About this project
If you’d like to help shape the future of the greater Kalamazoo area as you gain knowledge and develop new skills, apply to join Community First, an adventure in personal growth and community development.
Community First is looking for individuals who are seeking ways to help improve the quality of life in Kalamazoo County, but need a community engagement opportunity through which they can contribute their knowledge and skills -- and grow in the process.
The program’s guiding principles are these:
Learn by doing -- Participants will collectively agree upon a community project to tackle and will learn ways to put the talent of the group, in concert with other community resources, to work toward community betterment.
Learn by teaching -- Participants will lead or co-lead the group’s examination of critical community issues and strategies to address them.
Learn by sharing -- Participants will be exposed to opportunities learn more about group dynamics, team effectiveness and decision making, and will put those lessons to work on a community project.
Who We Are:
Lam & Associates is a for-profit firm with a mission to help improve the quality of life in Kalamazoo County.
Project Leader Blaine Lam was a reporter at The Kalamazoo Gazette for 10 years, spent 10 years in community relations with Upjohn and Borgess, and has been a community activist for the past 20 years.
He has served as interim executive director for eight community organizations.
What We’ll Do:
Community First is an engagement-based learning experience with a community project focus. Participants will decide which community project to tackle, how to get the most out of their teams and and how to design their own summer learning/teaching experiences.
Participants will be exposed to the history, current thinking and conventional wisdom surrounding community issues, but this is not a “formula-driven” program, and the success of individuals, teams and group will depend largely on the creativity and ideas generated by participants.
Schedule
COSTS
Cost to participate: $275, which includes materials, refreshments and Celebration Banquet.ENROLLMENT
Application deadline: May 29, 2009
Notification of Acceptance: June 3, 2009RETREAT
June 23, 2009 (2 to 6 p.m.)PROGRAM
September 10 through November 12, 2009
(7 to 10 a.m. Thursdays)CELEBRATION BANQUET
November 19, 2009 (5:30 to 8 p.m.)
Guests may attend the Banquet for $30
How to apply:
Apply electronically or by mail to Lam & Associates. Write something in the neighborhood of 500 words about why you would like to take part in Community First. Application deadline is May 28. Applicants
will be notified of acceptance by June 3.
Community First
c/o Lam & Associates
261 E. Kalamazoo, Suite L400
Kalamazoo, MI 49007