Over two hundred gathered on Tuesday night, October 29, and chose Anti-Racism and Gun Violence as ISAAC’s focus for the next two years, along with Affordable Housing and Group Violence Intervention. Everyone present was invited to “vote with their feet,” whether or not they were from one of the 31 ISAAC member congregations and organizations. They heard facts on […]
Al Dixon Good evening. My name is Al Dixon, I am a co-chair of the Anti-Racism Task Force. How many of you think racism is dead in our community? How many of you think that racism is alive and well in our county? Yes, there may be some skeptics. A young Hispanic woman was cussed […]
Wendy Flora Last May I talked with Shequita Lewis at a block party. Her eyes lit up with excitement as she told me about her new job with a football team. Shequita was a mom, a community activist. She ran for County Commission and truly cared about making a difference in Kalamazoo. About two months […]
Kalamazoo’s Group Violence Intervention has many myths that we as a GVI Team would like to dispel tonight. Wendy Flora: Myth #1 – GVI was brought to Kalamazoo by Law Enforcement Actually, GVI was brought to Kalamazoo as a part of ISAAC’s 2011 Holy Ground Campaign listening sessions in our neighborhoods where community members voiced […]
Stephanie Hoffman One year ago at the ISAAC Public Meeting, we presented the shocking facts that high-income households get four times more housing benefits than low-income households, due to the creation of the Federal Housing Administration mortgage program created by FDR. If you were African American, your family could not get a mortgage during the […]
Three new generous donors last month! Hallelujah! This means we only have $5770 to go, to reach our ISAAC Endowment Fund goal of $50,000 by December 31—a whole year early! Then the ISAAC Endowment Fund will become a fully established fund at the Kalamazoo Community Foundation, and ISAAC will be able to receive interest income […]
We have some videos on Facebook about the ISAAC Issues Convention.
We would like to invite you to our Beloved Community ISSUES CONVENTION. Please make sure you are prepared for this awesome event by reviewing Frequently Asked Questions…
How’s this for inspired timing! Deb Lindstrom handed us a very generous check for the ISAAC Endowment Fund at the August Leadership Board meeting, right after we announced that with a little stretch, we could reach our $50,000 goal by the end of 2019! That means we’ll become a fully established endowment fund at the […]
The ISAAC Anti-Racism Task Force (ARTF) is excited to present at the Issues Convention on the work we’ve done over the past two years. We’ve been integrally involved in partnership with other organizations to develop workshops around the work of Cradle Kalamazoo for our faith communities, to facilitate Racial Healing Circles in our member congregations, […]
In these listening sessions, those impacted the most shared their housing journey, current housing concerns, obstacles, and possible solutions. In one particular session there was a large group of community members, with no current housing, lined up outside of the door trying to get into the session in hopes of having their voices heard for change.
Eye-opening. Attitude-changing. Important to every social justice issue we work on. The Summit on Trauma and Domestic Violence on October 2 was awesome! Here are highlights from just a few of the powerful presentations: From Dr. Jim Henry, Project Director, Children’s Trauma Assessment Center, WMU: “The world feels safe if you haven’t been hurt. Trauma […]
Ed Genesis is an artist, poet, musician, organizer, entrepreneur, and community leader. Born and raised in Gary, Indiana and moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan permanently in his early 20’s, his love of art/music, his passion for his people and community, and his gift of creativity are evident in all areas of his work. In October 2018 Ed Genesis released a song to accompany the campaign he was working on around school push out, entitled Junior High, which was distributed nationwide including on his own iHeart radio station, Spotify, and iTunes.
In 2017 Ed Genesis created Poetic Justice, a monthly open-mic that was hosted/led by 5 local poets. He has performed as well as hosted several events such as the Black Arts Festival, the Kalamazoo Poetry Festival, and the National Day of Racial Healing.
Ed Genesis is Lead Mentor and head of community relations at Speak It Forward where he teaches youth at Lakeside Academy, Starr-Commonwealth, and the Kalamazoo County Juvenile home healing through music and art. In 2017, he started WE ACTIVE! a community organization aimed at fighting against mass incarceration and the school to prison pipeline. The organization was recognized by the State of Michigan and presented with a Special Tribute by Representative Jon Hoadley for its work on Criminal Justice Reform and Mass Incarceration in the Kalamazoo Community. Ed Genesis has been a panelist and featured speaker in Washington D.C., Chicago, and Milwaukee. He has and continues to collaborate with artists local to Kalamazoo, youth included, to create music to address social justice issues. In 2018 Ed Genesis joined Truth Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT). He leads the Racial Healing design team with a focus on healing justice and is also part of the Law Design Team.
ISAAC
