In Detroit communities hit hardest by COVID-19, solar power projects provided some relief and continuity of service this year. For engineers and entrepreneurs Ali Dirul and Karanja Famodou, renewable energy is not just about the sustaining the environment, it's about sustaining equity.
COVID-19 setbacks and losses have not been able to diminish the optimism of neighborhood innovator Tammy Black. The Jefferson Chalmers resident is drawing on the strength of her community to sustain plans for the construction of a treehouse community center and advocate for horticultural therapy.
A group of Detroit puppeteers discovered their performing arts nonprofit is surprisingly well-placed to survive COVID-19 restrictions, with established partners, the creativity to explore new mediums, and a focus on equitable access to the arts.
It's not just a design hub that Tanya Saldivar-Ali and her husband, Luis, are building on 18th Street — the Detroit couple is developing a construction pipeline to connect residents with sustainable careers. But it's the cutting-edge technology they are using to tell residents' stories that is capturing international attention.
Detroit firefighter Gary Ringer is connecting with national health experts to promote a better culture of health in his community, and wants local stations to be a part of that change: "As firefighters, we can do more than just putting the ‘wet stuff on the red stuff,’ we can play a more intricate role in the community we serve."
Juan Carlos Dueweke-Perez has come a long way from selling cheesecakes door-to-door in Southwest Detroit as a kid. Now the co-founder of Southwest Detroit Restaurant Week owns his own marketing agency and works toward bringing equity to minority- and immigrant-owned businesses: "I want to continue a legacy that doesn’t start or end with me.”
Detroit entrepreneur KaToya Scott has witnessed the joy her truck's ice cream can bring people, but she never expected her community to respond with an outpouring of support to help her business survive COVID-19 setbacks. "You don’t think people care and here are people saying ‘hey we see you.’ "
Twelve years ago, a health scare prompted Harriet "Chef Bee" Brown to start "waging war with a fork" and launch a healthy catering company. She is just one of the entrepreneurs Detroit's nonprofit groups are working with to generate equitable opportunities through economic and workforce development in the city.
It's taken many hands to grow the community garden space in Yorkshire Woods, but the team behind the outdoors space know how important it is, especially during COVID-19, and show no signs of slowing: “In the last five years what we have done is given the community a place to be peaceful."
Toni Jones always believed her work was important, but a global pandemic has shown the Detroit entrepreneur just how vital her affirmation brand is to her clients. “Last year women were wearing it as another self-care accessory, but now it’s how women are surviving.”
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