When I reflect on what drew me to Downtown Detroit Partnership and the opportunity to work with DCERP after nine weeks I have learned that I did not realize how much I would be interacting with the community around me specifically the small businesses. I think growing within the nine weeks to live and work on your own in a new community that you have never experienced before opens a new perspective on the places around you because now I know my way to work and around the Downtown Detroit area that I have been working in and I also know more about Detroit history and it’s economic growth as a whole.
I also think I was able to definitely work on the collaboration of projects with DDP because so many of the projects I focused on were group efforts and had to continuously be moving along step by step through the help of other organizations or other people at DDP. It showed me a glimpse into the slow but hard-working process it takes to get the projects and goals DDP has finished by a certain deadline.
And finally I think that working with minority businesses has also shown me two sides of the business and economic areas of Detroit as once again as I have said in my past blog posts many minority businesses do not get the same advantages in a predominantly white male business and development space even though the demographics of Detroit reflect more minority communities. And being able to work with an organization that values the community and demographics of Detroit in order to connect the social and economic developments in the community has shown me the value of representation in all aspects especially within commerce.
Hi Siya! It sounds like you’ve had some really cool opportunities at your organization – it’s great that you got to learn your way around Downtown Detroit and about small businesses. Have a wonderful rest of your summer!
Hi Siya! It’s awesome that you got to be interact with so many community members and it seems like you valued this. Hope you have a great summer and good luck in the future!