Last year, Rootead Enrichment Center celebrated its 10-year anniversary while navigating significant organizational changes. Throughout the transition, we have stayed committed to our mission and to serving the community, while focusing on creating a strong internal culture that prioritizes a healthy team and financially stable organization.
Our leadership team, led by Carmen James, Interim Executive Director, is focused on fostering a countercultural working environment. Instead of solely focusing on end results, we’re prioritizing the physical and mental wellness of each person on our team to ensure they are equipped to handle the weight of community work.
“If you take care of the staff, the staff will help support taking care of the community,” said James. “[We have] a lot of rest days so…we can work really hard and really be rejuvenated.”
Beyond rest, we’ve also adopted a “bottom-up management style,” according to James, which empowers the team to weigh in on program and operational decisions. This approach provided the foundation for the recent staff-led strategic planning the organization conducted.
“We have strengthened systems and picked out what we feel doesn’t 100% align,” said Adia Brown, Marketing Lead.
Our team came out of the strategic plan with a refined mission and vision that aligns with the heart of the organization and the spirit of collaboration and community care.
“We always go with a collaborative mindset first,” said Will Stewart, Youth Enrichment Coordinator. “We do very much lean on trying to be there and support each other, and move together as a collective so that we can then do our work better for those who we have the honor to be able to do the work for in the community.”
Prioritizing rest and support has created a stronger team with a deep desire to serve and care for each other as well as the community. During this time, our staff has grown beyond coworkers to family.
“We’re all here to help each other to make sure that the community gets the things they need,” said Telisha Parker, Birth Justice Lead. “Not only do we support each other in our work…for the community, but we also support each other’s mental well-being and physical well-being.”
Parker experienced first-hand the family-like support of our team last year after having a baby and undergoing knee surgery. She received calls and meals from fellow team members while on leave, and was provided support when she returned to work to ensure her transition was smooth.
“If something on my workload was a little bit too much for me, they made sure to ease me back in, not just dump everything on me,” said Parker. “That was very welcoming and very helpful in my recovery.”
These internal culture shifts have developed renewed trust among the team. Our leadership has also worked to create consistency and financial stability within the organization to deepen that trust and create a stronger foundation for the future.
“[The team is] starting to understand their roles, and they are feeling like they can plan and anticipate more,” said James. “From my perspective, they are feeling more stable. There is more trust in the process and in the stability of their jobs.”
With renewed vision and energy for their work, our team recently launched a new system for surveying the community and receiving regular feedback to ensure programs and offerings are meeting the changing needs of those we serve.
“It’s all about stacking our resources so that we can come together and make more connections with community members and help [Kalamazoo] be a healthy, thriving community,” said Parker.
Article Summary:
After a year of transition, Rootead is transitioning into its next decade by focusing on a strong internal culture that emphasizes staff wellness and financial stability. By fostering a work environment that prioritizes the mental and physical health of the team, the organization ensures its members are fully prepared to support the community.
Rootead has also implemented a management approach where employees are empowered to influence operational and programmatic decisions. This collaborative spirit recently led to a staff-driven strategic plan that sharpened the organization’s mission and vision. Team members describe their working relationship as a close-knit support system that extends beyond professional tasks to include personal well-being during difficult times.
These internal improvements have resulted in greater role clarity, increased job security, and a stronger foundation for the future. Rootead has also introduced new ways to collect community feedback to ensure their services in youth enrichment, birth justice, and community wellness continue to meet local needs. Through these efforts, Rootead remains dedicated to its goal of cultivating a healthy and thriving village.