Joy’s Detroit Life: Chapter 2

This summer, I am working with Skylar at Brilliant Detroit at their headquarters in Southwest Detroit. Brilliant Detroit’s mission is to create Kids Success Neighborhoods with the goal of having children be prepared within the K12 education system and closing the achievement gap. Brilliant Detroit works to create Kids Success Neighborhoods because 60% of children (not all people, the children) in Detroit live in poverty, 54% of young children in Michigan are not attending preschool to help them be prepared for kindergarten, and most shockingly to me 14% of kids read at grade level by third grade. This statistic is additionally concerning to me because by the 2019 – 2020 school year, a new law is being instated in Michigan that allows for schools to hold back students who are not literate for their grade level by 3rd grade. Considering prior conversations and protests regarding resources or lack thereof in Detroit schools by students and teachers alike (which I also acknowledge I am not fully qualified to talk about since I’ve never attended a Detroit Public School), there has been concern as to how 14% can rise so quickly. Furthermore, Cindy, one of the co-founders and current CEO, said something that struck me last week– “from kindergarten to third grade you’re learning how to read. From 4th grade on you’re learning by reading. If you can’t read well, you’ll likely experience struggle with jobs and/or schools throughout your life.” Although the majority of my college classes have been about children and childhood development, this really struck me because it illustrates very evidently how these systems and experiences from early childhood have such a long lasting effect that contributes to these gaps and inequities.

Thus Brilliant Detroit works to bolster protective factors that have been shown to help children in their development, more specifically educational achievement, physical wellness, family support, and literacy. Brilliant Detroit’s model entails a community coming to them to request a home in the neighborhood and community conversations about the neighborhood’s needs. After those conversations if the neighborhood decides that they would like a Brilliant home in the neighborhood, Brilliant Detroit then buys and renovates a home in the neighborhood. Brilliant Detroit acting as a medium to accumulate resources and programming that community members request to ensure that they are providing what the community wants, within the neighborhood at a lone central location. Brilliant Detroit has been alive and active for 2.5 years and has already opened 4 homes, which is super impressive. Now as they hope to double in size, Skylar and I will be working to create a guidebook on the standardized process from the community conversations to the open house that displays completion of the home to the community. I’m really excited to create such longstanding project, and I’m excited to see what I can learn from Skylar, everyone at Brilliant Detroit, and the communities that keep Brilliant Detroit alive.

Outside of work, my experiences in Detroit have been pretty cool. I made it to Bucharest Grill, and I feel like I’m a better person for it. I went and saw live music at Third Wave Music which was amazing, and I feel super grateful to have experienced local talent (check out supercoolwicked and “I am Day” on youtube/itunes/Facebook/Soundcloud). DCBRP has been going to trivia at Great Lakes Roasting Company which has been super fun, and there are a variety of events coming up like burger competitions and cooking classes at Eastern market. Things have been pretty chill, and I’m excited to continue to get to know others in the program and Detroit.