Brother Ed Genesis is an artist, poet, musician, organizer, entrepreneur, college instructor and community leader who is also directly impacted. 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 has been working as the Lead Mentor and head of community relations at Speak It Forward where he teaches youth 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 wit 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)  as a racial healing practitioner under the leadership of Lanna Lewis and Ed founded TRutH Talks.

Ed helped to bring the conversation of root causes of gun violence to Kalamazoo and how trauma impacts gun violence, through:  “It’s a T.R.I.P. Trauma, Reducing, Informed, Practices” event and  It’s a T.R.A.P –  Trauma Reducing Applied Practices event.

Ed Genesis is on Staff with ISAAC as the Founder and Executive Director of BLOCKS Club, Community/Neighborhood Engagement and Community Organizer.

BLOCKS Club Stands for (Building Leadership Organizing Communities for Keys to Succeed) and is a grassroots approach to becoming & staying active in our respective Communities.

Brother Ed has stated, “This is not just another acronym, but a true way we can play an active role in revitalization & governing of our own neighborhoods.”

BLOCKS Club Neighborhood Captains engage with work our Voting rights, stop the violence awareness/events, trauma awareness, entrepreneurship, Community outreach & advocacy are just a few of the things that we focus on with the BLOCKS Clubs. We welcome residents, advocates, Churches, Community Leaders, Organizations & all to join us in the campaign to take back our neighborhoods one Block at a time.

As a professional Music Artist Ed Genesis has had his music placed on 17 different television shows including Forensic Files and the George Lopez Show which are both syndicated. Ed Genesis has appeared in several television broadcasts including BET’s 106 & Park and MTV2. In addition to hosting events, Ed Genesis is dedicated to speaking and healing through resistance by telling his testimony while also continuing to do the work.

A few years ago Brother Ed Genesis joined KVCC as an Instructor to present his course, Subject to Review, a Look At Social Justice Through a Hip Hop Lens.

We are so blessed to have Bro as part of our ISAAC family!!!