Town Hall Meetings
Register for the upcoming meeting
More information on the next Town Hall meeting is coming soon.
On January 11, 2016 Ottawa County, North Ottawa Community Healthcare and the City of Grand Haven sponsored a Town Hall Meeting on Mental Illness. More than 100 people attended that Town Hall Meeting. A panel that included representation from Community Mental Health, NOCH, Grand Haven Area Public Schools, Mental Health Court, Ottawa County Jail, and TCM Counseling shared their initiatives. This was followed by a Q&A session. A Community Conversation completed the event with community members sharing what they considered to be the priorities that need to be addressed and who they believed should be on a task force to address those needs.
A Task Force was convened and members were recruited to represent the areas identified by the community. The concerns were reviewed by the Task Force. Initiatives that were already addressing concerns were shared and concerns that were not being addressed created the list of priorities for the Task Force. All of this information was shared at a second Town Hall Meeting on March 2.
As the work of the Task Force continues, this web presence will be one of the ways in which we communicate our work to the public so that everyone can be aware of opportunities for participation. It will also be a place for compiled information to serve as a reference for the community.
Not left or right, integral
Left or Right? Integral!
Today, society is polarized as never before. Lines are drawn and we are quick to decide if some point of view reflects “our side” or the “other side.” In today’s language, that often comes down to acquiring the label of “right” or “left.” The Momentum Center seeks not to be an organization of the “left” or the “right,” but to be an integral organization. We will always pursue human rights and social justice, but we recognize there are multiple perspectives when addressing these issues.
To that end, we welcome everyone to the Momentum Center who wishes to be there. And we host community conversations, seeking to create a forum for having constructive dialogue between people who think, believe, and respond differently than each other – and to do that in a way that is respectful and builds relationships rather than tearing them apart.
We believe the desire to create dichotomies can make some people feel more comfortable (I’m right and you’re wrong) but they ignore the fact that so many ideas we grapple with are not black or white, right or wrong. There are endless shades of gray.
We unapologetically offer a space where everyone is welcome – as long as there is respect for the fact that everyone is welcome. We believe we are all connected and what affects one affects all.
Beyond left and right there is a place that is able to integrate a variety of ideas, perspectives, and viewpoints. This integral approach recognizes it will take all of us, in all of our sameness and differences, to find new and creative solutions for entrenched issues if we are to discover a genuine path forward.
The Momentum Center is not an organization of the left or of the right. We are integral.
Barbara Lee VanHorssen, Experi-Mentor
Momentum Center