The Kalamazoo Community Foundation has launched a new strategic plan for the next two years. It will focus on equity, education and engagement. The foundation's board approved the new vision in September.
Foundation President Carrie Pickett-Erway and Vice President for Community Investment Suprotik Stotz-Ghosh sat down with WMUK's Gordon Evans to discuss how they plan to implement their new strategic plan.
Pickett-Erway says feedback from focus groups was used to determine what areas should be addressed. Stotz-Ghosh says the Kalamazoo community has a good corps of non-profit groups. He says collaborative efforts will be important in addressing those issues. Stotz-Ghosh says the Learning Network of Kalamazoo is an example of many different groups that have worked together.
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The three areas, equity, education and engagement are interconnected according to Pickett-Erway. She says education is the best path to prosperity, and to address the issue of equity. But Pickett-Erway says engagement is necessary to work on any of those issues.
Asked what developments may come next, Stotz-Ghosh says it's important to ask questions, rather than just propose solutions. He says those questions should be about the structural hurdles that prevent people from having economic mobility.