After decades of planning and buying property, Ottawa County Parks’ Grand River Greenway is starting to gain real momentum. Though still several years from completion, backers can’t wait for the day residents and visitors can explore this 35-mile pathway and many waterfront parks and destinations along the way.
Although they are an integral part of Michigan’s agricultural industry, migrant farm families often go unseen, moving from state to state, laboring for long hours in the fields, and living in rural communities. Through a unique partnership between Saugatuck Center for the Arts, Fennville Public Schools and South Haven Public Schools, students in summer migrant programs receive exposure to the arts, hands-on instruction and encouragement to express themselves in creative ways.
Heartside Gleaning Initiative provides hundreds of pounds of fresh produce each week to Heartside residents, food pantries and missions thanks to generous farmers and volunteers.
This spring, more than 1,500 area preschoolers from Head Start for Kent County and other early education programs visited the Grand Rapids Public Museum thanks to PNC Foundation grant-funded field trips.
Children in West Michigan, and throughout the country, are being left behind when it comes to reading — and a school psychologist in Muskegon is sounding a rallying cry for change.
Parents, caregivers and early childhood educators play an important role in helping young children form healthy racial identities and attitudes toward others. But for many adults, talking to kids about race can be uncomfortable. The Lakeshore Ethnic Diversity Alliance's 'Talking to Kids About Race' workshops empower adults to address the topic that helps children learn to respect and value themselves and others for their own unique racial and ethnic backgrounds while celebrating diversity and encouraging inclusion.
The women leading West Michigan's cities are making history — or, rather, herstory — by breaking down barriers and charting new courses for politics in our area. As Americans face an increasingly polarized nation, these leaders are unifying residents and building strong communities.
Many families are turning to tuition-free, virtual courses to offer blended learning environments, allowing home-based students to learn at their own pace, and provide access to a wide range of subjects and experiences. Meanwhile, public schools are also figuring out how to welcome home school families into the school community and give them a choice in how to best meet their child’s unique needs.
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