ENCORE EDITOR'S NOTE
From the Editor
It’s a new year so it’s fitting that this issue be about new things. Despite the
dampening effect that Covid-19 has had on everything, we’ve found some great stories about people who are pushing forward with new ideas and innovations. This month’s cover feature on the Kalamazoo Nonprofit Advocacy Coalition is one of those stories. KNAC is an organization that is taking the First Baptist Church in downtown Kalamazoo, which had faced closure because of the congregation's declining numbers, and turning it into a community asset. This sprawling structure, with 22,000 square feet of space, offers below-market rental space for nonprofits, artists, performing arts groups and organizations and individuals committed to improving the community. It’s an innovative way to not only help keep one of the community’s oldest congregations alive, but provide support to a lot of other organizations and individuals as well. And at a time when we’ve seen the loss of several local craft breweries, writer John Liberty tells us about three new craft breweries in the works, including Murray Street Brewing Co., the first such brewery to open in Mattawan and which has taken six years to come to fruition. Read his article and find out what else is brewing in this local industry. Our Back Story introduces us to Victor Ledbetter, director of the Law Enforcement Training Center at Kalamazoo Valley Community College, who has innovated how future cops are being trained by implementing a week-long diversity training program in the center’s police academy. In addition, we meet Adam Sterenberg, the founder of Tree of Life, a private Christian school in the Edison neighborhood that opened in 2010. The school provides a different educational option for families in one of the county’s largest and most diverse neighborhoods. Here’s to hoping you enjoy this issue and that your January brings something positive and new to you as well, whether it is adventures, perspectives or knowledge.
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From left to right: Michael D. Holmes, William B. Millard, Morgan L. Rogalke, Michele C. Marquardt, Charles S. Ofstein, Tyler J. Stewart
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