1)      It has an impact.

I think the city of Detroit very often falls victim to silver bullets.  People get so excited over this one idea that is going to “save” Detroit and change the city forever.  Newsflash: these projects, if ever implemented, rarely work.  The M-1 rail is great in theory, but is only now finally starting to take shape after years of talk.  The new stadium?  Might be cool, but will it provide jobs for Detroiters and will something responsible be done with the Joe Lewis Arena?  The bottom line is: it is highly unlikely that one project will cure Detroit.  Rather, Margaret Mead’s tactful words ring more true: Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.  Detroit is in the midst of revitalization thanks to the hard work of many individuals.  My personal impact project is one small microcosm of this effect.

In July, I am working with the Hope Village Initiative at Focus: Hope.   Kelsea Ballantyne, a brilliant student at the Ross Business School and the University of Michigan invited me to join her in her quest to develop place-making and maker-space projects at Focus: Hope.  Initially, the primary objective of Kelsea’s project was to “develop a program that further enhanced the current MTI and ITC trainee skill-sets.” Her ultimate goal was “to enable trainees to develop a product or service that will be used in the community and beyond.” She has determined that this can be accomplished through both place making and maker space initiatives. “The MTI and ITC students will create icons for the community and community businesses to display along with other branding for HVI (safe walkways, street icons, icons for parks, icons for bikeways.) To build on this idea, they will begin to create customizable house numbers and signs that the community can put on their homes. To subsidize the cost of the program and build awareness about Focus: HOPE nationally, customizable house numbers and signs will be created and sold through a website. Some will be made out of re-purposed items.”

Luckily for me, Kelsea has already spent a large amount of time conducting copious amounts of research to ensure the program is rife to be prototyped and actually implemented.  (No silver bullet ideas here!) Thus far, I have had the pleasure of working with her to develop the campaign roll out; to determine exactly how Focus: Hope can make Kelsea’s idea a sustainable reality.  Essentially, community members can complete a qualifying activity (like mowing a neighbor’s lawn for a summer, attending a vacant lot clean up, or organizing a block club and holding an event, among many others), and then they receive a certificate stating that they are members of the program.  The completion of more qualifying events leads to more incentives, like a logo window decal, and customized house numbers.  The students of the MTI and ITC training programs will ultimately ideate on additional incentives that they can create and the community can benefit from.

In the coming days, I am excited to see how the community benefits from this project!