Thanks to many of you, we are almost halfway toward the required $50,000 for ISAAC to receive interest income from our Endowment Fund! As of the ISAAC Breakfast on December 5, the Kalamazoo Community Foundation has received ISAAC Endowment Fund gifts and 2018 commitments of well over $23,000! Huge thanks to all of you who […]
The work of Justice is more vital than ever! We invite you to give to our work of community organizing, social justice and policy changes in the areas of racism, poverty and housing. As described by Dr. Martin Luther King, The Beloved Community is an inclusive, democratic reality, which while not devoid of conflict, is […]
A very warm welcome to the new clergy at three of our ISAAC member congregations–Rev. John Best at Pine Island Presbyterian Church, Pastor Chuck Moerdyk at North Presbyterian Church, and The Rev. Mike Wood at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church. We are very pleased to have each of you in our ISAAC Family! We look forward […]
Today is Cyber Monday and tomorrow is Giving Tuesday! Give to both at the same time! The work of Justice is more vital than ever! We invite you to give to our work of community organizing, social justice and policy changes in the areas of racism, poverty and housing. As described by Dr. Martin Luther […]
On October 25th, Kalamazoo Community Members, Leaders, Clergy, Elected & Public Officials, and Candidates showed up in support of Cultivating the Beloved Community! We would like to issue a sincere thank you to ALL who attended ISAAC’s 2018 Public Meeting! It was an awesome night! We are thankful to our hardworking Co-Chairs, (Stephanie Hoffman, Tobi […]
These wonderful photos were taken by Amy Peterson from St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and Rick Johnson from People’s Church. Click on any photo to enlarge it. Then read about all that happened at the “Awesome Public Meeting!” in the next article.
“Amazing!” “Awesome!” “Best ever!” Those were very frequent responses to our Public Meeting on October 25 in the sanctuary of Mt. Zion Baptist Church. Powerful presentations by our three task forces were followed by commitments—by the entire audience, the clergy, and candidates and local elected officials from all levels of government–to help build the Beloved […]
Emily Hazel graduated from high school just eight years ago, but she has been thinking about her legacy for a long time. She’s our youngest donor to the new ISAAC Endowment Fund! If you can, please join Emily in building an endowment that will generate funds for ISAAC way into the future. We have raised […]
Congratulations to all the recipients of this year’s Human Rights Awards given by Church Women United! So many of them are part of ISAAC! Left to right in the photo, they are: [su_list icon=”icon: check” icon_color=”#9602ca”] Rev. Morris Brooks from Mt. Zion Baptist Church, which just generously hosted the ISAAC Public Meeting Janette Evans, Trenches […]
Thank you for attending, we would like your feedback. We would like to issue a sincere thank you to ALL who attended ISAAC’s 2018 Public Meeting! This work continues so that we see rooted policy/practice changes in Kalamazoo in the areas of: poverty, racism and housing. This work continues until all individuals in our Community […]
In this video, Martin Luther King Jr, spoke of The Beloved Community, which while not devoid of conflict, is free of violence. It is a place in which our deepest values of abundance, equity, community, hope, and most of all love are infused into our policies and practices, so that every individual is held as beloved.
ISAAC Public Meetings in the past have been key to a long list of accomplishments with our partner agencies: Sunday buses and late night buses added by Metro; “Vote Yes for Kids” millage for families with kids in the schools to have a place to call home; “Group Violence Intervention” by KDPS and community leaders […]
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.
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