DCERP 2022

I think these past few days it has been hitting me that we are nearing the end of the program and that my time with my organization is slowly coming to an end. I had a meeting with my mentor the other day and we were talking about all the projects I would need to […]

This week, Detroit made headlines across the world by making TIME’s list of the 50 Greatest Places. While this is undeniably an accomplishment, I can’t help but feel that this is simply advancing the narrative that ignores the vast majority of Detroit. As we learned, Detroit’s economic growth has largely been concentrated in 7.2 square

So far, I’ve mostly spoken about how much I love my site, my supervisor, all of the people I work with, and all of the things I get to work on. And I do love it. But this week, I’ve been reflecting a lot on where I go from here. I’ve had the chance to

I’ve had to do quite a bit of reading and research for my program on the topic of cooperative economies. The information is absolutely mindblowing and incredible – it’s inspiring as a fellow human to learn the stories of people who’ve been up against the greatest odds and created something wholly new and all their

I have had the great fortune of working with the Detroit Community Wealth Fund this Summer. Their mission as stated on their website is as follows: DCWF exists to empower historically marginalized Detroiters, blending education and programming about cooperatives, with non-extractive loans to support democratic and community-based businesses in Detroit. https://www.detroitcommunitywealth.org/ I have been tasked

Hi everyone :)) We have now reached the five-week mark and I feel like I keep getting busier. I am currently researching attorney general information while at the same time having to write one-pagers and create a video of testimonies about right to counsel. I want to do well with every assignment I am given

One thing that I’ve learned this summer is how much of a difference one person can truly make. Coming into the position, I expected the City of Detroit’s Office of Disability Affairs to be a massive team, considering that Detroit is home to roughly 117,000 residents with disabilities. Instead, I was shocked to learn that,

If it wasn’t mentioned before, the nonprofit I work for is called Community Development Advocates of Detroit, better known as CDAD. My main assignment is to draft a Tax Incentive “white paper”, which essentially is a tool for community members to learn about what tax incentives are. Unfortunately, I’ve been having trouble understanding and defining

It’s been a busy week! Over the past 5 weeks, I’ve learned so much about Friends of Parkside, and especially about my mentor, the one behind it all. I learned how Mr. Rowe was a resident of the Village of Parkside, and it was his mother who he took after later in life. His mother

This is the first week of Chandler Park’s Summer Program and I must say that working with kids is hard work. They are all so fun and have different personalities so that is the only hard part about working the program. One negative thing that I would have to mention is that it feels like