Meet the finalists for the 2024 Lakeshore Innovator of the Year

Faced with the challenges of COVID-19, Kaja Thornton's innovative way of thinking produced a community hub for Muskegon Heights.

As owner of Overcoming Barriers, an adult foster care community that promotes its residents' independence, Thornton converted a former cafe in her neighborhood for office space. Then, the pandemic broke out, and forced her into an innovative solution to keep it afloat, she said.

"During COVID, everybody was working from home," Thornton said. "So we had all of these beautiful booths and spaces and said, 'Hey, come and work with us during the day.' Now, it's the Us Cafe, a place for us in the middle of Muskegon Heights."

The space is more than a coffee shop. Customers as well as local business and community leaders found a central location to congregate, network and exchange ideas.

"AgeWell Services, the Boys and Girls Club, the Community Foundation, Goodwill, the GVSU Innovation Hub, they started coming in and just brainstorming and coming up with ideas for our city," Thornton said. "It just turned into a hub space and innovative program as a whole for our city."

That's just one venture for Thornton. During her time as a student at Savannah State University in Savannah, Georgia, she fell in love with the region's lowcountry cuisine.

Her Cajun Cuisinewas a terrific success too, now helping to fund Overcoming Barriers' operations. Cajun Cuisine also offers a community food bank to help those struggling with food insecurity.

"It's so rewarding," Thornton said. "Getting nominated for Innovator of the Year award and people telling you, 'This helped me here, or I was at your cafe and I met with a person and that connection helped me start my business, or help me help somebody in a community.'

"That's what it's all about, just being that beacon of light on the corner of Barney Avenue and Maffett Street to help Muskegon Heights and Muskegon as a whole."

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