the presentation of our challenge addressing neighborhood quality of life with detroit future city marked the last time we would convene as fellows on a friday. enter into a month of under-socialization and mixed feelings about another year gone by.

all was not lost, we were not left to subsist on work at our host companies alone, there was the “july individual impact project.”

for the fridays in july, we worked on a challenge of our own design with an organization of our choice. some fellows teamed up to plan and hold an event to benefit a nonprofit or kids in detroit. some fellows explored work with start-up companies. and some, like me, provided intellectual capital to an organization around whose mission we are passionate.

i wanted to start a local chapter of slow food, a global nonprofit that promotes good, clean, fair food for all. in college at uw-madison, i participated with slow food UW and it was very well-run, with just one of their many programs being weekly family dinner nights. professors, students, alumni, kids would gather in the basement of a church (that for some reason had a large kitchen) and would eat dinner together every monday night for $5. a different chef or type of cultural cuisine was served from week to week. sometimes youth groups or entrepreneurs or travelers would present an idea and ask for donations. the environment was welcoming and inclusive and everyone always left satisfied and full of warm fuzzy feelings of community. i want to experience that again and the local food movement in detroit is strong enough to support that.

however, there is already a chapter here in the city, but due to various sets of unfortunate circumstances, has not been able to fully launch itself into the community. so my project shifted in scope. i would not start the chapter, but would simply provide some things that would help the board members, who were struggling to coalesce, with materials and ideas to grow their organization.

in the biz of consulting, they’re called deliverables. i created a list of organizations in detroit that could be allies and partners, a compilation of ideas for expansion in the future, a packet of funding resources and types of IRS designations, a detailed programming guide for how dinner nights and other activities could run, and several logo designs for localized branding.

overall, i’m happy with my work; within my constraints, i did what was feasible. what i need to recognize is that slow food detroit central city is not slow food uw. nor should it be. this is a different city with different culture, a different population, and different values than those that exist in madison, wisconsin. what was there cannot be here. one size does not fit all and it is unfair to try to shove one organization into the mold of another.

this is an important point for all looking to live, work, and strive for change in detroit. it is not chicago. it is not san francisco. it is not an urban center with walkable main streets. it is not a place where the city government has resources. it is not a place where everything is beautiful, or clean, or safe. there are many many things that detroit is not. but it IS detroit. it is the motor city that provided cars to america and machinery to power the world wars. it is socioeconomically and racially diverse. it is home to sports teams that bring people together. it is where motown and techno were born. and it is in a place where many industry-dependent cities will find themselves, needing to reframe its place in the world and assert a new relevancy for current and future generations of americans. detroit is golden.