“The Grand Rapids neighborhood summit is a daylong opportunity for residents and stakeholders to come together to get to know each other build relationships and also build awareness and skills to take back into their communities to strengthen neighborhoods and to advance equity from wherever they are and from wherever they lead.”
That is Stacy Stout – she is the assistant to the City Manager of Grand Rapids. She says this is the fifth year the city will be hosting the daylong conference. An endeavor she says that has taken a year to plan for.
“But I think what's really special this year is that we're going to do a land recognition with local Anishinaabe people and we're going to open up with Wandering Nation Anishinaabe Circle and a land recognition statement by Grand Valley’s Native American Advisory Council.”
There will be 18 workshops to choose from, and attendants can register for three of them. Childcare will also be provided for children ages zero to four.
“And then for the older youth aged five to twelve we are partnered with GRPS to provide quality and fun -- the lineup is really exciting for kids summit and they can be right on site while they're you know their guardians are participating in regular summit, and so capacity for child care is 30 and capacity for kids summit is 60. It will fill up fast. We ask that Grand Rapids residents if they need that service in order to attend that they please sign up right away.”
The Grand Rapids Neighborhood Summit will take place on Saturday, March 2ndfrom 8am-4pm at the downtown Pew Campus of Grand Valley State University. To register for the summit visit the City of Grand Rapids’ website.
Kayla Sosa, WGVU News
