Community enCompass Celebrates Legacy in Transition of Programs to Trusted Partners

After nearly three decades of service rooted in love, justice, and neighborhood renewal, Community enCompass (CenC) announces the organization’s closure and the thoughtful transition of its core programs to respected community partners. These transitions mark not an ending, but a continuation of CenC's vision to empower neighbors & build community for a taste of SHALOM in Muskegon.

Community enCompass was formed in 2008 with the merger of Bethany Housing Ministries (started by Bethany Church) and Sacred Suds (begun by St. Paul’s Episcopal Church). Through the leadership of Sarah Rinsema-Sybenga into 2021, the organization catalyzed community-driven change in Muskegon’s core neighborhoods, adding their Youth Empowerment Program (YEP) and McLaughlin Grows Urban Farm with neighborhood input and gifts. Through housing, youth development, food justice, and neighborhood engagement, CenC sought to create a more equitable, connected, and flourishing city.

ICCF Community Homes has assumed stewardship of CenC’s 25 homes in the Nelson and McLaughlin neighborhoods, ensuring these homes remain safe, stable, and affordable for generations to come. Supported by a $75,000 grant from the Community Foundation for Muskegon County, this transition protects the legacy of Bethany Housing and the many neighbors who built housing justice in Muskegon from the ground up.

“This transition is about more than housing,” said Kimberly Leavell, Executive Director of Community enCompass. “It’s about preserving the strength and stability of our neighborhoods. ICCF shares our commitment to affordable, community-centered housing, and we’re confident they will continue this work with the care and integrity it deserves.”

Other program transitions include the transfer of Sacred Suds, a neighborhood hygiene and gathering space, to the COGIC Community Center, where it continues to offer a safe space for community connection, basic needs, and dignity. Meanwhile, the McLaughlin Grows Urban Farm, which has provided fresh food, green space, and job training for local youth, has become a program of Trinity Health, supporting their mission of holistic health and community well-being. And with longtime partner Bethany Church, the YEP teens just finished several weeks of CATCH Camp, where they served as leaders for a summer day camp in their neighborhood.

An additional legacy of CenC - the Community enCompass Fund of the Community Foundation for Muskegon County - is an endowment fund built over the years with gifts from individual donors as well as contributions by CenC’s board from its operating surplus. The Fund will provide annual grants to support Sacred Suds and ICCF’s affordable housing work in Muskegon. “So many community members supported Community enCompass, volunteering to rehab homes, cultivate the farm, mentor young people, and give financially” said Tara Foreman, Board Chair of CenC and pastor of Bethany Church. “Regardless of their address, they showed they were neighbors. We hope that people will continue to support the work by giving directly to the organizations running the programs, or by giving to the endowment fund to provide long-term resources.”

“We are deeply grateful for the impact and legacy of Community enCompass,” Foreman continued. “Our journey has always been rooted in the cultivation of the gifts of community; that neighbors know what their neighborhoods need. As individuals and as a community, we will continue to seekshalom—a deep and abiding peace—for our city.”The board of Community enCompass affirms its pride and confidence in these partnerships, knowing that the mission will live on through organizations that are committed to listening, investing, and walking alongside neighbors.

Glimpses OF the WORK we began….