Category: Blog

More than Casework Services – Getting to Root Causes

“We learned a lot from you and we are in the process of changing how we handle financial requests we receive. Thank you again.” –Lee Street Christian Reformed Church Deacons shared this with our our Congregation Connections Team this past year. Lee Street CRC is pictured above (photo credit to Troy Meekhof, @MidJulyMedia). No day is quite the same in the Congregation Connections’ program at Access. The phone stays busy, and there is a constant of flurry of emails and check requests. Why all the activity? In the past year our Congregations Connections team worked with 100 partner churches to serve […]

Congregation Connections: August Deep Dive

Every month our Congregation Connections program sends out a newsletter that includes a deep dive. The Deep Dive is an invitation to join us in learning more about compassion, justice, and equity. You can always let us know if you have a resource to share! You can read the whole August Newsletter here.    Deep dives are not just for adults! This month we’re encouraging you to also spend time talking to youth about issues of race and justice. Dr. Margaret Haberman, author of White Kids :Growing up with Privilege in a Racially Divided America, says,”kids are learning and hearing about race […]

Creating Change through Poverty Education

“One time,” Brenda shares, “we had an elected official who went through the workshop and, a little while after attending, she called us to share that she had voted differently on a childcare bill. Attending the workshop changed how she saw things and that impacted the way she voted.”  Brenda Nichols has served as the Poverty Education Director at Access for the past five years. It’s the feedback like this from participants whose views have changed and who are motivated to take action that have encouraged Brenda over the years. We are celebrating Brenda this month, as she is moving […]

Broad Based Community Organizing

Today marked the beginning of a new, formalized relationship between Access and the Micah Center! After many years of shared hopes and visions for a just future, we are now taking official steps towards a working partnership. This relationship was kicked off during today’s staff meeting as we gained an understanding of Broad-Based Community Organizing (BBCO) under the guidance of Micah Center’s Director Allison Colberg. Allison centered the meeting around introducing BBCO as a concept generally and locally, defining it as the action of building the capacity of community members towards leadership and creating change. To do so, we first had to understand […]

Creating a Culture of Healthy & Equity

This article is an excerpt from our June 2019 Monthly Newsletter “By the end of year three year, we will have purchased all of our food from Michigan farms,” shared a member of the HAELFS Collaborative at a recent planning session. HAELFS stands for Health, Access, and Equity in our Local Food System, and is the name of the collaborative project that Access’ Good Food System team heads up along five affordable food market sites.  The HAELFS collaborative has finished it’s second year, and last week spent time planning and dreaming for year three. Since the collaborative has begun, each partner site […]

Access’ Food Justice Training unites community toward common goal

Cultivating solutions to food insecurity is far from a single-organization job. It requires a community of activists for the good food system. On Tuesday, April 11, Access of West Michigan hosted the Food Justice Training event to promote greater awareness of “good food system” values. In attendance were 45 members and leaders of local organizations working together to work toward food security. Organizations represented included United Church Outreach Ministries, World Renew, United Way, Hope Farms, Kids’ Food Basket and many others. The morning began with a presentation on the definitions of food justice, food security and environmental sustainability. Jeff Smith from the […]

Making a difference on a Sunday afternoon stroll

Former executive director of Access of West Michigan celebrates the 40th Annual Hunger Walk by noting how change can happen in the context of a community. Marsha DeHollander is looking forward to joining with her community and being a part of Access 40th Annual Hunger Walk, for the 33rd time. But the Hunger Walk is just one of the many ways Grand Rapids native DeHollander has been involved in promoting a thriving food system. In fact, she was on staff at Access for 25 years. Prior, she helped start the food pantry at her church, Olivet Reformed Church in Grand […]

Feedback concert rocks out against poverty

The 23rd Annual Feedback Concert was a great success in raising a record $3,792 to cultivate equitable solutions to poverty. What do rock’n’roll and food security have to do with each other? On Sunday, April 9, they came together in an entertaining way. On a beautiful Sunday evening, Local Spins hosted the Feedback benefit concert supporting Access of West Michigan at Founders Brewing Co. in Grand Rapids. The event featured great music from local bands of The Legal Immigrants, Conrad Shock and The Noise and The Honeytones. The 23rd annual concert also drew in a $5 donation upon entry to […]

More than taste: the definition of “Good Food”

What makes food “good”? It may be taste. If you have a sweet tooth, maybe you’d consider a decadent layered chocolate cake with fluffy whipped frosting “good”. Or for the savory side, a bowl of soup that has a harmony of seasonings and flavors singing out. That sounds good. Or based on presentation. They say we eat with our eyes, so the appearance of a plate could mean everything. Freshness is also key–does it look like it just came from the garden or was it forgotten on a counter at the back of the kitchen somewhere. At Access of West […]

Face the Facts: Senior Poverty

Myth: Social security takes care of the senior population Fact: 9 percent of seniors live below the poverty line. Ask an average person to describe someone in poverty, many faces may arise: a young child, a single working mom with a house full of kids, or an unemployed 20-year-old high school dropout. But does an 78-year old woman come to mind? According to Feeding America, 9 percent of the population 65 and older, 4.6 million adults, lived below the poverty line in 2015. This population can face harsh difficulties in their post-employment age of relying on savings and federal assistance. […]