ART & CULTURE FINALIST:

Bay Community Theatre

INITIATIVE: Live at the Bay!

This initiative is to add full live event capabilities to The Bay Community Theatre. Our proposal will have significant impact on the community in two important ways:

1) it will enable The Bay to bring joy, learning, and connection to many (thousands) more people in our community;

2) it will make the theatre itself more financially sustainable and viable to serve the community for years to come.

The Bay has been a cherished movie house for over 75 years and will continue to show great movies to thousands of community members for years to come. The reality, however, is The Bay faces the same major challenges confronting all movie theaters. Specifically, the extended impact of Covid, disruptive Hollywood strikes, and the explosion of programming available via streaming have all hurt movie theatre attendance and profitability. Since the pandemic, 5,000 screens nationwide have gone dark, including the Bijou in Traverse City. Across the country, ticket sales at movie houses are down 16% since 2019.

The Opportunity: Unlike many movie theaters, The Bay Theatre has a full performing arts stage so it has the potential to expand its impact in the community by offering more and better quality live events. In addition to the physical stage, the theatre also has backstage “green rooms” and excellent acoustics for live events. Recent experiences have proven that, on average, our live performances are many times more profitable than our movies and create a real impact in the restaurants and retailers nearby. Surveys, focus groups, and interviews with community members have shown enthusiastic support for more live events at The Bay.

So why do we need this grant if we already have live events? Although The Bay Theatre has a full stage, the theatre lacks the full sound, lighting, and other auditorium equipment needed to execute top quality live events without hiring expensive contractors and rental equipment. Furthermore, the time and logistics of securing and setting up equipment from third parties requires extra preparation and downtime for the theatre. Renting sound and lighting equipment requires 3-5 hours of staff time per event and does not always offer the quality we need. Furthermore, to ensure a quality patron experience, we are also including in this project a new heating & A/C system to replace an unreliable nearly 30 year-old system. Our existing system has required costly repairs and professional inspections indicate it must be replaced soon.

So why not just use the sound system we have for movies? Our cinema sound equipment is specifically calibrated and dedicated for movies. Live events require a parallel system for stage sound for the audience, sound monitors for the artists on stage, microphones, and mixing and control interfaces. We also do not have a full lighting setup for live events nor equipment to stream in content such as guest speakers to accompany films or community events.

The Impact: The Bay will continue to be a popular place for movies but with enhanced live event capabilities, we can expand our schedule of live performances, improve the quality of the shows, and reduce the operating costs and complexity of our operation. This shift to more live events will benefit many (thousands) of people in our community each year and enable us to reach a wider variety of community groups. As one of the only year-round performing arts venues in Leelanau County, The Bay Theatre is an important anchor bringing the community together with shared experiences. Importantly, The Bay Community Theatre can not survive financially on movies alone so the addition of profitable live events are key to remaining viable for our future. Growing our audiences with profitable live events is a key strategic priority in the 2026-2030 Strategic Plan of the Bay Community Theatre.

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EDUCATION FINALIST:

Friends of Fife Lake Public Library

INITIATIVE: Room for Community: The Fife Lake Learning Hub

Room for Community: The Fife Lake Learning Hub

In Fife Lake, the public library is one of the few places where rural residents can walk in without cost, appointment, or judgment and find what they need to keep moving forward. On any given day, a child hears a story that helps build a love of reading. A student finds books and Wi-Fi for school. A senior brings in a phone or tablet and asks for help staying connected. A job seeker prints an application. A community group looks for a room it can afford. These are small moments, but in a rural community with few alternatives, they matter deeply. Fife Lake has built its library one chapter at a time since 1887, and this project continues that tradition by preparing the next public space where residents can learn, connect, and support one another.

Room for Community: The Fife Lake Learning Hub will take place at Fife Lake Public Library in southeastern Grand Traverse County. The larger library expansion will create a new 2,280-square-foot Learning Hub within a 7,200-square-foot expansion. Impact100’s $120,000 grant will fund the Learning Hub Activation Package, ensuring the new space opens equipped, accessible, technology-ready, program-ready, and measurable from day one. The Activation Package is included within the $1.2 million total project budget and represents the portion requested from Impact100. The Activation Package is the bridge between a completed room and a room that can change lives. The expansion creates the space; Impact100 makes the space work.

Funding will provide flexible furnishings, presentation and learning technology, accessibility and senior-friendly features, hands-on learning equipment, research and digital learning tools, program launch supplies, signage and wayfinding, and evaluation supports. Each item is tied to the initiative’s outcomes: more programs, more reliable room access, stronger technology support, and better participation for underserved residents. These are not extras. They are what allow the Learning Hub to become a functioning public education space for literacy programs, school-connected learning, senior enrichment, digital literacy, community education, partner use, and public meetings.

The initiative will serve rural children, students, families, older adults, residents without reliable home internet, job seekers, people with disabilities, local organizations, and community partners in Fife Lake and nearby rural townships. Current demand shows that the Learning Hub will be used immediately. These numbers show that residents already rely on the library for learning, technology, connection, and public space. The project is ready to move forward.

The library owns the existing building footprint and expansion lot. The design is final, Mark Humitz of Cornwell Architects is onboard, a construction manager is in place, and groundbreaking is scheduled for Q3 2026. The campaign has secured or committed approximately $955,000 toward the $1.2 million total project cost, including a secured reimbursable federal grant that will be drawn down as eligible costs are incurred. If awarded, Impact100’s $120,000 grant would reduce the remaining project balance to approximately $125,000. The initiative will be implemented by a clear local team. Friends of the Fife Lake Public Library will serve as applicant and fiduciary, administering and tracking Impact100 funds. Fife Lake Public Library will own, operate, maintain, schedule, and program the Learning Hub. Library Director Cheyenne Wilcox and staff will lead activation planning, launch programming, partner coordination, and outcome tracking, with governance from the Library Board of Trustees, construction coordination from the architect and construction manager, and system support from Traverse Area District Library.

This initiative is transformational because it ensures the Learning Hub opens not as empty square footage, but as a fully equipped public learning environment from day one. With Impact100’s support, crowded programs can move into flexible space, wait-listed meeting requests can become scheduled use, seniors and residents with disabilities can participate more comfortably, digital learning can happen with appropriate technology, and the library can track outcomes through room reservations, program attendance, partner use, participation, and feedback.

The Learning Hub will be sustainable because it will become permanent library infrastructure, not a temporary grant-funded program. All Impact100-funded furnishings, technology, equipment, signage, and evaluation tools will be owned and maintained by Fife Lake Public Library as part of regular operations. Ongoing use will be supported through staff management, Library Board governance, Friends fundraising support, TADL infrastructure, community use, and annual review. Impact100’s investment will help Fife Lake open the Learning Hub not as an empty room, but as a fully activated public learning space rural residents can use from the day it opens.

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ENVIRONMENT, RECREATION & PRESERVATION FINALIST: 

Friends of the Betsie Valley Trail

INITIATIVE: Betsie Valley Trail – Trail Access Accessibility Project

The Betsie Valley Trail is a 22-mile non-motorized trail corridor in Benzie County, Michigan, extending from Frankfort through Elberta and southeast to Thompsonville. The segment from Frankfort to Beulah is paved or surfaced with compacted limestone, making the trail surface itself accessible for users of all abilities. However, two of the trail’s primary parking areas — at River Road and at the Elberta/M-22 trailhead — currently lack accessible parking spaces and ADA-compliant access paths from those spaces to the trail. The River Road site additionally has a vault toilet that is more than 20 years old and does not meet current accessibility standards. The result is that people with mobility challenges cannot reliably reach a trail surface that has been built specifically to accommodate them.

The Trail Accessibility Project will fix both gaps. At the River Road trailhead, the Friends of the Betsie Valley Trail (FBVT) will relocate the entrance drive, resurface the existing gravel parking area, install four concrete ADA-compliant van-accessible parking spaces with appropriate striping and signage, build an asphalt access pathway from those spaces to the trail, and replace the existing non-accessible vault toilet with an ADA-compliant precast concrete vault toilet building. At the Elberta/M-22 trailhead, the project will install two concrete ADA van-accessible parking spaces and a concrete access pathway connecting them directly to the existing paved trail. All facilities are designed to meet or exceed the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design and the design has been reviewed by Disability Network Northern Michigan.

The project will be carried out by FBVT in partnership with Benzie County, the Michigan DNR, the Betsie Valley Trailway Management Council, and Joy 2 Ride Benzie, a nonprofit that operates piloted adaptive cycling rides for the elderly and individuals with disabilities. Joy 2 Ride uses the paved section of the trail for nearly all of its rides; the River Road site is where the organization most needs accessible staging, and FBVT has already installed a storage building at River Road to house Joy 2 Ride’s adaptive equipment. Without accessible parking and pathways, that equipment still has to be transported in for every ride, and Joy 2 Ride participants cannot independently access the staging area. The project completes the connection between paved trail, accessible parking, and accessible amenities — turning a partially-accessible asset into a fully-accessible one.

The transformation is significant. The Betsie Valley Trail draws families with strollers, people using wheelchairs and adaptive cycles, recreational cyclists, runners, walkers, and tourists. Benzie County’s population is aging and increasingly experiencing mobility challenges; the Benzie County Recreation and Cultural Plan (2026–2031) identifies accessibility improvements at these trailheads as a community priority. By removing the access barriers at River Road and Elberta, the project allows older adults, people recovering from illness or injury, individuals with permanent disabilities, Joy 2 Ride participants, and visitors traveling with mobility equipment to use the trail independently and with dignity. It also strengthens the regional tourism economy: improved accessibility expands the customer base for local restaurants, lodging providers, outfitters, and shops in Benzie County and the surrounding region.

The total project cost is $159,000. FBVT has committed $39,000 in match funding (approximately 25%) and is seeking grant support to cover the remaining $120,000. The project is in active design with a preliminary site plan completed and ready for final engineering and construction. Long-term sustainability is built into the project. Operation and maintenance of the Betsie Valley Trail are governed by a formal Management Agreement among the Michigan DNR, the trail’s owners, and the Betsie Valley Trailway Management Council. FBVT works closely with the TMC to fund and facilitate operation and maintenance, and the new accessible parking areas, access paths, and vault toilet at River Road and Elberta will be maintained under this same agreement. FBVT maintains a dedicated annual maintenance budget and has demonstrated consistent stewardship of the trail since 1993. The accessibility improvements use durable materials — concrete parking pads, asphalt access paths, a precast concrete vault toilet — and have been designed to minimize ongoing maintenance burden.

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FAMILY FINALIST: 

Michigan Indian Legal Services, Inc.

INITIATIVE: Gikendaasowin Guide: The MILS ChatBot and Legal Navigator

Michigan Indian Legal Services (MILS) seeks support to launch the Gikendaasowin Guide, a culturally grounded, AI-enabled legal navigator designed with and for Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians (GTB) citizens across the five-county service region. Available 24/7 and built for voice access, the Guide will help community members and families understand and act on urgent legal issues involving tribal law, child welfare, housing, and protective orders.

Rural attorney shortages and the complexity of overlapping tribal, state, and federal systems leave many Native families without timely, practical legal guidance. The Gikendaasowin Guide will convert dense tribal codes, procedures, and court opinions into plain-language explanations, guided forms, and clear attorney intake pathways—meeting people at the moment they need help and strengthening their ability to self-advocate safely and effectively.

With grant support from Impact100 Traverse City, MILS will create a replicable digital justice model that can be sustained through modest ongoing operating costs and adapted for all 12 federally recognized Tribes in Michigan down the road. By combining legal accuracy, cultural grounding, and accessible technology, the Gikendaasowin Guide will reduce barriers to justice, protect families, and advance Tribal sovereignty through community-centered legal empowerment.

This Chatbot will be hosted on the MILS website and, in addition to being trained on GTB law, will also be trained on the other self-help materials available on the MILS website. People will also have the option of speaking their questions rather than typing, with the inclusion of a custom voice-enabled widget. Individuals confronting housing instability, child welfare matters, protection orders, public benefits issues, or consumer disputes often must make time-sensitive decisions with limited access to understandable guidance. The Guide will pull from materials written for a general audience and will provide plain-language explanations of common legal issues, practical next steps, and clear pathways to appropriate services and referrals.

MILS will implement the Gikendaasowin Guide in collaboration with GTB stakeholders and advisory partners. The project will deliver two integrated components: (1) a centralized, regularly updated library of GTB legal resources (including codes, court rules, procedures, forms, plain-language guides, and referral information) and (2) an AI-enabled chatbot interface that assists users in locating and understanding these materials through natural-language questions, accessible 24 hours per day via mobile device or computer. During an approximately 24-month design, development, and testing period, GTB citizens participating on the project team will help establish priority topics, review materials for clarity and cultural alignment, and conduct user testing to validate navigation pathways. Implementation partners will include GTB legal and court partners, a technical vendor selected through a competitive procurement process, and national Native justice and legal education partners whose resources may be incorporated with appropriate permissions.

Initial deployment will serve GTB citizens in Northern Michigan, with an approach designed for adaptation and replication with other Michigan tribes in subsequent phases. The initiative is transformational in that it extends access to jurisdiction-specific legal information beyond a traditional office-based, time-limited service model and provides culturally grounded legal literacy at the point of need. By translating complex jurisdictional and court processes into understandable, step-by-step guidance, the Guide is expected to reduce confusion, increase informed decision-making, and improve preparedness for interactions with courts and service providers, including for individuals who must proceed without counsel.

To maintain community trust and ensure responsible use, MILS will apply quality controls that include attorney review of core content, version control and regular updates, and ongoing monitoring of anonymized user interactions; the Guide will clearly distinguish legal information from legal advice and will direct users to emergency and safety resources as appropriate.

MILS is uniquely positioned to lead a tribal law chatbot initiative in Michigan. While other organizations such as Legal Services of Northern Michigan provide general civil legal services, they lack the jurisdiction-specific expertise, relationships, and data access required for an accurate and culturally grounded GTB tribal law solution. Tribal law evolves rapidly and is often not captured in commercial legal databases. MILS maintains one of the most comprehensive collections of Michigan tribal constitutions, codes, court rules, and court opinions, many of which are not publicly accessible. Its attorneys possess deep expertise in federal Indian law—including ICWA, treaty rights, and sovereign immunity—areas where general AI models frequently produce inaccurate or state-centric answers. MILS’ longstanding service contracts with tribes – especially the Grand Traverse Band – gives it direct access to tribal courts, governance structures, and legal processes. This trust and embedded presence ensure both the credibility of a chatbot and broad community adoption.

MILS has the operational capacity to conduct the initiative, including established administrative systems, fiscal oversight, communication processes, and technology needed to manage activities and evaluate progress. Our organization maintains strong partnerships with local stakeholders and service providers, allowing us to leverage community assets and ensure the initiative is responsive to participant needs. MILS is already engaged in a significant modernization effort. Through a 2024 LSC Technology Improvement Grant, the organization has updated its IT infrastructure, strengthened its security posture, and implemented a statewide online intake system. Leadership has emphasized standardizing workflows and improving data consistency—foundational elements for designing and maintaining a reliable legal chatbot. MILS will sustain the Guide beyond the grant period by integrating content maintenance and technology operations into ongoing organizational workflows, maintaining partnership processes to keep laws, rules, and referral information current, and pursuing diversified funding to support continued operation and future expansion once the GTB implementation is established.

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Health & Wellness FINALIST:

Rescue 5Loaves2FishNMI

INITIATIVE:

Food is the Vehicle, Love is the Answer

WE FEED PEOPLE! 5Loaves2FishNMI Co-Founders Michelle and Bill White, with dedicated volunteers, came together in 2020 with a mission “to promote compassion by providing nourishing meals, infused with love, to those experiencing food insecurity and homelessness”. Leland Community United Methodist Church’s kitchen became the permanent location for planning, preparing, and packaging delicious homemade meals, transporting them directly to hungry guests in the Grand Traverse region, with no questions asked. To date,100,000 meals have been served.

5Loaves2FishNMI proposes to purchase a 2026 Ford F59 P700 14 foot Step Van to be retrofitted with an upgraded electrical system and two solar panels, two hot boxes, a refrigeration unit, custom cabinet storage, van shelving, two folding tables, an exterior wrap, and two rear racks. This vehicle would replace the current 2014 Dodge Van to provide a much needed increase in capacity, easier loading and unloading, as well as overall safer, more reliable delivery of homemade meals to designated meals sites in the Grand Traverse region. The van would also serve to transport food and equipment to fundraisers and educational events.

COMMUNITY TO BE SERVED 5Loaves2FishNMI provides nourishing homemade meals primarily to vulnerable individuals and families in Grand Traverse, Leelanau, and Benzie Counties. At Traverse City Veterans Memorial Park and Safe Harbor Emergency Shelter in Traverse City, guests are generally unsheltered, facing mental health challenges, and/or struggling with substance abuse or other issues. These are the folks that need the dignity offered from a meal made with love and served with no questions asked. Those guests who visit food pantries and meal sites in Lake Leelanau, Leland, Empire, Lake Ann, Suttons Bay, Peshawbestown, and Northport gratefully receive this food for themselves or a struggling friend or neighbor. 5L2F believes every person to be worthy of a nutritious meal. As this basic need is met, energy and dignity can be restored, allowing each guest to focus on other important life matters. Each time the 5L2F van arrives filled with delicious food, guests often appear to lend a hand unloading and setting up the meal site.

According to United Way, economic disparity reveals growth in the ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) population of the Grand Traverse region. These individuals are hovering above the Federal Poverty Line, often unable to afford life’s basic necessities such as food and healthcare. ALICE households numbered 23% in Grand Traverse County (5% in poverty); 38% in Leelanau County (7% in poverty); and 27% in Benzie County (11% in poverty). According to Ashley Halliday-Schmandt, Director of the Northwest Michigan Coalition to End Homelessness, there are approximately 260 individuals in the area. In addition, Traverse City Area Public Schools reported 500 students as being homeless. Based on the per capita income of Michigan’s 83 counties, the Grand Traverse region ranked as follows: Leelanau County 2nd, Grand Traverse County 9th, and Benzie County 19th. As wealth increases in this area with financially comfortable individuals relocating or retiring here and a thriving tourist economy, there has been simultaneous growth of struggling young families, the elderly, and other vulnerable individuals.

The community being served by 5Loaves2FishNMI generally lacks resources for basic human needs, such as food, shelter, clothing, and household goods. With its aging van, the outreach delivers food directly to hungry individuals at area food pantries and meal sites. In addition, a community meal is offered weekly in the Leland Community Methodist Church fellowship hall, serving up to 100 individuals and families. This meals allows busy families, isolated individuals, and those struggling an opportunity to reach out to one another and strengthen their community. There is also a food pantry located at LCUMC for anyone needing extra food. The purchase a safer, more reliable vehicle, will greatly enhance 5L2F’s mission to feed people. Since its inception, the outreach has witnessed extensive growth in the number of meals served and with it a need for improved means of transporting those meals. The proposed 2026 Ford F59 P700 14 foot Step Van would allow more meals to safely reach food insecure guests and support the region’s food pantries and meal sites that serve them. The current van is inefficient and at times unsafe. Besides rising food costs, recent changes to Safe Harbor as a year around shelter and the closing of the Pines Campground have impacted the number of those struggling. At Traverse City Veterans Memorial Park hungry guests continue to arrive on foot, by bicycle, or in their cars (some of which double as shelter!), as they pick up meals for themselves and struggling friends and neighbors.

Co-Founders Bill and Michelle White, along with significant input and guidance from Kitchen Manager Josh Miller, would oversee the van’s purchase along with its upgrades. The new vehicle would be stored at LCUMC. This initiative would be transformative on many levels. The addition of refrigeration and hot boxes would ensure that nutritious food would be delivered in compliance with health and safety standards. Additional spacious storage areas for meals and supplies, combined with the ease of loading and unloading, would enhance the energy efficiency of 5L2F staff and volunteers. Also, this new retrofitted vehicle would improve driver and passenger safety, liability, and sustainability. Built to withstand unpredictable Northern Michigan weather, this van would allow nutritious meals to safely reach hungry guests in a timely manner. The attached exterior racks would accommodate extra equipment for transport as well. 5L2F’s expanded independence and geographical outreach would be an additional beneficial result. As the number of hungry guests expand, the current van poses safety concerns as it ages. Its diminished capacity and frequent repair needs cost 5L2F precious dollars that could otherwise be spent on food. This van is difficult to handle, especially in windy, rainy, and/or snowy weather, and threatens driver and passenger safety. It also lacks adequate storage space and is ergonomically inefficient for loading and unloading food and supplies. Should 5L2F continue at LCUMC or change locations in the future, the proposed van would be sustainable by following the organization to its new venue.

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