Human Services

Founded in 1981, Disability Network Southwest Michigan actively works to create a fully accessible community where disability is valued as human diversity, and everyone belongs. The strength of our organization lies in the fact that most of our team members and governing board are people with disabilities, bringing a unique blend of lived experiences and professional expertise to our work.

We COLLABORATE with community partners to ensure our reach extends to underserved and unserved communities, emphasizing the importance of inclusivity and diversity.

We ELEVATE diversity, equity and inclusion through the disability lens, through comprehensive education and creating accessible spaces focused on changing perceptions while enhancing inclusion and participation in our community.

We NAVIGATE complex systems and connect individuals to resources as the foundation of our work, providing individuals with the necessary tools and resources to advocate for themselves and lead self-determined lives.

We CONNECT and support individuals within the Disability Community through educational programs and support groups to share experiences, build networks of support and work collectively towards a more inclusive society.

We ACTIVATE grassroots, systemic change at the individual, local, state and national levels, advocating for policies and practices that promote equality and justice for individuals with disabilities.

We CULTIVATE resources to nurture team excellence, ensure long-term sustainability and practice responsible stewardship of funds.

Disability Network believes that embracing diversity and advancing inclusion not only benefits individuals with disabilities but also strengthens the entire community, creating a more vibrant, equitable and inclusive society for everyone.

For more information, visit: www.dnswm.org

Kairos Dwelling is a home with a very unique and special purpose. We provide no-cost care in a compassionate and loving environment for terminally ill people and their loved ones.

Established in 2000, we coordinate and provide hospice care for patients and families regardless of life status, station or circumstances, and give priority to those with the greatest needs. We do this relying on dedicated, trained staff and volunteers who provide primary patient care.

We are located on Gull Road in Kalamazoo in a remodeled four-bedroom farmhouse. With community support, we recently completed a capital improvement project designed to increase our effectiveness and efficiency. We identified the need for private space on the ground floor for families and caregivers, and an accessible office for the Executive Director. Our facilities had provided neither.

We sought a private gathering space for families contemplating and preparing for the death of a family member. At any given time, up to four families might be in this process, yet we didn’t have enough space to provide confidentiality and privacy. Our new “family room” is a multi-purpose space that provides for this need and more.

Our new Director’s office on the ground floor improves communication and interaction with patients and families. It also serves to improve patient care and coordination with hospice nurses, medical staff and Kairos staff. Kairos Dwelling is an integral part of our community. With these recently enhanced facilities, we look forward to continuing to provide our unique service to the greater Kalamazoo area.

For more information, visit: www.kairosdwelling.com

Milestone Senior Services recognizes and promotes the value of aging in place. For more than sixty years, we have provided services that support older adults and adults with disabilities in their choice to remain living at home where they are connected to their family, friends, neighbors and cultural community.

Last year, Milestone served more than 5,500 people with services such as home-delivered meals, home repair and accessibility modifications, managed home health care, and behavioral health assistance. These services directly impact whether people can remain living at home or are forced to relocate to a nursing facility.

Milestone’s capital campaign is addressing much-needed upgrades to our facility and equipment to increase the capacity and cost-effectiveness of our operations and improve overall efficiency. Specifically, we are upgrading kitchen equipment, providing a covered loading dock for the Meals on Wheels program, constructing a home repair workshop, creating a more welcoming entrance and replacing the HVAC system.

People 65 and older are the fastest growing population segment, with an expected increase of 47 percent in the next 30 years. The improvements Milestone is making today will ensure we are positioned to meet our community’s growing need for our vital services.

For more information, visit: www.milestoneseniorservices.org

For more than 100 years nationally and 65 years locally, Big Brothers Big Sisters has created and supported one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth. Big Brothers Big Sisters makes meaningful, monitored matches between volunteer mentors (Bigs) and children (Littles).

When kids are paired with a mentor, they’re introduced to places and experiences that open their hearts and minds to a future filled with boundless possibilities. After just one year of being paired with their Big:
• 85% of Littles report improved academic performance
• 87% of Littles report improved emotional regulation
• 94% of Littles report avoiding situations that could limit their future success
On top of all of this, Littles report having stronger relationships with their parent/guardians and peers, decreased depressive symptoms, and improved outlook for their education post-high school. “When I first met [my Big Brother], he got me out of my comfort zone,” shares Damarieon, Little Brother. “He’s like my best friend, actually.”

When people consider the impact of mentoring, they often think about the impact it has on the youth—not the adult. At Big Brothers Big Sisters, the mentoring relationship impacts every participant—adults included! “We get as much, if not more out of it, than we give. It gets us out exploring things that appeal to younger people,” shares Paul, Big Brother.

For more information, visit www.ThinkBigToday.org

The Ecumenical Senior Center has provided services to the senior citizens of Kalamazoo County for nearly 40 years. We were founded on the principle of removing barriers for African American seniors who would otherwise have difficulty obtaining services, as well as having a central place to gather. Nearly 95% of the seniors we serve today are African American, and a majority live at or below poverty level. Many reside in subsidized housing or are housed at Kalamazoo Gospel Ministries. ESC strives to enhance the quality of life of our clients in many aspects, particularly by providing services, activities, and resources that allow them to age with dignity.

We are proud to offer a wide array of support to our clients. All our programming and services are free or minimal cost. This includes breakfast and donation-based lunch programs, transportation to area grocery stores, pharmacies, doctor appointments, and other services, incontinence supplies and other medical equipment, as well as free weekly cosmetology services.

As our clientele has grown over the years, utilizing the 4,000 square foot programming space (largely out of one single room) has become increasingly difficult. We officially kicked off a 4.2 million dollar capital campaign last July in an effort to better serve seniors in the community. This will include a complete remodel of our historic building and a two-story addition that will feature a dedicated health and wellness area, a larger kitchen, and additional programming space and offices. Support from the community has been tremendous, and we look forward to the project’s fruition.

For more information, visit www.ecumenicalsc.com

Can-Do Kalamazoo (formerly Can-Do Kitchen) began in 2008 with an entrepreneurial spark – building a missing piece of the local food system so that food producers could meet the growing customer demand for local products. In the years since, we have launched, pivoted, and sustained many valuable programs for food business owners. However, due to the nonlinear journeys of entrepreneurs, we became more engaged with other business support partners in our ecosystem. This led to our expanded scope to become a highly collaborative, one-stop incubator and enterprise hub, positioned to guide entrepreneurs through idea, launch, and growth. In coordination with many partners, we will support entrepreneurs along their business development journeys, with a focus on marginalized and under-resourced entrepreneurs.

Can-Do Kalamazoo has recently secured a larger and more centralized location (519 S. Park St.) for our incubation and hub activities. When fully renovated, our new site will offer many new amenities allowing us to host entrepreneurial networking events, startup and accelerator programs, open office hours with business coaches, pop-up events, and more. In 2020, our Opening New Doors Capital Campaign was launched, and despite the disturbances of COVID-19, the $650,000 goal was reached in 2022. Phase 1 of construction is underway! The need to move is urgent, so when the kitchens and a few offices are complete, we will move out of our current Lake Street facility.

In order to fulfill the needs of our expanded scope, we are embarking on phase 2 of our capital goal of $1.4 million. Phase 2 will include conference rooms, coworking spaces, multipurpose event space, classroom, and CDK staff offices. With the successful completion of our phase 2 capital goal, Can-Do Kalamazoo can fully be the “hub” that is so needed by our community’s entrepreneurs. We are optimistic that this can be accomplished by the close of 2023!

For more information, visit www.candokalamazoo.org

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly altered Kalamazoo Loaves & Fishes’ (KLF) 38-year service model. Prior to the pandemic, KLF operated a network of 30 pantries throughout Kalamazoo County. Clients were able to shop in-person and had a bank of “points” to spend on their groceries. Overnight, this model changed to curbside pickup at just a few locations and KLF was able to continue operations throughout the entirety of the pandemic.

To provide greater accessibility, KLF launched a home delivery program in March 2020, which has grown to 70 deliveries each day. While both curbside pickup and home delivery were born out of necessity, clients report preferring these service elements over the pre-pandemic model. KLF currently has 21 pantries in its network, including 11 school-based units. Six additional mobile food distributions were added, resulting in 12 distributions throughout Kalamazoo County each month

KLF also increased targeted outreach services to support those with unique food needs, including individuals facing homelessness and refugees seeking safety. New partnerships were formed involving several new agencies who secure food from KLF to provide their clients with congregate meals, emergency packs or pantry items. Since the beginning of the pandemic, KLF has served over 3,000 brand new households. On average, KLF provides food assistance to 27,000 unduplicated individuals each year from just over 10,000 households.

For more information, visit www.kzoolf.org

With over four decades of experience serving those in crisis in Kalamazoo, Ministry with Community has adapted to change many times. That’s why when COVID-19 arrived in March 2020, we knew exactly what we had to do: open our doors every morning while keeping our members (those we serve) safe.

We acted quickly to provide masks for everyone inside our facility and placed plastic barriers in high traffic areas. We installed special filters in our HVAC system to trap viral particles. When people started testing positive for COVID but had no home to safely isolate in, we set up motel stays so they could recover safely and peacefully.

We’ve had to limit the number of people in our space to allow for physical distancing, and it’s one of the hardest decisions we’ve ever had to make. But from the start, members utilized the services they needed and left to allow others in. Since meals could no longer be safely served family style in our dining room, we shifted to take-out containers and modified the back door of the kitchen to act as a walk-up window where anyone can take a meal to go.

We are proud to say that we have remained open 365 days per year, even throughout the pandemic. We continuously offered all our usual services, including laundry, showers, restrooms, two meals each day, hygiene items and, through our Social Work and Peer Support Team, assistance with housing, obtaining a birth certificate or an ID, and more.

For more information, visit www.ministrywithcommunity.org

When COVID-19 caused everything to shut down, Open Doors Kalamazoo was only weeks away from our annual fundraising luncheon, Discover Open Doors. The event typically gathers 500 supporters of our work, “building relationships to overcome homelessness.” Our staff began working from home, the event was cancelled, and our focus turned to keeping our residents and shelter guests safe.

Meanwhile, we placed a pause on taking in new shelter guests. Those who were already guests at the shelter had to remain in their rooms. We provided tablets so that everyone could stay connected with loved ones and continue attending AA/NA meetings, if needed. More than half of our residence community experienced a loss of income. We received emergency funding to pay for their housing, provide essential needs and ensure that families with children were equipped for virtual schooling.

While addressing these immediate needs, we were also keeping a cautious eye on the horizon for the long-term impacts on the economy and housing. When we were asked to serve as one of three local partner organizations in the COVID Emergency Rental Assistance program, we seized the opportunity.

Through social media, we shared videos of residents and shelter guests telling their stories of strength and hope. In return, our supporters showed us how greatly they care about the people who live in our community. Thanks to their generous support, we have been able to help more than 200 people not just avoid homelessness but overcome it.

For more information, visit www.opendoorskalamazoo.org

Like many smaller non-profits, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted OutFront Kalamazoo in a myriad of ways. We had to look at ALL of our programming – from Youth Group to Kalamazoo Pride – and make decisions about how to move forward in offering services and structured groups to our area’s LGBTQ+ community. Also, like many others, we had to climb the technical learning curve if we were to bring meaningful services to our community virtually. We shuttered our office in mid-March of 2020, just two-and-one-half months after hiring a new executive director and began the process of moving most of our services to a virtual digital platform.

Our services like Youth Group and TransCend pivoted to virtual with relative ease. A simple email to group members explaining the new paradigm and learning to use a platform like Zoom made things relatively straightforward. But other programming, like Pride and our annual Winter Gala, took much more thought and time to plan and execute. Pride became a month-long virtual celebration with entertainment and educational programming instead of a two-day festival. Our annual Winter Gala morphed into the Always OutFront Awards, presented virtually in the spring.

While we could not boast the same engagement numbers for Pride and the Always OutFront Awards as we did for their in-person, pre-COVID counterparts, we did successfully reach many hundreds of people and let them know – pandemic or not – OutFront Kalamazoo would be #AlwaysOutFront.

For more information, visit www.outfrontkzoo.org