As I look back on my time as a Year 3 Challenge Detroit Fellow, one word comes to mine: Growth.

It’s the common story of millennials: young, enthusiastic, passionate, and green, feeling that they have life figured out in their 20s, their 4 year degree is enough to take on the world, and people currently in the workforce are simply in the way of them achieving their dreams. But in that first 6 months of working, real life serves you up a nice slice of humble pie.

That was my first 6 months in this fellowship, especially as a native Detroiter. I felt that I would come in, tell everyone the who, what, when, where, and how in Detroit; at first I was able to, but as time went along, I began to say less.

As the year went on, I realized that I wasn’t the only one passionate about the city, I had to become selfless and share this city with others, I wasn’t use to that. Detroit was mine, it was something I loved and I came to find out others did too. Detroit was black, very black, everyone that looked like me was from there but it wasn’t always that way. I quickly learned that black people weren’t the only ones that lived here, everyone has ties to Detroit. Some of my co-fellows parents graduated from the same high school I did and some were bus drivers on the same routes I used to take to school. Detroit was a representation of the world with so many different people living and enjoying it all at the same time.

Once 2015 hit I began to drift, not to the wayside, but from the stage into the crowd where I could do more listening. I began to use my two ears instead of my one mouth to take in more content instead of speaking of only a singular experience and presenting that as the “way of Detroit”. As we tackled issues of transportation, job access, healthcare, education, and economic development, I began to take everything in. I witnessed how many worlds exist within this one city. I realized that while my experience and journey growing up here are valid and can add value, it’s only one ingredient in the recipe of Detroit’s resurgence as a flagship city for this country and the world.

I grew as a person, i’m usually the first to speak, first to think, I often initiate but as time went on, I learned to be tactful when speaking, while having something to say is important, knowing when to say it is more important. 

I learned from looking in the mirror: i’m not the only person living in Detroit, not the only person with generations in the city, not the only person who left, and not the only person that came back. The rise and fall of the city does not ride on my shoulders, it’s on everyone from the bottom up; from the citizens to Mike Duggan. As I said in my application video, “it will take a collaborative effort of myself and other result minded thinkers to solve these problems. “

I’m thankful for this year to grow and learn both personally and professionally. My advice to the Year Four Fellows:

You have two ears and one mouth, listen more than you speak.

Focus more on when to speak versus just speaking for the sake of it.

You’re not a visitor, become a part of the city.

Be kind and share, you’re not the only one living here.

Accept Detroit’s Challenge.

Follow me on Twitter/IG: @BuffBagleyDet