In Challenge Project #4, my team partnered with Reclaim Detroit to collect stories from trainees that completed the organization’s job training program. Reclaim Detroit employs Detroiters with barriers to employment to deconstruct Detroit homes, saving valuable materials from landfills, while providing the education, certification, and skills necessary for a career in deconstruction and related construction trades. From the personal stories that program graduates shared, my Challenge team learned that Reclaim Detroit is much more than a job training program. Reclaim Detroit is an opportunity, a support system, a confidence builder, and a career path.
Each trainees’ story was unique, compelling and divulging of hope for the future. The stories gave meaning to the difference Reclaim Detroit is making in the city by revealing the difference made in people’s lives.
In America’s increasingly divided and polarized society today, these personal stories are much needed, because they allow people to connect at the most human, basic level.
The City of Detroit is recognizing the power of stories like these. Stories that can connect neighbors, recognize long time residents, give people a voice, help rebuilt trust in the city and its leaders, and celebrate Detroit culture. It was recently announced that Aaron Foley is joining Mayor Duggan’s administration as Chief Storyteller. The previous editor of BLAC Detroit and author of The Detroit Neighborhood Guidebook among others has accepted the mission of collecting and sharing Detroiter’s stories and I look forward to reading them.
As related to my career an an urban planner, in a very timely manner, James M Drinan, Chief Executive Officer of the American Planning Association wrote about storytelling in the opening letter of the March magazine.
“Placemaking is a form of storytelling, a way to connect to the public and help them imagine a future community. And advocacy about placemaking is also a fertile ground for storytelling.
[Therefore planners] are not just telling stories, we’re fulfilling professional responsibilities for placemaking that fosters the public good. We’re not just making maps, we’re making history. Our maps and data and publications are more than elements of a story, and we are more than storytelling; we are authors, and illustrators, and editors.”
There are a lot of stories to tell in Detroit, some absolutely great stories, and they won’t be found on the news. These stories are being told by nonprofit organizations making a difference in the city and providing people with the tools and resources to change their life, by City of Detroit staff working to connect and engage residents, and by urban planners helping the public realize a future city that is fair, just, and equitable.