Rockford is a beautiful bedroom community that sits snugly on the Rogue River in Northern Kent County. A good school district, a bustling little downtown on the river, the White Pine Trail, and rolling wooded countryside make this one of the fastest growing areas in the county.
In order to address the housing shortage in Grand Rapids, the city and surrounding entities are looking carefully at increasing accessibility and affordability of housing. One local company, InnovaLab is quickly adding to the number of housing units, with cost-efficient, quick-build modular homes.
Play is also an important element of learning. The new WonderKnook playscapes installed at Kent District Library invite children and families to imagine, explore curiosity and play within their branches.
Hannah Laine’s singing style is melodic, and it changes beats and pitches within one song line, hitting high notes, then lower ones, using shorter sounds then longer ones. Laine sees her voice as just another instrument. Erykah Badu’s influence is apparent, but Laine’s sound also comes from mimicking noises and using sounds from her background with meditation.
It’s Active. Commute Week in West Michigan, a celebration of cleaner, healthier, less congestion-causing transportation. The Rapid’s West Michigan Rideshare program, West Michigan Sustainable Business Forum (WMSBF) and participating businesses are encouraging people to walk, bike, scooter, carpool or take the bus to get where they want to go from June 16 to 23
Children need food to help fuel their bodies and minds, but over weekends and during summer months, many students who receive free or reduced lunches suffer without proper nutrition. Kent District Library’s summer Lunch at the Library program offers youths ages 2-18 free nutritious meals.
Facing health disparities, many health care organizations are working to answer the question, “How do we deliver equitable care?” Spectrum Health aims to address the issue by providing the community with targeted resources and initiatives.
Though National Heart Month reminds us the importance of diet and exercise, the CDC reports a national rise in obesity and physical inactivity, proving heart disease to be the leading cause of death, even amongst the COVID-19 pandemic.
As part of a National Shelter Alliance collaboration with BISSELL Pet Foundation, the Humane Society of West Michigan will further its work of helping shelters nationwide that have been overwhelmed by natural disasters and hoarding incidents.
The Grand Rapids Red Project and NEXT Distro have collaborated to reduce opioid-related overdose deaths across Michigan through free online training and mail-order naloxone.
The Kent County Health Department and local health care providers are collaborating on what may be the biggest inter-organizational vaccination effort in Michigan’s history.
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