Speakers at the 2026 Absolutely Accessible West Michigan conference include real estate broker Sarah Takens; urban planning leader Suzanne Schulz; Valerie Fletcher, executive director of the Institute ...

Dan VanderMeer and Asher Kuhn have turned tech-flipping into a business. You’ve probably tried to dispose of some old technology before. Maybe it was that phone that stopped working, or perhaps an old ...

The 2025 C.R. Evenson Foundation Fellows are Sergio Cira-Reyes, David Fraker, and Anna Crooks. At Earthly Refillery, clear canisters of dry goods line the walls. There’s an assortment of nuts with ...

As artificial intelligence evolves faster than most people can keep up, Tim Haines is trying to help others keep pace. “I just believe very strongly that the change that’s occurring is being driven at ...

Stress balls come with personal messages like this one from Odyssey of the Mind students. A group of students in West Michigan is trying to make a big difference with something simple that not a lot ...

Curtis Chin’s memoir, “Everything I Learned, I Learned in a Chinese Restaurant,” is this year’s Great Michigan Read from the Michigan Humanities. In a country increasingly sorted by politics, class, ...

Eirann and Jenna Betka-Pope of Betka Pope Productions. The list of advances by the Grand Rapids Public Museum in recent years to welcome the community, broaden access, and foster a stronger sense of ...

Andrew Stepanovich earned statewide recognition as an inaugural member of the Coaches Who Care Mental Health Hall of Fame. For Andrew Stepanovich, the most important victories don’t show up on a ...

Tara DeGroot is the assistant director of Jubilee House, a day shelter and outreach ministry in Traverse City. The Traverse City area has become a popular place for tourists and retirees from across ...

As Rapid Growth looks back on nearly two decades of documenting the people and ideas shaping West Michigan, we are resharing our Aug. 17, 2022, story by Enrique Olmos, “Harnessing the power of the ...

Mark Sellers poses for Tommy Allen’s Rapid Growth photo series supporting Record Store Day 2014. Continuing Rapid Growth reflects over 20 years of documenting the individuals and locations that shape ...