I was first introduced to Arts & Scraps in the fall of 2016 during my internship with Rock Ventures. One of my first assignments during the internship was to visit different volunteer events we had set up around the city. I was immediately drawn to Arts & Scraps as they are such a unique nonprofit, with few other nonprofits in the city operating on their model.

Since 2016, I have been able to work with Arts & Scraps on a few programs, specifically one called Day of Innovation. With Day of Innovation, we invite 3,000 6th grade students from Detroit Public

Schools Community District downtown to explore a variety of career pathways. The students engage in different interactive learning experiences with our project partners, one of whom is Arts & Scraps.

I have always LOVED working with their organization and I thought they would be an incredible partner for my final Challenge Detroit project.

For my final Challenge Project, I worked with Ang and her incredible team at Arts & Scraps to deep dive into their organization and help coordinate a strategic plan and growth strategy. I was able to meet with most of the Arts & Scraps team to better understand their vision for their nonprofit, and community members, funders and students to determine what they would want in their communities. The overall experience was even more fun and information than I had imagined. I am so thankful for Arts & Scraps and Challenge Detroit for allowing me this opportunity.