Category: Analysis
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Bees making sweet honey on Flint’s East Side
By Patsy Isenberg Flint’s East Side may be a tattered symbol to some human eyes of the city’s struggles. But it turns out honeybees like it just fine. The wildflowers sprouting up in abandoned lots and brownfields may be the secret ingredient that makes city honey sweet – better even than rural honey, according to…
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Dorothy’s House of Coffee a welcoming spot for coffee, conversation and faith
by Luther Houle More than a dozen students met at Dorothy’s House of Coffee, 503 East St., for holiday feasts between Thanksgiving and Christmas. They were hosted by the Catholic Community of Flint, a coalition of the city’s four Catholic churches, to gather people together and foster community. Visitors coming in from the cold found…
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Flint Community Schools board paves way for active new year amid uncertainty and change
by Harold C. Ford Amid uncertainty and change as the Flint Community Schools (FCS) move into the 2019 calendar year, a host of initiatives, actions, and accomplishments were announced as part of a packed agenda at the regular meeting of the FCS board of education Dec. 19. Among them were securing $3.2 million in project…
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Jacky King laid to rest: Flint loses a genuine hero
by Harold C. Ford “Get out there and make a damn difference.” –Jacky King, Dec. 2017, STAND Magazine The greater Flint area, the Beecher community in particular, lost a genuine hero on Dec. 13, 2018 with the passing of Jacky King. King, 65, succumbed to a year-long battle with brain cancer. Community activist, entrepreneur, Hall…
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Commentary: Should the Lame Duck be a dead duck?
By Paul Rozycki In the past, the so-called “lame duck” session was a time when the state legislature met in the last weeks of the year, before the newly elected members took office. They took care of relatively modest issues, final adjustments to the budget and other end-of-the-year issues. However, in recent years the lame…
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Miracle on One Hurley Plaza Street: Children’s Hospital wins $70,000 in online vote
By Darlene Carey In a late night rally of community support Tuesday, Hurley Children’s Hospital, based out of Flint, Bay City and Saginaw, edged out the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital of Grand Rapids for the top prize of $50,000 in the Vote for Miracles Contest. Along with the votes of everyday citizens in the international…
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New Ruth Mott Foundation grants target North End youth, vacant lots, grocery store, arts
By Jan Worth-Nelson A varied group of 17 grants aiming to nurture youth arts, clean up vacant lots, create a grocery store, support community news and bolster resource hubs in the North End of Flint was announced today by the Ruth Mott Foundation. The grants, totaling $1.4 million and ranging from $267,400 for a Genesee…
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Village Life: 85 tubas and a corny sing-a-long one secret to holiday cheer
By Jan Worth-Nelson Let’s face it–you can’t not smile when singing “Jingle Bells” with 85 tubas as your back-up group. I love Tuba Christmas, in all its kitschy Baby Jesus/Virgin Mary/Hark the Heralds/Deck the Halls tradition, staged every mid-December in the atrium of the Flint Farmers’ Market. The gaudy brass of the sensually fat horns…
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Ingrid Halling, the late Wade Pyles named Sybyl Award recipients in “sunset” celebration of ten-year memorial
By Jan Worth-Nelson Longtime civic activist Ingrid Halling, a retired librarian and indefatigable anchor of the Central Park Neighborhood Association; and the late Wade Pyles, a Fenton-area Realtor and committed community advocate who died in September, were named the final recipients of the Sybyl Award Dec. 6 in a ceremony at Factory One. Paul Jordan,…
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Discipline problems take center stage as Flint Schools, community face ACLU lawsuit, state pressure
By Harold C. Ford This piece has been updated to add information about a Partnership Agreement with the State of Michigan triggered by the district landing in the bottom five percent of state schools and thus falling into the category of “chronically failing schools.” Implementing strategies to address discipline issues in the schools is central…
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