Happy Pride Month: What to know about the history of the LGBTQ struggle for justice in Grand Rapids
It is Pride Month and we all need to do what we can to support people who identify as part of the LGBTQ community, along with organizations that are continuing the fight for queer and trans lives in Grand Rapids.
Please support the Grand Rapids Pride Center, the Grand Rapids Trans Foundation, and autonomous groups like Protest for Progress. These groups not only provide ongoing support and services for queer and trans people, but they doing great education work, along with organizing people to fight for their rights.
Another way we can support this ongoing struggle for LGBTQ justice is to know the history of organizing that has happened and what people have sacrificed over the years to make life for those who are part of the LGBTQ community a little bit better.
In 2011, we produced a documentary about this history, which you can watch here.
The Network organized the first Pride Celebration in 1988, which was not supported by the Mayor of Grand Rapids. Mayor Helmholt had granted at least 119 proclamations since the Network’s first request in 1988. Among the groups/events that Helmholt wrote proclamations for were: Michigan Beverage News Week, Family Sexuality Education Month, Polish Heritage Month, National Roofing Week and Bozo Show Day. Here is short interview with Mayor Helmholt.
Someone also videotaped the first Pride Celebration in Grand Rapids, which you can watch here.
In 1990, the Grand Rapids Pride Celebration invited AIDS Quilt founder Cleve Jones to speak about his work to educate the public about HIV/AIDS.
Jones, who was a close friend of the late Harvey Milk, spoke with Bryan Ribbens about his experience of being in Grand Rapids in the video below.
Another example is this powerful video of a Network event in 1992 billed as a discussion about the lessons learned from Stonewall. In this video (below), Holly VanScoy and Dennis Komack facilitate a discussion, which covers a whole range of topics, such as the Lesbian influence in the local movement, how Grand Rapids responded to the AIDS crisis, dealing with the reactionary right in West Michigan and the evolution of Pride events.
At one point in the discussion, one of the participants makes the point about “necessary radical thought.” This comment stands out in many ways, because what the person was saying is that it is absolutely necessary that we not only continue to reflect on where we came from as a community, but that we continue to challenge our understanding of who we are and where we are going. Movements for social change are resilient to the degree that they can embrace the idea of necessary radical thought.
Here is this powerful video from 1992 that should inspire all of us to continue to reflect and challenge what it means to be liberated in a world that either despises us or wants to co-opt us.
In the second part of my two part workshop that looked at the Grand Rapids Power Structure, I addressed the issue of why it is important to resist those with power in this community, in addition to tactics and strategies on how to resist the local power structure. (Slides available here)
I began this session with some reminders of what the Grand Rapids Power Structure has done and who makes up this group. Next, I listed some talking points around the proposition to resist the GR Power Structure we have to:
- Recognize the interlocking systems of power
- See how local governments are influenced by the power structure and normalize oppression
- What role the commercial media plays by not questioning the power structure
- Always follow the money
- How the non-profit industrial complex takes hush money and doesn’t question the root causes of any given injustice.
- Build grassroots, autonomous people power
Before jumping into tactics and strategies I talk a bit about why it is important that we resist the Grand Rapids Power Structure, with the following points:
- They impose economic, social, political and cultural dynamics on the rest of us, often using public dollars without public input, and primarily for the goal of expanding their wealth and power.
- They influence public policy through campaign contributions and sitting on government committees.
- They use their foundations to fund organizations that promote their ideological agenda and fund non-profits to keep them quiet.
- They use their power to undermine efforts that support organized labor, public education, are anti-LGBTQ and aggressively anti-trans, oppose environmental justice practices, oppose real climate justice practices, perpetuate institutionalize white supremacy, oppose living wage policies and continue to create projects that will ultimately expand their own wealth.
Under the tactic of always follow the money I first provided people with links to resources to find out campaign finance data. For all candidates running for office in Kent County people can access campaign finance data here. For information on candidates running for state office they can go here https://www.transparencyusa.org/mi/, and for those wanting to track candidates running for federal seats they can access that information at this link.
In addition to know campaign finance information I pointed out that it is critical to:
- Publicize this information
- Make connections to how campaign contributions influence public policy
- Demand candidates refuse to take $$$ from members of the GR Power Structure and PACS
I also looked at examples of how members of the GR Power Structure have people who are on government committees and boards, with examples from Downtown Grand Rapids Inc and the Downtown Development Authority.
We then discussed the following tactics when dealing with government entities and local politicians, such as:
- Attending committee meetings
- Make what is being discussed/decided public
- Push for greater transparency
- Demand Participatory Budgeting
- Pressure Campaigns targeting public policy/public officials
- Boycotts targeting public policy/officials
- Direct Actions targeting public policy/officials
In discussing the above tactics I used three examples from recent history – the Defund the GRPD campaign that began in 2020, resistance to the Three Towers project in 2024, and the Cosecha-led sanctuary policies campaign that began in 2025.
In the next section we talked about other ways to resist the GR Power Structure, such as:
- Investigate where they have influence
- Monitor and expose them by creating media content
- Tax policies
- Attacking their wealth and assets – boycotts, disruptions, civil resistance, an anti-Capitalist analysis
- Creating alternative/autonomous models that reflect how we want the world to look like
- Short term and long term goals
With these tactics we looked a two recent examples:
- Grand Action 2.0 Projects
- Housing in Grand Rapids
In the next section we specifically talked about resisting and targeting the DeVos family, with 5 broad tactics:
- Boycotting their companies – publicize a list of DeVos companies, create media content, get other organization & institutions to commit to the boycott, public actions at their businesses, disruptive tactics, stickers, flyers, wheat pasting, sidewalk stenciling, enter place of business – order and then leave. Boycotts are only effective if when there is organized disruption of a company’s ability to make a profit.
- Organize those affected by DeVos funded policies – LGBTQ communities, immigrants, labor unions, public school employees, Reproductive Justice groups, those committed to separation of church and state, non-profits that have relied on DeVos Foundation $$, working class people who are living paycheck to paycheck.
- Begin campaigns to organize employees of DeVos-owned businesses – hotels, coffee shops, etc.
- Target politicians that receive campaign contributions from the DeVos cartel.
- Organize ongoing actions at 200 Monroe – DeVos Headquarters on the corner of Monroe & Lyon
However, I reminded people not to forget the other families in the GR Power Structure, along with the organizations that members of the power structure have created.
I ended the session by say that organized people can beat organized money, but that it will not be easy and won’t happen over night. Here I included a traditional graphic about the power of organized people, but use the image of the DeVos family as the Big Fish in Grand Rapids posted at the top of this article.
The local commercial news media made a big deal over the last structural beam being put in place for the Grand Action 2.0 proposed Amway Soccer Stadium.
Several news agencies noted that there were “community leaders” present for this event, among those were Grand Rapids Mayor David LaGrand. LaGrand was pictured signing the structural beam before it was lifted up to the top of the stadium structure.
The event was clearly designed to continue to hype the Grand Action 2.0 projects, like the recent opening of the Amphitheater, which open just weeks ago. The price tag of the soccer stadium is $175 million, which will be home to the professional soccer team that will be owned by the DeVos and Van Andel families.
Of course the City of Grand Rapids and the Kent County Commission approved the use of $100 million in public taxpayer money for the stadium, which is three time the amount that Amway gave to purchase the naming rights.
What Mayor LaGrand is sign onto with his signature
Grand Action 2.0 proposed this project, which makes sense two of the three executive leaders are Dick DeVos and Carol Van Andel. A few additional points about the new soccer stadium are worth pointing out, such as:
- Dan DeVos had purchased the Big Boy restaurant property in 2022, since the DeVos family already knew that this was going to be the local of the soccer stadium.
- The ultimate goal of the DeVos and Van Andel families is to expand their wealth. By owning another sports team, they will get to hold the City and County hostage in the future, when the time comes to expand the soccer stadium or use more land for parking, etc. The DeVos family owns most of the hotels in downtown GR, so when people come to watch a game and don’t want to drive home, or because they are from out of town, the chances are high that they will stay in a DeVos-owned hotel.
- With the Amphitheater and the Soccer Stadium construction projects will come a parking nightmare for those who live on the near westside of Grand Rapids. In addition, all of this construction between Fulton on the south and Bridge St. on the north, will likely result in an ongoing gentrification of the near westside. Low income and working class families will not be tolerated, since they have little to offer to the billionaire families and their network of other members of the Capitalist Class.
- All of this new development, which is primarily predicated on the expansion of wealth for the DeVos, Van Andel and other members of the Capitalist Class will also result in further justification of expanding the GRPD. People with deep pockets will always use cops to protect their wealth, which is what the GR Chamber was arguing with their push to get the city to deal with the “unhoused problem” in downtown GR in 2022. In addition, the GRPD also recognizes that more development where people are coming in large numbers to spend money will result in the “need” for more cops. GRIID reported on a WOODTV8 story where a GRPD Captain stated: “We want to expand our numbers in the next couple years quite a bit. So I would say in the next couple of years — without speaking for the city commission, they’d have to approve it — but we would like to be in that 330 or 340 range. There’s a lot going on downtown with the amphitheater coming in, the soccer stadium. There’s excitement with the river transformation. There is a lot of great restaurants and nightlife down here.”
It has only been 18 months that LaGrand has been Mayor of Grand Rapids, but he has demonstrated over and over again that he is committed to the same things that the DeVos family and other members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure want from this city.
The irony is the over the past 18 months the immigrant-led group Movimiento Cosecha has been asking the Mayor to sign on the 6 sanctuary policies, all of which would demonstrate a commitment by the City of Grand Rapids to not collaborate or be complicit in the violence that ICE is committing against immigrant families on a weekly basis. Signing off on a Grand Action 2.0 project, which will make more money for the billionaire DeVos and Van Andel families is more important than signing off on sanctuary policies that would reduce the amount of ICE terrorism directed at immigrants who live in this city.
“In any case, the hidden hand of of foundations can control the course of social change and deflect anger to targets other than elite power.”
– Joan Roelofs, Foundations and Public Policy
The Stephen and Amy Van Andel Foundation
I have already written about the five different DeVos Foundations, with my most recent post on the DeVos Family Foundation. Last week I shifted to the David and Carol Van Andel Foundation, so today I want to look at the Stephen and Amy Van Andel Foundation.
The Stephen and Amy Van Andel Foundation gave $5,502,833 in 2024, with $102,271,034 left in total assets in that foundation.
The Stephen and Amyl Van Andel Foundation made contributions to dozens of entities in 2024, but there are some clear categories of groups they contributed to, such as the Religious Right, Think Tanks, Education-centered groups, and social service entities, to name a few.
Before I dive into how the David and Carol Van Andel Foundation distributed their funds, I wanted to point out that Steve Van Andel is co-chair of the board of directors of Amway and is currently the vice chair of the Hillsdale College board of trustees.
Religious Groups
- Bethel Community Education – $47,000
- Guiding Light Mission – $5,000
- Mel Trotter Ministries – $5,000
- Northpoint Christian Schools – $5,000
- Saint Thomas Educational Foundation – $100,000
- Wedgewood Christian Services – $25,000
These religious groups practice varying degrees of conservative politics, which fit into the ideological framework that the Van Andel family is committed to.
Education-centered institutions
- Grand Valley State University – $10,000
- School Emergency Response Coalition – $20,000
Government entities
- Ada Township – $1,250,000
- City of Rockford – $300,000
- Grand Rapids Public Museum – $50,000
- The George W. Bush Foundation – $2,000,000
- Traffic Squad Fund Inc. – $45,000
Pro-Capitalist and Far Right Groups
- American Enterprise Institute – $10,000
- The Heritage Foundation – $10,000
The American Enterprise Institute is one of the most influential think tanks in the country and is tied to so much of the conservative political agenda. The Heritage Foundation also has decades of being connected to the political right and was instrumental in crafting the political agenda for the incoming Reagan Administration in 1980 and the most recent Trump Administration in 2025, specifically with the document Project 2025.
Van Andel created or connected groups
- Corewell Health of West Michigan Foundation – $110,000
- Van Andel Research Institute – $23,000
- Worldmaker International Inc. – $30,500
Groups receiving Hush $
- Baxter Community Center. – $30,000
- Brody’s Be Cafe LLC – $500,000
- Children’s Healing Center – $348,333
- Equest Center for Therapeutic Riding Inc. – $110,000
- Family Promise of Grand Rapids – $25,000
- Friends of Grand Rapids Parks – $20,000
- Heart of West Michigan United Way – $10,000
- Holland Home – $80,000
- Hospice of Michigan Inc. – $337,500
- Kids Food Basket – $50,000
- Literacy Center of West Michigan – $25,000
- Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital – $1,015,000
- McLaren Northern Michigan Foundation – $50,000
- Senior Neighbors Inc. – $10,000
- Trillium Institute – $1,000,000
- University of Michigan Health West – $2,035,000
These groups all provide some sort of social service – those who are housing insecure, people with disabilities, adoption and food insecurity. There are root causes to all of these issues, but these groups are not likely to address root causes and larger systems of oppression. When Van Andel family foundations make contributions, this will increase the likelihood that systems of oppression will not be addressed by these groups.
Foundations rarely make contributions without strings attached. The Stephen and Amy Van Andel Foundation has a long history of funding far right and religious right groups, which GRIID began documenting over a decade ago when I started this project. Lastly, it is worth noting that the Stephen and Amy Van Andel Foundation, like all of the foundations by members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure, compliments the campaign contributions they make to further impact public policy and promote their religious and capitalist ideologies.
Last weekend Rep. Hillary Scholten wrote the following comment on her Facebook page:
The American people voted for a safe, just, and humane immigration system. What does President Trump deliver? Chaos. President Donald Trump, you have a better choice on immigration. Work with Republicans and Democrats in Congress to pass the #DignityAct and stop this dysfunction.
I’m not sure which election Rep. Scholten is referring to where “people voted for a safe, just, and humane immigration system.” If she is referring to the 2024 Election regardless of whether voters chose Donald Trump or Kamala Harris, neither Presidential candidate in 2024 stood for a safe, just and humane immigration system. Of course we all know what the current administration’s position on immigration, but as Vice President Kamala Harris was both silent and complicit in the number of ICE arrests and deportations that occurred during the Biden years.
As a presidential candidate Harris emphasized border security and a commitment to increasing funds for that purpose. The Harris campaign also maintained that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) would be well funded, which means that ICE would be well funded.
The only President I can think of who had a more progressive platform on immigration matters was Barack Obama. However, even the two-term Obama Administration failed to get comprehensive immigration reform adopted, even when the Democrats controlled Congress.
Getting back to Rep. Scholten’s comment, Iit is true that President Trump has massively increased funding for the DHS/ICE and made a commitment in inaugural speech to deport millions of immigrants. So, when Rep. Scholten asks him to work with Congress to adopt immigration policy, she is engaging in political theater, since the Trump Administration is not going to budge on immigration matters.
The last part of Rep. Scholten has to do with legislation she proposed while Biden was President, known as the Dignity Act. In 2023, when Scholten first introduced this legislation she said, “Crossing have increased, but so has enforcement. Border agents do have adequate technology resources, which means more enforcement.” Rep. Scholten discussed the need to enforce the existing US immigration laws, but failed to bring up the issue of why so many people are fleeing Mexico and Central American, to come to the US.
Scholten also talked about having bipartisan support for the Dignity Act, specifically with Rep; Salas from Florida. However, the Dignity Act is not Comprehensive Immigration Reform, nor does it address more structural elements of root causes of immigration, such as the US role in supporting military and trade policies in Latin America that have destabilized most of the region, along with the fact that more and more people are being displaced and forced to flee their homelands because of Climate Change. (See Todd Miller’s excellent book, Storming the Wall: Climate Change, Migration and Homeland Security.)
If you go back and look at Rep. Scholten’s immigration policy campaign ads from 2024, you will see that she is using a very nationalistic framework and calling for an increase in US border guards and funding.
Lastly, it is hard to take Rep. Schoten seriously on immigration policy matters, especially since she has sided with the Trump Administration on at least three major immigration pieces of legislation since the beginning of 2025. First, there was her vote in favor of the Laken Riley Act, followed by her votes for the Preventing Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act, H.R. 30 and H.R.35 – Agent Raul Gonzalez Officer Safety Act. Scholten was one of 50 Democrats who voted for this piece of legislation.
Rep. Scholten can’t claim to support immigrants and want to adopt more progressive immigration policies, when she has consistently supported and voted for legislation that both criminalizes immigrants and increases funding for militarizing the US/Mexican border.
The Grand River is now in the process of getting rid of the damns that run through downtown Grand Rapids, plus there is increased funding for parks and trails adjacent to the river.
I fully support the Grand River restoration. What I don’t support is the push to utilize the river as a tool to make money. Despite my opposition, there is a new partnership between the Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. and Start Garden, an initiative called the Grand River Economic Opportunity Initiative.
According to a recent MLive article this initiative is designed to create an “on-ramp for local entrepreneurs” to create business opportunities along the Grand River. The MLive article the initiative, “aims to highlight opportunities ranging from construction and maintenance to retail, dining, outdoor recreation and hospitality services.”
In addition, the MLive article states, “the two-year program is being funded through $45,000 in philanthropic funds and $100,000 from the Grand Rapids Downtown Development Authority. The DDA is governed by its own board but is managed by DGRI.”
I have two basic responses to this news. First, why is it that those who control this city always want to figure out a way to make money, when in the case of the river restoration, the riverfront parks and the trails are the perfect opportunity for humans to simply commune with the natural world. Why can’t there be quieter spaces where all sorts of species can flourish and where human beings can enjoy some relaxing solitude and take in the sounds of the river and the songs of birds. Why can’t we have a minimalist human influence along the river, which could also be a fabulous space for ecological learning and reflection?
Those who control this city aren’t interested in having spaces that are increasingly necessary for humanity to try to leave behind the stress of the this world, the systemic violence and the constant pressures of always having to consume in the economic system of Capitalism.
The Grand River Economic Opportunity Initiative wants to see more construction along the river, more restaurants, bars and spaces for people to make money. Why have ecological harmony when we can find more ways to make a profit and create destinations for consumers and tourists to create memories from boat races and $25 cocktails. Hell, let’s find new opportunities for those with deep pockets to have another green space named after them because they threw some money at this initiative. This sentiment was best reflected in the minutes of a recent Grand Rapids Downtown Development Authority meeting that said – “One central idea of the GR Forward plan, and the broader river revitalization movement, is that the Grand River is an underutilized economic asset.“
This brings me to my second response to the Grand River Economic Opportunity Initiative. This initiative has the DeVos family written all over it. This project involves the Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. (DGRI), Start Garden and the Downtown Development Authority (DDA). Start Garden was created by Rick DeVos and the other two entities – the DDA and DGRI have numerous DeVos operatives as board members.
Of course this all makes sense, since the DeVos families own most of the hotels downtown, has restaurants and owns most of the sports teams, which means they want to control as much of the commerce in the downtown area, along with dictating the social and cultural dynamics that will happen along the Grand River.
The level of influence that the DeVos family has in Grand Rapids is the very definition of an oligarchy, which represents a form of government or society where all political and economic power rests in the hands of a small, elite group, along with securing the approval of the rest of the population.
I am always fascinated by what people will justify in the name of religion.
I am also appalled and disgusted, which is why I wanted to share a recent article posted on the DeVos platform known as the Believe Journal a site that Doug DeVos created within the past year to honor his father’s book by the same title.
The article that caught my attention is entitled, When Did We Stop Subduing the Earth? Before we jump into the content of the article, it is important that we come to terms with the Judeo-Christian notion of “man having dominion over the earth.” Dominion theology has justified not only making humans the most important species on the planet, but has allowed for the endless justifications for what humans do to other humans, other species and all ecosystems. It is what some philosophers refer to as anthropocentrism.
The article in question is written by someone anonymous, who says they are, “a Christian Industrialist, raised in the Middle East and based in the Midwest, building companies that subdue the earth.” No surprise here.
As for the content of the article, here are some points I want to draw attention to. First, the author of this article attempts to point out the two main reasons why people have an aversion to subduing the earth:
First, we are so often worried about appearing arrogant—being seen as building tools of domination, rather than dominion–that we have largely abandoned and stigmatized “subduing the earth.” Second, we are worried about how being “boring”, polite Christians might impact our competitive edge, and because of that we often become boring, polite seculars.
So, arrogance and losing a competitive edge are his arguments. Interesting since the very notion of having dominion is arrogant and the opposite of being competitive would be cooperative, which is an attribute I want to cultivate.
Another interesting point in the article is when the writer uses the label Luddite in a negative way, which is a common mistake when talking about Luddites. Luddites were not anti-technology, rather they were against technology that took away their own agency. Many early Luddites were cobblers, but when mass production of shoes began they had their livelihood taken away from them. An excellent book on the Luddites is Rebels Against the Future: The Luddites and Their War on the Industrial Revolution: Lessons for the Computer Age, by Kirkpatrick Sale.
In a section of the article with the heading Dominion Versus Domination, the author writes:
“So why have we found ourselves backing out of long-held positions in the front rank? We have, in many ways, caved to the respect of men (Acts 10:34-35). America’s westward expansion was reframed as genocide, half a million American deaths in the Civil War as being political, the overflow of American missionaries as being imperial.”
It would appear that the author has issues with calling the westward expansion in the US as genocidal and American missionaries as being imperialists. I certainly would refer to the US as a settler colonial state that implemented genocidal policies against Indigenous people (see An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States) and that the function of US missionaries has often gone hand in hand with US imperialism. (See Thy Will Be Done: The Conquest of the Amazon : Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism in the Age of Oil)
The last thing I want to draw attention to in this article was the author’s blatant Islamophobia:
“Christianity is unique among the world religions, being only one of two which has a global commission. The other, Islam, stands in stark contrast. The expansion of Islam via Jihad is a directive to world domination, not stewardship via dominion. It is in many ways the anti-dominion mandate. Islam even has special admissible moral compromises when expanding, including lying and deception. (Based on the Hadith). A large portion of the Quran describes how and when to wage holy war as opposed to the crusades, which was a circumstantial and for its time, quite normal war that had no directive in the bible, especially not the New Testament.”
Holy shit! The writer really likes to convey the notion that Christianity is good for the world, while Islam has brought noting more than pain and suffering. Hell, the writer even tries to justify the Crusades as “a circumstantial war.” The Crusades were driven by the notion that our God is better than your God, so we will kill as many of you as necessary in order to bring the truth faith to your people.
Of course none of this is surprising coming from a Christian, especially one that is cut from the same cloth as the DeVos family. But just to be clear, this article is justifying genocide, the imperialism of missionaries, the Crusades and a whole lot of Islamophobia and arrogance in one article. Just a reminder of the kind of ideological bedfellows the DeVos family has.
ICE terrorism and the near disappearance of Allies in a post-Minneapolis world – even in Grand Rapids
It has been just over 5 months since an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis. People were understandably shocked, then outraged that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents would engage in that kind of brutality.
For the next couple of months people were ready to do something here in Grand Rapids, with vigils being held, protests and marches denouncing ICE. For groups like Movimiento Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE, the organizing that they both have been doing since 2017 not only continued, but it tried to resist being reactionary.
It is completely understandable that people would be outraged about ICE shooting and killing Renee Good. But here is the thing that those of us who have been doing the work for years is that, the immigrant community is always on high alert and always experiencing the terror that ICE inflicts in every community and every immigrant family.
In an article I wrote back on January 26th entitled, Why are white people so pissed off about ICE now? In that article I stated:
White people and the politicians they have voted for – both Democrats and Republicans – have been approving billions in funding for ICE since 2003, while undocumented immigrants were being arrested, detained and deported, along with hundreds being killed. You can read about these immigrant deaths by reading reports from Detention Watch Network and the ACLU.
Just because the news and social media are not filled with stories of ICE terrorism, it doesn’t mean that ICE has reduced their assault on immigrant communities. In Grand Rapids and Kent County, GR Rapid Response to ICE continues to receive calls on a regular basis regarding ICE sightings and ICE threatening families.
Every week GR Rapid Response to ICE is providing groceries and other basic necessities to dozens of families that have been impacted by ICE violence. Every week this group does patrols, offers accompaniment and does monitoring of ICE activity throughout the community.
GR Rapid Response to ICE has seen the number of people who want to do some shrink, with fewer people signing up for their regularly scheduled trainings. ICE activity remains significant in Kent County and could increase at any time, since they have been adding more agents and increasing the number of contracts in this area.
There used to be ally groups doing regular ICE Out protests in downtown Grand Rapids, but that stopped back in March. ICE activity in this city has not decreased and ICE is continuing to arrest people, to detain people and to separate families.
Now, it is true that ICE has changed some of their tactics, such as not deploying hundreds of agents to a given city and engaging is mass arrests. There has certainly been significant public backlash to those types of mass arrests, just like what we saw in Minneapolis. However, just because those tactics are being used ICE is still threatening immigrant families, still inflicting violence on immigrant families and still separating immigrant families.
Movimiento Cosecha needs allies to support their work and to get involved with their campaigns, campaigns that are ongoing and critical if we want to resist ICE locally. We have to move beyond being reactionary about ICE and understand that the harm that ICE does to immigrant communities and families is a constant, just as it was a constant before an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good. We have to move from merely protesting ICE to resisting ICE.
The Trump Administration, ICE officials and ICE agents want us to be complacent and avoid seeing the urgency around the harm that ICE is committing on a daily basis against members of the immigrant community.
13 things you can do right now to resist ICE
- You can follow the work of Movimiento Coesecha https://www.facebook.com/cosechagr and GR Rapid Response to ICE https://www.facebook.com/RapidResponseGR/
- You can share our What to do if ICE comes to your door cards.
- If you suspect that you are seeing an ICE presence somewhere, call our hotline 616-238-0081 and document what you can. Use the Salute card, but don’t post on social media as it can create more fear and panic for immigrant communities.
- If you know an immigrant that has an appointment to check in with ICE or immigration court cases you can have them call the hotline 616-238-0081 and have them request someone to accompany them to their appointments.
- You can support immigrant families that have been affected by ICE violence in Kent County by sharing and contributing funds through the Mutual Aid requests on the GR Rapid Response to ICE Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/RapidResponseGR/
- You can organize a fundraising event like a house party or get 10 of your friends to contribute to a specific Mutual Aid request that can be found on the GR Rapid Response to ICE Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/RapidResponseGR/
- If you know of immigrant community groups that are living in fear of ICE, Cosecha will offer to do a Know Your Rights training, which provides tips on how to keep yourself, your family and your community safe from ICE. Send an Email to movimientocosechagr@gmail.com.
- You can begin a conversation with leaders in your faith community and local non-profits about offering sanctuary to members of the affected community. If there is an interest members of Cosecha and GR Rapid Response to ICE can meet with you or you can attend one of our regular Community Sanctuary sessions.
- You can sign up to take the GR Rapid Response to ICE training to learn skills and be part of our daily work.
- You can encourage your church to host a GR Rapid Response to ICE training. If there is an interest they can send an Email to info@grrapiresponsetoice.org.
- You can host an educational session on the History of US Immigration Policy. Just send an Email to info@grrapiresponsetoice.org.
- You can support the 6 sanctuary policies campaign that Cosecha and GR Rapids Response to ICE are trying to get the City of Grand Rapids and Kent County to adopt.
- Get involved in No Detention Centers in Michigan, support the people being detained in Baldwin, Michigan and get involved in their political and solidarity work. https://www.facebook.com/NoDetentionMI
Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce applauds GR City Commission unanimous vote for funding cops and developers
All six Grand Rapids City Commissioners and Mayor LaGrand voted to approve the $786 million City Budget on Tuesday, despite calls to reduce funding for the GRPD from residents.
However, there are some sectors of this city that are delighted that the $786 million budget was approved. The Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce sent a letter to the GR City Commission on Monday, May 18th, which you can read in the packet of information you can access here for the May 19th City Commission meeting.
The GR Chamber letter included the following comments, which reflects their priorities:
Grand Rapids has momentum. Our City continues to benefit from meaningful investment and economic activity. The Acrisure Amphitheater is opening, the Amway Soccer Stadium is taking shape, housing is being added across all price points, and investment continues in and along the Grand River. These are real wins for our community, and we will continue to advance vibrancy through public-private partnerships.
The letter specifically acknowledges their support for the GRPD by writing:
Public Safety Investment: Safety is the core component of a vibrant community and continues to be a top priority. We strongly support support the $1.3 million in public safety funding an additional 10 officers, as well as the $400,000 for crime prevention programming.
The work done by former-Chief Winstrom to strengthen the department, enhance community trust and address crime across all neighborhoods has been tremendous. We are confident that Interim Chief Trigg and his leadership team will continue to make Grand Rapids a thriving and safe place for families and businesses.
These sentiments clearly demonstrate the Chamber’s commitment to making sure the GRPD is full funded and that they desire to see more cops hired. None of this is a surprise especially since the priority of the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce assist businesses in expanding their wealth and that means more cops to protect property and prevent the unhoused or political groups from disrupting business as usual in the downtown area.
The GR Chamber letter was signed by their CEO Rick Baker and the entire Local Government Committee:
- Rick Winn, AHC Hospitality
- Sam Cummings, CWD
- Rosalynn Bliss, MSU College of Human Medicine
- Chris Andrus, Mitten Brewing Co.
- Matt Biersack, Trinity Health West Michigan
- Bryan Harrison, Amway
- Tracey Hornbeck, Legacy Trust
- Doug Dozeman, Warner Norcross + Judd
- Mark Secchia, SILVA
- Dave Shaffer, West Michigan Community Bank
- Jessica Gutowski-Slaydon, Swift Printing Co.
- Monica Steimle-App, Rockford
- Aaron Van Andel, Amway
- Allie Walker, Truscott Rossman
- John Van Fossen, Meijer
- Meredith Bronk, Progressive Companies
You can clearly see from the names and the businesses they represent that public funding for private sector projects and the GRPD are a priority.
Two weeks ago I wrote the following breakdown of part of the city’s budget, specific to the GR Chamber of Commerce letter, more funding for police and development projects.
- $75.4 million for Police, including $1.3 million allocated for 10 police officers that were added in FY26 in anticipation of increased state revenue for public safety.
- $2.9 million for Oversight and Public Accountability – $1.7 million of this is for Axon contract including body cameras; $400,000 will need to be programmed for crime prevention efforts based on enhanced state revenue for public safety.
- $13.5 million for 61st District Court.
- $56.6 million for Economic Prosperity and Affordability of which $36.8 million is for corridor improvement districts and special authorities.
In the WZZM 13 story about the unanimous vote to approve the $786 million city budget, one of the commissioners said the following regarding the budget:
“Budgets are moral documents, it really reminds us that it’s not simply a spreadsheet or a collection of numbers, it really represents our values, our priorities, and ultimately what we believe residents deserve.”
Clearly the GR City Commission believes that more funding for cops and using public dollars for private sector development projects are their priorities, but to assume that this is what residents deserve demonstrates that they are out of touch with what many residents actually want.
“In any case, the hidden hand of of foundations can control the course of social change and deflect anger to targets other than elite power.”
– Joan Roelofs, Foundations and Public Policy
The David and Carol Van Andel Foundation
I have already written about the five different DeVos Foundations, with my most recent post on the DeVos Family Foundation. Now I want to look at the other significant foundations that members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure have, beginning with the David and Carol Van Andel Foundation.
The David and Carol Van Andel Foundation gave $8,404,702 in 2024, with $111,617,386 left in total assets in that foundation.
The David and Carol Van Andel Foundation made contributions to dozens of entities in 2024, but there are some clear categories of groups they contributed to, such as the Religious Right, Think Tanks, Education-centered groups, and social service entities, to name a few.
Before I dive into how the David and Carol Van Andel Foundation distributed their funds, I wanted to point out that David Van Andel is chairman and CEO of Van Andel Institute in Grand Rapids, along with numerous other business investments.
Religious Groups
- Bethany Christian Services – $300,000
- Cascade Fellowship CRC – $90,000
- Grand Rapids Christian Schools – $200,000
- Grand Rapids Nehemiah Project – $350,000
- Mel Trotter Ministries – $1,000,000
- Pine Rest Christian Hospital – $2,000,000
- Potter’s House – $65,010
- Salvation Army – $85,000
- Wedgewood Christian Services – $60,000
- Western Theological Seminary – $500,000
These religious groups practice varying degrees of conservative politics, which fit into the ideological framework that the Van Andel family is committed to.
Pro-Capitalist Groups
- The Acton Institute – $43,500
The Acton Institute has long been supported by the Van Andel family, primarily because the their view that Capitalism and Christianity a great bedfellows.
Van Andel created or connected groups
- Grand Action Foundation – $3,000,000
- Grand Rapids Downtown Market Education Foundation – $15,000
- Grand Rapids Public Museum Foundation $50,500
- Opera Grand Rapids – $408,000 (sits in the Board of Directors)
- Van Andel Research Institute – $61,430
It is instructive to see that in 2024, the David and Carol Van Andel Foundation contributed $3 million to the Grand Action Foundation, an organization that the Van Andel family has been involved in since it was founded, plus an organization that has convinced the City and the County to use hundreds of millions in public tax dollars to fund the Amphitheater and the Soccer Stadium. Not surprising, the new soccer team will be jointly owned by the DeVos and Van Andel families.
It is also not surprising that the David and Carol Van Andel Foundation contributed to Bethany Christian Services, which has reverted back to it’s more ridged and ideological stance on issues like only hiring Christian staff and taking an anti-LGBTQ position. Like the DeVos family, the Van Andel family doesn’t give money just for the fun of it, they use their foundation funds to strategically support the Christian and political right entities, especially in West Michigan.
Groups receiving Hush $
- 3 – 11 Youth Housing – $54,000
- Blandford Nature Center – $245,000
- Boy Scouts of America – $70,000
- Children’s Healing Center – $125,000
- Girl Scouts of Michigan Shore to Shore – $140,000
- Grand Rapids African American Health Institute – $70,000
- ICCF – $25,000
- Kids Food Basket – $50,000
- John Ball Zoological Society – $2,005,000
- Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital – $666,666
- New Image Youth Center – $250,000
- Pine Rest Foundation – $11,000,000
- West Michigan Sports Commission – $50,000
- Women’s Resource Center – $50,000
These groups all provide some sort of social service – people fleeing domestic violence, those who are housing insecure, people with disabilities, adoption and immigration. There are root causes to all of these issues, but these groups are not likely to address root causes and larger systems of oppression. When the Van andel family foundations make contributions, this will increase the likelihood that systems of oppression will not be addressed by these groups.
Foundations rarely make contributions without strings attached. The David and Carol Foundation has a long history of funding far right and religious right groups, which GRIID began documenting over a decade ago when I started this project. Lastly, it is worth noting that the David and Carol Foundation, like all of the foundations by members of the Grand Rapids Power Structure, compliments the campaign contributions they make to further impact public policy and promote their religious and capitalist ideologies.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 