Founded in 2012, Read and Write Kalamazoo (RAWK) is a nonprofit organization devoted to nurturing intellectual and creative confidence in youth in Kalamazoo County through creative writing workshops, camps, in-school programs, after school programs and community partnerships.
RAWK exists to celebrate and amplify youth voices through the cultivation of reading and writing skills via joy, creativity, equity, and access. We bring a supportive community to young people to give them safe and positive spaces to learn and grow.
Because language is living, fluid and cultural, traditional assessments of achievement often do not accurately reflect true knowledge. We aim to celebrate and amplify authentic voice in the specific context of each youth’s cultural identity, while remaining mindful of the practical and social capital resulting from the use of academic language. We approach all work with youth through a trauma-informed lens and commit to being anti-racist/bias in all we do. We want to eliminate barriers to educational resources so all youth can use their words and tell their own story.

For more information, visit www.readandwritekzoo.org

Fred Rogers once said, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’”

Within two weeks of preschools being closed for COVID, it was abundantly clear to our team at KC Ready 4s that the pandemic was going to dramatically affect the lives of our young children as well as the livelihoods of our partner providers. We knew it was essential to bring our network of program directors together to share ideas and resources, to problem solve and, most of all, to listen and help.

After a year of working together in new creative ways and listening to the needs of the early education sector, we knew there was one statistic we could not ignore: Over 75% of our partner teachers had no health benefits. During the pandemic, record numbers of teachers left the field, and we knew this was one way KC Ready 4s could help.

In July of 2021, KC Ready 4s introduced Thriving Teachers Thriving Children, an employee assistance program that provides all of the teachers and staff in 26 of our partner providers access to telemedicine, counseling, a crisis line and wellness resources at no cost. PCCN Preschool Director Laurie Kreg said, “The Thriving Teachers initiative is going to gift our teachers and their families the opportunity to seek necessary health supports that our programs simply cannot afford. It’s another example of how KC Ready 4s continues to not only support young learners in Kalamazoo County but also the programs that are leading the way in high quality early childhood education.”

For more information, visit www.kcready4s.org

The Kalamazoo Experiential Learning Center (KELC), together with our college interns, was challenged to find unique ways to gather and create community placemaking while being safe and addressing COVID protocols. Throughout the year, the event team looked at many ways to host events that authentically addressed the activity’s mission while assuring safety in the event execution. Two important programs emerged through this challenge.

First, challenged with how to keep our food truck entrepreneurs sustainable and help our artists find unique and safe venues to perform, we relied on a very strong partnership with the Kalamazoo Health Department and our local municipalities. Together, we identified the needs of the community slowly emerging from a pandemic and protocols that would support the best mix of blending distanced gathering and an authentic feel of community. Unique outdoor spaces provided a fabulous blend where artists could perform in their “pod” and food trucks could offer the unique experience of street food. The funds helped us to host seven Friday Night Food Truck Rallies and 12 Tuesday night rallies with over 5,000 people attending.

Also in 2021, as the neighborhoods slowly emerged from the pandemic, the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety and the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Department understood at their core that kids needed to get out of their apartments to safely engage with others in the community. Working to identify pockets of communities experiencing this challenge, KELC and the team of interns popped up five carnival events where kids and officers played, competed and enjoyed winning prizes. Trust was built and kids simply had fun.

For more information, visit www.experientiallearningcenter.org

Like most educational institutions, the Kalamazoo Literacy Council (KLC) is adapting to the changing learning environment brought on by the COVID-19 global pandemic. During the first year of the pandemic, the KLC had the largest and most diverse range of virtual options for adult learners in Kalamazoo County thanks to the creation of its Virtual Learning Center and Laptop Loaning Program. The KLC also added an outdoor classroom in the Read and Seed Community Garden and Interpretive Learning Center in partnership with Goodwill Industries of Southwestern Michigan to safely provide multi-generational learning options for adults and their families.

Now, the KLC is building a hybrid learning model to accommodate the needs and preferences of adult learners who choose to learn virtually, in-person or in both settings. Despite the challenges and uncertainty, the KLC has continued to successfully lead the Everyone Needs to Read Adult Literacy Initiative, which has strengthened and expanded instruction for adults with low literacy skills in Kalamazoo County since September 2010. This initiative has aligned services across the adult learning continuum from adult literacy, English as a Second Language, Adult Basic Education and post-secondary education to deliver better outcomes for adults who struggle to read.

In total, KLC served 524 adult learners and their families, including immigrants and refugees who have settled in the greater Kalamazoo area in the past year.

For more information, visit www.kalamazooliteracy.org