What does it mean to stand in or center myself in abundance? How can I honor practices that facilitate my healing in disruptive realities? 

As the 21st century confronts our world with old cycles of subjugation and inequity, I am grateful for the opportunities that have guided my capacity to learn. When I first started Challenge Detroit in the fall, I was fortunate to also begin a journey with a transnational healing circle named “Dialects of Decolonization” by CEPA. With roots in Detroit, this gathering has informed my practice of reclaiming my labor through service and nurturing new relationships. 

As I‘ve learned about the civic infrastructure of Detroit through nonprofit engagement and the history of this land through collective memory, I believe that  I am capable of community-building with Detroiters through mutual support and community-minded leadership;  I’ve re-learned how to honor collaboration as a tool of confidence when designing solutions to community needs. 

When I reflect on this midway point in the fellowship, I appreciate these lessons of gratitude because they reveal how creating change is a relational process. I am abundant because of the communal care that grounds the possibility to co-create radical futures for the City. To embody cycles of regrowth in the City’s present is necessary to reimagine its future, and both Dialects and Challenge Detroit affirm my willingness to act on my dreams.