Patrese Griffin is a community leader, housing advocate, racial healing practitioner, and fighter for equity and social justice. In June 2019 Patrese was appointed to the Kalamazoo City Commission and in November was elected to serve as Vice Mayor, making her the second Black woman in the city’s history to hold that position.
Prior to joining the commission Patrese led the movement for and authored a housing equity ordinance, unanimously voted in by the Kalamazoo City Commission September 8, 2020. It increased protected classes including source of income, removed barriers from rental housing, and established an enforcement component, the civil rights board. In 2018 she successfully co-led the effort to remove no parking/no stopping/no standing signs from Kalamazoo’s North side. She has created equitable programs and policies and provided culturally competent evaluations for various nonprofits. Patrese also serves in many capacities, including Chair of the Kalamazoo County Public Housing Commission, member of the Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT) Kalamazoo leadership team and Racial Healing practitioner, and ISAAC housing task force co-lead. She has created healing experiences and facilitated both in person healing circles and virtual healing experiences. She currently serves as Director of the Kalamazoo County Continuum of Care.