News Hospitality GVSU’s MAREC opens doors for more community involvement in Muskegon
GVSU’s MAREC opens doors for more community involvement in Muskegon
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GVSU’s Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center focuses on events that bring the com- munity into the center to learn about a wide range of topics, not just energy. |
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MAREC’s staff have sponsored alternative energy-themed programs to familiarize locals with the new forms of energy. PHOTOS COURTESY OF MAREC |
By Lisa Mackinder | M&C
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MUSKEGON—The Grand Valley State University Michigan Alternative and Renewable Energy Center (MAREC) in Muskegon is positioning itself as a meeting place for community businesses, inventors and sustainability groups.
According to Kim Walton, program coordinator at MAREC, the center has always opened its doors for that purpose in some fashion, but lacked a designated promoter. That’s where Walton, who joined the team a few months ago, comes into play.
“My goal is to have MAREC known all over the nation,” she told M&C.
Working toward that objective, Walton will be speaking at conferences across the country, advertising via the center’s e-mail list, writing about MAREC and renewable and alternative energy for the Muskegon Chronicle, and attending energy fairs, as she did in June at the Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association Fair in Novi. She also wants to start placing advertisements in newspapers and, over the next year or two, plans to draw in higher profile speakers. Additionally, Walton indicated that part-time staff is working on a new brochure.
Walton said offering meeting space for those community businesses, inventors and sustainability groups coincides with MAREC’s mission, one of becoming a regional economic development catalyst, business accelerator and research and development center. Walton believes holding meetings and events raises awareness about MAREC, which was developed in direct response to the growing need for the development of alternative and renewable energy sources.
“The best way to promote these companies is to become the expert and become known in the field,” she said.
MAREC offers two spaces that comfortably hold 40 people in a classroom setting and 25 when set up like a boardroom. It also has a large lecture hall that holds 75 people with chairs. She indicated MAREC has all the technological capabilities an organization could need. The classrooms provide a white board, a computer with fiber-optic Internet access, access to wireless Internet, a projector and multiple power supplies. The center can arrange catering, or businesses have the option of assembling it themselves.
Walton feels the fact that MAREC is a beautiful, LEED-certified building makes it a good choice for holding meetings, in addition to its flexibility with clients. She pointed out that a micro-turbine, wind turbine and solar panels supply all of the energy.
Moreover, MAREC’s meeting space can serve a wide audience.
“The location is kind of out-of-town, but not out-of-town,” she said. “It’s good for working people.”
Providing educational opportunities, MAREC sponsors in-house events like the “Fall Lunch and Learn Series,” which offers useful informational sessions on various topics over lunch one Monday every month. During the November 15 lunch and learn, Bill Gurn, manager of facilities at Haworth in Holland, will talk about his company’s zero waste to landfill program. The December 13 lunch and learn features Ron Steiner of The Starting Block, the West Michigan regional kitchen incubator in Hart, with, “Nurturing Entrepreneurial Passions in West Michigan.”
In November, MAREC also offered a program on Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer, which outlined the basics of the SBIR/STTR program, eligibility issues and detailed some differences between the eleven participating agencies – like the Department of Defense. The class is “good for anyone interested in getting into grant procedures for the state,” she said.
Another MAREC series, as yet to be announced, will begin in January. According to Walton, anyone interested in getting connected to in-house events should check MAREC’s current events online and sign up to receive e-mail alerts.
The effort to open MAREC was spearheaded when Arn Boezaart took over as executive director, first in an interim capacity and later as the organization’s permanent head, to which he was named about a year ago. The move came in response to a sentiment by many in the community who felt the center was off limits and secretive. In his tenure as director, Boezaart has made every effort to open MAREC’s doors and encourage as much community use of the facility, and community outreach, as possible.
For example, a public display about the center’s alternative energy systems is now available in the main lobby. Several groups, including the Muskegon Area Sustainability Coalition and the Muskegon Inventors Network regularly meet at MAREC. M&C
