WMUK News

Monica Washington Padula is a trailblazer in Kalamazoo. The multi-instrument, classically trained musician and music educator of African-American and Indigenous descent operates her own piano studio. She’s on a mission to get more children of color fired up about playing instruments.

Kama Tai Mitchell, of Kalamazoo, never set out to create a nonprofit, but says she’s proud that more than five years later her Rootead Enrichment Center devoted to doula training and the healing arts is still around. And, thanks to a $500,000 grant from the Stryker Johnston Foundation, the center is starting to explore having its own standalone building after sharing spaces.