The glorious feeling of successfully completing my first two weeks as an intern at Friends of Parkside is remarkable. At first, I was somewhat nervous about entering a new space I was unfamiliar with, but the staff of Parkside made me feel welcomed and excited to accomplish my main task for the summer, The 9th Annual Friends of Parkside Annual Community Health Fair.
The Friends of Parkside is a non-profit, community-based organization located on Detroit’s east side in the public housing complex, Parkside Homes. Established in 1991, Friends of Parkside aims to provide information and action gatherings for residents of Parkside Homes and the surrounding community in order to address issues that negatively affect their lives. A few of Parkside’s goals include creating a healthy, drug-free, and safe community, having an informed and knowledgeable community willing to work together to address issues that threaten the quality of life in the community, and have families and individuals committed to improving the community (http://friendsofparkside.org/about).
For my designated project, I will be this year’s coordinator for the 9th Annual Friends of Parkside Community Health Fair. The purpose of the Annual Health Fair is to highlight and provide solutions for the prevalent health, food, and safety issues within Parkside’s community that were identified in a 2009 Health Assessment conducted by UofM Public Health Graduate Students. Last year, more than 150 people were in attendance and vendors provided free and accessible resources, such as vision screenings, classes on financial management, and information about various health insurance plans to the residents of Parkside and the surrounding community. It is my responsibility to recruit the appropriate agencies and organizations for the 2017 Health Fair in order to provide beneficial resources to health fair attendees. This year’s theme is “Maintaining A Healthier You: Physically, Financially, & Mentally”.
After not living in Detroit for almost three years, it took some time to become adjusted to the way this vibrant city functions on a daily basis. What’s even more fascinating about me living in Wayne State housing for the summer is that my high school is just down two blocks from me. The familiar scenery has brought back many memories of me being a carefree high schooler whose only worries consisted of ACT prep and student council. Walking down Woodward, there are many new businesses taking advantage of the way “revitalized Detroit” attracts many people to Midtown and Downtown. However, I also noticed that several, long-lasting, businesses that were located in Midtown and Downtown Detroit are no longer in existence. While examining this, I couldn’t help but think of the saying, “Out with the old and in with new.” Consequently, the rehabilitation of Detroit may have its benefits, but there are still many unanswered questions about the businesses and citizens that are being ousted.
Hi Cescily,
I really like the project that your working on. Educating the community about mental, physical, and financial health provides very important aid to the community. I hope you have fun working and reminiscing your high school memories.
– Daria
Cescily,
Your work with Parkside sounds amazing! Through CPC I’ve been able to meet some of Parkside’s residents and they’ve all been so positive and responsive to the work you and other organizations are doing. I’m glad our organizations are able to work together closely to help improve Detroit’s east side.
Secondly, your perspective about living in Detroit is really interesting. Since I’m from outside of Detroit and only really visited the city a few times a year, I pretty much only notice the new businesses and improvements. Your insight about companies going out of businesses and citizens being ousted is incredibly important and something we should all be aware of. DCBRP is lucky to have intuitive students like you in the program!