Category Archives: Our Lansing Home

Lansing development downtown: $600 million in the next 36 – 48 months

If you’ve been driving or shopping downtown, you get it: there is SO MUCH going on. after many years of stagflation and low growth.

Check out some of the upcoming construction projects now in development : https://lansingdowntown.com/

We’re seeing major improvements and support, too: including Michigan Avenue finally opening back up, the move for City Rescue Mission to the refurbished building on Kalamazoo, the CATA EV bus that is entering service shortly, and the Devil’s Day Tattoo co-owners re-furbishing and restoring the Barron’s Window Coverings and three units on S. Washington Square including residential above.

There’s also: a new city hall, a new hotel, more housing, and developments around the riverfront area as well as up into Old Town.

We love to see it.

We’re here to encourage folks moving to Lansing, and to shout out the businesses who are serving Lansing residents.

Thank you for believing in Lansing, Michigan!

Deep thanks to Gillespie Group, who has taken a chance on the Stadium District when no one else would.

Lansing is a World Class City

Thrilled to attend the ceremony held inside City Hall !

This was a celebration of Lansing’s commitment to diversity and included a flag ceremony, the mayor’s remarks, and music, singing, dancing, poetry, and a delightful selection of food.

Lansing is truly a world-class city.

Here’s the opening talk:

How to Get Involved in our Community

Here’s an auto-generated list of ideas on how we can get more involved in our community.

🗣️ Start by understanding your community’s needs.

Talk to neighbors, attend local meetings, or volunteer with existing organizations to see what challenges people face – whether that’s food insecurity, lack of youth programs, environmental issues, or social isolation among seniors.

Many people in our community are struggling with basic needs. To share your needs or to adopt a neighbor, reach out on any of the local neighborhood groups, such as on Facebook, to find out how you can get involved.



🤝 Consider direct service opportunities.

Volunteer at food banks, tutor students, help with community gardens, or organize neighborhood cleanups. These create immediate positive impact while connecting you with like-minded people.

The Lansing TARDIS food pantry allows you to drop off pantry goods at any time.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/iESFKhuwTBxp1wpK9

💡 Use your unique skills and interests.

If you’re good with technology, help seniors learn digital skills or assist small businesses with their online presence.

If you enjoy organizing, coordinate community events or start a neighborhood watch program.

If you’re good with youth, volunteer with your local school or youth group.

There are so many different places to use your skills! Find one, and try it out, and if it doesn’t work, move on.

🏪 Support local businesses and initiatives.

Shopping locally, attending community events, and promoting local causes on social media all help strengthen the economic and social fabric of your area. You can find local business associations through:

Downtown Lansing business directory: https://www.downtownlansing.org/around-town/downtown-directory

REOTown Lansing business directory:
https://reo.town/directory/

Old Town Lansing business directory:
https://www.iloveoldtown.org/directory/

🎉 Build connections between people.

Sometimes communities need more social cohesion: consider organizing a neighbor day, organizing a neighborhood swap meet or block party, starting or joining a community book club, creating or joining your neighborhood social media group, or simply making an effort to know your next-door neighbors better.

🔧 Create practical neighbor-to-neighbor support systems.

Why do we need to be so individuated?
We benefit when we can share and reciprocate.

Organize tool-sharing where neighbors borrow equipment instead of everyone buying their own.

Start a neighborhood childcare co-op where parents take turns watching each other’s kids.

Coordinate meal trains for families going through difficult times, new parents, or elderly neighbors who might need extra support.

🎯 Facilitate skill and resource sharing among neighbors.

Create opportunities for neighbors to teach each other – you could do “swaps” where someone can offer guitar lessons in exchange for help with home repairs, or organize regular “skill sweeps” where people share knowledge about gardening, cooking, car maintenance, or crafts.

📢 Develop neighborhood communication networks.

Beyond social media groups, create neighborhood newsletters, bulletin boards, or regular coffee meetups where people can share information about local issues, upcoming events, or simply get to know each other better. For example, the Westside, where we live, has a physical community board by the edge of Riddle park, as well as the Letts Community Center board.

🌱 Organize collaborative neighborhood projects.

Work together on shared spaces like community gardens, little free libraries, or beautification projects. Coordinate group purchases for things like snow removal services or bulk buying of supplies. These projects can help build intra-neighborhood relationships while improving our shared environment.

It doesn’t cost a lot to say hello to your neighbor, and it’s beneficial when you check in on them and they check in on you.

👥 Foster intergenerational connections.

Many neighborhoods have both young families and older residents who benefit from knowing each other. Organize events that bring different age groups together, or facilitate informal mentoring relationships where seniors share life experience and younger neighbors help with technology or physical tasks.

🚨 Address neighborhood challenges collectively.

Work with neighbors to tackle shared concerns like traffic safety, parking issues, or crime prevention. Sometimes problems that seem individual are actually community-wide and benefit from coordinated responses.

The shared “islands” in the Westside are a joint combined responsibility, where neighbors pitch in to keep the lawns beautified.

🏫 Get involved with local schools.

The local Lansing schools are an excellent place to get involved, and all local schools can benefit from your volunteer support.

Read to elementary students, help with after-school programs, or assist with school events and fundraisers.

Join the PTA or school board even if you don’t have children – schools benefit from diverse community input.

Offer professional skills like accounting, marketing, or trades knowledge to help with school projects.

Many schools also need volunteers for field trips, tutoring programs, or mentoring students – you must pass screenings and checks.

Help organize career days where community members share their professional experiences with students.

Alternatively, be a friend or mentor to a young person. Our young people are our future and deserve support and care.

📚 Support educational initiatives beyond the classroom.

Work with schools to create community learning opportunities like science fairs, art shows, or cultural events that bring families together.

Help establish partnerships between local businesses and schools for internships or job shadowing programs.

Advocate for educational resources and funding at school board meetings or through local government channels.

🏛️ Engage with local government.

Attend city council meetings, join local boards or committees, or advocate for issues you care about. Communities benefit from more citizen involvement in decision-making processes.

Current elections cycle frequently.

Check to see who represents you by putting your zip code in here: https://ballotpedia.org/Who_represents_me#address=48910

500 Business Ideas for Lansing Startups

Online tools are currently available to help you craft your approach. They can be helpful in unlocking ideas and generating more helpful options as we build a more connected, creative community.

Want an idea for a startup in Lansing? Here’s a free list of auto-generated ideas. https://startuplansing.com/2025/05/30/need-an-idea-for-a-startup-in-lansing/

Grow your Business with the Lansing Economic Area Partnership: purelansing.com/grow-your-business

Research on Comparable Cities

In using Claude.ai to visualize different types of graphics and data, here are some artifacts that the tool has created in order to “map” the different parts that individuals can play.

Lansing Economic Growth Roadmap:

https://claude.ai/public/artifacts/d02a4e50-0cae-4ae0-ab80-d3c4a1308313

This is publicly shared.

Screenshot

Have you tried using AI? Here are some additional prompts and visualizations. You can use these as a starting point to understand and refine your own map.

Also, there is an excellent study released this week by the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Lansing Economic Area Partnership that you can find here:

State of the Region Report

Finally, another comparison graph using Claude:
https://claude.ai/public/artifacts/1665360b-b8cc-48e0-9c40-14d73bc72f98

Learning how to network

ATHENA Win is a program from the Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce that helps women who are new in business, emerging leaders, and established mentors come together to learn, share ideas, and grow.

This week was a gathering with Jennifer Maxson out of Grand Rapids who does training on networking. Her key points were to think about the three A’s: arrival, attire and attitude.

For Arrival, she mentioned you can plan to get at the venue with around 15 minutes so that you can get signed in, grab your refreshments, and mingle with any folks that you haven’t met yet. It’s fine to make a plan to meet three new people.

For Attire, she mentioned wearing professional wear, sturdy shoes if you will circulate around the room if that’s something important to you, and a minimal bag or preferably, pockets for all your belongings. Wear your name badge on your right hand side so that when you are shaking someone’s hand, they are able to see your name.

For Attitude, most folks appreciate speaking with someone generally cheerful, enthusiastic, and interested in what they have to say. Be interested and be interesting, and be curious: ask questions to clarify.

Jennifer Maxson suggested having a 30-second commercial ready so if it’s your turn, you can you talk about yourself, reference your business, team, or project, and finally mention something about which you’re proud.

Attendees had a great opportunity to practice and refine their “commercials” and also meet some new participants along the way, great work to Sarah Bakken and the rest of the organizing team!

Adopt – a – River

It’s so great to be a part of the community cleanup that happens in May every year.

This year a combined group of community groups, nonprofits, individuals and teams, and local partnerships came out in full force to clean up and re-vitalize Lansing including along the River Trail.

We saw trash pickup, repotting of some beautiful flowers, and multiple river stretches adopted by volunteers to get tidied up from waste and garbage…

Thanks to Impression 5 Science for organizing and Lansing Board of Water and Light for sponsoring.

Consider starting your business in Lansing

You can here in Lansing!

  • Do you have an idea of something that you want to participate with, build, and develop?
  • Do you have an emerging business online or in-person that you’d like to grow?
  • Are you seeking expansion opportunities

There are many opportunities for us to build a community of customers and clients both in the region and nationally.

We’ve shared a guide in PDF format of how to set up your business in Lansing.

50 steps from idea to reality

You can also kick off the opportunity to apply for free technical assistance from partners at the TREK Hub form organized by the Lansing Economic Area Partnership at pureLansing.com/grow-your-business

There is grant funding available for both “Main Street” and “high tech” businesses. Also consider what you can do to increase the scale of your business to support more jobs and investment in the region.

LEAP orientation session

Mayor’s Ramadan Unity Dinner 2025

This year‘s Ramadan Unity dinner with Mayor Andy Schor of Lansing and Mayor George Brookover of East Lansing raised funds for the Greater Lansing Food Bank.

This event invites all community members to unite and work together toward a common goal. The keynote speaker was Lieutenant Governor Garland Gilchrist II.

The dinner was MC’ed by Areesha Shah and included a prayer by Pastor Iris Cotton, an overview of Islam and Ramadan by Imam Sohail Chaudhry from the Islamic Center of East Lansing, a poem by Lansing Poet Laureate 2024-2026 Ruelaine Stokes, a discussion on our work as a community by Thasin Sardar, an introduction to the keynote by Dr. Farhan Bhatti of Carefree Medical & Dental, and final remarks by Michelle Lantz, CEO of the Greater Lansing Food Bank.

The event raised $20k and the food bank turns every dollar raised into three meals for those facing food insecurity in our region.

Welcome poster

Screenshot

Mt. Hope STEAM Drama Club presents Shrek Jr. – The Musical

Congratulations to all the hard-working thespians from Mt. Hope STEAM Magnet school, who sang and danced their way through their spring production of Shrek Jr. – the musical, held April 11, 2025 at 6pm on Everett High School’s stage.

Shrek Poster Cover 2025 - from Mt. Hope STEAM spring production

The troupe worked hard for six months to bring this show to the stage, and were rewarded with resounding cheers and applause.

Congratulations to all the students!

The First Annual Lansing Independent Comic and Zine Fest – LICZ

The Lansing Independent Comics and Zine Fest (LICZ!) was celebrated on April 12, 2025, and was a “celebration of self-published and small press creators in Lansing, MI.”

Held at REO Town Marketplace, the event was a fun gathering of artists, zine creators, comic strip artists, illustrators, writers, and creatives of all types.

Screenshot

Great fun was had by all connecting, sharing recipes, drawings, and ideas, and passing around self-published magazines. You too can create a zine! Check out: https://www.liczfest.com/ to get involved.

Celebrating the Life of Cesar Chavez

Cesario Estrada Chavez and Dolores Huerta, alongside Larry Itliong, Gilbert Padilla and other organizers, were labor organizers who created the movement that is now the United Farm Workers of America. UFW to to this day continues to advocate on behalf of workers in agricultural industries, primarily in California. The UFW is the largest and most enduring farm worker’s union: they works toward a safe and just food supply in the United States of America.

The City of Lansing honored the legacy of Cesar Chavez at an annual event, this year celebrated at Cristo Rey church.

Speakers discussed what Chavez’s legacy means today, and made plans for the upcoming centennial celebration of his birth. If you enjoy health care, better wages, benefits, safe working conditions, and the ability to take time off, you do so by the efforts of labor unions.

A most poignant part of the event was the group singing a rendition of De Colores, the Spanish folk song that focuses on solidarity, social justice, and unity. Here are the lyrics:

Click to access SONG%20LYRICS%20WITH%20TRANSLATIONS.pdf

De Colores
(Traditional- Mexican Folk Song)
De colores, de colores se visten los
campos en la primavera
De colores, de colores son los
parjaritos que vienen de afuera
De colores, de colores es el arco iris
que vemos lucir
Y por eso los grandes amores de
muchos colores me gustan a mi
Y por eso los grandes amores de
muchos colores me gustan a mi
Canta el gallo, canta el gallo con el
kiri kiri kiri kiri kiri
La gallina, la gallina con el kara kara
kara kara kara
Los polluelos, los polluelos con el pio
pio pio pio pi
Y por eso los grandes amores de
muchos colores me gustan a mi
Y por eso los grandes amores de
muchos colores me gustan a mi

ENGLISH: In Colors
(Traditional- Mexican Folk Song)
In colors, the fields drape
themselves in profusion of colors in
springtime.
In colors, in colors the young birds
arriving from afar
In colors, in colors the brilliant
rainbow we spy
And that’s why the great love of
infinite colors is pleasing to me
And that’s why the great love of
infinite colors is pleasing to me.
The rooster sings, the rooster sings
with a cockle doodle do
(kiri, kiri)
The hen, the hen with a cluck, cluck,
cluck
(kara, kara)
The baby chicks, the baby chicks
with a cheep, cheep, cheep
(pio, pio)
And that’s why the great love of
infinite colors is pleasing to me
And that’s why the great love of
infinite colors is pleasing to me
(translated by Abby F. Rivera 1/05)

Thanks to the City of Lansing for hosting this event and the speaker Arturo S. Rodriguez, former President of UFW.

Every year on March 31st is Cesar E. Chavez Day, as declared by the Michigan Legislature in 2004 to recognize his contribution by organizing farmworkers to campaign for safe and fair working conditions, reasonable wages, decent housing, and an outlawing of child laborers.

President Obama declared March 31 a U.S. federal commemorative holiday in 2014.

1st Annual 517 Entrepreneurship and Innovation Week

This has been a notable year of first annual celebrations, and #517ei week #517ei25 was a banner success, with over a thousand participants at 21 events scheduled in the tri-county area.

From event organizer, Lansing Economic Area Partnership:

517 Entrepreneurship and Innovation Week is Lansing’s premier celebration of entrepreneurship and innovation.

This celebration highlighted all types of inventors, innovators, small biz owners, and entrepreneurs from every field. Community members learned, celebrated, and shared ideas, and even voted on winning pitches at The Hatching pitch competition.

Makr your calendar for 2026 and connect at: 517ei.com so we can continue to connect, grow, and thrive with our community.

Entrepreneurs are problem-solvers at the nth degree: let’s learn together, determine how we can incrementally improve and solve problems in the 517, and continue to grow jobs and investment in the region.

Picture at Nikki Flores, at the Bridging Entrepreneurship: Connecting Campus & Community event at TechSmith.

Women in Technology

Women have a special role to play in the adoption, rollout, and implementation of technology here in the Lansing region.

Today, Michigan State University Research Foundation hosted an inspiring Women in Tech Summit 2025:

https://www.msufoundation.org/womenintech-2025

Speakers & Panelists

Speakers and Panelists at MSU Research Foundation Women in Tech Summit 2025

Thank you to all who coordinated and led this event.

The schedule and speakers list is here:

https://www.msufoundation.org/womenintech-2025

During lunch we had some fascinating discussion topics, including:

  • What if automation replaced 50% of jobs: how would society adapt?
  • What if workplace culture prioritized inclusion as much as innovation?
  • What if everyone had access to STEM education from childhood?
  • What if teams were required to rotate leadership roles — how would that affect collaboration?
  • And a crowd favorite: If you could have dinner with anyone living or dead, who would that be?

Curious about more in innovation, tech, entrepreneurship and women?

Join the conversation at #517ei25.

Self-sufficiency and interconnected living

When we arrived in Lansing, we were determined to make sure to be providers and producers to our community. To do so we created a space to have ongoing connections with our immediate neighbors (shoutout neighbors!) and to foster ongoing conversations with those in our ward and general region.

From a land-use perspective, we are in the midst of ongoing development of our property (Home and Garden Improvement).

What are you doing to enable more utilization, or further beautification, of your space?

What resources have you found to help as you build out more of your existing space?


Launching the Idea Bank

Ideas are everywhere, in the observations you make as you pass by on the street, in the places you visit, and in conversations with the people you meet.

Lansing: do you have an innovative idea that you’d like to share with the community?

Our Lansing Home is opening the Lansing Innovation: Idea Bank.

Through a form-based submission process, which is open to any community member, Our Lansing Home recruits innovations or improvements to existing ideas.

After a thorough evaluation and vetting process, supported by an Innovation Panel, the topmost idea owner is selected to receive support or funds toward implementing that idea.

For the timeline and how to submit your idea, go to: http://bit.ly/olh-lansingideas

Instagram Connections

Based in Lansing, Michigan, we are excited to support local businesses through highlights, reports, marketing and social media, sharing community events, and more.

Are you seeking to partner with our popular Instagram account?


We’re seeking local businesses with whom to grow.

Our wishlist:
* New and emerging businesses
* Downtown Lansing, REO Town, Old Town
* Member of an existing regional Chamber of Commerce, group, or association

What we do:

  • buy and invest in our local community
  • foster connectedness 
  • use our technology skills effectively

Values: 

  • Integrity
  • Collaboration
  • Compassion
  • Patience
  • Communication
  • Teamwork

We support the stability of our family and we grow the strength and resilience of our community, city, nation, and world.

We’re blessed with friends and supporters in this work.

Want to partner?

Submit to our form to start a conversation: https://bit.ly/olh-request

Old School Cool

From what we can discern, this house was originally built in 1921 as a kit home, probably to support the many autoworkers in the neighborhood. Some time ago, the neighboring home burnt down, so the house now stands alone on its own lot, with a vacant lot next door.

We’re excited to start thinking through ideas on how to build out the interior and exterior, as well as plan for the garden and back garden area.

To do:

Interior:

Plan for interior remodel
Attic
Basement
Basement bathroom
Flooring

Exterior:

Gutters and Downspouts

Grounds:

Investigate shed for home office and/or visitors