Born and raised in Grand Rapids, Shayla Young won a prestigious Gates Millennium scholarship just before graduating from Central High School in 2008 that paid for all of her post-secondary education. After earning a doctorate in education from Michigan State University, Young will now play a key role in a new effort by KConnect, a nonprofit that convenes cross-sector partners to address inequities where she will help build a common policy agenda that closes the “unacceptable achievement gaps for children and families of color in Kent County.” Alongside assistance from the Michigan League for Public Policy and local experts Kathleen Bruinsma and John Helmholdt, Young serves as the postdoctoral fellow who will convene community members to craft policy objectives around issues such as education, housing and family stability, to name a few. This policy agenda will then be communicated with local, state and federal lawmakers, and also help to inform KConnect’s internal and external policies around advocating for legislative issues. Young recently discussed her role in KConnect’s new policy initiative and how her background prepared her for the job.

Vista Maria, a Dearborn Heights nonprofit serving abused and neglected girls, has named a new CEO following a six-month search.

GRAND RAPIDS — The Frey Foundation has invested $500,000 in the New Community Transformation Fund, a Grand Rapids capital fund that invests in minority-owned businesses.

GRAND RAPIDS — Three Grand Rapids organizations on Thursday will air a documentary about housing insecurity with the goal of breaking down the “silos” between groups working to solve the crisis in West Michigan.

The merger last year of three United Way chapters serving mid- and Southwest Michigan into a single entity created one of the largest United Way chapters in the country and will expand local support services to more Michigan residents.

GRAND RAPIDS — The Grand Rapids Trans Foundation plans to grow its programming via new office space and a full-time, paid executive director position for the first time in the nonprofit’s seven-year history after being entirely volunteer-run.

The Children’s Healing Center, a Grand Rapids nonprofit that operates a recreation center for children with compromised immune systems, plans to open a second location in Southeast Michigan.

GRAND RAPIDS — Diana Sieger plans to retire as president of the Grand Rapids Community Foundation, the organization she helped to grow significantly over her 35-year tenure during which she became a powerful voice for Michigan’s philanthropic sector.

GRAND RAPIDS — A new community development financial institution could form in West Michigan to support Hispanic entrepreneurs.

GRAND RAPIDS — After a tumultuous year of internal dissension, as well as internal and external reviews based on allegations of executive wrongdoing, the Grand Rapids Community Media Center has regained its footing under a new leader.

After nearly two years of contending with a pandemic that brought fundraising uncertainty and growing community needs, West Michigan nonprofits spent 2022 finding new ways to serve and capturing much-needed federal relief funding.

As 2023 approaches with rising interest rates and widespread predictions of at least a mild recession, some nonprofit leaders are already seeing the effects of rising consumer prices and other economic headwinds on fundraising.

A major statewide survey of nonprofit organizations highlights significant and persistent racial gaps in the sector as roughly three-quarters of Michigan nonprofits remain white-led.

Ottawa County officials have signed off on plans to leverage $7.5 million in federal stimulus funds with nearly $25 million from the private sector to create 1,000 new child care slots in the next three years.

GRAND RAPIDS — Dozens of individuals and organizations in Grand Rapids have formed the Coalition for Community Owned Safety to educate residents on the city’s budget and explore new ways to direct city funding to address the root causes of crime. 

Since Grand Valley State University’s Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy was founded 30 years ago, the nonprofit industry has seen seismic shifts in the amount of charitable giving, nonprofits’ assets, and the overall number of nonprofit organizations.

Opera Grand Rapids, formed in 1966 to host musical productions that in prior decades had occurred through multiple local community and civic theater companies, is taking measures to help expose the arts to future and more diverse audiences.

HOLLAND TWP. — Lakeshore Habitat for Humanity will break ground this week on its first housing project aimed specifically at individuals with disabilities.

KALAMAZOO — The Kalamazoo Foundation for Excellence plans to cut spending on annual “aspirational” projects by more than half in 2023 to protect the endowment from economic headwinds and allow the city’s federal stimulus funding to potentially fill in gaps.

Ciarra Adkins formed the first Black-founded and Black-led community foundation in West Michigan with a primary goal to shift the narrative about Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) communities and philanthropy. Specifically, she wants to advance the notion that these residents are not simply “receivers” of funds, but also serve as “distributors.”

HOLLAND — Fifteen lakeshore arts organizations are part of the latest capacity-building initiative facilitated by the prestigious University of Maryland-based DeVos Institute of Arts Management (DVIAM).

FREMONT — The Gerber Foundation has a new top advocate for enhancing the quality of life of infants and young children who shares a deeply personal connection to the organization’s mission.

GRAND RAPIDS TWP. — David Hooker is retiring from his role as CEO and president of Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park after leading the organization for 16 years.

A Q&A with La June Montgomery Tabron, president and CEO of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation

BATTLE CREEK — The top executive at Kellogg Co.’s largest shareholder sees opportunity for greater growth and earnings under the Battle Creek food manufacturer’s transformation into three separate publicly traded companies.

Grand Rapids-based Guiding Light Mission Inc. has tapped a longtime Amway Corp. community relations specialist to lead the nonprofit’s fundraising and communications.

A Grand Rapids nonprofit providing independent living services received a boost last week when Kent County voters extended a senior services millage that will help the organization’s recently launched technology support program.

Arts and cultural organizations are helping to define Muskegon’s downtown resurgence as they innovate out of slumps in attendance and events caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Prince Shema arrived in Michigan from the Democratic Republic of the Congo via Ethiopia in 2013. With help from a local nonprofit organization, he completed an independent living preparation program while going to high school. 

GRAND RAPIDS — The Diatribe Inc. is acquiring another Grand Rapids-based nonprofit that shares a similar mission of empowering youth and underrepresented populations through art and creativity.

GRAND RAPIDS — A $110,000 grant will help expand the Literacy Center of West Michigan’s Family Literacy Program, which helps equip non-native English speakers whose children attend local schools with literacy and communication skills.