You’ve got to have a network that you trust above yourself. We always see ourselves less than what we are, and sometimes you have to trust the voices of those around you.
enCompass Affordable Community Housing Project Moving Forward!
"I like Muskegon so much I moved here twice!" - A farewell reflection from Board Member Holly Alway
Holly Alway, Injury Prevention Coordinator at Mercy Health, has served on the Community enCompass board the last 3 years. We are so grateful for Holly’s service and will miss her professional presence, questions that make us pause, and her bend towards action.
Before she made her exit, Holly gave us one last gift: a reflection on her time on Community enCompass’ Board…
Our Reflection on Connection at the End of 2020
A Life at Home: Investing in Senior Neighbors through Home Repair
Loss and Gain: Cancelling Taste and See 2020
Food Sovereignty: Power of Choice
2019: Community enCompass by the numbers
YEP's to tour HBCU's
To raise funds, YEPs have hosted a Soul Food Fundraiser, will be collecting cans and bottles (every 10 cents counts!) throughout Feb and March, and are brainstorming other fundraising opportunities. But we also need support from neighbors like you! Would you sponsor a YEP to go on this life-changing spring break tour of Historically Black Colleges and Universities?
Homeless in Muskegon
Hear the word “homeless” and what images come to mind? An older man, dressed in rags, possibly smelling of alcohol, holding a cardboard sign that asks for money, old blankets beneath him? While this image portrays a visible element of homeless in our country, many of us know that homelessness looks quite different.
FIGHTING EVICTION
In Muskegon County, the rate of eviction is 4 times higher than the national average! In response, community leaders have come together to address this community issue, creating the Eviction Prevention Program (EPP). Started as a pilot project a year ago and supported by funding from the Community Foundation for Muskegon County, EPP gives families facing eviction the possibility of an “out”, the hope for stable housing
THE REAL-LIFE MEANING OF "FARM TO TABLE"
There is No “Them”: There’s Only “Us”
A few decades earlier the southeast corner of Terrace and Isabella had 7 homes on it, rentals and family houses, but years of neglect, white flight, and disinvestment left the homes empty abandoned and decaying. Then one day the city decided to take them all down, and there was nothing. Grass and weeds started to grow up, the trees began to fall down, and Tom was left wondering “What if?! What if we took over the lot?” Tom would often mow the lawn and pick up trash and do whatever he could to keep it as tidy as possible, but on his own couldn't get much done.
Sewing with Perry
2018 Annual Report!
When our board and staff attempt to identify the reason why Community enCompass exists, we end up with phrases like “Neighborhood Transformation,” and “SHALOM in the City.” Lofty dreams for a rag-tag team of people who are often stumbling towards good. The year-end process of digging through data always makes me wonder..... how will we know once we’ve arrived? How will we know when our neighborhoods have been transformed and we taste SHALOM?
Not just a rehab, a REDEMPTION!
“When we look at a house like this we see history, we see story, we see family, we see value and hope. We see good bones.” A house like this makes no sense to any real estate investor. It’s not a house you can flip for profit. The current real estate values in Muskegon's core city neighborhoods don’t make a house like this profitable in any way. It took close to $60,000 in materials and necessary contracted work to bring this house back to life, and that's not accounting for the countless hours of volunteer work that have been put in.
"The greatest wealth is health"
Welcome to the Christmas Store!
For many years, a group of our neighbors has sought to provide high quality, new toys, and gifts for hard-working families in the core city Muskegon neighborhoods at an affordable price. Every child sees the same commercial yet Muskegon County’s ALICE population (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, and Employed) struggle to afford basic household necessities.
A generous helping of neighborliness!
Back to School Bash!
This was my first time at the “Taste and See” Tour of our core city neighborhoods and Community enCompass. Wow: I am so very impressed with the awesome programs that Community enCompass has their hands in, rebuilding our community. Love IS what Love DOES & Community enCompass is doing much with Love. A great variety of amazing things are growing in our community as Community enCompass ministers through growth.