Essential Space, a Black and Brown people centered retreat space, currently rests on 36 acres of woods and trails just outside Kalamazoo. As part of a partnership with the Kalamazoo Nature Center the spacious, and convenient site with adjacent streams and water, hosts retreats, nature walks and social gatherings. Essential Space ensures environmental equity by establishing, re-establishing and maintaining Black and Brown people’s connection to the Natural world that is often coded in caution. The project responds to the need to add a place of primacy for learning from and retaining Pottawatomi River traditions and to increase Black and Brown people’s access to the benefits of Nature including decreases in blood pressure, depression, anxiety, and hypertension.
