2016. Jane Parikh looks into Lakeview's spelling success and interviews this year's national contender, eighth-grader Emily Demlow.
Longform Carter Kits Second Wave - MichiganHealthy Communities

Carter Kits help first responders take better care of patients with Autism Spectrum DisorderNorthern Michigan community mental health agencies providing the kits.

Rylee BarnsdaleTuesday, April 4, 2023
​North Country Community Mental Health and Northern Lakes Community Mental Health provide Carter Kits to first responders. The kits contain sensory items that help distract children with Autism Spectrum Disorder from the stress of being involved in an emergency situation.
Feature Story Carl Dunker works from his home office in Holland, Michigan. Arts and Culture

Building relationships is at the heart of great design

Laura BergellsSunday, April 2, 2023
Skot Welch, Julia Swenson and Carl Dunker are three designers who live and work in West Michigan. They share the ways they work to create a community where people belong.
Feature Story Sara Crookston directs a toy photo shoot. Arts and Culture

How life is better in West Michigan for those designing our world

Laura BergellsSunday, April 2, 2023
Sarah Crookston, Mimi Ray and David Allan are all leaders in design. While they could work anywhere in the world, they discuss why they choose to live and work in West Michigan.
Feature Story Sara Hendren, right, at the DAKC workshop with a participant. (DAKC) Equity

How Sara Hendren inspires a ‘joyful approach’ to accessible design

Shandra MartinezFriday, March 31, 2023
Sara Hendren, the author of “What Can A Body Do? How We Meet the Built World” advocates for the “most creative, joyful approach to making the world accessible.”
Feature Story Norman Peak explore the new inclusive playground at Milham Park. (Shandra Martinez) Equity

Park playground transformation creates space for inclusive play

Shandra MartinezFriday, March 31, 2023
The playground at Milham Park has undergone a transformation that has created an inclusive environment for outdoor fun. It’s an example of a trend in making parks more accessible for people of all abilities. 
Feature Story Michigan Avenue Transportation

Kalamazoo Streets 101: Where we've been, where we're headed

Mark WedelThursday, March 23, 2023
Street changes are coming to Kalamazoo, even if some of us are still in denial. Second Wave's streetwise Mark Wedel helps unpack what to expect. Downtown streets aren't the cause of every problem, says Dennis Randolph, City of Kalamazoo Traffic Engineer, but "they are the backbone, the framework of the community. So you need to do something with the transportation network if you're going to help the community as a whole."
Feature Story Claire Briggs Arts and Culture

Women influencers in Battle Creek made history

Jane ParikhThursday, March 23, 2023
In a city whose well-known historical figures include revered, fiery abolitionist Sojourner Truth, other influential women have also made their mark by following paths that were uniquely their own. As part of On the Ground Battle Creek’s coverage of Women’s History Month, Jane Parikh shares stories of three women who secured their unique spots in the city’s history.
Feature Story Rust Belt Ramen Arts and Culture

Southwest Michigan chefs joined by chance and ramen

Channon MondouxThursday, March 23, 2023
When making ramen, the noodle is an essential ingredient. A serendipitous meeting of a West Michigan ramen soup restaurateur and a Mattawan pasta maker has created a premier ramen that is gathering rave reviews online. Second Wave's Food Writer Channon Mondoux brings you the story along with her mouth-watering accounts of both pasta and soup.
Feature Story BC Art Center Arts and Culture

Battle Creek student artists are a Class Act

Jane ParikhThursday, March 23, 2023
As part of our Voices of Youth Battle Creek series, On the Ground Project Editor Jane Parikh speaks with Lilyana Collins, a seventh grade artist who is one of many area young artists featured in the annual Art Center of Battle Creek's "Class Act." Second Wave photographer Taylor Scamehorn captured the proud artists with their creations at the show's opening on March 19.
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Battle Creek

Village Network leads work to create a Black Wall Street in Battle Creek 

Plans for launching a Black Wall Street movement in Battle Creek will include a Black-owned business directory and two new websites with a mission to create "collective independence." For more stories, please visit here.
 

Kalamazoo

Joyful Streets, Real-world Struggles: "Happy Cities" author on the journey to transform Kalamazoo 

"What I've noticed in Kalamazoo is, that the city has been taking action to make some changes that in the short term some people might find uncomfortable, but in the long term are going to set the city on course for more vitality, more health, more equity, and I would say more happiness for the people who choose to live here."  Read the full story here. Read more stories here.
 

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