Poverty was chosen as a top priority for the first time at the ISAAC Issues Convention on October 26, 2017.  Poverty has been a major focus of our task forces on Housing, Transit, Early Childhood & Education, and Youth Violence Prevention ever since the first ISAAC task forces were formed in 2003, but our new […]

Anti-Racism was chosen again at the ISAAC Issues Convention on October 26, 2017, after personal accounts about experiencing racism, historically and presently, were shared by: Cradle Kalamazoo Anti-Racism Task Force Co-Chair Al Dixon Kalamazoo Public Library Anti-Racism Team and Board Member Kerria Randolph PFC Anti-Racism Team members Jo Woods and J. Kyon Our task force is […]

Housing was chosen again at the ISAAC Issues Convention on October 26, 2017, after a hiatus of two years.  All these housing experts spoke asking for housing to be chosen: Open Doors KalamazooDeputy Director Stephanie Hoffman Housing Resources, Inc.Program Director Jennifer Welles City of Kalamazoo Community DevelopmentManager Dorla Bonner Kalamazoo County Public Housing CommissionChair David […]

Anti-Racism, Anti-Poverty and Affordable Housing were the top three vote-getters at the 2017 Issues Convention, edging out Early Childhood & Education for the first time in ten years! The Early Childhood & Education Task Force has a decade of impressive history, successfully advocating with community partners for increased dental services in elementary schools; for establishing […]

It’s a sign of progress that Youth Violence Prevention was not chosen as a top concern of community members surveyed in our Listening Engagement before the 2017 Issues Convention.  One reason may be that the Youth Violence Prevention Task Force had accomplished their long-held goal of instituting Group Violence Intervention (GVI) in Kalamazoo and had […]

Scripture gives us valuable direction on the importance of the work that we do. “Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause. “    – Isaiah 1:17 “Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy. “    – Proverbs 31:9 “Give justice to the weak and the […]

  Form your Beloved Community TEAM Today!  Walk or Run with us Towards Justice! To bring the Kalamazoo County Community together, ISAAC usually has an Annual Banquet. In 2018 we will host a Walk/Run instead–Building the Beloved Community: Moving Towards Justice. The Beloved Community is an inclusive, democratic reality, which while not devoid of conflict, is free of violence. It is a place […]