Журналистка Каролайн и активисты Каламазуо борются за чистый воздух и продовольственный суверенитет

Caroline grew up in the Winchell neighborhood and graduated from Kalamazoo Central High School in 2011. She got her start in journalism in Second Wave’s On The Ground community correspondents program as a contributor for the Vine neighborhood. By shining a light on the people working to implement solutions to local issues she hopes to amplify important voices in our midst which are often overlooked. “Kick Back and Breathe,” a free monthly event by the Institute of Public Scholarship, explores how air pollution impacts Black and Brown communities. Using data from local air monitors, the series empowers residents to understand their air and push for cleaner, healthier neighborhoods. “Growing up, everyone had asthma… we used to collect inhalers like they were Pokémon,” recalls Tyler Dancer while walking through his Northside neighborhood in early September. Envirosuite meters throughout the neighborhood now monitor hydrogen sulfide levels. Residents have filed a class action suit and formed a group, Kalamazoo Parents for Clean Air, to address the harmful impacts of industrial pollution. Peter Robinson, known as Ten Hundred to his YouTube followers, brought his successful art enterprise from Seattle to St. Joseph. Now he and his wife are raising their family in Southwest Michigan as his channel takes on big murals, big collabs, and an instant Kickstarter hit that raised $2.4 million. Imagine a food system in which the people who produce, distribute, and consume food also control the mechanisms and policies of food production and distribution. It's called food sovereignty and Zoo City Farm and Food Network is working to bring it to Kalamazoo. Uplift Kalamazoo is living up to the mission in its name by doing the work that needs to be done. Right now that often means making sure people have food to eat.