Advocating for the U.P. We Want

How a nonprofit is championing education, mental health, and the environment in rural Michigan

For many of us “trolls,” the Upper Peninsula is a place we idolize, a natural paradise where we hunt, fish, camp, snowmobile, hike, backpack, and explore a landscape and culture that embodies everything we love most about Michigan.

But the U.P. is changing. From concerns about the arrival of AI data centers and cryptocurrency mines to worries about the cost of living, rural hospital closures, and shifting population demographics, one nonprofit is stepping in to address essential needs.

Up North Advocacy (UNA) recognizes that changes are taking place. The nonprofit means to do everything it can to ensure those changes are made by Yoopers, for Yoopers.

Introducing UNA

“We launched Up North Advocacy two years ago this March, with the mission to empower northern Michigan communities by encouraging civic engagement, amplifying our diverse voices, and advocating for positive change,” says Kalvin Carter, project director for UNA.

A man whose childhood home’s four walls were those of a trailer in the middle of a field in the middle of nowhere, Carter’s boyhood stories are not unlike those of many rural Michigan residents. “I didn’t have a lot of resources growing up,” Carter says. “So I started learning about social and economic structures. I decided I wanted to live in a Michigan where fewer kids struggled than were struggling when I was young.”

Carter describes Up North Advocacy as an organization that supports investment in public good. He began by ticking off some of the org’s key work areas: education, mental health, and the environment, then shared a copy of the group’s mission statement.

“Grounded in our love for our region and its people, we champion democracy, education, environmental stewardship, and inclusivity to create a stronger, more resilient, and more equitable home for all,” it reads.

Education: Advocating for Rural Michigan Schools

UNA logs about 500 volunteer hours annually. Many of these are dedicated to supporting area public schools, since a core tenet of UNA is that the health of a community is measured by how it cares for its children, by whether it empowers young people with the tools they need to take care of the society they will one day inherit.

By directly organizing or collaborating in 18 community actions that included door-knocking, media appearances, event hosting, tabling, and community organizing, UNA helped secure a 2024 operating millage renewal for Onaway schools and a 2025 bond proposal for Sault Area Schools.

“We are now in our first year of a major reconfiguration of Sault Area Schools,” says Caitlyn Schmitigal, UNA volunteer, kindergarten teacher, grad program student, and co-president of the region’s teacher union. Schmitigal worked hand in hand with UNA to advocate for the 2025 bond proposal, which passed by just over 300 votes.

The bond focused on facility improvements totaling $20.5 million for school safety upgrades, new PA systems, visual alerts, and emergency tools, as well as necessary renovations to accommodate the consolidation of school buildings. The bond had been attempted twice before, but Schmitigal says it wasn’t until UNA got involved that they were able to pass it.

“The funding is a great start,” Schmitigal says. “But now we need to boost parental involvement. Our biggest ask as teachers is for families to become more involved in their children’s education. It’s not enough to just fund our schools. We also need K-12 education to be a participatory activity for the community writ large.”

Mental Health: Men’s Circles Inspire Community Engagement

According to Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, the chief medical executive for the State of Michigan, more than half of all firearm deaths in Michigan are suicides, and the vast majority of those occur in rural Michigan among primarily older white men.

Meanwhile, according to the American Enterprise Institute, young men spend less time outdoors than prison inmates, a grim trend spurred by screen addiction, video gaming, remote work, crumbling social cohesion, and increasing male loneliness.

The good-paying jobs that once empowered men to provide for their families on a single income have become a thing of the past, and college participation among young men has plummeted. Mental health crises are skyrocketing among this demographic, and UNA has stepped in to help by launching its Men’s Circles.

“We are not therapists, but Men’s Circles are therapeutic,” says Carter. “We help men build better versions of themselves, empowering them to go out and become active, engaged members of their communities.”

“The goal is action, rather than inaction,” says UNA volunteer and Men’s Circle participant Trevor Yake. Yake says he joined Men’s Circle to get more involved in community organizing.

“I had very few social connections before Men’s Circle and didn’t really know where to start,” Yake says. “Circle gave me the tools and confidence I needed to go out into my community, find like-minded individuals, and begin advocating on the issues I care about.”

Yake adds, “When men hold each other accountable and express their emotions in a healthy way that is supported and not derided, we heal ourselves and each other and empower ourselves to be active, contributing members of society.”

UNA has completed three entry-level Men’s Circles as of February 2026. Each Circle included a six-session course and a mandatory full-day retreat. To date, 41 men have participated in the Circles. UNA plans to launch an intermediate course for men and, at some point, a Women’s Circle.

Environment: Stewardship and Ethical Economic Development

According to Carter, nothing connects residents in the U.P. and Northern Lower Peninsula to their homes more than the land itself.

“From our Indigenous brothers and sisters to our intergenerational homesteading families and long-time residents, being a Yooper or NoMi resident means belonging to the lands, waters, and ecosystems that are essential to our way of life,” Carter says.

Carter fears that outside interests, such as cryptocurrency mines and AI data centers, are threatening that way of life. He is wary of government officials opening the door to outside investment by Big Tech, using the post-industrial economic downturn in rural Michigan as an excuse to invite “new growth.”

“But that’s a failed approach,” Carter insists. “These outside investors don’t support real job growth. They have no connection to the land. They come in, use our resources, and leave. But at the same time, we can’t just be the people of ‘no,’ or else we’ll never reverse the brain drain that has seen our young people grow up and seek economic opportunity elsewhere. We have to support real economic activity that benefits our resident populations while also honoring our traditions and lifestyles.”

In addition to hosting community cleanup days, UNA has organized eight actions against planned crypto mines and AI data centers. UNA also recently played an integral role in supporting a whistleblower who informed the public of a plan by some members of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians to build 10-12 AI data centers on tribal lands. As a direct result of UNA’s advocacy, the plans were shut down and the Sault Tribal Government enacted a moratorium on all future AI data centers and cryptocurrency mines.

Carter says UNA is ultimately just trying to help Michiganders live the lives they have chosen. “The truth is, life has gotten harder for folks who have called rural Michigan home for years,” Carter says. “We have to reckon with the fact that economic opportunity is changing. Our previous industries that built the northern Michigan middle class were extractive, and, in many ways, problematic.”

Carter lists logging, mining, commercial fishing, and industrial agriculture among those industries.

“We’re trying to figure out how to honor our traditions of hunting, fishing, farming, working hard, providing for our families, and enjoying our woods and waters—but also respecting them—all while finding our way in the 21st century,” Carter says.

“This democracy thing that we have, it only works if we all build it together, or it’s not going to happen. If we don’t advocate for the kind of U.P. we want, someone else will make those decisions for us. We weren’t put on this earth just to be on the receiving end of decisions made for us by tech billionaires and real estate developers who look at our slice of heaven and see nothing but dollar signs. We need to become engaged in protecting what we have, or we’ll wake up one day to a very different kind of Michigan.”

Learn more at upnorthadvocacy.org.

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