Tag: antiracism

Reflection and Statement on Antiracism and Recent Events

“… being American is more than a pride we inherit, it’s the past we step into and how we repair it.” -Amanda Gorman, 2021 Inaugural Poet As we begin Black History Month, as well pass the one year mark since Access launched our current antiracism team, we wanted to pause and reflect on our commitment to the work of antiracism as well as the events we’ve witnessed in the past month. In January we watched as our nation celebrated a time-honored tradition of the beginning of a new presidential administration. Amanda Gorman recited her inaugural poem, The Hill We Climb, […]

Black lives matter.

Black lives matter. We believe this, we stand behind this statement, and we are committed to making it true at Access of West Michigan and throughout our community. We stand with the Black community in calling for needed change. We grieve the lives lost unjustly to police brutality throughout our history, most recently Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd. We recognize that there are names that have not made into our headlines and that countless lives have been lost to racism. We mourn, we feel pain, sorrow, anger, and we know we must act. As a non-profit that has […]

Celebrating Madame C.J. Walker

Honoring Black History Series: This month as a part of our commitment to honor black history, Access team members will be sharing about businesses, books, literature, stories, podcasts, films, songs, or pieces of art created by black authors, leaders, entrepreneurs, and artists that have impacted us. By Kim Starks, Poverty Education Director Sarah Breedlove, known as Madam C. J. Walker, was an African-American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and a political and social activist. Walker was considered the wealthiest African-American businesses woman and wealthiest self-made woman in America at the time of her death in 1919. She was the first African American woman […]

Reflections on Woman of Color in Leadership

Honoring Black History Series: This month as a part of our commitment to honor black history, Access team members will be sharing about businesses, books, literature, stories, podcasts, films, songs, or pieces of art created by black authors, leaders, entrepreneurs, and artists that have impacted us. By McKenzie Jackson, a member of Good Food Systems Team McKenzie shares below a reflection on two books that have been impactful this year: The Memo by Minda Harts and I’m Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown.  Why do you want to share this with others?I […]

Reflections on Impactful Literature

Honoring Black History Series: This month as a part of our commitment to honor black history, Access team members will be sharing about businesses, books, literature, stories, podcasts, films, songs, or pieces of art created by black authors, leaders, entrepreneurs, and artists that have impacted us. By Lily Lemkuil, a senior Social Work student at Calvin University and current intern for the Congregations Connections program at Access of West Michigan.   â€œLetter From a Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King Jr, The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, Tears we Cannot Stop: A Sermon to White America by Michael Eric Dyson  One of the most impactful pieces of […]

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 […]