Advocacy - WKTV Journal

Over 70 community members, city and county officials, and law enforcement officers attended the iCI Nation “Lunch n Learn” event on March 12 (Courtesy, Deborah Reed WKTV)

By Deborah Reed

WKTV Managing Editor

Over 70 community members, city and county officials, and law enforcement officers attended the iCI Nation “Lunch n Learn” event on March 12.

Held at the Grand Rapids Police Department (GRPD), iCI Nation Founder and Executive Director Jennifer Franson hosted the Lunch n Learn event as a way for law enforcement and community to meet and build relationships.

Jennifer Franson welcomes community members to the iCI Nation Lunch n Learn at the GRPD (Courtesy, Deborah Reed WKTV)

“The goal of this right now is building relationships and trust,” said Franson. “Our vision is to unify the city as we protect and serve together.”

iCI Nation has been building successful partnerships between community and law enforcement since 2016. The local nonprofit is dedicated to providing a healthy environment that brings citizens, police officers and organizational resources together to create a stronger and healthier city.

Value in connections

Franson urges police and community to build connections over the shared value of protecting and serving together. Lunch n Learn events are a way to facilitate those connections.

“I want to call out the value of all of you,” Franson said to event attendees. “I want you to try to see each other through that; the value you have, the value they have, and how you – together – are working on the same team.”

GRPD Police Chief Eric Winstrom talks about the value of connections (Courtesy, iCI Nation)

GRPD Police Chief Eric Winstrom sought out genuine connections when he first came to West Michigan. However, being seen as human beings – and not just as the uniform police officers wear – is a challenge, Winstrom said.

“To have people like Jenn Franson who give us the opportunities to connect with people on a regular basis like this, to have easy conversations, positive conversations, but also higher conversations – that’s super vital to the success that we’re seeing,” said Winstrom.

Advocating for our youth

Frank Briones (center) with local youth from his program (Courtesy, iCI Nation)

Advocating for Kent County youth was the focus of the Lunch n Learn event.

Event speakers included GRPD Chief Eric Winstrom, Kent County Youth Caseworker Frank Briones, and GRPD Victims Advocate Clorissa Novak.

“Everybody in this room wearing a uniform wants so badly to never put handcuffs on a young person,” said Winstrom. “We want to deal with the root causes. This is not an us against them. We want the best, especially for our kids.”

Briones has worked with Kent County youth for over 20 years. Like Winstrom, Briones realizes the youth coming through his door are not defined by crimes written on an admission form. Often, they come from harmful environments and are struggling.

(Left to right) Peter MacGregor, Jennifer Franson and Lisa Posthumus Lyons (Courtesy, iCI Nation)

“It’s not their fault,” said Briones. “I try to advocate for them, I try to help them as much as I can.

“These kids, they’re our future. We made a commitment to be consistent with our youth, to go above and beyond to help them.”

Franson urges the community to think of the hearts and stories behind the headlines.

“We hear the bad [and] we don’t think of the people, the humans behind [the headlines],” said Franson.

Tragedy turns to triumph when we reserve judgement, said Briones. “We have to show [youth] that this is not the end of the line, that there is hope.”

Supporting victims of crime

Clorissa Novak, Victim Services Coordinator at GRPD, supports victims after they experience crime.

The social worker-led program focuses on information, support and resources to make sure victims have what they need both physically and emotionally. Education, Novak added, is also a vital component because many victims of crime do not know their rights.

Chief Winstrom (left) stands in the iCI Nation Kids Closet (Courtesy, iCI Nation)

“We are here to make sure people understand what they can expect, help manage expectations, and then support them in a time where our first responders and investigators are doing what they have to do to try to get justice.”

Novak went on to say that the iCI Nation Kids Closet at the GRPD is instrumental in ensuring victims have physical needs such as clothing, toys, backpacks and more.

“It is just meeting folks where they are and trying to make sure that they’re not falling through the gaps,” said Novak. “That they have what they need to get back to that pre-crisis state of function.”

The key to success, Novak said, is collaboration.

“Spread the word,” said Novak. “Let people know that we’re here, that we’re safe folks to talk to.”

Winstrom emphasized the GRPD’s commitment to protect everyone. “We want you to know that if you’re in danger, if you’re being victimized, you can call us.”

Engagement, Collaboration, Partnership

Topics discussed included restorative vs. punitive justice, self-care and needs of individuals and organizations working with youth. Engagement, collaboration and partnership were emphasized repeatedly throughout the discussions.

Engagement, collaboration and partnership are vital to successfully unifying our cities (Courtesy, iCI Nation)

“Community engagement is huge,” said Novak. “People being willing to collaborate, to help our folks or create pathways for referrals is huge. The more relationships we can build the better.”

Briones said he will work with “anyone, anytime, anyplace” to help youth – even when it is hard.

“Sometimes we don’t want to get up and go,” said Briones. “But we do it anyway. We go, one foot in front of the other. We go because they are dependent on us.

“It takes support, love, caring and compassion to help these young people become better people.”

Positive conversations and connections produce support and unity (Courtesy, Deborah Reed WKTV)

When asked about the GRPD’s greatest need, Winstrom gestured toward event attendees.

“This,” said Winstrom. “More more things like this where we connect on a positive level and work together.

“When the community supports us, we’re all winning. It’s not us against them…we’re co-producing the safest city we can.”

Value & Authenticity = Change

Franson said bringing value and authentic care and love to youth always makes a difference.

“You guys all have it, you guys are all doing it, and I hope that encourages you,” said Franson. “We’re all in this together. We’re all neighbors, we’re all community. We’re working together for each other.”

Kurt (left) often visits with local youth, making them feel valued (Courtesy, iCI Nation)

Winstrom agreed: “You’re doing the work; stick with it. It may be difficult, but these kids need adults in their lives who care. That’s going to make all the difference.”

“We have to finish the race,” said Briones. “What we start, we finish. When we can do it together, that’s even better.”

To learn more about iCI Nation, click here. For more information on the iCI Nation Kids Closet, contact Clorissa Novak at cnovak@grcity.us or 616-456-3360.

Lunch n Learn Sponsors

Event sponsors included Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker, Kent County Clerk Lisa Posthumus Lyons and Kent County Treasurer Peter MacGregor. Lunch was provided by The Candied Yam.

By Regina Salmi, Area Agency on Aging of Western Michigan

In 1970, Maggie Kuhn was forced to retire from her job on the day she turned 65. At this time, the mandatory retirement law allowed her employer to make her retire. Maggie felt this was unfair, so she began talking to friends who experienced forced retirement and together they began writing letters, making phone calls, and visiting legislators.

The law enforcing retirement at age 65 wasn’t abolished by Congress until 1986, but it was thanks to Kuhn and her friends bringing awareness to the issue that we are no longer forced out of jobs because of our age. Maggie’s group, dubbed the Gray Panthers, were also at the forefront of nursing home reforms, fighting ageism, and preserving social security until her death in 1995. That same year she was also inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.

Maybe we cannot all be Maggie Kuhn, but what we can learn from her legacy is that our age doesn’t have to stop us from having a voice and making a difference in our communities. In fact, Kuhn might argue, no one is going to care more about issues that affect us than we are. Upon her forced retirement, she said, “With this new freedom we have, let’s see what we can do to change the world.” Like Maggie, we all have the opportunity to become advocates, especially those of us who find we have more time on our hands after we choose to retire.

What do we mean by advocacy? The word advocate comes from the Latin ad- meaning “toward” and vox meaning “voice”. When we engage in advocacy, we are lending our voices to a particular issue. The traditional forms of advocacy are to send letters or make phone calls to legislators. AAAWM’s Advocacy Coordinator and Planner, Lacey Charboneau explains, these methods have “stood the test of time” and “neither needs to take much time or prolonged effort.

The best advocacy letters are no longer than one page, include succinct and straightforward facts and end with a call to action of some kind.” In addition to these formal methods of advocacy, email and social media engagement are also becoming effective forms of engaging with decision makers. Charboneau emphasizes though that, “No matter what the issue, or who the audience, there is no more effective way to get your point across than showing up and speaking up in person.”

Millennials may have surpassed Baby Boomers as the largest eligible voting block in the United States in 2018, but Boomers remain a powerful group when it comes to legislative matters. As seniors it is important we recognize the ability we have to create change.

“Older adults are the keepers of vast amounts of experience and knowledge” Charboneau observes, “They have seen and experienced history — both the positive and negative. Older adults should be empowered to share their opinions and thoughts with those in power so we can learn from our past as we move forward.”

According to the AARP, the recent passing of the “Tax Cut and Jobs Act” activated an automatic $25 billion cut to Medicare. As a result of advocacy efforts on the part of seniors, the House and Senate “waived the required cuts as part of a temporary spending bill to prevent a government shutdown.”

Advocacy is often a matter of education. It is important to make legislators aware of the concerns of older adults and how certain policy decisions may affect seniors. As Charboneau says, “No single elected official can be expected to be an expert on everything. It is our responsibility to educate our legislators on the issues that matter to us.”

As long as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security remain the three largest government-funded programs, there will always be a need to build awareness, educate and advocate elected officials.

So, how does one get involved in advocacy? Charboneau advises the first step, “Decide what issue is most important to you.” As you research about that issue, you may find there is already an advocacy group working on the issue and you can join. Maybe your issue is a local one and, like Maggie, you talk with other people affected by this concern and form your own group.

Maybe there are people in your church or senior center who would be interested in forming an advocacy group. AAAWM has an advocacy group called Advocates for Senior Issues if you are in or near Kent county, they welcome new members. There are also nationally recognized groups, like the AARP or AMAC that offer opportunities to get involved in advocacy campaigns. The most important step toward advocacy is to find a way to get involved.