The Wege Foundation presents its 25th Annual Speaker on May 26, 2022. This year’s lecturer will be Dr. Beverly Wright, award-winning environmental justice scholar, advocate, author, civic leader and professor. She is the founder and executive director of the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice in New Orleans.
As a child growing up in southern Louisiana, Dr. Wright’s understanding of environmentally compromised communities was close to home. She lived along the highly polluted 85-mile stretch of land between Baton Rouge and New Orleans known as ”cancer alley.” These childhood experiences shaped her eventual career choices in research and activism.
As food justice activists across the nation begin to look at root causes of hunger and under-nutrition, they are beginning to address the injustices in the food system that make food charity a necessity. Access of West Michigan has been on the leading edge of this movement, as is reflected in the name they’ve given their annual fund-raising walk, The Walk for Good Food.
Please support the Walk for Good Food! The Southeast Area Farmers’ Market is one of the recipients of Walk funds — and OKT manages the market! Open from the first Saturday in July to the second Saturday in November at Grand Rapids’ Martin Luther King Jr. Park, our market ‘s vendors are primarily women of color from Grand Rapids’ Southeast neighborhoods. Most of our sales are completed with food assistance dollars. Because the market takes part in the Double Up Food Bucks program, our patrons using SNAP benefits can purchase twice as much fresh, local produce. This means that our neighbors with income challenges can feed their households even more nutritious food –even though they live in neighborhoods that otherwise have very limited access to healthy foods.
On Saturday, April 16 from 10:00 am – 2:00 pm, Friends of Grand Rapids Parks invites neighbors to meet at Gerald R. Ford Middle School to clean up trash and prune trees as part of its Mayor’s Greening Initiative the Southtown neighborhood! The first 30 people to registere here will receive a free lunch.
Friends of Grand Rapids Parks is committed to engaging our community in the betterment of our city’s parks, trees, and green spaces through volunteerism, park activation, philanthropy and urban forestry. Learn more about them here.
Click on this Democracy Now! link to watch the video interview and read the transcript.
Hear how two best friends led a drive to organize workers at Amazon’s warehouse in Staten Island, New York, and made history Friday after a majority voted to form the first Amazon union in the U.S.
“I think we proved that it’s possible, no matter what industry you work in, what corporation you work for,” says Christian Smalls, interim president of the new union and former Amazon supervisor. “We just unionized Amazon. If we can do that, we can unionize anywhere.”
Reporter Josefa Velásquez covered the union drive for The City and discusses what the victory means for the broader labor movement.
On May 1 – May 11, you can walk in your neighborhood as part of Team OKT on the 45th Annual Walk for Good Food. Please join us as we work to transform our food system. By walking or donating, you will raise funds that directly support the Southeast Area Farmers Market and help create a Good Food System for everyone in our community.
May 1: In-Person Kick Off at Briggs ParkThis year’s event will include an optional in-person kick-off event at Briggs Park (324 Knapp St NE, 49505) from 2 to 4pm. The event will include t-shirt pick up, light refreshments, routes for walking, and children’s activities. Stay tuned as more details will be shared in the days to come.
May 1-11: Walk in your Neighborhood Over the past two years we’ve found that many loved engaging in the Walk by gathering in their own community or walking on their own. So, we have started a new tradition! When you join Team OKT, you not have to attend the in-person event to participate. SIGN UP TODAY! Visit the Walk website to learn more about the event or click below to get started.
Join Our Kitchen Table cooking coaches and guest Chefs Ederique Goudia and Jermond Booze for a cooking demo and conversation on you can make easy, healthy, affordable meals for your family. On Facebook LIVE!
The City of Grand Rapids Office of Oversight and Public Accountability is seeking attorney volunteers to assist with its Free Expungement Event on April 2. As more than 400 community members have registered in hopes of obtaining an expungement, OPA is seeking assistance from lawyers across the State of Michigan to help during the event to address the overwhelming response.
The expungement event takes place between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. at the Grand Rapids Center for Community Transformation, 1530 Madison Ave SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49507.
The Expungement Clinic will welcome and work with whomever arrives before 4 p.m. Attorneys are welcomed to work shorter shifts based on their availability. The volunteer form has three shift options:
Morning Shift (8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.)
Afternoon Shift (12:30 to 5 p.m.)
All Day Shift (8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.)
Any attorney can volunteer, regardless of practice area.
“Any amount of time that one can give to this effort would be greatly appreciated,” Davis said. “We thank those who have stepped up or are considering volunteering for helping us to change the lives of the members of our community.”
OPA will be offering a one-hour virtual training session at 3 p.m. Friday, April 1 to provide attorney volunteers with the information needed to assist community members. Training is not required, but it is available for those who desire to attend. OPA can make other arrangements to provide volunteers with the necessary information if they cannot attend training. Attorney volunteers will review both Certified Records of Conviction, and ICHATS. Attorneys will also assist participants with completing SCAO approved expungement forms. Attorneys will not be expected to represent participants in court or in any other representative capacity.
Those who have questions about the event and their role as a volunteer can contact Davis at (616) 456-4OPA or via email at bddavis@grand-rapids.mi.us.
Two GVSU graduate students are helping OKT hone its marketing plan this spring. They have created a survey to help us improve the Southeast Area Farmers Market. Your feedback is requested! Please scan and complete this survey for OKT. Or take the survey here: https://bit.ly/OKTMarket
Meet OKT’s new guest chef, Chef Jermond Booze at our Educate to ELevate Virtual Cook, Eat & Talk, 3 p.m. Saturday April 2! We are honored to have him as part of the 2022 E2E team!
A native of Little Rock Arkansas, Chef Jermond has worked in more than a dozen restaurants in several positions. Next September, his pizza restaurant will open in the new Allied Media headquarters in Detroit’s Love Building. He also works as a grocery and retail consultant with his latest project, Seasons Market & Cafe, which recently opened in Midtown Detroit. He also serves as a classroom facilitator for the Detroit Food Academy, teaching middle and high school students basic culinary art skills. Lastly, Jermond is one of three the founders of Taste the Diaspora Detroit.
Chef Jermond moved to Michigan to attend Eastern Michigan University where he majored African American Studies. He received an associate’s degree in Culinary Arts from Johnson & Whales University. His hobbies include fishing, cooking of course and spending time with friends and family.
Our Kitchen Table 