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The Importance of Green Spaces
An abundance of green spaces is vital to the fabric of any community. They provide recreational activities and are essential to the environment's health. Many cities (including ones in Wayne County) have invested heavily in green spaces, giving...
Environment and Forward Wayne County
Why is the environment one of Forward Wayne County’s focus areas? The short answer is because it’s important. The long answer is that good environmental practices in a community makes it stand out. It is important to attracting and retaining residents. It’s also a key...
Tips for Getting Back on Track
Health and wellness is always a topic, no matter what time of year. Forward Wayne County welcomes Jackie Gettinger, with HYPE Wayne County, who shares some tips for getting yourself back on track. In my experience, health and wellness varies so vastly that people...
Breastfeeding mom decided to be vaccinated for COVID-19
For most of her life, Emily Kraft, M.D., has tried not to be the first – or the last – to do things, but there she was on the opening day of Reid Health’s COVID-19 vaccination clinic, rolling up her sleeve to get the shot. Her position as the health system’s EMS...
Working With Government
Working with government can be tricky, but it doesn’t have to be. It all depends on if you have done your homework and are working with the right group. Wayne County residents play a key role in successful partnerships. Over the course of this month, we have...
Practicing Collaboration
As we focus on working with government this month, our guest blogger Jeff Plasterer, gives the following advice on practicing collaboration. Whether it is working together in small groups; between groups in a community; between communities, or on a regional scale,...
Enabling Change
We have been supporting the Wayne County black community all month. I hope you have had the chance to visit our social media and read our blogs. They have reminded us of our past. But more importantly, they have given us a vision of what our future can be if we are...
Wayne County Connection to Negro Leagues
Our guest blogger, Alex Painter, is helping Forward Wayne County celebrate Wayne County's connections to the Negro Leagues. Here is his article: In early 2019, I embarked on what I thought was going to be a little research project. My goal was to discover and document...
Our Community
We welcome our second guest blogger of the year, Avis Stewart. Avis shares his thoughts with us on Wayne County's black history and ways that we can look to our future. Avis Stewart Retired Earlham College Administrator I was asked to share a few thoughts about our...
Neighborhood Involvement and Community Engagement (NICE!) virtual series
We are excited to announce the launch of our Neighborhood Involvement and Community Engagement (NICE!) virtual series. Neighborhood Development is one of our key strategic pillars and we've decided to take a multi-pronged approach. Establishing the...
Moving Our Communities to the Next Level
We have been focusing on Neighborhood Development and what that can mean for our county. The question that remains is “how do we move our communities to the next level?” What does next level even mean? Next level is anything more than we are now. It can be baby steps....
Look Around the Place
Elisa Worland, a new Wayne County resident, gives us a unique perspective on Wayne County, reminding us all to take a look around the place. She is our first guest blogger for 2021. Dear Wayne County, Back in July 2020, when I should have been sheltering in place, I...
Good Things Are Coming
As we wind down 2020, we thought it would be fruitful to look back on our accomplishments for the year. It is definitely a year to remember. COVID delayed some work, but it showed us some things: One, that we are strong and capable.Two, we need to make some...
We Are Thankful
Thanksgiving may look a little different this year for many of us, but it can still be a time to pause and reflect on what we are thankful for. We encourage you to write down what you are thankful for or better yet, send a thank you note, email, or text. It will...
Veterans Make up 7% of Wayne County
Veterans Day is here and it always gets me a little choked up. These are our friends, family, spouses, co-workers, and neighbors. Most of the time you may not even know they served. They are humble. In fact, we are just using first names in this blog article to...
Food Insecurity Effects Education and Employment
In our last blog, we talked about the impact of COVID-19 on Wayne County. In today’s blog, we want to explore a little more in depth the effects of food insecurity on people and decisions they make. Why are we talking about this? Forward Wayne County, through...
