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NWI News and Events
Photo of sunflower in Riddle school garden courtesy of Katie Olender
Panera Bread Distribution Every Thursday from 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm NorthWest Initiative 530 W. Ionia St., 48933 517-999-2895 Angel Food Ministries Place orders in the middle of the month and pick up at the end of the month. Call Julie @ (517) 485-0174 (Must enroll prior to distribution) Food Movers Distribution Call to enroll: (517) 482-1270 (517) 999-2894 (Must enroll prior to distribution) Letts Community Center (Supplemental Bread Location) Monday– Thursday; 12-6pm. 1220 W. Kalamazoo St. 517-483-4311 |
| Get Involved! |
| NorthWest Initiative - North Neighborhood Center 530 W. Ionia St., Suite D, Lansing, MI 48933 Phone: 517-999-2894 Fax: 517-999-2897 |
NWI now on Facebook & Twitter—check us out!
Assistance? Click here to see how we can help!
FREE Tax Preparation for Low Income Families
Are you paying someone to prepare your taxes for you?
STOP! We will file your federal, state and Lansing city taxes for
FREE!! If your household income is $49,000 or less, we will
prepare your taxes, electronically file them, and you could
have your return, in your bank account in approximately 10
days (or less).
Get the biggest refund possible! We make sure you get back
every cent you have coming to you. We train our volunteers
to catch those credits others miss, (or charge you for). Our tax
site will be open Monday and Wednesdays from 4pm-8pm;
Fridays from 10am-2pm; and Saturdays from 9am-3pm. To
schedule your appointment for the NorthWest Initiative
tax site, call 2-1-1 after January 1, 2012. To volunteer at
our site, call Jonathon at 517-999-2894.
Dr. Michelle Alexander Scheduled to Speak in Lansing
~ January 17, 2012
Be sure to join us Tuesday, January 17, 2012 at 5:30 pm in
Cooley Law School Auditorium to hear Dr. Alexander widely
acclaimed speaker and author of the book “The New Jim
Crow” as she kicks-off the “FairChance Coalition” campaign.
Ms. Alexander will speak on employment and other
consequences of a criminal conviction and how barriers to
employment for individuals hurt our communities, families,
and taxpayers. Funding for this advocacy event is from
the Self-Development of People, Presbyterian Church;
Michigan Legislative Black Caucus; Cooley Law School;
Marygrove Social Justice Program and American Friends.
This event is free and open to the public!
NWI Hosts Diabetes Workshop — January 5, 2012
Your Outreach staff is planning a series of health-related
workshops, to be kicked off by a workshop providing Tips for
Managing Diabetes in the New Year, 6-8 pm, Thursday,
January 5th at NorthWest Initiative. This timely workshop will
be led by medical professionals. Refreshments will be
provided and there is ample parking available. Please
contact us at 517-999-2894 to register or email
jonathon@nwlansing.org.
also be booths featuring community resources to assist low
to moderate income individuals, including free giveaways
and food. For more information, contact Amber at aic.
midmichigan@gmail.com.
Do You Need Health Coverage, Emergency Food, Adult
Dental Care, or Other Assistance?
The NorthWest Initiative’s Outreach Program is here to help
you sign up for a variety of programs and services to assist
you and your family. We can help you sign up for the Ingham
Health Plan, MIChild, Healthy Kids, Plan First, Medicaid, food
stamps, SafeLink cell phones, and much more.
We also offer additional services for those who are returning
to Ingham County from a correctional facility (non-MPRI).
Visit our Outreach Program at 530 W. Ionia St., Suite D,
Lansing, MI 48933 (Monday-Friday—10am-3pm), or call our
ARRO Program at 517-999-2894 to schedule an
appointment.
Ingham County’s Adult Dental Clinic is open for income
eligible residents, call 517-887-4423 or 517-887-4609 to
schedule an appointment.
Buy a T-Shirt to Support School Gardens!
The Food Systems Project coordinates
four school gardens and nutrition education
classes with 1,100 students every month.
FSP also manages three community
gardens; providing fresh and free produce
for 45 families in northwest Lansing.
FSP also brought you the Westside
Farmers’ Market, a free exercise program, and weekly food
samplings at a variety of events. All in all; our programs
assisted over 6,000 individuals and provided 4,000 pounds
of produce for our community.
will be green. Please send payment to 530 W. Ionia St.,
Suite D, Lansing, 48933 to secure your shirt order; designate
number of shirts and shirt size (S,M,L,XL). Checks may be
made out to NorthWest Initiative with Food Systems Project
donation written in the memo line. All questions may be
directed to Joy Baldwin, Project Coordinator at 999-2894.
Join Us at the Monthly Celebrate Your Health!
It’s a new year and you know what that means… a new YOU!!
If you’re like the rest of us, you’re relieved the holidays are
over and you’re ready to start anew!
Being that you've decided on a New Year’s resolution, you’re
probably ready to make some changes and get healthier! If
this is the case, I've got the perfect idea for you! You should
join us at Celebrate Your Health Club AND for our monthly
fitness event!
New for 2012, we are moving our Celebrate Your Health Club
meetings to the 4th Saturday of the month, 9:30 – 11:00am
and now men are invited to attend! We host informative
speakers on relevant health issues affecting men and
woman, and provide a delicious breakfast! We will be
choosing one fitness event that we all can benefit from!! And
generally, it's FREE or low cost!
If you would like more information on any of these events or if
you are interested in speaking at or hosting an event, please
contact Stephanie at lansingneighbors@gmail.com. Hope to
see you soon!
"ARRO" Thinking outside the box ~
Eliminating the barriers that bind us
Click the links below to hear Dr. Alexander widely acclaimed
speaker and author of the book “The New Jim Crow” as she
kicks-off the “Fair Chance Coalition” campaign. Ms.
Alexander speaks on employment and other consequences
of a criminal conviction and how barriers to employment for
individuals hurt our communities, families, and taxpayers.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NO6-xQSggw
www.yesmagazine.org/peace-justice/mass-incarceration-in-
the-age-of-colorblindness
Click here to watch another video about ARRO straight from
the board!
Seeking Garden Input From Neighbors With Disabilities
In 2011 the Garden Project of the Greater Lansing Food Bank
received a grant from the Michigan Disability Rights
Coalition/Michigan Developmental Disability Council entitled
Including Our Neighbors (ION). The aim of the program is to
install easily accessible community garden beds or facilitate
other improvements to make community gardens more
accessible for disabled gardeners.
The Project brings together local community partners in an
Advisory Committee to coordinate and administer the grant.
We would like your assistance in distributing and collecting
surveys to help us learn about the needs of people with
disabilities and their involvement in community gardens and
other activities. We are also interested in learning about
ways you or your organization may like to be involved in this
project. Any questions or comments can be submitted to
Anne Rauscher at the Garden Project by phone (517) 853-
7809 or anne@thegreaterlansingfoodbank.
The Michigan Fair Chance Coalition
ARRO has diligently been working over the past few months
on our advocating program funded by the SDOP. We have
formed the Michigan Fair Chance Coalition to Ban the Box.
OUR MISSION: The Fair Chance Coalition is a group of
individuals and organizations working to reduce barriers to
employment based on an individual’s prior conviction record.
We want to “ban the box” on employment applications that
ask questions like: Have you ever been convicted of a crime
(felony or misdemeanor)? Passing legislation will help
taxpayers, communities and families by giving individuals
with past convictions a chance to become self-supporting.
Communities are safer and stronger when individuals with
prior convictions are able to find jobs, housing and be able to
support their families. If you would like to join us in our
efforts contact Monica or Karen at 517-999-2895 or e-mail
bantheboxin2012@gmail.com.
Donations are kindly welcomed. Checks should be made
out to Northwest Initiative and mailed to: 530 W. Ionia
Street, Suite D, Lansing, MI 48933, please put ARRO in the
memo line.
Help Support the Programs of NorthWest Initiative
As we near the end of 2011, have you considered making a
tax-deductible donation to NorthWest Initiative? We are
always in need of unrestricted funds to purchase needed
items that our grants do not cover, such as garden tools,
seeds, clear plastic bags and food preparation gloves for our
weekly free bread and food distribution, food for the children’
s weekend survival backpack program, signs and marketing
for the Westside Farmer’s Market, Grand Happenings bi-
monthly newsletter, used furniture and office equipment. All
donations help to support the ongoing programs and
services of the organization. No amounts are too small and
we certainly welcome larger donations too! Make checks
payable to NorthWest Initiative and mail to 530 W. Ionia St.,
Suite D, Lansing, MI 48933. We thank you for your support of
our organization!
News from the NWI Team!
We would like to welcome new members to NorthWest
Initiative’s fabulous team! Laura Sager has recently joined
us as our new Outreach Manager. Laura brings a wealth of
experience to NorthWest Initiative and we look forward to
gleaning as much of her skills as possible, and seeing
great improvements to our Outreach Program!
Jonathon Bailey has been selected as our Outreach
Assistant and comes with almost a year of experience
working with other NWI programs and he did a superlative
job coordinating our 2011 tax site!
Finally, James Gardin has joined as our new Youth
Coordinator. We welcome his experience and passion for
the arts and music and the positive vibes that he will bring to
the youth program!
We would like to say good-bye to Maria Zavala who served
as our Outreach Manager for the past five years. Maria was
offered a new position working with migrant families in
southwest Michigan and we wish her the best of luck!
We would also like to say good-bye to Ramona Spencer,
Jacqueline Milton, and James Ramos. Ramona was our
Garden Coordinator and we will truly miss her wonderful
garden skills. Jacqui worked as an Outreach Worker and we
will definitely miss her lovely personality and database skills!
Finally, Jim was our AmeriCorps Food Access Specialist who
did a phenomenal job of increasing by over 500% the
amount of food secured and distributed by NWI to low
income families in our community.
Finally, we offer a warm welcome to our new students interns
– Emily Heaton, Dariusz Lewandowski, Robert McGowan,
Brooke Nugent, and Nicole Pierce from Lansing Community
College’s Human Service Practicum Program. All of the LCC
students are working with our Food Systems Development
Project, except Dariusz is working with Outreach. Natalie
Kyles also joined us from MSU School of Social Work and
she’s working with our Youth Program.
You can now follow NorthWest Initiative on the
following social media websites:
- www.facebook.com/nwlansing
- Twitter us at NWIlansing
Assistance? Click here to see how we can help!
FREE Tax Preparation for Low Income Families
Are you paying someone to prepare your taxes for you?
STOP! We will file your federal, state and Lansing city taxes for
FREE!! If your household income is $49,000 or less, we will
prepare your taxes, electronically file them, and you could
have your return, in your bank account in approximately 10
days (or less).
Get the biggest refund possible! We make sure you get back
every cent you have coming to you. We train our volunteers
to catch those credits others miss, (or charge you for). Our tax
site will be open Monday and Wednesdays from 4pm-8pm;
Fridays from 10am-2pm; and Saturdays from 9am-3pm. To
schedule your appointment for the NorthWest Initiative
tax site, call 2-1-1 after January 1, 2012. To volunteer at
our site, call Jonathon at 517-999-2894.
Dr. Michelle Alexander Scheduled to Speak in Lansing
~ January 17, 2012
Be sure to join us Tuesday, January 17, 2012 at 5:30 pm in
Cooley Law School Auditorium to hear Dr. Alexander widely
acclaimed speaker and author of the book “The New Jim
Crow” as she kicks-off the “FairChance Coalition” campaign.
Ms. Alexander will speak on employment and other
consequences of a criminal conviction and how barriers to
employment for individuals hurt our communities, families,
and taxpayers. Funding for this advocacy event is from
the Self-Development of People, Presbyterian Church;
Michigan Legislative Black Caucus; Cooley Law School;
Marygrove Social Justice Program and American Friends.
This event is free and open to the public!
NWI Hosts Diabetes Workshop — January 5, 2012
Your Outreach staff is planning a series of health-related
workshops, to be kicked off by a workshop providing Tips for
Managing Diabetes in the New Year, 6-8 pm, Thursday,
January 5th at NorthWest Initiative. This timely workshop will
be led by medical professionals. Refreshments will be
provided and there is ample parking available. Please
contact us at 517-999-2894 to register or email
jonathon@nwlansing.org.
Show Me the Money Day
January 28, 2012
The Asset Independence Coalition is
hosting the “Show Me the Money Day”
on Saturday, January 28, 2012 from
10am - 4pm at the Capital Area
District Library. The event will feature
informational workshop covering a
variety of topics, such as starting your
also be booths featuring community resources to assist low
to moderate income individuals, including free giveaways
and food. For more information, contact Amber at aic.
midmichigan@gmail.com.
Do You Need Health Coverage, Emergency Food, Adult
Dental Care, or Other Assistance?
The NorthWest Initiative’s Outreach Program is here to help
you sign up for a variety of programs and services to assist
you and your family. We can help you sign up for the Ingham
Health Plan, MIChild, Healthy Kids, Plan First, Medicaid, food
stamps, SafeLink cell phones, and much more.
We also offer additional services for those who are returning
to Ingham County from a correctional facility (non-MPRI).
Visit our Outreach Program at 530 W. Ionia St., Suite D,
Lansing, MI 48933 (Monday-Friday—10am-3pm), or call our
ARRO Program at 517-999-2894 to schedule an
appointment.
Ingham County’s Adult Dental Clinic is open for income
eligible residents, call 517-887-4423 or 517-887-4609 to
schedule an appointment.
Buy a T-Shirt to Support School Gardens!
The Food Systems Project coordinates
four school gardens and nutrition education
classes with 1,100 students every month.
FSP also manages three community
gardens; providing fresh and free produce
for 45 families in northwest Lansing.
FSP also brought you the Westside
Farmers’ Market, a free exercise program, and weekly food
samplings at a variety of events. All in all; our programs
assisted over 6,000 individuals and provided 4,000 pounds
of produce for our community.
- This year, WE NEED YOUR
HELP! The Michigan Nutrition
Network supports staff and
programming; but doesn’t
cover the cost of gardening
supplies or AmeriCorps
members. FSP needs to raise
$3,500 to continue
programming in 2012. FSP has
created a Food Systems Project
t-shirt at a $5 cost and are
selling them for $20 a shirt. To
reach our $3,500 goal, we must
sell 233 t-shirts.
- We are taking orders for FSP T-
shirts from December-February
will be green. Please send payment to 530 W. Ionia St.,
Suite D, Lansing, 48933 to secure your shirt order; designate
number of shirts and shirt size (S,M,L,XL). Checks may be
made out to NorthWest Initiative with Food Systems Project
donation written in the memo line. All questions may be
directed to Joy Baldwin, Project Coordinator at 999-2894.
Join Us at the Monthly Celebrate Your Health!
It’s a new year and you know what that means… a new YOU!!
If you’re like the rest of us, you’re relieved the holidays are
over and you’re ready to start anew!
Being that you've decided on a New Year’s resolution, you’re
probably ready to make some changes and get healthier! If
this is the case, I've got the perfect idea for you! You should
join us at Celebrate Your Health Club AND for our monthly
fitness event!
New for 2012, we are moving our Celebrate Your Health Club
meetings to the 4th Saturday of the month, 9:30 – 11:00am
and now men are invited to attend! We host informative
speakers on relevant health issues affecting men and
woman, and provide a delicious breakfast! We will be
choosing one fitness event that we all can benefit from!! And
generally, it's FREE or low cost!
If you would like more information on any of these events or if
you are interested in speaking at or hosting an event, please
contact Stephanie at lansingneighbors@gmail.com. Hope to
see you soon!
"ARRO" Thinking outside the box ~
Eliminating the barriers that bind us
Click the links below to hear Dr. Alexander widely acclaimed
speaker and author of the book “The New Jim Crow” as she
kicks-off the “Fair Chance Coalition” campaign. Ms.
Alexander speaks on employment and other consequences
of a criminal conviction and how barriers to employment for
individuals hurt our communities, families, and taxpayers.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NO6-xQSggw
www.yesmagazine.org/peace-justice/mass-incarceration-in-
the-age-of-colorblindness
Click here to watch another video about ARRO straight from
the board!
Seeking Garden Input From Neighbors With Disabilities
In 2011 the Garden Project of the Greater Lansing Food Bank
received a grant from the Michigan Disability Rights
Coalition/Michigan Developmental Disability Council entitled
Including Our Neighbors (ION). The aim of the program is to
install easily accessible community garden beds or facilitate
other improvements to make community gardens more
accessible for disabled gardeners.
The Project brings together local community partners in an
Advisory Committee to coordinate and administer the grant.
We would like your assistance in distributing and collecting
surveys to help us learn about the needs of people with
disabilities and their involvement in community gardens and
other activities. We are also interested in learning about
ways you or your organization may like to be involved in this
project. Any questions or comments can be submitted to
Anne Rauscher at the Garden Project by phone (517) 853-
7809 or anne@thegreaterlansingfoodbank.
The Michigan Fair Chance Coalition
ARRO has diligently been working over the past few months
on our advocating program funded by the SDOP. We have
formed the Michigan Fair Chance Coalition to Ban the Box.
OUR MISSION: The Fair Chance Coalition is a group of
individuals and organizations working to reduce barriers to
employment based on an individual’s prior conviction record.
We want to “ban the box” on employment applications that
ask questions like: Have you ever been convicted of a crime
(felony or misdemeanor)? Passing legislation will help
taxpayers, communities and families by giving individuals
with past convictions a chance to become self-supporting.
Communities are safer and stronger when individuals with
prior convictions are able to find jobs, housing and be able to
support their families. If you would like to join us in our
efforts contact Monica or Karen at 517-999-2895 or e-mail
bantheboxin2012@gmail.com.
Donations are kindly welcomed. Checks should be made
out to Northwest Initiative and mailed to: 530 W. Ionia
Street, Suite D, Lansing, MI 48933, please put ARRO in the
memo line.
Help Support the Programs of NorthWest Initiative
As we near the end of 2011, have you considered making a
tax-deductible donation to NorthWest Initiative? We are
always in need of unrestricted funds to purchase needed
items that our grants do not cover, such as garden tools,
seeds, clear plastic bags and food preparation gloves for our
weekly free bread and food distribution, food for the children’
s weekend survival backpack program, signs and marketing
for the Westside Farmer’s Market, Grand Happenings bi-
monthly newsletter, used furniture and office equipment. All
donations help to support the ongoing programs and
services of the organization. No amounts are too small and
we certainly welcome larger donations too! Make checks
payable to NorthWest Initiative and mail to 530 W. Ionia St.,
Suite D, Lansing, MI 48933. We thank you for your support of
our organization!
News from the NWI Team!
We would like to welcome new members to NorthWest
Initiative’s fabulous team! Laura Sager has recently joined
us as our new Outreach Manager. Laura brings a wealth of
experience to NorthWest Initiative and we look forward to
gleaning as much of her skills as possible, and seeing
great improvements to our Outreach Program!
Jonathon Bailey has been selected as our Outreach
Assistant and comes with almost a year of experience
working with other NWI programs and he did a superlative
job coordinating our 2011 tax site!
Finally, James Gardin has joined as our new Youth
Coordinator. We welcome his experience and passion for
the arts and music and the positive vibes that he will bring to
the youth program!
We would like to say good-bye to Maria Zavala who served
as our Outreach Manager for the past five years. Maria was
offered a new position working with migrant families in
southwest Michigan and we wish her the best of luck!
We would also like to say good-bye to Ramona Spencer,
Jacqueline Milton, and James Ramos. Ramona was our
Garden Coordinator and we will truly miss her wonderful
garden skills. Jacqui worked as an Outreach Worker and we
will definitely miss her lovely personality and database skills!
Finally, Jim was our AmeriCorps Food Access Specialist who
did a phenomenal job of increasing by over 500% the
amount of food secured and distributed by NWI to low
income families in our community.
Finally, we offer a warm welcome to our new students interns
– Emily Heaton, Dariusz Lewandowski, Robert McGowan,
Brooke Nugent, and Nicole Pierce from Lansing Community
College’s Human Service Practicum Program. All of the LCC
students are working with our Food Systems Development
Project, except Dariusz is working with Outreach. Natalie
Kyles also joined us from MSU School of Social Work and
she’s working with our Youth Program.
| Share your Ideas Are you interested in what this community is doing to improve the area and want to help the people living and working in the Northwest Lansing area? Spare some time for a good cause, come and share some of your ideas with us! Our agency is fuelled by the support and ideas of prominent community leaders like you! (Contact info below) |
| Donate It feels good to give and it helps your community. Every effort is appreciated and together we can make a difference and have fun while doing it! You can even specify which programs you would like to fund! (Contact info below) |
| Volunteer We are always looking for volunteers to work in our office, school gardens, and to help with projects like flower planters, events, advocacy and more! Giving your time for a good cause is a rewarding experience! (Contact info below) |
| Intern We are always looking for student interns to work in a wide variety of settings, with skills ranging from human services and social work to computer technology. NWI is a great place to gain some experience and to begin your career! (Contact info below) |
| Contact Us! If you would like to learn more about becoming a partner, sponsor, volunteer or intern; contact Peggy at 517-999-2894; peggy@nwlansing.org |
After School Garden Club 3:45-4:45 @ Riddle, MMLA, Willow & Cavanaugh schools from October-June. Call Joy to enroll (517) 999-2894 NAMI Support Group (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Thursdays; 7 - 8:30 pm 530 W. Ionia St., 48933 NWI Youth Programs Saturdays; 9 am-12:00pm Grace Lutheran Church Celebrate Your Health Club 3rd Saturday of the month 9:30 – 11:00am Trinity Lutheran Church (501 W. Saginaw) Corner of Chestnut & Saginaw in Lansing For more information on any of the above programs, call Peggy @ 999-2894 |
| Food Resources |
| Weekly Programs |
School Garden-Based Nutrition Education Documentary CLICK HERE to watch the Food Systems Project documentary on our School Garden-Based Nutrition Education Program! |
| Lets Garden Lansing! A group of community partners have come together to provide a calendar listing of gardening education events and workshops throughout the Lansing area. For more information, visit www.letsgardenlansing.org . Stay Connected with Nixle! The City of Lansing has launched a new Community Information Service designed to deliver important and timely information to residents in our area using the latest technology. Stay connected to your community, from the public safety and traffic alerts that are relevant to you, to the important neighborhood advisories you want to know about, as well as, other valuable community information. Register now and learn more at www.nixle.com |
