Grand Rapids Business Journal
The Grand Rapids African American Health Institute is launching its yearlong Health Education & Equity Series on Thursday.
The program features Xernona Clayton, a 90-year-old civil rights and community activist, TV broadcasting pioneer and philanthropist. The presentation, “Where Do We Go From Here Chaos or Community,” begins at 10 a.m. online on the Grand Rapids African American Health Institute’s (GRAAHI) Facebook events page, 1/28 Speaker Series Event. No registration or Facebook account is needed to attend this event.
Clayton is founder, CEO and president of the Atlanta-based Trumpet Awards Foundation and creator of its Trumpet Awards, highlighting African American achievements and contributions.
Grand Rapids Business Journal
ORGANIZATION: Grand Rapids Community Foundation
As program officer for the Grand Rapids Community Foundation, one of the things Erika VanDyke is most proud of is working with a network of Latinx leaders to help establish the foundationâs La Lucha Fund in April that had raised $735,000 as of mid-November and helped about 1,200 undocumented and mixed-status families in Kent County receive COVID-19 relief dollars as of Nov. 30.
Undocumented community members do not qualify for federal assistance or state unemployment benefits, making them particularly vulnerable during the pandemic.
Although VanDyke was the point person inside the foundation for creating the La Lucha Fund (which translates into English as âthe struggleâ or âthe fightâ), she stressed it was a highly collaborative effort. Eight community organizations were involved, including Movimiento Cosecha and the Grand Rapids Area Mutual Aid Network, as well as the five orga