Rodnesha Ross didn’t become a parent at an early age, but she relates to those do. As a mentor to Detroit students, she knows young women with children of their own have unique needs. Ross founded Youth Community Agency to help address those needs. Originally formed in 2013 at Osborn High School with a focus […]
If there’s one thing that Detroit Regional Chamber CEO and President Sandy Baruah hoped the 2016 Detroit Policy Conference would clarify, it is that his organization and its members are deeply invested in Detroit, its revitalization and its neighborhoods. Yes, you read that last word correctly. Baruah and the Chamber drove that message into the […]
An increasing number of Detroit neighborhoods are garnering unprecedented interest and investment. That’s a good thing for everyone, according to Matt Elliott, Bank of America’s (BOA) Michigan market president, who is excited to see evidence of rising property values in pocketed blocks throughout Detroit. The gaps? That’s what Elliott and his team look to lessen […]
Growth is good. And it’s becoming more evident in Detroit’s neighborhoods, particularly in the Livernois-McNichols area where government, civic and neighborhood leaders gathered just an hour ago to announce the ground-breaking of the new 2.5-acre Ella Fitzgerald Park development. A morning celebration of the new HomeBase community center and Ella Fitzgerald Park brought Mayor Mike […]
Raquel Garcia is amazed by what she often learns from knocking on doors in Southwest Detroit. Hired to communicate with local immigrants about the personal and professional resources they might need, she frequently finds they’ve fared relatively well with little support outside their inner circles. Possessing a capacity for self-sustenance and more often than not […]
We called him “Mr. Fin.” I don’t remember too much else about my eighth grade health class teacher Don Finlayson, except his lanky, lean physique and wavy, silver hair. In his younger years, I think he’d been an athlete or a coach, maybe both. What struck me most about Mr. Fin was his vitality, though […]
For all it’s gone through as a city, Detroit still knows how to move. Want proof? STARS Elite Training Center won first place in the “Small Group 12 and Over” category in the World of Dance Championship in July in Seacaucus, NJ. Located at 19600 Grand River, STARS Elite Training Center also took fifth place […]
Freshly written corporate checks are only part of what’s needed to answer the call from Detroit neighborhoods that are among the last to experience new investment. Strategies including sustainability, market research and community support are the formula for effectively matching finances with housing and business initiatives that reflect resident interests, experts say. Among the challenges […]
No welcome wagon awaited the family that moved onto Parkside in 1968. One of just three black-owned homes on the block, it became not only a place to eat and sleep, but a sanctuary for four small children’s safety against harassment outside. Frequent vandalism made the message even more clear: Myla Perkins and her family […]
All Jevona Watson really wanted was to see a new coffee shop open its doors in her neighborhood. A resident of the Bagley community near Livernois Avenue and McNichols she could’ve started an online petition and invited any of the well-known java chains to the area. She might even have looked into becoming a store […]