Detroit Innovation is a series highlighting community-led projects that are improving the vitality of neighborhoods in Detroit, while recognizing the potential of residents to work with partners to solve the most pressing challenges facing their communities.
The series is supported by the New Economy Initiative, a project of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan that's working to create an inclusive, innovative regional culture.
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."
The importance of a resilient community garden space in Warrendale — and the connection it brings for residents — was thrown into sharp relief against the backdrop of a global pandemic this year.
Juan Shannon set out five years ago to establish a smart neighborhood in Highland Park. With a new solar-powered cafe and expanding urban farming initiative, the developer continues to grow green technology in his community.
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.”
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."
So, how do you get unstuck? According to professional life coach Monica Marie Jones, meeting with a professional is an excellent start.
How one Detroiter is creating her own child care options using a cooperative model.
La Casa Guadalupana offers Adult Basic Education (ABE) and General Education Diploma (GED) classes four days a week. Both are taught in Spanish.
The ABCs of DET aims to engage community residents in the process of choosing one defining element of their neighborhood for each letter of the alphabet and then producing a 30-second PSA about each one.
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