Community updates: Tuesday, Sept. 29

Grand Rapids Police Department unveils finalized strategic plan to improve policing

Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Payne unveiled the final draft of his department’s thee-year strategic plan on Tuesday, which aims to improve police-community relations in the city.

The 2021-23 plan, presented by Payne during the city’s Committee of the Whole meeting, provides action steps with measurable outcomes using a neighborhood-based policing model. It also acknowledges people of color and low-income residents as disproportionately impacted by city policies, policing practices, and the criminal justice system – with a commitment to ending this.

A draft of the plan was introduced in August, with community feedback informing the final product. The feedback resulted in 32 new action steps on top of the original 62, with most related to the plan’s engagement section.

“Working in partnership with the community, we have developed a plan that will change how policing is done in Grand Rapids,” Payne said. “I feel strongly that our plan provides our personnel the necessary framework to nurture a culture of service, not only for today, but for generations to come.”

The plans three strategic priorities are safety, innovation, and engagement. Among actions driven by these priorities are transitioning to neighborhood-based policing that makes every patrol officer a community policing specialist, piloting a mental and behavioral health team that can co-respond to calls for services related to mental health and non-violence substance use, and reimagining employee recruiting strategies to ensure the department’s demographics are representative of the community’s.

“This transition will be successful only if we come together as a community, listen to one another and work together,” Payne continued. “As we continue to develop this plan and implement it, we will engage our community in an on-going dialogue with the goal of improving the services we provide.”

The three-year plan is available on the Grand Rapids Police Department’s website. A redline copy is also available, which details where revisions have been made since receiving community feedback.

Grand Rapids Public Library providing internet to families without access

The Grand Rapids Public Library (GRPL) has joined with five community partners to lend mobile hot spots to area families without internet access, it announced Monday.

The expanded access – providing high-speed and secure connections – aims to help families with students navigating virtual learning amid the pandemic.

“With the expansion of virtual education across the city due to COVID-19, it’s imperative that we confront the digital equity gap,” said the GRPL’s Youth Services Supervisor, Jessica Ann Bratt.

“Students without access to high-speed internet experience an immeasurable disadvantage during distance learning. Providing hot spots to neighborhoods with high need promotes equitable learning opportunities.”

To ensure the hotspots reach neighborhoods most in need, the GRPL identified and partnered with community organizations serving a large population of tech-disadvantaged households. The partnering organizations are Baxter Community Center, Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative, Grandville Avenue Arts & Humanities, HQ, and Grand Rapids Urban League.

Local First launches new website with enhanced directory of locally-owned businesses

Local First launched its new website last week to further promote West Michigan’s locally-owned businesses, with an upgraded directory detailing who’s open, what they offer, and how to get it.

Roughly 600 local businesses are featured on the website, with visitors able to discover them by keyword, ownership demographic, type of business, and location. Their listings include contact information, links to social media, events, discounts, promotions, and image galleries.

“Local First has been working on the new site for about a year,” said Hanna Schulze, Local First’s President. “But we’ve been collecting feedback and input for much longer than that. Its features and functionality are what member businesses and consumers have told us they need.”

More details about how Local First supports local businesses are available through its Blog on its website.

Sharing your stories

The Rapidian encourages local residents to share their own stories related to civic, economic, and public health developments in the Grand Rapids area on The Rapidian’s platform. To get started as a community reporter, visit TheRapidian.org/write.