The past week, as I said in my previous blog post, was busy! The week started off with an MMC executive committee meeting which was my very first official meeting. I got the honor of taking the minutes (which was difficult as I couldn’t remember everyone’s names) but it was a very productive meeting and I felt very encouraged by the potential of this year’s protocol being in that meeting. The rest of the week was me trying to get my literature reviews done which I was able to get one out of three done! I still have to edit it and send it to Emily but I think otherwise, it looks good.
On Thursday, I got to go with the office to my very first protest which was protesting the SEMCOG’s (a larger NPO) i94 and i75 expansion project. We held up signs and chanted different protests. There was even a greek play. Basically, it was just about the nerdiest protest you could go to – but even though I haven’t gone to any other type of protest, I think I like these types the best. Unfortunately, although our voices were heard – they were not heard loud enough and the project continues. Here’s the horse that is saying “neighh” to the expansion!
Then came the semi-annual meeting of MMC! We had about 30 different representatives show up from the different cities and overall, the meeting went by smoothly. I had some great discussions with some of the people and learned a lot of about their respective cities. Many of the leaders were encouraged by the meeting at the potential of getting millennial involved. The whole venture is very unheard of but also incredibly necessary. As a millennial, I definitely see the need for this type of an organization and I can’t wait to see more millennial getting involved in their cities and letting our voices be heard. I also absolute cherish the regional work this group is getting done – I am very happy to see that the cities are not as divided as I may have thought and that they are working to build better relationships between them.
Since the meeting was held at Hazel Park Raceway, we were able to get a tour of the historic horse racing site which was a ton of fun. Who knew people still gambled so much on horse racing, the place was packed! Here are some photos of our ventures:
Wow, your protest looked like a lot of fun! Doing fun, interesting, and original things is definitely one way to get people’s attention. Perhaps more protests or a larger protest may be what’s needed to get SEMCOG to see or hear your point of view? Though obviously you and your organization have many other things to attend to, of course. 🙂
Thats to bad that the protest did not go well, though not all is lost, they will just have to rally again and do it bigger.