Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Here are events, etc. happening over the next couple of weeks on the Eastside and beyond:
1) Green Infrastructure Meeting for tomorrow (Tuesday) night CANCELED
2) Report on the Eastside Food Forum/Invitation to Join Advisory Group
3) Frost Fest on Feb. 13
4) Center for Financial Health Services
5) Youth Gardening Conference on Feb. 20
6) GardenHouse Book Club, Feb. 23
7) Michigan Good Food Summit on Feb. 25
8) Gardening Education Collaborative – Check out the calendar/poster of workshops!
9) Hawk Island Triathlon
10) At Everybody Reads in March
1) The Master Plan meeting on Green Infrastructure scheduled for Tuesday evening, February 9th at Fenner Nature Center has been canceled, due to weather concerns for tomorrow.
The City will be working on rescheduling this meeting for later in the month and will notify us of the date. The ‘Green Infrastructure” meeting is one of four ‘topical’ meetings that the City is holding to gather input from residents. Others include Economic Development (Letts Community Center on February 16), Transportation (Foster Community Center on February 18), and Land Use (Southside Community Center on Wise Road on February 23). All meetings start at 6:30 p.m. The Master Planning folks holding Meetings-in-a-Box and gathering over 1000 surveys over the past many months have noted deep interest in these topics. Make a point of attending any and all and adding your voice to the planning for Lansing’s future.
And speaking of planning…….
2) Report on the Eastside Food Forum, held January 20
Twenty-seven people were present for the Eastside Food Forum held on January 30, 2010 at the Foster Community Center. Here is a brief report on the event:
Through a facilitated process, the full group reviewed current food system assets throughout the Eastside. Five small groups then formed to hold deeper conversations discussing which assets can be enhanced, what is weak or missing, and what can be strengthened. Finally, each group finished their conversation by considering what kind of future neighborhood food system we can create. The full group reconvened to hear all points generated.
The full list of thoughtful comments can be seen on our website at www.allenneighborhoodcenter.org. Here is a brief synopsis:
Similar themes began to emerge regarding our shared desire for a walk-able community that offers equal access to a wide variety of food stuffs with a connection between existing Eastside-based resources (stores, restaurants, markets, gardens, etc.) as well as a strong connection to regional resources.
Participants noted the importance of increasing diversity of foods to match ethnic diversity of the neighborhood, and to hear and engage low income families and individuals.
It was recognized that while the Eastside can’t exclusively feed the Eastside, many existing assets are present that would enable us to increase access to a fair amount of local, healthy food. (E.g., farmers market, community and backyard gardeners, corner stores, up and coming available land for growing food, institutional partners such as the Foster Community Center, Lansing Parks and Recreation, Greater Lansing Food Bank, Allen Neighborhood Center, Sparrow Health Systems, schools and churches).
A community food space (licensed kitchen and more) was discussed in every group.
Similar public conversations will be taking place at the regional (March 25) and state level (Good Food Summit on February –see item #3 below) this quarter and an Eastside Food Advisory Committee could become an important conduit for greater food security information.
Interested in serving on an Eastside Food Advisory Committee?
While the Eastside Food Advisory Committee will function as an independent entity, the Allen Neighborhood Center is willing to extend the same support to this group as it does for any neighborhood group (meeting space, administrative support, outreach/public awareness, etc.) A number of people have already indicated interest in joining this group and there will always be room for more. If you were not able to attend this Food Forum but would like to become involved, please contact Hollie Hamel (517.999.3911) or Heather Hymes (517.999.3919) to be added to the list. A poll of convenient meeting times will be taken and the first date will be set in late February.
Buy Local. Eat Well.
3) Frost Fest
Saturday, February 13, 1-5 and 7-11 p.m., Downtown Lansing
In the 100 and 200 blocks of S. Washington Sq, you’ll find ice sculptures, a warming tent with kids’ activities and refreshments, liquid nitrogen and dry ice demonstrations by Impression 5, complimentary carriage rides, and music by Jammin’ DJ’s and 94.1 The Edge. Activities in the park (weather permitting) include snowboard rail demos by Modern Skate & Surf, Trebuchet launches at 2 p.m. & 3 p.m. by Impression 5, a snowman building area, a snowball throwing contest, and other winter related activities. The CATA Frost Fest trolley will provide rides between the two locations! Family activities are from 1-5 p.m. Later that evening (7-11 p.m.), adults 21 and older can beat the winter blues at the Michigan Brewing Company’s Frost Fest beer tent, featuring an ice bar with microbrews from MBC. Entry is $10 and includes a Frost Fest mug and one drink. There is also a “Cold Butt” euchre tournament – so named because contestants sit on blocks of ice! Euchre fees are $50 per team, which includes your entry into the beer tent, two Frost Fest mugs and one drink per team member. Cash prizes. Call (517) 487-3322 or email sara@lansingpsd.com for more details.
4) The Center for Financial Health…
…is a non-profit Housing Counseling agency with a mission to “help working families and individuals build assets through home ownership.” Our homebuyer education workshops, financial management classes, individual one-on-one housing counseling, and foreclosure prevention counseling services are HUD and MSHDA approved and open to everyone, at no charge to the client.
You can help strengthen the local community by passing along information about our services and by referring community members in need of homeownership or foreclosure prevention education and counseling to the Center for Financial Health.
Call about our monthly homebuyer education workshops. This workshop will provide clients with the knowledge and skills they need to prepare them for homeownership and successfully navigate the home buying process, especially as it relates to the current economic climate and the down payment assistance monies available to first time home owners. The most important benefit that clients receive from this workshop is time and information. This workshop will save consumers a great deal of time identifying, locating, and gathering information about the process of homeownership. It will also provide clients with a synthesis of materials in a readable and immediately usable format. Throughout this workshop clients will use real-world information to develop detailed functional knowledge of the home buying process. For more information, contact:
Kenita S. Nichols, Center For Financial Health, AmeriCorps Member, Foreclosure Intervention Support Specialist, 101 S. Washington Sq., Suite 900, Lansing, MI 48933
1.800.262.6285 ext 425, kenitan@centerforfinancialhealth.org, www.CenterForFinancialHealth.org
5) 3rd Annual Youth Garden Conference
Saturday, February 20, 9-4 pm Southside Community Center (5825 Wise Rd, Lansing).
Register now! Registration is now open for the 3rd Annual Youth Garden Conference at www.youthgardeningcoalition.org. If you are involved or would like to be involved with a youth garden, come learn about what is happening with youth gardening in the Lansing area. Gain knowledge and resources to help grow your youth garden and network with others growing school and youth gardens throughout the Lansing area. Both youth and adults are welcome.
6) Join the GardenHouse Book Club; read Food Not Lawns
For our next book, the rapidly growing GardenHouse Book Club will be reading a very explicit how-to for turning your yard into a garden and your neighborhood into a community. You can purchase Food Not Lawns by Heather C. Flores from Everybody Reads beginning later this week, and then join us on Tuesday, Feb. 23, 6:30 pm at the GardenHouse.
Here’s what amazon.com had to say:
“…A source of both information and inspiration for one of the most hopeful and exciting movements of our time.” — Michael Ableman, author of Fields Of Plenty
“For activist readers who believe activism is a political pursuit, FOOD NOT LAWNS: HOW TO TURN YOUR YARD INTO A GARDEN AND YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD INTO A COMMUNITY offers a different viewpoint, maintaining that growing food where you live is a key method of becoming a food activist in the community. Chapters advocate planting home and community gardens with an eye to drawing important connections between the politics of a home or community garden and the wider politics of usage, consumption, and sustainability. Another rarity: chapters promote small, easy changes in lifestyles to achieve a transition between personal choice and political activism at the community level, providing keys to change any reader can use.” – Bookwatch/Midwest Book Review, December 2006
For further information or to join this lively, stimulating book club, call Allison at 367-2468 or email her at allisonb@allenneighborhoodcenter.org.
7) Michigan Good Food Summit
Thursday, February 25, 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m., Lansing Center
This summit will assemble food system stakeholders from across the state to shape a plan that propels Michigan towards food production, distribution and marketing to support a thriving economy, equity, and sustainability. Good Food is about building on our assets in ways that enable Michigan communities to prosper and our residents to thrive. Focus areas include: Youth Engagement in Community Food, Healthy Food Access for Families & Communities, Farmer Viability & Development, Institutional Food Purchasing, and Food System Infrastructure. To register and for more information visit www.michiganfood.org and contact Kathryn Colasanti at colokat@msu.edu or 517-353-0642.
8 ) Garden Education Collaborative
The Greater Lansing Garden Education Collaborative (of which ANC is a member) has produced an awesome poster full of classes and hands-on workshops for gardeners of all skill levels (you may have seen them around town). Classes cover a wide variety of topics and are offered at locations throughout Lansing. Check out the calendar on www.allenneighborhoodcenter.org or at www.LetsGardenLansing.org.
9) Register now for the Hawk Island Triathlon!
This beginner-friendly multi-sport event is designed to welcome and encourage people of all ages, shapes, sizes and abilities as they venture into the world of triathlon. It’s also a great warm-up race for experienced athletes gearing up for the summer triathlon season. Not ready to TRI it? Come out and volunteer! Check it out at www.Hawk-I-Tri.com
10) At Everybody Reads in March
HerStories celebrates Women’s History Month on March 6, 13, and 20 with local storytellers and authors at 1:00pm, followed by free writing workshops at 2:30pm. March 27 at 4:00pm is the HerStories Benefit Show and Open-Mike. Everybody Reads, 2019 E. Michigan Ave., Lansing, (517) 346-9900.