A trouble plagued market comes down and a community garden goes in the ground. A Literacy Center opens. A better way to provide fresh food to children so they can do better at school is established.
These are just a few of the projects under way in the Vine and Edison neighborhoods through the
Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and its Sustainable Communities Initiative (SCI). And similar projects are being identified for the North Side.
It's all part of LISC's work dedicated to making neighborhoods that are places people want to work, do business and raise children.
In Kalamazoo, part of a team working to achieve that goal is Kristen Ramer, LISC assistant program officer; Kris Mbah, SCI coordinator for the North Side; and James Ryven Valeii, SCI coordinator for the Vine and Edison neighborhoods.
LISC works in urban and rural cities across the country and Kalamazoo is one of the smallest urban communities in which it works.
The local office has been at it for more than a year now and results already are beginning to be seen. What makes LISC' initiatives different from others is that they are action oriented and action is based on conversations it has with those in the community to mobilize support for work that needs to be done.
Solutions are based on the response and resources that are revealed in those discussions. Projects fit the community's needs rather than being proscribed from a cookbook of neighborhood programs from elsewhere.
The groundwork is laid through conversations across the community and in neighborhoods in which LISC works. Connections are made between various people and groups and SCI coordinators facilitate those conversations. In Kalamazoo, that can mean talking to representatives from huge numbers of different community groups to get a picture of what is being done and what can be accomplished.
A primary goal is to bring together groups that may be working toward the same end but are working independently of one another.
Mbah says one of the most repeated concerns he has found in his work on the North Side is that people are tired of being interviewed and researched and are ready for actual action to take place.
On a typical day he may meet with representatives of the Family Health Center, the Department of Public Safety and key members of the community to see how they can all become part of the process of comprehensive change. In his first few months on the job he already had met with representatives of 50 different groups.
Tools LISC uses as projects emerge include loans, grants and equity investments. It can help with technical and management assistance to see projects are accomplished. It also offers support for policy approaches at the local, statewide and national levels.
The work is part of a growing realization that to build sustainable communities problems cannot be addressed in isolation but must be tackled through a number of different avenues and address multiple needs.
LISC takes on projects that expand investment in housing and other real estate. It works to increase family income and wealth and stimulate economic development. It looks for ways to improve access to quality education and supports a healthy environment and lifestyle.
These areas of emphasis are part of a program now being offered in the
Edison Neighborhood -- the Early Win Grant Program. Residents can apply for grants of up to $1,000 for projects that fall within those areas to be improved. (Grant applications are due by Aug. 20.)
Early Win Grants in the Vine Neighborhood showed residents the kind of action the organization is willing to undertake and made it easier for conversations on further work to begin, says Valeii.
As the programs in local neighborhoods roll out, one of the accomplishments Valeii is most proud of is pulling together the nitty-gritty details of a Quality of Life Plan for Edison and Vine neighborhoods. It identifies a number of objectives to be achieved through collaboration, breaking down "silos" that groups may be working in, he says.
"The relationships built at an SCI meeting can recast a situation," Valeii says. "It can relieve people who are feeling frustrated because they felt like they didn't have a voice."
He cites a project that brought to the table the school dining provider Chartwells, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo Public Schools and good eating advocate the Fresh Food Fairy around the issue of providing foods that benefit children. Through those conversations people discovered that much of what they wanted to occur in school dining rooms already was happening and identified what still needed to go forward.
Similar success has been seen by bringing together the food pantry
Loaves and Fishes and the Literacy Council to develop a health curriculum for adult learners to teach them more about fresh fruit and vegetables. Loaves and Fishes says it sometimes has trouble moving the fresh produce and the Literacy Council wanted to create a program that would help people feel empowered through reading. The conversations between the two groups helped them realize they shared a common goal.
"SCI tries to be the vehicle to get people talking," Valeii says. "It's exciting to be involved in something that has the potential to bring so many people together."
Beyond breaking down silos, LISC works to break down stereotypes and barriers that keep people from living fully in their communities.
"A lot of people with low to moderate income face barriers that other groups don't have to deal with," Ramer says. "Community Development is all about creating sustainable places where all people have equal access to what makes life whole and healthy."
Kathy Jennings is Managing Editor of Southwest Michigan's Second Wave. She is a freelance editor and writer.
Photos by Erik Holladay.
Kristen Ramer.
James Ryven Valeii.
Kris Mbah.