News
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Community baby showers aim to support Kalamazoo parents
Four times a year, nonprofit Cradle Kalamazoo holds a free baby shower — with the goal of improving infant health outcomes through access to resources. On a chilly Saturday morning in March, the parking lot of Kalamazoo’s Urban Alliance building on Stockbridge Avenue was packed with cars. Inside, families with kids in strollers and wagons…
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Nonprofit Spotlight: LEAN on Healing with Healing on Purpose
Nonprofit name LEAN on Healing with Healing on Purpose Year formed 2025, as a fiscally sponsored project of Stara Collaborative Mission & population served LEAN on Healing with Healing on Purpose exists in response to the profound and ongoing trauma experienced within our community. Many individuals and families are directly impacted by incarceration, addiction, violence, family…
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Urban Alliance’s Terra Bautista Honored with Community Impact Award
KALAMAZOO, Mich.—Urban Alliance Executive Director Terra Bautista received the Transformation Through Opportunities Community Impact Award from Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine during its 2026 Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration on Jan. 16. The award recognizes Bautista’s leadership and lifelong commitment to creating pathways of opportunity for individuals and communities that…
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Urban Alliance Honored as Criminal Justice Advocate of the Year
KALAMAZOO, Mich.—Urban Alliance has been named the 2025 Criminal Justice Advocate of the Year by the Campaign for Criminal Justice and Transparency (CCJT), recognizing the organization’s Change of Status and IGNITE programs for their work supporting transformation, accountability, and successful reintegration for men impacted by the criminal justice system. The award was presented Saturday, Dec.…
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Checking in With: Kalamazoo Premier Chess Club
In 2021, a chess club for all ages had just relaunched in the city of Kalamazoo’s Edison neighborhood. At the time, the idea behind the Kalamazoo Premier Chess Club was simple: Use the timeless game to bring people together, offer a safe haven in the face of rising gun violence, and spark conversations about strategy, resilience, and…
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Michigan State Police to distribute Naloxone during business hours
PAW PAW, MI – In recognition of International Overdose Awareness Day that was August 31 and National Recovery Month in September, the Michigan State Police Paw Paw Post at 43255 60th Avenue will distribute Naloxone starting Tuesday, September 2, during business hours. Michigan Department of Health and Human Services warned residents about carfentanil, a potent…
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Urban Alliance’s ‘Life Camp’, Community Gathering Aim to Deter Local Gun Violence
KALAMAZOO, Mich.—Urban Alliance will host two powerful events designed to educate and empower youth voices while addressing the devastating impacts of gun violence. Known as Champions Night and Life Camp, these two events create a weekend of community-backed partnership and prevention aimed at breaking cycles of violence and sowing seeds of hope across Kalamazoo. On…
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Outreach efforts are working to keep violent crimes down in Kalamazoo
KALAMAZOO, MI – Partnering with community organizations has had a positive impact on the number of shootings and killings so far this year in the City of Kalamazoo, police say. “We’re doing good this year,” says David Boysen, chief of the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety. “There’s a lot of good stuff going on. Our shootings…
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Advocacy groups in Kalamazoo aim to educate youth amid recent gun crimes
KALAMAZOO, Mich. — The recent string of youth gun crimes in West Michigan have raised questions, including where teenagers are obtaining guns, and how it can be prevented. That is what several local groups in Kalamazoo are aiming to do. Bent Not Broken, a group that advocates for and supports youth in the criminal justice system,…
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‘I just gotta move forward’: Kalamazoo County inmates graduate from IGNITE program
KALAMAZOO COUNTY, Mich. — Some inmates didn’t expect to graduate behind bars, but a new program launched at the Kalamazoo County Jail made it possible. The IGNITE program was launched to help inmates look forward to a life beyond bars. “I’m a college graduate, I am an electrician by trade, and yet here I am…
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Returning program will help Kalamazoo’s marginalized residents keep jobs
KALAMAZOO, MI — For Kalamazoo residents in poverty or with a criminal record, finding a career can be a struggle. From 2013 to 2019, Urban Alliance had a program to help those individuals acquire career skills. But the COVID-19 pandemic shut the program down. Now, it’s back. Urban Alliance’s Momentum Urban Employment Initiative offers coaching…
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Urban Alliance to host Life Camp to steer youth sway from gun violence in Kalamazoo
With the goal to help provide area youth with tools and resources to step outside the cycles of gun violence within Kalamazoo, Urban Alliance will kick off its third annual Life Camp event Friday, June 14. Shifting from the monthly offerings last summer and the year prior, Life Camp will now be a one-day event,…
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What has caused Kalamazoo’s surge in gun violence, and when will it end?
Kalamazoo County Sheriff Richard Fuller and Urban Alliance’s James Harris discuss how law enforcement and the community are approaching Kalamazoo’s gun violence crisis. According to the FBI, the national murder rate declined in 2023 after a sharp rise during the pandemic. But Kalamazoo County had 27 homicides last year, a substantial increase from pre-pandemic levels. WMUK reporter…
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Urban Alliance’s “Change of Status” program helps men overcome their troubled backgrounds
Urban Alliance is making serious changes in the lives of men across West Michigan in its Change of Status Program. The 12-week program is designed for individuals with a history of incarceration, violent behavioral tendencies, and/or minimal substance abuse issues. In addition to supporting individual participants in removing barriers that prevent them from living full,…
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Beyond Bullets – Exploring the root causes, consequences, and solutions for gun violence.
Beyond Bullets Exploring the root causes, consequences, and solutions for gun violence. Two childhood friends notice a grim pattern in their text thread. Their messages to each other have become death notices. The victims are their friends and classmates – shot and killed before their lives could even really begin. At first, our messages came…
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Camp teaches kids ‘Hands are Meant to Heal, Not Kill’ amid youth crime increases
Kalamazoo nonprofit Urban Alliance is throwing a summer camp for kids to get bullets to stop flying. Kalamazoo Public Safety says youth crime is getting alarming and even more alarming is how often guns are being used to commit those crimes. Organizers created Life Camp to change the narrative, steering kids away from using guns…
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Kalamazoo’s Life Camp to help young people find a path away from gun violence
When you’re talking to young people about gun violence, you never know who’s in the audience, says James Harris. Those involved in shootings in Kalamazoo and other cities have included youths who were already headed down a path to violence and crime, as well as those who seemed to be on a path to a…
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Summer day camps aim to help teens ‘reframe’ gun violence
Kalamazoo nonprofit Urban Alliance is bringing back a series of youth day camps this summer aimed at changing the narrative surrounding gun violence. James Harris, who is the outreach manager for Urban Alliance, said the life camps, now in their second year, help kids and young adults reshape how they think about guns and their…
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Urban Alliance looks to redirect youth from gun violence with ‘Life Camp’ events
KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Urban Alliance is scheduled to have its second annual Life Camp offerings on June 13. The day camps were designed to help area youth change the narrative of gun violence in Kalamazoo and separate recklessness from recreation and lethal from legal gun usage, according to Urban Alliance. The events are scheduled in…
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The latest news from Urban Alliance
We invite you review the latest update from Urban Alliance, including a welcome to new Executive Director Terra Bautista, updates from our Outreach, Supports and Recovery, and Connections teams, an invite to Life Camps, and much more. Read the full update here.