Business View Civil & Municipal | Volume 2, Issue 8

103 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 2, ISSUE 8 hospitality perspective, an eight-story Hilton Garden Inn Hotel and Home2 Suites was built in the downtown recently bringing 107 suites and 118 boutique suites to the core area. As for infrastructure, Mitchell says, “More community members with deep pockets have stepped up over the years through the Foundations of Excellence program to provide the city with updated infrastructure and to assist with equity development in the City of Kalamazoo – working with the city to provide dollars to assist with growth and development. Part of those dollars are going toward infrastructure development; including streets water, sewer, and lead replacement piping throughout the city.” In the next three to five years, Mitchell hopes to see the downtown core grow through adding even more educational institutions and beefing up their medical system. He shares, “I want to The college continues to grow in response to changing employer needs by providing: • highly regarded associate degree and transfer programs. • respected career and technical education credentials for health care and the industrial trades. • innovative collaborations with K – 12 partners for high school dual enrollment and Early Middle College. • contemporary work force development and corporate education and training. • fresh approaches to education, in-person and online, available on four college campuses, at its Kalamazoo Valley Museum and through life-long learning programs. Kalamazoo Valley Community College is a top-rated institution for post-secondary education. For more than 53 years, the college has collaborated with other like-minded organizations to create a vibrant local economy and to provide people with the skills and supports needed to gain access to good jobs. www.kvcc.edu Our goal is to create an environment - both on campus and off - where every individual can learn, belong and find success. THE C I TY OF KALAMAZOO, MI CHIGAN see a vibrant and active downtown, with a lot of people wearing medical badges, walking around, talking and going to our restaurants and our entertainment venues as a daily and weekly part of their life.”