For the summer I have been placed with Nortown Community Development Corporation, a 501(c)(3) organization located in Northeast Detroit. Nortown CDC was founded in 1991. Its mission is to develop and foster safe and affordable housing, business retention and attraction, educational improvement and job opportunities. Nortown fulfills its mission daily by providing section 8 housing and being an active member of the Northeast Detroit Business Association (NEDBA).
Nortown is currently working on various projects such as the restoration of the 
the Village of Norris. The Philetus W. Norris House is located at the crossroads of Nevada and Mt. Elliot. Philetus Norris was the Second Superintendent of Yellowstone National Park in 1873. He held many positions in his lifetime such as archeologist, explorer, zoologist, writer, poet, as well as a soldier in the Civil War. Norris resided in Detroit with his family until his death. The house he built still stands today. Nortown CDC’s goal is to restore this historic house and use it as an opportunity to educate children about Yellowstone National Park.
Nortown CDC was one of the first organizations to jump in and come to Lipke Recreational Center aid in 2014. The city had plans to sell the recreational center to the Salvation Army and use it for their expansion. This would eliminate one of the few safe environments where the youth of northeast Detroit could play. However through persistence and diligence, Lipke Park was saved!
Another project of Nortown is “Restore NED”. NED stands for Northeast Detroit. NED aims to tackles area issues such as neighborhood safety, clean ups and beautification, community development, youth education and programming as well as investment. This program is very interesting to me because its goal is to restore the community I am from.
This summer Nortown has created two project for Danielle, another 
DCBRP student and myself. Our first project is to update a previous park database create last year by another DCBRP student. The database includes all of the parks located in District 3 (or Northeast Detroit) as well as the history, pictures and ratings of each park. With the updated version, Nortown would like to include other constituents that will pinpoint future interests and possibilities for the parks such as commercial
and artistic. Our second project is to create a database for all of the local businesses in Northeast Detroit for the Northeast Detroit Business Association(NEDBA) purposes. The association currently has a database, however they recently expanded their target area from only 7 mile and Van Dyke to all of Northeast Detroit and would be in contact with those businesses as well.
Being back in my hometown feels great! Nortown is the perfect placement for me because it aims to improve the community I was raised in. During this first back, I’ve had time to reconnect with old friends and reminisce. It feels great to be back home and even greater to create new experiences with new people!
