Al Jones

2 weeks ago | secondwavemedia.com | Al Jones

KALAMAZOO, MI — “Is that where that guy got shot last week?” a man asks.   Between drags on their cigarettes Wednesday evening, two older men on the corner of North Street and Paterson Avenue respond, “Yeah,” and “That’s it.”   They gesture down Park Street to a place where more than 200 people filled the street. Led by local ministers, that spirited swarm of people says prayers in the area where a 21-year-old man was shot and killed on April 24.

3 weeks ago | secondwavemedia.com | Al Jones

Editor's note: This story is part of Southwest Michigan's Second Wave's On the Ground Kalamazoo series. KALAMAZOO, MI — Everyone has problems. Everyone struggles.   Finding a perspective on tough times that allows you to make positives out of the negatives helps a lot. And sharing the insights that result from that may even be better.

1 month ago | secondwavemedia.com | Al Jones

A Way Home — Housing Solutions: This story is part of Southwest Michigan Second Wave's series on solutions to homelessness and ways to increase affordable housing. It is made possible by a coalition of funders including the City of Kalamazoo, Kalamazoo County, the ENNA Foundation, Kalamazoo County Land Bank, and LISC. KALAMAZOO, MI — Need, vision, effort, and prayer appears to be coming together to produce new housing for low- to moderate-income seniors in Kalamazoo’s Northside Neighborhood.

1 month ago | secondwavemedia.com | Al Jones

Editor's note: This story is part of Southwest Michigan's Second Wave's On the Ground Kalamazoo series. KALAMAZOO, MI — Efforts to help more high school students get to college and into better-paying careers are meeting some resistance, local advocates say.   "We're fighting national trends," says Bob Jorth, chief operating officer of The Kalamazoo Promise, the college scholarship program that covers the tuition and some academic fees for graduates of the Kalamazoo Public Schools.

2 months ago | secondwavemedia.com | Al Jones

Editor's note: This story is part of Southwest Michigan's Second Wave's On the Ground Kalamazoo series.   KALAMAZOO, MI. –  So what happens when one big plan has been executed and a new one is needed? In the City of Kalamazoo, ... well ..., you keep planning.   Area residents will have opportunities throughout the month of March to help the city craft and develop a new 10-year strategic vision and master plan, to be called Imagine Kalamazoo 2035.