What We Learned Partnering with Urban Alliance Detroit
When our team first came together for the first challenge in our fellowship, we approached our partner project with curiosity, humility, and excitement for lifting youth in our city. What we didn’t know yet was how much pride and passion we would find woven into every conversation with Urban Alliance (UA) Detroit, within its staff and board members, and across the many community partners who help bring its mission to life.
Our design prompt was:
How might we engage and recognize UA Detroit’s existing partners to increase local awareness about UA’s impact?
This question eventually became the lens through which we listened, learned, and created.
Insights That Moved Us
We began by interviewing board members, organizational partners, mentors, and volunteers. During the first few weeks of orientation, we heard about the power of stakeholder interviews. Still, there’s something different about experiencing it firsthand.
One board member shared a line that became an anchor for our project:
“I would love to see how much of an impact we have on students.”
It wasn’t said casually. It carries a weight and an emotional investment in the youth who pass through UA’s program and the staff who guide them.
Another stakeholder emphasized how meaningful even small gestures of recognition can be:
“Even something as simple as a printed certificate… You feel acknowledged for your hours of service. You feel like your contribution matters.”
Our team interviewing UA Detroit Advisory Board Member Janelle Thomas (far right).
As fellows, we were struck by how consistently these interviews revealed pride. The pride was not performative or positional. It was pride rooted in purpose. The board members were serving and deeply connected to the work. Staff were fulfilling roles, but they were also shaping opportunities. Board members, staff, and employer partners were proud of their role. They were talking about impact, and they were living it.
Turning Insights Into Action
After the interview insights, our team moved into ideation and prototyping. Our “How might we” questions that led to the creation of our deliverables:
- How might we add another checkpoint for parent engagement while maintaining the student’s already-established sense of independence?
- How might we share the impact partners are creating through the program for reporting and testimonials?
- How might we develop a process that enables volunteers to specify the form of recognition they prefer, and how will UA use this information in social media and newsletters?
Why This Work Mattered to Us
Each team member in our group carried something personal into this project: a desire to understand community more deeply, a commitment to youth, a belief in collective impact. Partnering with UA Detroit gave us a front-row seat to what it looks like when an organization’s team truly believes in its mission.
Presentation Day!
Thank You to Our Partners
We extend our deepest gratitude to:
- Urban Alliance Detroit’s leadership team for inviting us into their world with openness and warmth.
- Board members and community partners, for their honesty and their commitment to Detroit’s youth.
- Our UA liaisons guided us with clarity while giving us the space to explore.
- The mentors and volunteers, who showed us what everyday impact truly looks like.
Sharing the final deliverables with our partner liaisons Victor Robinson and Jasmine Banks.
Why This Blog Matters
This blog captures: what we learned about partnership, how we designed with—not for—our community partner, and how empathy and collaboration can fuel meaningful change.
As Challenge Detroit Fellows stepping into our next roles as leaders, advocates, designers, or community members, this project serves as a reminder of how powerful it is to listen carefully and collaborate.
For our fall project we partnered with Urban Alliance Detroit, the local arm of Urban Alliance (UA), a national nonprofit creating pathways for young people to achieve economic independence through skills training, mentorship, and meaningful paid work experiences. Our project was focused on capturing and sharing UA Detroit’s impact through storytelling to expand opportunities for Detroit youth. Teams of Fellows worked alongside the UA Detroit’s team – Alphonso Amos, Victor Robinson, Keisha Powell-Young, Tamia Cooper, Jazmine Banks, Andrei Nichols, McKenzie Reed, Rashad Dudley – as well as engaged with stakeholders, including UA Detroit’s advisory board, students, employer partners, school partners and a parent.
See other team blogs about our project with Urban Alliance here.