Three youth programs benefit from $271,000 grant package from a dozen donors
by Aubrey McClain Three programs designed to serve thousands of Flint youth have been granted $271,000 by a group of 12 donors/institutions, the Flint and Genesee Chamber of Commerce recently announced. The funds will focus on after-school programming, teen employment, and economic development in Genesee County. Recipient programs are YouthQuest, TeenQuest, and Summer Youth Initiative (SYI), all administered by the Genesee Area Focus...
Glory days in rearview mirror for Flint high school sports: resurrection might be in the works
By Harold C. Ford Flintstones (basketball): The name of the Flintstones rose to prominence during the successful run of Michigan State basketball including three consecutive Final Fours and a national championship. The four (Mateen Cleaves, Morris Peterson, Charlie Bell, Antonio Smith) made up the core nucleus of the team…played together since elementary school…and made the Spartans team a family off the floor as well. The name...
KWA chief: water decisions mired in parochialism and politics
By Jan Worth-Nelson Attempting to explain the the City of Flint’s probable move to stay on “Detroit water” for the next 30 years, Genesee County Drain Commissioner Jeff Wright, who also is chief executive officer of the Karegnondi Pipeline Authority (KWA), said what might once have been options for the city have been made less viable by “emotional damage” and politics. Wright offered his views to the May...
Andrew Custer awarded a Fulbright for work in Colombia
By Jan Worth-Nelson Andrew Custer, 27, a Michigan State University graduate from Flint, has received a Fulbright U.S. Student Program award to Colombia from the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board. Custer, an alumnus of The Valley School, is the son of Casey and Edwin Custer, EVM’s longtime photographer and distribution director and is the nephew of East Village Magazine’s late founder and...
Former Mayor Walling responds to NOVA film: “It was hard to watch”
By Jan Worth-Nelson Former Flint Mayor Dayne Walling, an omnipresent and embattled figure in the Flint water crisis until his defeat for re-election in November, 2015, sat quietly with his wife near the back of the auditorium last week as producers from the PBS science series NOVA unveiled their documentary, “Poisoned Water” to a Flint audience. (See account of the premiere here) “It was very hard to watch,”...