In this week’s Fellow Spotlight, we are checking in with Annie Hakim. She fills us in on what she enjoys most about Detroit, her host company, RecoveryPark, and what she enjoys most about being a Challenge Detroit Fellow.

Tell us about living in Detroit. What neighborhood do you live in and what things make it unique and exciting?

I live on the 19th floor of a high-rise apartment on historic Washington Blvd. in Downtown Detroit. From my balcony I can see Comerica Park, Ford Field, the Detroit River, and Downtown Detroit’s business district. The skyline, simultaneously vibrant and blighted, tells a story about Downtown’s rich cultural and architectural history. Many skyscrapers unique to an era (ranging from the 1920s-80s) are beautifully reminiscent of a city repeatedly on the vanguard of architecture and design.

AnnieHakim1

 

What do you enjoy most about living, working, playing, giving and leading in Detroit?

Although I grew up in Metro-Detroit, I didn’t spend much time in the city. I went to college in Grand Rapids, Michigan, spent time in Ghana and then moved to Charlotte, North Carolina. In July of 2014 I moved to Detroit. The greatest joy of moving to a new city is having the opportunity to make it ‘home’. By living, working, playing, giving, and leading in Detroit I’ve visited over a hundred places in the city in the past ten months, and met hundreds of Detroiters- both native, and transplants. Through Challenge Detroit I’ve had the opportunity to be part of collaborative projects with multiple non-profit organizations (Vehicles for Change, The Future Project, Detroit Collaborative Design Center, The Detroit Health Disparities Coalition, and 8 Mile Boulevard Association). I’ve worked alongside community leaders to improve access public transportation, develop community engagement strategies, further youth empowerment efforts, and stimulate local economic development. I feel very fortunate to have so many ongoing opportunities to learn about and engage in the social, political, and economic landscape of the city I now call home.

Tell us about your host company and your role in the organization.

Last September, I began my Challenge Detroit Fellowship and joined the team at my host organization, RecoveryPark. In 2010, RecoveryPark was started not only to convert blighted land in the City of Detroit into urban agriculture and aquaculture businesses, but also to spur economic development in Detroit’s neighborhoods by creating jobs for the individuals with barriers to employment (recovering addicts, returning persons, individuals with low literacy).

Over the past year, RecoveryPark built a pilot farm in Detroit to validate key aspects of our business model for the social enterprise we’re launching this fall, RecoveryPark Farms. We are proud to say that produce from our pilot farm has already been, and continues to be, featured on the menus of several high-end Metro-Detroit restaurants including: Selden Standard, The Republic Tavern, Bacco Ristorante, The Stand Gastro Bistro, The Root Restaurant and Bar, Stockyard Detroit, Streetside Seafood, Torino, Cuisine, Gold Cash Gold, Chartreuse, Forest Grill and Townhouse.

My job at RecoveryPark is dynamic, and so exciting. I primarily work on social impact program design and management, but also help with the business development and farming. As one of the founding team members of our social enterprise launching this fall, I look forward to building out a company that has the potential to create living wage jobs for over a thousand Detroiters over the next ten years.

What have you learned from Challenge Detroit so far?

The Challenge Detroit leadership team and the thirty-four Year Three Fellows that I have the opportunity to work every Friday are incredibly talented and passionate individuals. With backgrounds ranging from marketing to architecture, business, economic development, education- and more, my peers have helped me to look at some of the greatest challenges facing our city through a variety of lenses. Working alongside individuals with such diverse personal, educational, and professional experiences has taught me the importance of collaborating across disciplines when engaging in redevelopment efforts in the city.

What kind of impact do you hope to have with your host company and within the city?

With the Fall 2015 launch of our social enterprise, RecoveryPark Farms, RecoveryPark hopes to benefit Detroit through:

  • Creative land repurposing
  • Tax-base regeneration
  • Jobs for citizens (less unemployment fosters family & neighborhood stability, and -lower crime rates)
  • Addressing transportation as a barrier to employment: there are 57 of bus stops within a 10 minute radius of the farm, and freeways I-94 and I-75 frame the RecoveryPark footprint
  • A model (economically, and aesthetically) for ongoing Detroit revitalization efforts
  • Blue/green infrastructure integration-aligned with the goals of Detroit Future City, and the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative
  • Contribution to Detroit’s ‘local-live-fresh’ food movement

What are you most looking forward to in the final months of Challenge Detroit?

I am most looking forward to enjoying the rest of the time I have to work with fellows that constantly inspire and encourage me to positively contribute to a great city that I’ve chosen to make my new home.

Also, be sure to check out Annie’s video to learn more about her time in Detroit, so far.