Gold Coast Doulas, a group of 16 diverse doulas living throughout the greater Grand Rapids area, provide a wide range of services to women giving birth primarily in the hospital, but also at home.Their doula team includes African-American and Spanish-speaking doulas, doulas from different income levels, and doulas from all types of West Michigan communities.

They can support clients no matter what their race, religion, ethnicity, class demographic, or sexual orientation.

According to local professional Paul Soltysiak, The WestSide is diverse with lots of history. It has a wonderful flavor that is tough to define unless one lives, works, or plays here often. It needs to be experienced to be understood. Explore the Westside from Soltysiak's perspective in this installment of Neighborhoods of GR.

From “bricks” made of cedar wood and soaked in creosote to sturdy but expensive cobblestones, GR's oldest streets are rich with history.

This Rapid Blog comes to us from Carlos Garay Negrón, a Trans Latinx activist, community advocate, musician, and queer/trans theorist. Their theory work is centered around intersectional analyses of trans and queer experience through the media lens, and their praxis is focused on empowering marginalized communities to enact transformative change.

Over the past 10 months, Rapid Growth has featured the places and spaces of GR in our Neighborhoods of GR series. Catch up with the amazing people, nonprofits, and businesses that have graced our pages.

Amplify GR, is funding Amp Up neighborhood mini-grants ranging from $100 to $1,000. To receive funding, projects must target an Amplify GR neighborhood, provide direct benefits to neighborhood residents, and include neighbors as leaders, planners, and implementers of the projects.

How are rural foundations across the state approaching economic development? We’re sharing success stories right here in Michigan, starting with a look at the Rotary Charities' efforts to expand equitable access to the waterfront in the Grand Traverse region.

More than a dozen different audio recording studios in West Michigan help musicians, podcasters, broadcasters, show hosts, and others capture their sound on digital media, vinyl records, and sometimes even magnetic tape.

Grand Rapids is a design city teeming with talent. We asked these talented women to tell us what is on their minds about design, their careers, and what they do here in the city.