The Northside is one of Kalamazoo’s poorest neighborhoods. It’s also 83% Black. But the neighborhood of 4,500 residents has just one banking institution: Advia Credit Union at 706 N. Westnedge Ave. It’s carrying the load to help Northside residents build financial security.
Panelists included journalists who regularly cover housing and community issues — Watershed Voice editor-in-chief and founder Alek Haak-Frost, Brad Devereaux of MLive, Jordyn Hermani of Bridge Michigan, and freelance journalist Al Jones, project editor for On the Ground Kalamazoo — as well as housing advocates Gwendolyn Hooker of Kalamazoo-based Hope Through Navigation, Shanay Settles of the Calhoun County Health Department, and Patsy Moore of Mount Zion Baptist Church and Legacy Senior Living.
For Haak-Frost and Watershed Voice, affordable housing has long been more than a policy topic—it is a core part of the newsroom’s mission-based community journalism. Haak-Frost has written and overseen coverage that explores affordable housing both as a concept and as a lived experience, asking what it truly means, who it serves, and where it falls short.
The panel featured five journalists, each representing a different outlet within the collaborative, of which Watershed Voice is a member: Gordon Evans of WMUK, Lem Montero of Public Media Network, Aya Miller of MLive, Kathy Jennings of Second Wave Media, and Reed Williams of NowKalamazoo.
“Meet the Media: Talk Back” will be held in the Van Deusen Room at the Kalamazoo Public Library downtown branch. It will feature a panel of SWMJC members — all journalists and editors from Michigan media outlets — seeking to answer questions and hear from residents about community development issues important to them.
Over the last decade and a half, Michigan has lost specialty crops at nearly twice the rate of the U.S. on average, according to a report released in March by the Michigan State University Extension. More than 1,700 Southwest Michigan farms ceased operation between 2012 and 2022, the most recent year for which data is available.
As local governments use regulations to protect against the impacts of a changing climate, several new efforts in Kalamazoo show how going green can boost local economies while keeping people most susceptible to the harm of climate change safe in their own homes.
Advocates say Michigan’s $4 million "shelter diversion" pilot program is keeping people off the streets by helping pay for rent, utilities, transportation and more. Is it time to take it statewide?
Watershed Voice is a proud member of the Southwest Michigan Journalism Collaborative whose membership also consists of Bridge Michigan, Community Voices, Encore, MLive Kalamazoo Gazette, New/Nueva Opinion, NowKalamazoo, Public Media Network, Southwest Michigan Second Wave, Western Michigan University School of Communication, WMU Student Media Group, and WMU Public Radio 102.1.
With its new Behavioral Health Care and Access Center, Integrated Services of Kalamazoo builds a safety net for those with mental health issues.
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