NORTHERN DIVERSITY NETWORK

Through a deliberate effort of collaboration, MSU Extension in Northwest Lower Michigan, and the Grand Traverse County Health Department through the Risk to Resiliency Program hope that you will find this web site informative, and a great local resource for educational information, planned activities, community programming, which spot-lights local efforts to bridge gaps within issues of social justice, valuing diversity within the community and addressing inclusion and equity in the LGBTQ communities.

As effort progresses in the important work of building and sustaining a community that welcomes all, the collaborating partners hope that this website will connect individuals and groups and provide helpful information to leverage action within the subject of diversity in our community.

On behalf of the Grand Traverse Health Department Risk to Resilience Program, Windfire at Third Level Crisis Intervention Center, Spectrum at Northwestern Michigan College and the community members who made this website possible, thank you, and enjoy this resource.

Initial funding for the development of this website was supported by a Multicultural Action Mini-Grant from Michigan State University Extension. This community collaboration aligns MSU Extension's mission to apply knowledge to critical issues, needs and opportunities. MSU Extension strives for inclusiveness in our educational program delivery and intentionally works to meet the needs of under-served or marginalized citizenry.

For this website endeavor, MSU Extension was able to assist with issue identification, collaborator identification, process facilitation, and provide linkages to Michigan State University and other national educational and informational resources.

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Mission Statement of the Risk to Resiliency Program:

Our mission is simple, spread the HIV Prevention Message. Provide Opportunities for Social Networking, and Social Entertainment Opportunities and Events to the entire G,L,B,T,Q & A Community.

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Diversity Award

Jim Harper
County Extension Director,
Kalkaska County
Northern Diversity Network Web Site
www.northerndiversitynetwork.com

Working collaboratively with the Grand Traverse County Health Department through the Risk to Resiliency Program and community members, Jim Harper, Kalkaska CED, helped to support the development of the Northern Diversity Network Web site. This resource provides communication, education, networking and support for an underserved population of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered residents, while also providing a resource for the general public.

Jim led MSUE in Kalkaska County to identify issues and potential collaborators while facilitating a process that provided linkages to MSU and other resources. Extension facilitated the process of bringing groups together and helping to prioritize topics to be addressed.

Thanks to this Web site, collaborators were able to make current outreach goals more achievable to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered communities-all of whom-tend favor electronic communication such as instant messages and e-mail. .

This initiative provided an opportunity for MSUE to better understand how to work with this population locally and across the state while also working to address some institutional challenges that arose as the project unfolded. This project is the first of its kind in Michigan. The identification of collaborators and the bringing of them together not only was a massive project in and of itself but has permanently established working partnerships among the collaborating partners.