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Jay Walljasper

Jay Walljasper's Latest Articles

Revitalization fellow uses her own Detroit experience working with city’s youth

Growing up on the Northwest side, Regina Ann Campbell got the total Detroit experience. It's that personal history that helps her connect with young people as director of the Milwaukee Junction Business Center in the North End. Profile by Jay Walljasper.  

A city lover’s guide to America’s most underrated city

Jay Walljasper tours Detroit through the eyes of the revitalization fellows he's profiled and comes back with an up close and personal look at the city.

Detroit Revitalization Fellow: Katy Wyerman

Jay Walljasper introduces us to Katy Wyerman, who combines a planning and economics background in her job at Non-profit NextEnergy, which supports the City of Detroit with implementation of green technologies.

Detroit Revitalization Fellow: Celeste Layne

Her vision is that we need better links to the Riverwalk, bike lanes protected from motor vehicles and a combination of good traffic flow and lively street life. We couldn't agree more, Celeste Layne.  

Detroit Revitalization Fellow: Matteo Passalacqua

A real estate manager and developer for the Vanguard Community Development Corporation, Matteo Passalacqua believes in the future of Detroit's North End. Jay Walljasper makes the introductions.

Detroit Revitalization Fellow: Abir Ali

West Side native Abir Ali moved back from Chicago and became a Program Fellow for the Hudson-Webber Foundation, applying her architecture and project management skills to revitalization initiatives in Detroit. Jay Walljasper tells her story.

Detroit Revitalization Fellows: Fascination with the city

In our latest installment in a series of stories on a group of scholars, doers and makers in Detroit here to make a difference, Jay Walljasper profiles, well, a bunch of people with a growing attachment to this fascinating place. 

Detroit Revitalization Fellow: Brian Connors

Before moving to Detroit in 2010, Brian Connors lived in Beijing, where he created a language school and a 24-hour, American-stlye diner. We should be glad he's brought his energy and ideas to our town, says Jay Walljasper.

Detroit Revitalization Fellow: Felicia Andrews

She started making a difference in Johannesburg and London, came home to attend U-M Law before returning to work in Africa. But Felecia Andrews found her calling where she began, in her native Detroit. Jay Walljasper makes the introduction.

Grassroots movement shatters myth that Detroit is ‘food desert’

Detroit is a national leader in the urban agriculture movement with more than 1,500 farms within the city limits and includes Eastern Market, which has more than 250 independent vendors and merchants processing, wholesaling, and retailing food. 

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