Shared Prosperity Kalamazoo

Shared Prosperity Kalamazoo

Shared Prosperity Kalamazoo (SPK) is the City of Kalamazoo’s initiative to share prosperity more broadly with everyone in the city, working towards a community where no one is left behind due to poverty or lack of opportunity. To achieve this, SPK focuses on promoting strong families; the healthy growth, development, and learning of children; and access to good jobs.

SPK is driven by an organizing committee comprised of City Commission-appointed community members, and goal teams with experience addressing barriers to prosperity or opportunities. Goal teams have worked with core neighborhood residents to develop program proposals, each rooted in the neighborhoods’ plans. These proposals were then approved by the full organizing committee and submitted to the City Commission, which approved them in May 2019.

City Commission approval allowed these proposals to receive funding from the SPK High Impact Fund, which was allocated $2 million by the Foundation for Excellence.

STEAM Academy

Over the past four years, Eastside Youth Strong (EYS) has implemented the Eastside Arts and Science Experiential Learning (EASEL) program for twenty elementary-age youth who live in the Eastside Neighborhood. EASEL is a six-week summer learning program for youth based on the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and focuses on enhancing Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM) skills. Youth are also exposed to STEAM careers through field trips and guest speakers.

As elementary youth “age-out” of the EASEL program, they have asked EYS for a middle school STEAM program. This proposal will allow EYS, the Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency (KRESA), and the Kalamazoo Youth Development Network (KYD Network), to design a STEAM Academy in 2019 that will include an innovative math curriculum, hands-on science lessons, and field trips to relevant local employers. The Academy plans to partner with the Western Michigan University College of Aviation to support their aviation mechanics pipeline program.

A six-week program will be implemented in 2020 for youth who live in the Eastside Neighborhood. In 2021, the program will expand to sevenweeks and also add programs in the Northside and Edison neighborhoods.

The STEAM Academy also creates opportunities for K-12 educators and youth development professionals to learn innovative and culturally relevant approaches to teaching Mathematics and Science.

Patient Care Academy

The Patient Care Academy will be a partnership between the Northside Association for Community Development (NACD), the Kalamazoo Promise, Kalamazoo Valley Community College (KVCC), Urban Alliance, and Michigan Works! Southwest to improve residents’ access to in-demand career training, and to provide healthcare employers a more qualified and diverse talent pool from which to hire. KVCC will provide programming for the Academy, which will be hosted at NACD.

The partners involved provide accessible training opportunities to the residents of the City’s core neighborhoods that lead to industryrecognized credentials and living wage jobs.

People of Change Reentry Hub

The Reentry Hub will serve a s a centralized “One-Stop Center” for people returning to the Kalamazoo community from incarceration. It will provide counseling and positive social supports for people upon reentry. A part-time navigator, trained interns from the Western Michigan University School of Social Work, and volunteer mentors will provide weekly navigation, counseling, and mentoring services. The program will serve people returning from incarceration that have been referred from Offender Success, Kalamazoo County Jail, Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety, and other sources. The center will be based in the Edison neighborhood.

Momentum Urban Employment Initiative

The Momentum Urban Employment Initiative connects unemployed and underemployed people with sustainable employment opportunities through pre-employment training, life skills training, and coaching and networking with its business partners. The six-week program emphasizes education, volunteer experience, mentoring, job placement, and personal evaluation.

The program incorporates principles of cognitive behavioral therapy and addresses eight dimensions of wellness, each connected to a person’s capacity for realizing their potential. Every student completes 100 hours of in-class instruction as well as 100 hours of volunteer work experience. Momentum also addresses the root causes of avoidable job loss by building capacity and resiliency within the students through life skills classes.

Volunteer Income Tax Assistance

The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program provides free tax preparation services to low income workers, seniors, and individuals with disabilities. An array of federal and state tax credits are available, but they often go unclaimed by those most in need. By claiming these credits, such as the Earned Income Tax Credit, additional money is available to assist with groceries, bills, childcare, or to save for an emergency.

The Kalamazoo Regional Educational Service Agency (KRESA), Youth Opportunities Unlimited (YOU), and Michigan Works! Southwest will offer ongoing support including financial literacy, job coaching, and job placement assistance for city residents.

By providing families a mix of services as well as free tax services, VITA seeks to improve economic security for city residents and keep tax dollars in our local economy.

Expungement Clinic

Kalamazoo County Bar Association in collaboration with new County Defender’s Office and the City Attorney’s office will help create an ongoing expungement clinic in Kalamazoo. This clinic is unique in Michigan, and nationally for cities of Kalamazoo’s population.

Convictions that are eligible for expungement under the law are common make-or-break barriers to employment. The process requires time, effort, and legal guidance. In practice this leads to inequity in the process as lower-income individuals may not have the resources or may even know that a chance for expungement is their legal right.

A pre-screening event where people can consult with an attorney for free to determine their eligibility for expunging convictions has already been filled. A wait list has been created for follow-up outreach. For more information, please contact Jennifer Antisdale at the Kalamazoo Bar Association at (269) 381-4693 or info@kalamazoobar.org.