There are a lot of ideas floating around about how to strengthen Detroit’s neighborhoods beyond downtown and Midtown. Now there’s a newly formed initiative committed to bringing all those ideas together and making them part of an integrated system that will move the neighborhood’s forward. Led by long-time community developer Maggie DeSantis, Building the Engine […]
For a city on the rise, it seems appropriate that alongside retail, restaurants and commercial renovation, coffeehouses are among the top hot spots around Detroit’s neighborhoods. These caffeine-fueled developments are new and old – longstanding and still in the development stages. Lots of sites are popping up across our city, building new spaces as well […]
As United Neighborhood Initiatives (UNI) completes renovation of a historic community building, I hear a familiar question: “Wouldn’t it have been better to tear down the old structure and build a new one?” Those wondering about the reason for UNI’s current work on the original 1923 portion of the Lawndale Center, in Detroit’s Springwells area, […]
It’s a backyard movement and a part of the driving force behind a decade-old, resident-led improvement initiative credited for buoying up neighborhoods during a time there was little hope or evidence of outside investment. While Detroit is home to many special blockbuster events, ARISE Detroit’s Neighborhoods Day belongs to its neighborhoods. This real do-it-yourself (DIY) […]