Kalamazoo's north side will have a new grocery store in 2010

According to the director of the Northside Association for Community Development, Kalamazoo's north side will have a new grocery store in 2010.


From the City of Kalamazoo:

Director Mattie Jordan-Woods said local officials have received at least six responses to a recent request-for-proposals for a new store to replace a Felpausch grocery that closed in May.

Jordan-Woods declined comment on when a search committee could announce its selection for a new tenant for the vacant store at 512 N. Park St.

"Without a doubt, there will be a grocery store there in 2010," she said. "But we know we have to take our time and do it right. This could be our last chance to get a store in there."

The north side currently has no store that offers fresh fruits, vegetables and other produce to residents in the area. They have to drive either to Portage, Oshtemo or the east side in order to purchase groceries in quantity.

After the previous store, Feldpausch, closed last year, the only options left were quick-shop stores - which often package overpriced, salty and fatty alternatives. Acquiring a grocery store in the region will help residents live healthier lives, while allowing them to spend less on food and transportation.

Read the full article:

http://www.ci.kalamazoo.mi.us/portal/business.php?news_id=157

United Way and Kalamazoo Community Foundation to offer a $4 Million "lifeline" for needy residents

United Way and Kalamazoo Community Foundation to offer a $4 Million "lifeline" for needy residents

From the Kalamazoo Gazette:

Major individual and family donors to the Kalamazoo Community Foundation and the Greater Kalamazoo United Way will contribute an additional $4 million over the next three years to provide a “lifeline” to Kalamazoo County residents who lack food, shelter and medical care.

In what is likely a first in Michigan, the two charitable fundraising organizations announced today that a quiet campaign launched last summer will provide $2 million this year and $1 million in both 2011 and 2012 to local non-profits that will use the money to provide basic human needs.

The $4 million is in addition to money the donors have committed to the foundation and United Way over the next several years, said Michael J. Larson, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Kalamazoo United Way.

Olivarez said the first round of funding should be out in the community by May 1.

The two charity leaders said Kalamazoo County’s human toll in the sharp economic downturn shifted the emphasis for this program from creating long-term sustainability to providing immediate relief.

“We’ve been looking at programs that help people become employable, to get jobs, that help them learn how to fish (to be self-sustaining),” Olivarez said. “Right now we realize a lot of people just need a fish. Both of those things have to happen, but this piece is to get that fish out now to the people who are hungry.”

For more information on donating to Lifeline Initiative, contact:

Mark Crail
Greater Kalamazoo United Way
mcrail@gkuw.org
(269) 343-2524, ext. 226
or
Ann Fergemann
Kalamazoo Community Foundation
afergemann@kalfound.org
(269) 381-4416

Tax-deductible donations may be made payable to either organization, with the designation “Lifeline Initiative” on the check. Send to:

Kalamazoo Community Foundation
151 S. Rose St.
Kalamazoo, MI 49007
or
Greater Kalamazoo United Way
709 S. Westnedge Ave.
Kalamazoo, MI 49007

Read the Full Article:

http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2010/02/4_million_will_become_a_lifeli.html

Cass County Pre-School Advocate is Concerned About Possible Program Cuts

According to the Dowagiac Daily News, "the 2009 Kids Count in Michigan Data Book was released last month and revealed some alarming trends in Cass County. Possibly most concerning, Cass County ranks 77th out of 78 counties surveyed in high school dropout percentage at 21.3 percent."

Cass County "infant mortality and infants receiving less than adequate prenatal care are also on the rise and well above the state average."

Heather Merrill, the county's Great Start Readiness Coordinator, "is worried about further state cuts for early childhood development programs. The Cass County Great Start Readiness Program was nearly cut last year but was reinstated in the final hour. Merrill is concerned it could be on the chopping block again soon."

For more information see:

www.dowagiacnews.com/2010/02/04/great-start-concerned-about-cuts/

College Students Assisted by Food Banks

"At Michigan State University, there has been a 25% increase since 2008 in the number of students who visit its student-run food bank. Grand Valley State University opened a food pantry in April to help students as they struggle with higher tuition costs and families beset by layoffs and unemployment," per the Detroit Free Press.

For more information on how some colleges are helping students by opening food banks, see:

www.freep.com/article/20100206/NEWS06/2060324/1318/College-students-turning-to-schools-food-banks

Parents urged to help close literacy gap

From the Kalamazoo Gazette:

Area school administrators and religious leaders are sending out a call to the community to address the literacy gap among African-American students in Kalamazoo Public Schools.

“We have to opportunity to save someone’s life tonight. It’s that important,” Kimberly Parker-DeVauld, principal of Lincoln International Studies Elementary School, said during a forum Wednesday. “It’s said that it takes a village to raise a child. We’re here to shock you into action.”

There will be a reading and writing clinic on February 22nd, from 6pm - 7:30pm and continuing every Monday thereafter. It will be held at Mt. Zion Baptist Church, 120 Robertson St., Kalamazoo and support Parents with children from kindergarten through age 8. Call (269) 760-7743 to sign up.

Read the full article hear:

http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2010/02/parents_urged_to_help_close_li.html

Hunger on the rise in southern Michigan

From the Kalamazoo Gazette:

A national report that says a growing number of Americans are in need of food also shows “hunger is increasing at an alarming rate” in an eight-county area that includes Kalamazoo County, according to the Food Bank of South Central Michigan.

The Food Bank, which serves more than 100,000 people a year in Barry, Branch, Calhoun, Hillsdale, Jackson, Kalamazoo, Lenawee and St. Joseph counties through a network of food pantries, shelters, soup kitchens and other organizations, on Tuesday released a report as part of a national Hunger in America 2010 study.

The report, produced every four years, is taken from 340 interviews with Food Bank of South Central Michigan clients and surveys of 233 of its feeding agencies.

From what many organizations have experienced out on the front lines, this is not something completely surprising. Times are dire and we need to continue to support the basic needs of our communities. Some interesting stats:

• 78 percent of all households served are food insecure, meaning its members don’t know where their next meal will come from.
• 44 percent of all households served have to choose between paying the utility bill/heat or getting food.
• 60 percent of all households have unpaid medical or hospital bills.

Read the full article:

http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2010/02/agency_says_hunger_is_on_the_r.html

Students plan to protest loss of Michigan Promise scholarship at State of the State address

From the Kalamazoo Gazette:

What's happening:

Nearly 5,000 college and high school students are expected to protest outside the Capitol the cutting of the Michigan Promise scholarship.

Ben Lazarus, a sophomore at Central Michigan University and founder of NoBrokenPromise.com, is spearheading the protest with the help of Common Sense in Government, a non-partisan group, and students from a number of major universities across the state.

“It’s hard to find leaders at the university level,” Lazarus said. “In Lansing, it’s tough to stand against both parties, but I felt it was my responsibility and I’ve been impressed with the response I’ve gotten from my fellow students.”

---

“The message we’re pushing now is for students to call their legislators and tell them to boycott the State of the State address and listen to the real state of the state on the steps of the capitol building,” Lazarus said. “The stories of students and taxpayers, hardships because of their broken promises.”

They have created a Facebook page to rally support around the Michigan Promise. You can join it by clicking here:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&ref=search&gid=115556985977

The Scholarship's impact on Michigan students:

Students at Grand Valley, such as sophomore Janelle Cranmer, know first-hand the difficulties caused by the lost scholarship money. GVSU students were billed $500.

“For some of us like myself, paying for next month’s rent and food is now in question,” Cranmer said.

Said GVSU senior Gregory Hatt, “I think because some students are suffering so much, that’s translating into a lot of motivation and drive to help rally other students and other people in the community that are upset.”

Read the full article:

http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2010/02/students_plan_to_protest_loss.html

Battle Creek Opens New Alano Club for Those in Recovery from Alcoholism or Addiction

"The (Battle Creek) Alano Club will hold a grand opening event from 1 to 4 p.m. (Sunday) at the Community Recovery Center, 1125 W. Territorial Rd. There will also be a Recovery Night featuring music, dancing, speakers, games and more beginning at 7 p.m."

Alano Clubs host 12-Step meetings and other activities for those involved in AA or NA or similar groups.

www.battlecreekenquirer.com/article/20100129/NEWS01/301290014/1002/NEWS01/New-Alano-building-opens-tomorrow

Point-in-time survey to count homeless in Kalamazoo

From the Kalamazoo Gazette:

The count, also held at several other locations frequented by the homeless, was a kind of mini-census during which participants filled out a survey that asked them how they lost their housing, whether they have a child or a disability and how long they’ve been homeless, among other demographic information.

On Wednesday night, law enforcement officers around the county were to do an observational count and area hospitals were to do a count of the homeless in their emergency rooms.

The effort is sponsored by Local Initiatives Support Corp., a nonprofit that coordinates the county’s affordable housing partnerships. Michelle Schneider, LISC assistant program officer, said the count is important because it provides assistance agencies with demographic and other information that enables them to better help the homeless population.

“We’ve got to keep in mind, though, that this is just a snapshot,” she said. “There almost certainly are more homeless people in the county than what the numbers will say.”

Preliminary numbers won’t be out until the end of February, she said. The count in January 2009 found 985 homeless people in Kalamazoo County.

A report released last year by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which requires a point-in-time count to be conducted every two years, showed the Kalamazoo County’s homeless population increased by 40 percent, to 862 people, from January 2007 to January 2008.

Schneider said Wednesday that she couldn’t speculate on whether the numbers collected by LISC will be higher than last January, but did say a rash of evictions and foreclosures in 2009 likely forced many people onto the streets.

The 2010 Census will provide a much more accurate count of the county’s homeless population, she said.

Read the full article:

http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2010/01/survey_seeks_to_count_homeless.html

Suburban poverty on the rise

For many of us, the notion of poverty still conjures up images of those struggling in downtrodden inner city neighborhoods or rural families living in geographic isolation, unable to access adequate support services - But a new report from the Brookings Institution turns the image of white picket fence suburbia on its head.

From the Spotlight on Poverty website:

According to the 2008 Census Bureau data, 17.7 percent of metropolitan residents and 15.1 percent of rural Americans live in poverty.

But the Brookings research, authored by senior Brookings fellow and former Spotlight contributor Elizabeth Kneebone, shows that to fully address poverty in America, we need to broaden both our perceptions and public policy objectives beyond the more traditional focus on urban and rural poverty.

Lawmakers must understand the shifting local geography of poverty to effectively provide services and social programs. Officials and providers have to ensure that critical programs and job training services are accessible to struggling suburban families. Understanding the reality of suburban life for low-income families is an important step in reducing poverty and providing help to those that need it most.

See the article at:

http://www.spotlightonpoverty.org/OutOfTheSpotlight.aspx?id=a27186ba-fa73-4769-bdc6-4c7817767482