Joan Hawxhurst - Coordinator, Hope for Creation: the Southwest MI Chapter of Michigan IPL

Joan serves as the part-time Coordinator of Hope for Creation. Over the years, Joan has founded a national organization for interfaith families, led the development of Kalamazoo's community reading program, and reinvigorated Kalamazoo College's career center. She fell in love with the beauty and power of the Great Lakes when she came to Michigan in 1994 with her partner, Steve Bertman, a professor at the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at WMU. They are members of Temple B’nai Israel in Kalamazoo and the proud parents of two graduates of Kalamazoo Public Schools who are finding their own ways to be the change they want to see in the world.

Contact Joan

Tanai Dawson - Communications Assistant, Hope for Creation: the Southwest MI Chapter of Michigan IPL

Tanai has been eagerly looking for opportunities to combine her major interests in college and career (Computer Science and Environmental Studies) and is excited to be able to work with Hope for Creation. Tanai has been trying to find ways to support the environmental endeavors in finding additional educational opportunities with professors and researchers of different universities. She has recently graduated with Bachelor of Art and Science degrees in Computer Science and Environmental Studies that she hopes she can take to understand environmental data that could make significant impacts in the movement for sustainability.