A program that deploys off duty Detroit Police officers to help patrol East Jefferson neighborhoods from the Villages to the Grosse Pointe Park border is beginning to pay dividends. Matthew Lewis goes for a ride to the lower east side for this report.
An old school neighborhood advocacy group with roots in the civil rights movement of the 1960s, the Youth Inititiaves Project (YIP) carries weight and street cred in Osborn. Matthew Lewis introduces us to the man who makes it all happen in this installment of On the Ground.
Students at the Brenda Scott Academy are not part of a traditional academic setting. They have longer school days and remain in class 11 months out of the year. Matthew Lewis spent time there last week and witnessed good things beginning to develop.
Welcome to Osborn, where writer Matthew Lewis is spending the summer reporting on all the small but important things that build community life in a Detroit neighborhood. Where does the energy begin? At the Benjamin Franklin branch of the Detroit Public Library.
Oh, yeah, and the team is none too shabby either, just capturing its regular season championship with an 11-0-1 record. Matthew Lewis was on the pitch screaming "goal!" at the team's recent victory over Buffalo.
A vacant home transformed into a community message board. Public art found in nearly all directions. Hand carved signs at assorted garden sites. This is Brightmoor today, ready to engage the political process. Matthew Lewis reports from the northwest side.
Our series on blue-green infrastructure wrapped at a recent speaker series event that featured a panel of experts, business people, and activists who discussed the need for the region to embrace its identity as a Great Lakes metropolis. Project editor Matthew Lewis recaps.
Meet Jeff Klein, whose business, Detroit Farm and Garden in Southwest Detroit, was opened with a mission to provide quality gardening, farming and landscape resources to the community. Matthew Lewis ties it all to the region's blue-green movement.
Community leaders and neighborhood advocates like Stephanie Johnson-Cobb, manager of community involvement and safety at Focus: HOPE, are digging in for Detroit's future. Matthew Lewis meets her in part two of our report on new voting districts.
This first feature in our series explores the Northeast Detroit caucus, aka Council District 3, where Matthew Lewis finds the Osborn Neighborhood Alliance and Matrix Human Services working to improve the quality of community life.
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