Supporting and Amplifying the Wolverine Community Advisory Group

GLPAN’s 2023 Community Mini-Grants Program funding is starting to be put to use as grant awardees begin to work on their projects for 2024! Each month throughout the year, we will be spotlighting one of our 12 awardees and providing an update on their projects and how their work is moving the needle to address the toxic PFAS crisis in Michigan and across the Great Lakes. 

This month, we are shining the spotlight on the West Michigan Environmental Action Council (WMEAC), which received GLPAN funding for its work with the Wolverine Community Advisory Group (CAG) in Northern Kent County, MI – home of the former Wolverine Worldwide tannery and dump sites where there is widespread PFAS contamination.

Since PFAS contamination was first discovered in Kent County years ago, WMEAC has worked with the Wolverine CAG – and a support facilitator from the EPA – to engage the community, keep impacted citizens informed, and push back against misinformation from Wolverine about the PFAS contamination in Rockford and Belmont. EPA facilitators typically only work with community advisory groups related to EPA Superfund sites, making the Wolverine CAG a unique group for this type of work on the local level.

With the help of GLPAN’s Mini-Grant funding, WMEAC Deputy Director Elaine Isely is focused on expanding the work with the Wolverine CAG with a specific focus on more robust communications: 

“The funding we received from GLPAN will help us hire an intern and execute more consistent, hard-hitting communications for the Wolverine CAG throughout the year that keep the community involved, engaged, and in the know. While our work has been focused on Northern Kent County, the support from GLPAN and other organizations will help build a foundation as we look to expand our efforts towards Muskegon and other West Michigan communities grappling with toxic PFAS contamination.” – WMEAC Deputy Director Elaine Isely

WMEAC’s work with the Wolverine CAG to expand communications and add more capacity will continue throughout 2024 and serve as a great example of local efforts to educate the community about PFAS and its impacts on our drinking water, our economy, and our health. We look forward to seeing how their work moves the needle throughout the rest of the year!