News

(January 24, 2022 6:45 PM) United Way of Jackson County will merge with two neighboring United Way organizations. The boards of directors for Capital Area United Way, United Way of the Battle Creek and Kalamazoo Region, and United Way of Jackson County voted today to merge their organizations and create a new nonprofit, United Ways of South Central Michigan. The new organization will partner locally and regionally on community impact efforts across six counties—Calhoun, Clinton, Eaton, Ingham, Jackson and Kalamazoo. A press release announced this as “a merger of equals, each of the local United Ways brings unique strengths, shared authority and a continued focus on local needs.” The announcement stated, “the merger of three United Ways based in south and mid-Michigan will bring exciting new opportunities to the region while strengthening local impact and maintaining their local presence.” The three United Ways have had similar missions and have worked together on common needs for a decade.  Current CEOs of the organizations say coming together as equal parts of a new United Way is the next logical step.  The announcement said local presence and impact will remain. “Each of our communities is unique, with needs that our individual United Ways…

(January 24, 2022 3:49 PM) The City of Jackson has opened an online survey to choose the names of Jackson’s five snow plow trucks. Voting is now open on 10 Jackson-centric plow names that were submitted by residents. Earlier this month, the City of Jackson invited residents to submit snow plow names through the City website. Staff looked through more than 300 submissions and picked their top 10 favorite submissions, all of which have a Jackson twist. Here are the 10 names being voted on: Jackson Frost (As in Jack Frost) Cas-Blades (References the Cascades waterfall and park) Cold Air Jubilee (References Hot Air Jubilee, an annual hot air balloon festival in Jackson) Cooper Scooper (References Cooper Street, a major roadway that stretches the length of the City) Grand Shiver (References the Grand River, which flows through Jackson) Bright Squalls (References the Bright Walls Mural Festival) The Plowarlor (References The Parlour, a popular ice cream destination in Jackson) Under the Snowks (References Under the Oaks, a park in Jackson that is believed to be the Republican Party birthplace) Winter Night Tree (References Summer Night Tree, a famous sculpture in Downtown Jackson) Snowney Dog (References Coney Island Hot Dogs, which are…