Healthy Communities

Duane Breijak, executive director of the National Association of Social Workers' Michigan chapter.

Michigan agencies seek strategies to address child welfare worker shortage

Michigan's child welfare workers have served on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the state is currently facing what one industry leader described as a "critical shortage" of child welfare workers.

Latest in Healthy Communities
WHTC's morning news anchor Peg McNichol. Courtesy, Midwest Communications
In a world where people seem to be getting meaner, make a choice to be nice

WHTC Radio’s morning news anchor, Peg McNichol, shares why words matter and kindness matters.   

Dr. Brad Merker.
New clinic helps Michiganders overcome traumas of intensive care

Henry Ford Health System's Post ICU Brain Health Clinic provides specialized care for adults 55 and older who have survived intensive care.

Seeds of Promise offers gift card incentive to increase vaccination rates

To improve vaccination rates, Seeds of Promise and Kent County Health Department team up to offer $50 gift cards to the first 20 participants who choose to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

Kids who attended Pumpkinfest enjoyed having their faces painted, climbing on inflatables, riding a barrel train, and playing a variety of fall yard games, including bowling with pumpkins.
Return of Zeeland Pumpkinfest generates ‘amazing response’

Crowds filled downtown Zeeland as families and friends gathered to enjoy the return of the city’s biggest annual community gathering, the Pumpkinfest celebration.

Kyle Williams
(Anti) Racism Task Force partners with A Long Talk About the Uncomfortable Truth

Participants will unpack their truth, find their voice, and activate their activism during three 90-minute sessions.

Windmill Island Gardens will host Books and Blooms this summer.
Windmill Island Gardens extends season amid record attendance

Windmill Island Gardens traditionally closes the first weekend of October but, for the first time, the Holland park will reopen to visitors on Saturdays and Sundays through Oct. 24. Admission rates will be reduced to $5 for adults and free for kids 15 and younger.  

Elizabeth Koschmann, director of the University of Michigan's TRAILS program, which is offering free social-emotional learning training and curricula to Michigan schools.
Michigan is expanding mental health services in schools – and equipping teachers to implement them

A University of Michigan program is providing teachers much-needed support to implement social-emotional learning in the classroom.

Spectators watch the 2019 Civil War Muster at Van Raalte Farm. (Mary Bale)
Grant helps Civil War muster expand, attract new talent

The Civil War has lessons for modern America and re-enactors will bring those lessons to life at the Van Raalte Farm this weekend, thanks, in part, to a Hope College-Andrew P. Mellon Foundation grant.

The GRCC Lakeshore Campus will hold a Sept. 14 community COVID vaccination clinic.
GRCC Lakeshore Campus plans Sept. 14 community COVID vaccination clinic

The new GRCC Lakeshore Campus will host a vaccination clinic on Sept. 14, part of an effort to help students, employees and community members have access to an effective COVID-fighting tool.

Our Partners

Allegan County Community Foundation logo
Disability Advocates of Kent County logo
On Point Allegan

Common Ground Is Brewing

Support local stories and receive our signature roast straight to your door when you join at the Standard level (or above).

Drink Better, Read Local

Close the CTA

Don't miss out!

Everything West Michigan, in your inbox every week.

Close the CTA

Already a subscriber? Enter your email to hide this popup in the future.