For my last quarter at K-College, I was accepted into the Neighborhood Organizing Practicum, a class taught by Dr. Kim Cummings. The Practicum works with Building Blocks, a community-enhancement program run by various offices and organizations around Kalamazoo, principally the Kalamazoo Neighborhood Housing Service (KNHS). KNHS gives grants to neighbors who agree to help each other improve the exterior of their properties. I was assigned, with two other K students, to a block of Adams Street (between Parkview and Amherst) in Oakwood Neighborhood. We went around knocking on doors to gain interest in the project, ran block meetings, arranged for food and material donations, and helped organize work weekends. We worked the first three weekends of May and finished a lot of projects on 8 properties. We also drummed up volunteers from the college to help us. Boy, did we tie up a lot of brush! It was hard work, and we learned a lot about community organizing, neighborhood involvement, and the city of Kalamazoo. It felt good to give something back to the community that I've lived in for so long, and yet so often took no notice of, wrapped up as I was in my college life and friends. I'll miss the folks in my neighborhood. Go Oakwood!
Another way I help the community, though indirectly,
is through the donations Monkapult, the student improvisational troupe
I belong to, makes to community organizations. We've donated proceeds to
the American Cancer Society, Habitat for Humanity, youth advocacy groups,
and domestic violence awareness activists.