The beginning of June has finally arrived and I kicked off the start of my summer in Detroit with a bang at the WYCD Downtown Hoedown at Comerica Park for three days of country music from May 30-June 1. If there’s one thing that you should know about me, it’s that I absolutely love country music. My night and entire weekend were made when my friends and I watched Dierks Bentley perform live on Friday, May 30. I listened to his song, “I Hold On,” on repeat for a long time (yeah, I know I’m crazy) and finally bought his new album “Riser.” Other than that, over the three days of country music, I got to see other artists including The Band Perry, Tyler Farr for the second time (he was at the Ten Man Jam in February), Gunnar and the Grizzly Boys, The Swon Brothers, etc. Also, the Detroit Free Press decided to share my tweet and picture in a Storify story called “Country Music Fans Capture WYCD Downtown Hoedown, so thanks Detroit Free Press!

Now that I’m done gushing about that,  let me tell you a bit about the month I have ahead of me. Roughly two weeks ago, we started our 6th and final challenge project of our year with Challenge Detroit. We are partnering with Detroit Future City. My small team consists of Kirsten, Meiyi, Miguel and Darin. Just this past Friday, Kirsten, Miguel, Meiyi and I (Darin was unfortunately unable to join us) spent the day going on a tour of 48217, the most polluted zip code in Michigan and met with residents to gain an understanding of their needs. Sami also joined us for part of the day. Although it was a long day, it was a very eye opening and interesting experience.

I learned about the history of a region that I previously knew absolutely nothing about as well as the problems they currently face. Touring this area and meeting the residents made it seem all the more real to me. It always helps to be able to put a face to a story. I learned that 48217 is completely industrial and extremely polluted. I learned about the blight and environmental issues that the region faces. All that pollution made me feel sick after only a short while of driving around the area and walking outside. If it affected me a little in the short while I was there, I can only imagine what kind of negative impact the environment has on those who spent their whole life in this area. What I also learned is that the region is even more culturally diverse than I previously realized. Not only is the population near 48217 Latino and African American, but there is also a fairly large Arab American population. We passed Latino American owned businesses, Arab American owned businesses, churches and a mosque. I was able to listen to the concerns the residents which gave me more empathy and a better understanding of what struggles they are facing. The people who live in 48217 are well-educated and intelligent. They had a lot of interesting information to share with us.

I’m really looking forward to continue working on the rest of this challenge with my team. I really hope that we will be able to help Detroit Future City help 48217. I really believe that we can succeed at this.

On Friday, we arrived back to our work site at the Detroit Future City Implementation Office at 4:30pm,  7 and a half hours of being on the go. A half hour later, our work day was over and I rushed home to get ready to enjoy 3 long days of incredible country music and perfect weather at the Downtown Hoedown at Comerica Park.

Until next time,

Shivani