Detroit is (not) a blank slate

Detroit is not a blank slate. Over the course of 9 days with the Challenge Detroit staff and fellow fellows I have learned, if nothing else. There are people in the neighborhoods. They have lived here all along, and there isn’t a wasteland when you cross over from Grosse Pointe, Dearborn, Downriver, or from any city north of 8 mile.

This is something that I thought I understood before joining CD, but similarly to most metro Detroiters, I have seen the city through tourist tunnel vision. Detroit was just downtown and midtown, and only since last year Corktown made its way into my Detroit repertoire.

This view point could not have possibly been further from the truth. When we hopped on the bus with Detroit Experience Factory on day three, I did my best to go in with no expectations but failed in my attempt to. Our guide was a big personality, and immediately I prepared to be lectured on a city I thought I understood.

Although our three different stops changed my view entirely. First the Ford Research Engagement center with its variety of free programs in Mexicantown. Next was Artesian Farms with their urban hydroponic program in Brightmoor. Finally we stopped in Motor City Brewing in Old Redford with its murals and welcoming space in a neighborhood that is coming back.

Although these were small examples, each business had an admirable quality to it. First the entrepreneurial spirit of the people involved was an inspiration. Even more powerful was the dedication that each of these people showed towards their community. Not the community of Detroit, but the communities within the city to which they belong. Each person had a story about their neighborhood, paired with an optimistic sense of realism about its future. It was a brief but significant revelation that has me inspired about the city. Inspired to live here, and more importantly inspired to learn more, and become a part of this familiar but new city I live (work, play, give, lead) in.

Detroit is not a blank slate. It’s a mural that I want to make my mark on.