PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 30, 2025
Contact: Jenny Doezema, Executive Director
Phone: (269) 352-1213
Email: jjdoezema@kalamazoocrisis.org
KCCC Expands to Support $18.9M Holistic Healthy Homes Project Grant
The Kalamazoo Climate Crisis Coalition (KCCC), in collaboration with Kalamazoo County, was recently awarded a three year $18.9M Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Community Change grant, with 85% of these funds allocated to workforce development and improvement of 300 single-family housing units through home repairs and energy efficiency in the Northside, Eastside, West Douglas, and Edison neighborhoods. The project supports remodeling four local neighborhood centers that will function as emergency shelters during periods of extreme heat, extreme cold and flooding.
The Holistic Healthy Homes project was collaboratively designed with direct input from a network of environmental and housing advocates, workforce development and neighborhood partners in the communities that will receive a majority of the U.S. EPA awarded funds.
This initiative is estimated to avoid approximately 684 metric tons of CO2 equivalent to the carbon sequestered by 799 acres of U.S. forests annually.
Community information sessions are set to begin in early spring and will include enrollment process details.
KCCC is expanding operations in order to support this project under the recent appointment of its first Executive Director, Jenny Doezema. Board President Dr. Denise Keele lauds this appointment: “Jenny’s unwavering, decades-long commitment to community centered, collaborative leadership and a history of managing complex programs in a non-profit setting grounded in environmental justice make her the perfect person to lead the implementation of this grant.”
In addition, applications are being accepted here for four full-time positions: Workforce Development Coordinator, Financial Counselor, Program Director, and Education and Outreach Coordinator. Questions regarding these positions can be directed to
recruiting@kalamazoocrisis.org.
KCCC is a 501(c)3 non-profit that exists to mobilize collective action to achieve immediate and drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and rapid adoption of renewable energy through a transition grounded in social, racial, economic, and environmental justice.