LOCAL AND REGIONAL IMPACTS
There was a saying at Kalamazoo College before the establishment of the ACSJL that the College lived in its own bubble. This notion of the K bubble as exclusionary also existed in the broader region, especially for low-income and BIPOC communities. The ACSJL changed that by providing an open and no-cost space for the entire community to congregate, organize, and build relationships.
In fact, almost all of our 45 programs a year were open to all, which led to a sense of belonging for all. It was truly amazing to see a student and an elderly woman from the community work together in a breakout session; with both strategizing across generations and possibly race and class. We also collaborated over time with at least fifty local and regional organizations, institutions, tribes, and clans, who participated in our programs and projects and we in theirs.
Our signature local program was our regional fellows program. Executive Director, Mia Henry provided mentorship and resources to 16 regional fellows, whose work made a huge impact in the region in health equity, indigenous rights, and the struggle against racism. For instance, after years of struggle over a racist fountain in the central park (Bronson Park) of Kalamazoo city, our regional fellows and others successfully led a campaign to have it removed. Similarly, after years of struggle over the demeaning name of a regional high school team and mascot, the name was finally dropped; this was due in part to the campaign work of our fellows and the ACSJL. (Please see Health Equity and Racial Justice Pages for more Regional Impacts.)
Finally, the ACSJL became so well known in the region, that we became a site for key regional events. See below a quote from a resident from Rwanda, and our hosting of a well-known regional National Public Radio (NPR) show.
“Thank you for your collaboration over the years. The KIA has enjoyed a long partnership with the ACSJL and Kalamazoo College, with shared audiences and many common goals. I appreciate the Arcus Center's leadership in prioritizing the arts as an important communicative and educational tool for engaging the public in advancing social justice work at all levels.”
— Belinda Tate, Executive Director of the Kalamazoo Institute of Art
“Working at the Arcus Center over 5 years exposed me to a global community and helped me to develop a global perspective on issues of justice and human rights. The skills and learnings I gained in different roles there put me on a career trajectory committed to social change. “
— Sholanna Lewis, Director, Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation at the Kalamazoo Community Foundation, former ACSJL Administrative Assistant.
“As a native of Kalamazoo, it became one of very few spaces in the community that I felt safe, welcomed and free to show up as my full self. As a young Executive Director of BACC, it was like a blank canvas that I was able to use to curate many important community events. It’s was accessible and that’s important. I built connections, broadened my network and gained life long friends from my experiences at ACSJL. All of this has contributed greatly to me and my work today as an artist and community leader. I’m grateful for ACSJL.”
— Yolonda Lavender, Grant Program Manager at Stryker Johnson Foundation, former ED of the Black Arts Cultural Center, Kalamazoo.
State Rep. Brandt Iden ’05 presented an official welcome resolution to the 2015 Global Prize for Transformative Leadership finalists.
Sixteen Regional Fellows were selected during the first 10 years of the ACSJL. These fellowships were impactful on each of them, their organizations, the College, and the region.
“I am so grateful to have been connected with the Arcus Center during the time I lived in Kalamazoo from the center's inception until I moved home to Northern Michigan in 2019. I was honored to have won the Regional Prize for Social Justice Leadership in 2013 for my organizing work with the Welcoming Michigan campaign of the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center. I was also a Joint Fellow along with Kama Tai Mitchell in 2016 during which we co-created a healing justice workshop for movement leaders called, Movement for the Movement. Through these experiences, I was able to meet movement luminaries like Patrisse Cullors and Angela Davis, and receive invaluable mentorship and leadership coaching from Dr. Jaime Grant, Dr. Lisa Brock, and Mia Henry. Over the years, I attended numerous powerful and transformative social justice events and programs, growing my own capacity around anti-oppressive leadership skills. I also spent time at the center connecting with brilliant organizers and thought leaders from campus, the greater Kalamazoo community, and around the country and world. My Arcus connections were so vital to my sense of belonging and connection while I lived and worked in Kalamazoo as an antiracist white racialized Jewish queer non-binary justice leader and politicized healer. The relationships and experiences I had at Arcus have powerfully impacted and shaped who I am today and for that, I am so grateful.“
— Elisheva Wolff, K’04, Regional Fellow, 2016-2017
“Arcus provided expert guidance and training that provided me the skills and confidence to carry out many successful social justice initiatives.”
— Julie Dye, Vice-Chair of the Pokagon Band Elders Council, Regional Fellow, 2017-2018
The ACSJL collaborated with many regional organizations, artists, and activists over the 10 years.
Worldview, National Public Radio/WBEZ Chicago Radio Show at the ACSJL, July 2019.
The producers of Worldview contacted the ACSJL about doing a live show in our building because they had heard of our social justice reputation. They were taking their show on the road and were interested in Indigenous issues, education, and water rights concerns in Michigan. Here, host Jerome McDonnell, interviews Von Washington, Executive Director of Community Relations for the Kalamazoo Promise, Julie Dye, an ACSJL Regional Fellow, Jax Gardner, then Associate Executive Director of the ACSJL, among others. The show ended its 25-year daily radio show in October 2019.
Independent Filmmaker, Pamela Sporn, brought celebrated Detroit-centered film to Kalamazoo
“In February 2019 I was invited to show my film Detroit 48202: Conversations Along a Postal Route in Kalamazoo by the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College for a Black History Month program. The fact that the Arcus Center collaborated with the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts and the Black Arts and Cultural Center made the program very dynamic. The overflow audience in the KIA auditorium was a wonderful mix of constituencies: students and faculty from Kalamazoo College, multiracial and multigenerational patrons of the museum, and BACC. The discussion was vibrant, particularly because there were quite a number of former Detroit residents in the audience and the issues of deindustrialization, structural racism, and grassroots movements portrayed in my film resonated in the Kalamazoo context.
Over the dinner we shared after the screening I got to hear how the stories told in the film connected with the lives of students and others in Kalamazoo. During my visit, I also had the opportunity to see the strides made by KIA to make their stunning collection more inclusive and I was treated to a mini-tour of Kalamazoo’s cultural scene by a member of the Black Arts and Cultural Center. The screening and cultural exchange were gratifying for this filmmaker/presenter as I think it was for the audience.
— Pamela Sporn, Filmmaker/Educator, Director of Grito Productions
ACSJL hosted the commemoration of the Rwandan genocide for four years.
“As we celebrate 10 years of Arcus Center, I would like to share few lines on how this center has impacted my fellow genocide survivors living in West Michigan and me. Since 2016, the center has given us a space to mourn and remember our people in all dignity they deserve. The Arcus Center really does what they preach. We were new in the Kalamazoo area, and so was our cause. Before we start holding our event at the Arcus Center, a few people in Kalamazoo barely knew where Rwanda is located on the world's map, leave alone the genocide that took place in that country more than two decades ago. But when we approached the Arcus Center, they welcomed us with open arms. They generously offered to host our annual commemoration event in which we remember the one million Lives we lost in the last genocide of the 20th century. Thanks to the Arcus Center, we felt valued, and our identity recognized despite nearly 10,000 miles that separate our home country from Michigan. The generous support of Arcus Center has enabled us to educate our local community in Kalamazoo on how systematic discrimination, hatred, bigotry, and other forms of extremism can result in far threatening dangers such as the genocide of Tutsi In Rwanda.”
— Albert Gaske
Cities in Revolt, September 2014 With/Out - ¿Borders? Conference.
This plenary was led by Rhonda Williams from Cleveland, shae howell from Detroit, and David Stovall from Chicago addressing the uprisings sparked by regional police shootings and the Ferguson police murder of Mike Brown. Shae Howell (center) is a Global Advisory Board member.
"The Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership provided countless opportunities to make new friends and reconnect with old friends committed to social justice scholarship, research, and creative expression. We were Intellectuals, scholars, students, artists, filmmakers, activists, community people ... everybody had radical learning and liberation on their minds!"
— Rhonda Y. Williams, Professor and John L. Seigenthaler Chair in American History, Vanderbilt University; Founder and Inaugural Director, Social Justice Institute, Case Western Reserve University
adrienne maree brown at the ACSJL
adrienne maree brown, a Detroit-based author of Octavia’s Brood, and Emergent Strategy led a workshop at the ACSJL. Now nationally and internationally known, brown credits the ACSJL with being a part of her journey.
“adrienne described the connection between (harmful) power and nonprofit funding in a way that really clarified the issue for me. Speaker, adrienne, is a coherent, inspiring, wise individual who taught me many things. I've been craving strategy for change—appreciate the clarity in love, soul, soft edges, authenticity, and change. This offered a whole new way of thinking about issues that is very refreshing and enlightening to me. This offered some very interesting outlooks on change and how to improve our relationships to it. We are in a very tense political climate. The relevant issue now being how to organize (social justice) and what is the structure/organization that's happening now. I learned there are more people for justice than I thought. adrienne is brilliant and so down to earth—the way she grounds her understanding is accessible and helpful”
“The connection between transformative justice and resilience has changed the way I engage my practice as a teacher tonight. I needed this, our community needed this. Learn to start small. I think it gave me some new tools that could help increase my effectiveness. Speaking to others about strengths/weaknesses was helpful. Emergent Strategy is slept on. Book references a framework to think about the social justice movements. I am able to be a more effective parenting advocate”
What People are Saying
“We need to hear from people with a larger perspective on what is causing, and perpetuating, issues that hurt us all. We need action plans. I believe ACSJL gives Kalamazoo both.”
“The programs there have helped me to understand even more racial inequity, especially for native peoples. I have been more involved in Michigan United's work on racism due to this, also have worked with a Syrian refugee family for the last 3 years. It helps me feel supported and know that these things are needed in our community.”
“Changed me profoundly. The Center is a critical piece for supporting change in Kalamazoo and beyond.”
“The project planner was essential to the visioning and implementation of the project! It should be included and used every year! Our project planning would not have been as successful or clear if we did not have this tool. I plan to use this tool for every project going forward.”
“Yes…project funds, and available space were great benefits for the fellowship. The paid stipend was huge as I am broke and it helped me pay some bills/sustain myself. The project funds are also greatly appreciated, This was a major highlight of the fellowship for me, Thanks!”
“There's nothing else like it in Kalamazoo! And it's free to everyone, which is vital in a City where the majority of residents are in poverty.”
“The coaching sessions with the ACSJL Executive Director provided great direction at critical times. 1. Provided professional perspective and suggestions that weren't considered." 2. At the beginning of my project, I had a difficult time dissecting what I truly wanted to do in my time with the fellowship. With the mentoring sessions, I was able to focus on the work I wanted to do. 3. These sessions were very important to our project's development and our personal development. They are an essential component of the Fellowship experience.”
— Regional Fellow
“Radical childrens book hour reminded me that I need to seek out books that go against mainstream socialization and that they DO exist”
“There is a lot of disparity in Kalamazoo, across many standards, so having a dedicated social justice center is extremely important.”
“It has helped me make connections, learn new information, see old information in new light, and remind me what is important both personally and professionally.It brings people together to talk about important things, make connections with each other, and learn how to work together to make social change.
“Absolutely, the resources and additional benefits awarded, I felt were incredible. Having funds to feed my people when we met, and always having a space to meet up was beyond helpful for my project. Honestly, I felt like the stipend was an added bonus! This was my first time being awarded a fellowship, so I felt it was more than adequate.”
“Every community needs a space like this. For an outlet for marginalized people and as an educational tool for white folks like me!”
“There aren't very many spaces in this community with this specific focus. There are many other community organizations that help people - Outfront, Loaves & Fishes, etc., but none that have a lens of educating the community on the ways that oppression works and the ways we can come together to combat them. While other community organizations offer support, this is the only one that I see attempting to create a far-reaching Kalamazoo community that completely understands it's capacity for resistance and change.”
“An amazing community resource. The fact that the Center exists (the physical space) is a constant reminder of the importance of social justice leadership. The people of the Center and the place itself are/is very welcoming and friendly.”
“I’m retired. I like receiving e-mails that offer information about ACSJL happenings and allow me to choose programs in which to engage. Most amazing is the inclusion and to be on site at the Arcus Center. So appreciated.”
“The project planner was definitely helpful in starting to propel my ideas into the shape I wanted to give my project. The project definitely changed with time, but having a foundation on it was very helpful.”