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Board adopts community corrections plan as local advocate pushes for Stockbridge reentry hub
Summary
The Kent County Board of Commissioners adopted a community corrections comprehensive plan and grant application on June 26 after a public commenter urged county support for a Stockbridge community reentry hub offering job training, mental-health services and an esports lab.
The Kent County Board of Commissioners on June 26 adopted Resolution 46 authorizing a community corrections comprehensive plan and related grant application as a resident urged county officials to support a local reentry hub.
Commissioner LeGrand moved the resolution; Commissioner Womack supported the motion. The board approved it by voice vote; the public record does not include a roll-call tally for this item.
At the public-comment portion of the meeting a resident who identified herself as Dee addressed the board about reentry services and a proposed community hub. Dee described programs she said would support people returning from incarceration, including job services, mental health services, community gardening, basketball courts and an "esports lab" to teach digital finance and related skills. She told commissioners she has a friend, identified in her remarks as Armani Zuler, who "just got out of prison during 3 years" and described the personal and family impacts of incarceration.
Dee said organizers are collecting signatures on a petition to acquire a building she called the Stockbridge hub from Grand Rapids Public Schools (GRPS) so the space can be used for reentry programming. She told the clerk she would leave the petition with the county clerk for transmittal to the GRPS school board.
Dee also said local partners could use grant funding in coordination with the Department of Corrections and asked the county to support partnerships to obtain grants. The transcript records no board directive tying specific county funds to the plan; Resolution 46 authorizes submission of a grant application but does not list amounts or confirm funding sources on the record.
The item links public-comment advocacy with the board’s adoption of the plan and grant application. Commissioners who moved and supported the resolution indicated support for moving the plan forward; administrative follow-up on grant submission was assigned to the county corrections staff in the meeting record.
