You finished your Challenge Detroit fellowship just a year ago, tell us what you’ve been up to in the last year.

Since finishing my year as a Challenge Detroit Fellow I have taken on the role of Executive Director of MACC Development. It is a christian community development corporation focusing on Detroit’s 48214 community.

You have recently taken on a new role as Executive Director of MACC Development. Tell us more about the organization, its role in the community and your role as Executive Director.

Established in 2010, MACC Development has quickly become one of the leading nonprofits on the lower-east side of Detroit. In just a few short years, the organization has renovated multiple houses, established an award-winning literacy program and most recently, successfully completed a crowdfunding campaign through Patronicity and was among several groups to receive a $150,000 Innovative Projects grant from the Kresge Foundation for a mixed-use 12,000-square-foot commercial building to house their programs and new coffee-laundry business called The Commons.

How has your experience in Challenge Detroit influence your work now at MACC Development and what did you learn from your fellowship experience that helped you get to where you are today?

Challenge Detroit has an influenced my work immensely, I continually think outside the box and draw on the connections, methods and rapid prototyping taught during each challenge. The fellowship offered me the stage to meet and mix with some of Detroit’s most influential leaders and allows me to lean on those relationships to this day.

Now that it is summer time, what are a few of your favorite ways to play in Detroit?

I love to go down to the Detroit Riverfront, it is a place that constantly has something going on and is an amazing public space made for everyone to enjoy.

What excites you most about Detroit’s future?

I am most excited that Detroit’s future has the opportunity to play a leading role in how other Rust Belt cities like Akron, Flint or Buffalo can rebound from some of the worst economic times.