Hamtramck, Michigan, October 26, 2009 – Hamtramck Mayor Karen Majewski will kick-off a city-wide civic engagement campaign with an important informational presentation on the timely topic “Finding Opportunities During Recessionary Times.”
The presentation will take place on November 22, 2009 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. at the People’s Community Service Center, located at 8625 Joseph Campau, Hamtramck, MI. The event is open to the general public. All city residents concerned about the future of Hamtramck are encouraged to attend. There is no charge for admission. Discussion and a question & answer session will follow.
Guest speakers: Kiran Cunningham Ph.D and Hannah McKinney, Ph.D from Kalamazoo, Michigan have been invited to speak at this engagement.
Kiran Cunningham, PhD, is the Kurt D. Kaufman Professor of Anthropology at Kalamazoo College. Her areas of expertise include using action research to catalyze social change. As an action researcher and consultant, she works with communities desiring change to design methodologies for bringing a broad range of community members into the conversation about identifying goals, taking stock of current assets, and determining how to mobilize those assets to achieve community goals. She has worked with a variety of non-profit and governmental groups, including the United Nations Development Programme, the National League of Cities, Kalamazoo County, and the City of Kalamazoo to design and implement action research projects in areas such as land use, rural development, community mental health, youth needs and services, and asset-based community development. She has published in several fields including higher education reform, community building, transformative learning, and community mental health. The common thread in her work is a commitment to grounding transformative, sustainable and systemic change in high quality participatory research.
Hannah McKinney, PhD, is Professor of Economics and Business at Kalamazoo College and vice mayor of the City of Kalamazoo. Her areas of expertise include urban economics and local public finance. During her 12 years as a local elected official she has worked to foster economic development, affordable housing, regional land use planning, and intergovernmental cooperation, while working on and catalyzing many innovative initiatives in Kalamazoo. She chaired the planning process for the first major update of the city’s comprehensive plan in the mid 1990’s. The development of the plan marked the first intensive citizen engagement process carried out by the local government and included many neighborhood and interest groups whose interests had been unrepresented to that point. She helped to create the structure for a countywide transit authority and worked successfully on the campaign to fund it through a countywide millage. She laid the groundwork for a five year fiscal planning process for the city’s annual budget. She has published on a number of subjects related to urban economics and policy.
For additional information on the civic engagement campaign initiative, contact Alex Maysura at 810-701-9117 or email at mailto:lxmaysura@yahoo.com.
Alex Maysura is a Master of Social Work intern from Wayne State University currently working with the Hamtramck City Council under the direction of Councilmember Catrina Stackpoole. Mr. Maysura was a longtime Hamtramck resident and business owner. He is currently completing his degree requirement in community action and organization.