The Lakeshore Non-profit Alliance is a membership-based organization of roughly 200 non-profits. It helps their member organizations by offering and coordinating services and resources such as board training, leadership training, team building, and networking events. A recent article which focused on Community Spoke explained that the Lakeshore Non-profit Alliance and Community Spoke have intertwined funding, personnel and missions.
Patrick Cisler, the former Executive Director of Community Spoke and Lakeshore Non-profit Alliance, gave a presentation at the Ottawa County Health and Human Services committee meeting on January 31, 2023. During the meeting Ottawa County Board Chairman Joe Moss pointed out, “If you would like to learn about Lakeshore Nonprofit Alliance you can go to their website. They have a lot of helpful information; information on systemic racism, implicit bias, white privilege, understanding microaggressions, racial equity tools and lots more.”
Moss is correct. On the Lakeshore Non-profit Alliance website, there is a plethora of racial justice resources including videos, a racial equity toolkit with over 4,100 linked resources, as well as a 21-day equity challenge.
Patrick Cisler has since resigned from Community Spoke and Lakeshore Non-profit Alliance. Now he serves as the head of the Holland/Zeeland community foundation. It took many years for government, business, and non-profit stakeholders to build an empire that intermixes agendas, financing, and personnel. It will take time and awareness from everyday community members to understand the full extent of how these organizations are benefiting or scamming the public at large, and restore fiscal responsibility and accountability to the way our government operates.