Four New Community Partners! What Comes Next?
Care Collective is starting 2024 motivated to grow. Though we are quite proud of all we did in 2023, we recognize that the work is just getting started. To increase the number of products we distribute, we need to partner with more community organizations. January marked a period of exciting growth for us with the addition of four new partners. So, let’s meet them!
The Douglass Community Association was founded in 1919 to address the needs of African American soldiers returning to a segregated Kalamazoo. Since then, DCA has grown to support and house dozens of programs and community events, including providing diapers to families!
The YWCA WISH Program works to give Kalamazoo families the resources to raise healthy babies. WISH provides essential services through home visiting, including education for caregivers, social support, and additional assistance in meeting needs - including diapers!
Beyond the typical responsibilities of a neighborhood association, KENA supports the revitalization of Kalamazoo’s Eastside with after-school programs, fresh food distribution, a handful of other events, and now diapers, too!
Our final new partner is Interfaith Homes, which provides housing for low-income families on the Northside of Kalamazoo. By partnering with Care Collective, diapers will be made available to their tenants free of cost!
Collaborating with these organizations gives us more ways to distribute products, especially ways that reach the historically underserved populations of the north and eastside. In order to bring on even more new partners this year, we need resources to purchase products and volunteers to help repackage them.
If you want to help us grow and end diaper need and period poverty in southwest Michigan, visit the links below for ways to get involved!
