​ 
 
8:00 a.m. – First alarm goes off and you feel like an actual adult knowing it is time for you to get up and go to work. I usually slept through this until the one at 8:15 reminds me this is not a drill. I get up and brush my teeth and fix my hair for the day. I then pack everything in my bag and check three times that I have everything knowing good and well I probably still forgot something.
 
8:30 a.m. – Meet Ava in the lobby for our daily bike ride. Walk a quarter mile to the MoGo station and select the bike that is already at the desired height. Every other day this process requires bobbing and weaving the adjacent sprinklers. Somewhat of a hassle but always kept it interesting. Take the long way biking in the morning just to keep some variety in our day. The ride takes anywhere from 15 to 25 minutes depending on the mood of the stoplights. Every ride reaching a climax approximately 50 feet from the destination as the smell of fresh tortillas from the tortilla factory wafts down the Bagley corridor.
 
9:00 a.m. – Change for work and go through the lists of potential tasks for the day. This typically begins with checking email and replying to any ProsperUS staff or ProsperUS affiliates who have reached out to you over the weekend/night. If there is any discrepancy in the task ahead I usually make quick strides across the hall to our supervisor, Joanna, to clear that up. In addition to working during this time it is also quite entertaining to intermingle with fellow coworkers and discuss fun activities that have occurred within our personal lives outside of work. This all peaks closer to noon when people head out to lunch.
 
12:00 (usually 11:30 a.m.) – Ava, Tonya, and I (on the rare occasion Sahil too) make our voyage over the pedestrian bridge to receive our authentic Latin American lunch at Taqueria Lupitas. If I was given the ability to back up anything from Detroit and bring it home with me, it would be that delicious taco joint. Where else can you get three exotic tacos like goat, beef tongue, and al pastor with all the chips and salsa you can eat AND a glass of ice cold horchata for five bucks??? I looked a lot and could not find any other such place. My mouth is watering right now writing this blog. To summarize, this was my favorite part of everyday.
 
12:45 p.m. – Return to work for the back 9 of the day, even though it often felt like the whole 18. This was definitely the most productive part of the day where phone calls are made by the dozens or projects are completed one after another. The day would begin dragging slightly during the last hour but the wholesome lunch provided the stamina to get me through. We would communicate with Tonya to see when we should meet up at the bike rack and conduct our journey back to UT.
 
5:00 p.m. – The return trip was taken with our alternative route down Martin Luther King. This was the less scenic route but certainly more efficient. The average return trip was around 15 minutes, but this trip was almost always a hot one. After dropping the bikes off, there was always that slightly less than pleasant sweaty walk back the rest of the way. This would end with me opening the door to my room and plopping down on the couch.
 
6:00 p.m. – Gym time. To contrast the luxurious picture that was painted for the taco joint, this one was much grimmer and by far my least favorite part of the day. I would spend anywhere between 40 minutes to two hours on the treadmill depending on my mood. I was able to do this around 5-6 times a week which was a consistency that I had never before been able to maintain. This is why Detroit has offered a multitude of self-improvement examples for me.
 
8:00 p.m. – Grab dinner at Go Sy Thai and come back to the room and shower. I would always get the egg noodle with chicken on medium heat index and it was better and better every single time. After my shower I would turn on Netflix for a little bit before all of my fellow Engagers had settled in for the night.
 
10:00 p.m. – Group card games. This was almost always a great time, but sometimes turned fiercely competitive. No matter what game we played, it was always a time to bond and learn things about each other that we did not know ahead of time. It really made me value my time in Detroit and find myself grateful that I got to share this experience with these specific people.
 
1:00 a.m. – Go to bed and prepare to repeat.

8:05 AM- I've already hit snooze on my alarm twice, and finally muster enough willpower to get up and start my day. I hear Daniel, my roommate, yell angrily as he drops something while showering. I laugh, and now feel excited to get up.
 
8:35 AM- I've showered and gotten ready for the day. I FaceTime a friend across the world as I prepare my Gordon Ramsey-approved breakfast of oatmeal and a banana. Lee and I plan to meet at 8:50, but we know Green Garage is a one minute walk away. I usually send the expected text: "Can we meet at 8:55 instead?" Lee responds, "Obvi." 
 
10 AM- Lee and I are out of our morning slump by this time, and we suddenly become extremely productive. We're usually working on our computers, sometimes splitting up our work but collaborating more often. Julie, our boss, has just greeted us with her infectious smile. We take time in the morning to look at our Google calendar and prepare for our meetings and commitments in the afternoon. I've attempted to be a nice work partner and make Lee a coffee when I make my own. She always enthusiastically requests a coffee, but has never finished more than a quarter of a cup. I begin questioning why I make her a full cup every time.
 
12:30 PM- Lee and I take a break for lunch. She has brought some sort of combination of an uncrustable, yogurt, carrots and a granola bar. I have not. I convince her that Thai food will always taste better than her meal, and we order Udon Noodles and Von Sen. 
 
2:30 PM- We usually have a commitment in the afternoon. Most of the time, we'll either head to the production facility to work with Small Batch alumni on their planning for the future or meet with a DFA fellow to work on their resumes and digital projects. Each one of the fellows has a vibrant personality and this adds some excitement to our afternoons.
 
5 PM- Lee and I leave work and take on the daunting 1 minute walk back home to University Towers. 
 
6:30 PM- Everyone is back from work and has rested for a little. Someone sends "elevators at 6:30?" and we all meet and walk to the gym together. Sahil is focused and checks his weight-his mass-gainer protein shakes are paying off and he's gained another pound. Blake goes to the gym, but never walks with us for some reason. I think he likes getting in his zone and walking to the gym alone.
 
8 PM- I'm back from the gym and attempt to cook something slightly nutritious. Dennis's extreme love for "chicken, rice and vegetables" has pervaded the atmosphere and I contemplate making the same dish. Blake pressures me to go to a local restaurant with him. He guilts me when I say no and I usually end up going. My only rule: don't eat Thai food twice in one day.
 
10:30 PM- Everyone is showered and ready to play our game of the night. Earlier in the trip, it was Texas Hold 'Em Poker. I didn't know how to play before the trip, but now I'm addicted to playing online. Now, we play mafia. I always get killed first when Sofia is the assassin- she knows I can read her facial expressions. Divya always "promises" she isn't the assassin, but her word doesn't mean anything. The game is filled with tension, but we all agree that we love it.
 
1 AM- Goodnight!

Daniel and Sahil sharing a bro moment.

I decided to interview Betsy Creedon, who works for TechTown who is the Director of Entrepreneurial Services. She oversees the Labs Program of TechTown which includes overviewing DTX Launch Detroit, TechTown Business Incubator Center and TechTown's Business Accelerator fund programs.

How did you get where you are today?
​
Well, my path was a very messy path, ok? I majored in Latin and Greek in college because I didn’t know what else to do but I always loved theater, so I went to UNC Chapel Hill, got a masters in dramatic arts, so I’m a Carolina playmaker. I finished my masters, I didn’t write my thesis, but I did everything else. And so, then I went to New York because my father grew up in Connecticut and commuted to New York for work every day. I got a job at ABC, quit it after a week and got another job at a production company, so I worked in production. I worked in commercials, split off and worked with another company, you know. Then I moved to Florida. Everything I worked in was film and the world of tape was coming.  This was a long time ago and no film people wanted to work with tape…ugh disgusting. But everyone once in a while you had to, because if you were doing a tv commercial you had to be in tape and not film sometimes. We got into that and did a couple. The tape company that I worked for, Teletron, hired me to go down and be the liaison for all the film people for the film studios in Florida. This is where I met my husband, who was hired as the new general manager. We wandered around for a while, went back to New York city and we both got a job there. I worked in film as a freelance. Then I got hired by GM as a freelance to do their total quality management seminars which were huge, 300, 400 people. They asked me to stay for their Total quality rollout as a consultant, so I stayed. Then I decided to take 4 major office unites, trade economic, corporate responsibility, US industrial relations and environment, energy and safety. They wanted to put it together to make the public policy center. They hired me at an old age to do that. I helped them create the HIV/AIDS Policy in 2000/2001 when it was horrible. GM had plants all over the world that were really being hit by aids. We made ad campaigns to spread awareness. I got sponsored to spread information about human trafficking around the world. When I retired they offered me a grant, which was one offered to people to were retired to return to work. I was asked to Shepperd this grant, and one of the grantees was TechTown. They offered office space and a computer, so I went there for a year to do that grant, and when it ran out, they wanted me to stay. It’s always been go with the flow and I didn’t PLAN it, but it happened, and it went well.
 
What is a hurdle you had to overcome?

I was an outside consultant and had a great job. I had a job that both management people and union people would want. So “Why does SHE have it”, because I was a consultant. My biggest challenge was to win them over and to get them to trust me. It took a long time. Sometimes I would have to back off when I was right in a situation, and it finally culminated when I was sitting in my office when the international rep came and stood in the doorway and blocked me and I couldn’t get out of my office and just screamed and threatened. I tried sitting there acting sophisticated and not to cry... and there’s no fighting back from that. One of my partners saw what was going on and told something to a union worker, and the next day he was back on the floor. That’s when I knew that you have to work on relationships and especially the ones that don’t come naturally. Also during the time, it was very hard for women in that business. There were few to no men, and the misogyny was very rampant at that time. I had to learn how to say no so that it would not only hurt me, but my career as well. That was very tough. At least when you get older, there isn’t that much hitting on you.
 
 
 
What does Social entrepreneurship mean to you?
 
Currently, I think for in order for there to be quality and justice, there has to be quality and justice for everybody. Access is the key word. If you don’t know about it, you can’t access is. Whatever it is, access is the key. That’s why I believe that affirmative action is access because the door is open. I think social entrepreneurship nurturing the access. It can be opening a daycare in a neighborhood to free up moms, so they can hold their head above the water. It also helps local economy. Standing on your own two feet and opening a bodega may not seem like it, but it is. It is bringing food and jobs to a place where it wasn’t there before. Now there are enterprises who are all about the goal of access and opportunities. I see entrepreneurship as all social entrepreneurship.  We had a huge plant in Kenya, which had a bad HIV problem. We had truck stops to get there which had prostitutes who would spread HIV therefore it would be very bad. All the businesses got together and had to solve the problem. They decided to train these young women for careers in different industries so that they could support themselves instead of selling themselves.  An economy that was based off of small businesses thrives off of this social entrepreneurship. In neighborhoods you could see people who created jobs, resources and opportunities for other people which was an avenue for economic opportunity and access and I’m all for it and that’s why I love TechTown 

Betsy Creedon
One of the wisest and nicest people at TechTown

​This week I interviewed Nina Bailey, who works as the Program Associate for GreenLight Fund Detroit. Nina’s passion for her work has always been visible, but just five minutes into the interview I was able to begin to understand where that passion came from and how she had been shaped into the person she was. 
 
Nina’s Story:
After leaving college at the University of Michigan to have her son, Nina started her professional career in 2009: “my first professional job was at the US Census Bureau as a survey clerk, collecting data on field representatives.” In 2014, Nina went back to finish her final semester at the University of Michigan and graduate with her degree in English. “It was a great time in my life because I met a lot of great people and I was introduced to the nonprofit world through the people that I met.” After getting her degree, she continued her work at the census bureau, where she now held a supervisor position, while also mothering and starting as a receptionist at DAPCEP, a nonprofit dedicated to bringing an excellent education to at least 90% of kids in Detroit. In 2015, Nina made one of the hardest decisions she had ever made when she decided to leave her structured government job to pursue her dream of working in the nonprofit world. “Making the decision to move from stable, long-term employment I had been at for so long, those were my colleagues, family, supportive supervisors. I was a young mother and they gave me opportunity after opportunity to develop myself. It was almost like leaving for college because I was leaving a stable place for something not as stable. It’s a different universe leaving a government job for the private nonprofit world. You only get a few opportunities to pursue what drives you and feed your passion. I knew the work was right, but I had to find the right way to do the work.” Nina took on a bigger role at DAPCEP doing communications, grant writing, data evaluation, and project management, but she realized she was curious about the side of philanthropy that was making the funding decisions. It was this curiosity and ongoing passion for the nonprofit world that led Nina to apply to work at GreenLight Fund and start her work as a Program Associate this past January.  
 
Nina’s Thoughts on Detroit:
Nina grew up one street over from Detroit, in a small suburb called Harper Woods, where very few African Americans lived. “I first moved to Detroit out of necessity. I was independent and wanted to take care of myself with my young son and it was cheapest to live here. The city reflected me and my core beliefs—not always—but I was okay with that tension, I felt that tension, it was the right balance of push and pull. There was enough wrong that I felt obligated to stay and fix it and enough right to keep me here.” She explained how the city was the perfect solution to her drive to help others and make sure their outcomes as well as their children’s outcomes were good. And what has she loved most about Detroit: her neighbors. “Even when I didn’t have great neighbors, I could still see a story in whatever they were going through. The older residents of the city have weathered all the ups and downs. It’s a rare glimpse into what it means to stay and persistence and determination and pride—they are proud of this city. They are reflective of what they used to have, aware of what’s not the case anymore, but also optimistic in spite of that.” She also loves the way Detroit, while having bad neighborhoods, also has places that act as an escape to a more peaceful place: “you can drive ten minutes away and feel like you’re in a different world.” Nina also told me her opinion on what is most important to change in Detroit. “Education—and not just for our younger kids but all the way up through adults into your thirties. It’s the workforce development side of it where a person can get a job but it’s not a fit to be successful in that job because the income’s not high enough or the hours aren’t enough or you don’t have a car to get there. It’s not just welfare assistance and giving a job—you have to look at people from a holistic perspective and applying that to how we help people.” She thinks that the best way to fix this is through collaboration. If nonprofits can collaborate to address a significant problem, then Nina believes we get a layering effect and can successfully move people from poverty. “I don’t want to be negative, but I have to be honest; without increased development in the neighborhoods and greater support to those not in the downtown, there is going to be a divide. There are differences in access to opportunity and there’s a perfect storm for failure for some and a perfect storm of success for others and we need to have this recipe pass down. The current state isn’t working and only helping certain people not just on racial lines but on income status. I want us to be the example of how to combat poverty, strong leaders, resident contribution. You can’t just have a voice—voice isn’t good enough. You have to add an action.”    
 
Nina’s Work at GreenLight Fund:
Working at GreenLight Fund, Nina says she has learned a lot. For instance, her work has exposed her to the social entrepreneurship scene of Detroit. She describes it as “enterprise and business whose overall goal beyond the profitability of the business is to make an impact on the local residents or population in need of the services or who could stand to benefit from the services. It’s interesting because it’s beating two beads with one activity.” And what is GreenLight Fund’s role in all of this? I asked Nina about her thoughts on the GreenLight Fund model and the work it does: “it’s innovative and a model that’s unique. I was really intrigued by it when I first heard about it. The goal is not to be redundant but to bring in something, an organization, that has strong data-driven outcomes, that has a history and ability to improve the lives of low-income individuals. The organization is the result of collaboration between local leaders. The organization didn’t come up on its own—it was brought in by local stakeholders that represent the different voices of our community, which keeps it tied to Detroit and what they need and filling the gaps in Detroit.” When Nina talked about her work, she kept coming back to her pride in what GreenLight Fund does and continuing to do her work with the highest quality. “We are making decisions based on the experiences I have in the city and the city colors what I do here which makes it so exciting, an important part of what I do.”  

​You’ll notice her by her contagious smile, bright blonde hair, statement earrings and a unique outfit that catches your eyes at first glance.  This is Cassie Coravos, a passionate social entrepreneur from Andover, Massachusetts. Since joining Build Institute in 2017, she has become an integral member of the team and an invaluable propeller of Detroit’s ecosystem. 

Creating things has always been one of Cassie’s favorite pastimes. She loves sewing, making clothes, embroideries, costumes, shoes, notebooks, and so much more. The yearning to make things has become a part of her nature. It was then just right that she earned a degree in manufacturing design engineering at  Northwestern University. Throughout her college years, Cassie spent a lot of time working in research labs. When she joined Venture for America, a fellowship program, after graduation, Cassie had to get used to not working with a lab and having a full-time job at a company. Out of all the city options, she chose to come to Detroit because of the community. Knowing that Detroit has a strong entrepreneurial scene, Cassie was instantly attracted to the city that shared her passion for creation. 

Like a duck takes to water, Cassie thrived in her new environment. When asked how would she describe Detroit to a friend, Cassie said: “you just have to see it and be here.” The creative energy in Detroit is unparalleled by most cities that the sheer amount of “different businesses and things that are hopping, art and music, the history” are testaments to Detroit’s distinction. 

Cassie first joined Build Institute as a contract for Kiva, the microloan branch operated by Build in November 2017.  Having worked at a research lab about crowdfunding, she quickly adapted to her role and became involved with the entrepreneurship scene in Detroit. Becoming full time as the Capital Programs Manager really helped Cassie do more of what she loves- talking with people. Her main role is to help people get funding for their business in a non-traditional and community-driven way. Her work has two focuses: Kiva and SOUP. While Kiva is about financial inclusion, SOUP (a Shark Tank-like pitch contest) stresses civic engagement and supporting the community. Through talking with diverse audiences, she gets people in the community to invest and support neighborhood businesses. 

To Cassie, social entrepreneurship is "based around intent." “Sometimes it looks obvious- environmental justice, hiring people out of homeless shelters…but it can also be retail—sustainable hiring process. It is more about how the person is going about it and how intentional the process of the business is." At last, when asked to say some words to aspiring social entrepreneurs, Cassie suggested everyone to “go out and meet with other people. If you want to do something, go talk to the people who are doing them. Ask people to meet with you. Something special here is people’s willingness to meet with you just because you are really excited about what they do. Just start doing the work you want to do.”

This week I chose to interview my direct supervisor, Christianne Sims, who is the deputy director at Build Institute. During my past 6 weeks of working with her, I’ve learned that she falls nothing short of an awesome person. She’s lively, funny, and full of passion, yet throughout these past six weeks, while I got to know her in the work environment, I didn’t really get to know her personally.
 
1. Give us your background. Tell us your story. 

“I’m a native Detroiter, born and raised. I went to school in Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio. I majored in marketing with a minor in international business. My goal was to do multicultural marketing and that’s also why I pursued both of those degrees. I thought I was gonna move back to Detroit to like work on fancy auto campaigns and advertising campaigns for the big three. And I began working at the Detroit regional chamber for commerce. I was 23 years old. And I ran their young professionals program and I was their special projects coordinator so I did a lot of the miscellaneous stuff. Kinda what I do now. So I started their young professional program called fusion, and I ran that for a few years. And a bunch of other things which I’m totally losing track of. I just need to look at my resume. Then the chamber decided to not have a young professional program and so then I became like independent like an entrepreneur did freelance consulting. I’ve also worked with what was called Detroit Works Project which is now known as Detroit Future City. Before I was a part of their like civic engagement groups and so  from basically 2010-2016 I was doing stuff with Detroit Works Project. Then I did stuff with the Michigan Black Chamber, Ponyride, the major’s young professional cabinet [along with some other things]. And yeah then I started working with Build in 2016."
 
2. So did you have a goal when you were jumping around? 

“Mm no it was just kinda in the network of folks I knew. It all kinda still revolved around small business development, community development, economic development so all those roles kinda they all had a link one way or the other which is kinda what we’re doing here at Build."
 
3. You played lacrosse in college too so how did that play into the picture?
 
“yeah haha so I played in middle school, high school, and two years of college so that was 9 years I physically played. When I graduated from college I started coaching so I coached for 10 seasons at Gross Point North High School and then I stopped coaching there and in the process I was doing youth development stuff in the city for 9 years since 2009. But now I decided to launch Detroit City Lacrosse as a formal organization now that a lot of things in my life have settled down that I can focus on it.”
 
4. Did you ever consider playing lacrosse as a profession? 

“Not they just started having a women’s professional league but they didn’t have it before. I don’t think I was that good though. I might have. I don’t know. Not really. No. I don’t like to work out that hard I just like to have fun. In my head that sounds awesome but then in my head it’s like no it wouldn’t be. “
 
5. How’d you end up working for Build? 

“April gave me a call up one day. So I knew her husband I knew him when I was actually working at the Detroit Regional Chamber because that’s when Model D kinda started around that same time when I was there. So yeah she gave me a call and I asked if I was looking for new opportunities and I said yup! And it was something that I like to do I like business and community development.”
 
6. Was it hard to jump around a lot? 

“I mean most of them were contract. The only two I was salaried was the regional chamber and here. So it was difficult because it was contract but yeah. It’s only difficult for a little while. If I didn’t budget correctly. It trains you how to manage your money better because you’re on your own.”
 
7. What’s an obstacle or hurdle you’ve had to overcome in pursuit of your goals? 

“I mean there are a lot of them. I’m tryna think of a big one.  One that happened a lot before was that people would always say I was so young and ask why I’m in certain roles. Well I’ve been doing this for a while so I have a lot of experience. You might see my age or you just think I’m young and I ain’t young no more. There’s always this you seem so young thing. It motivated me because after running a young professionals organization it’s always been about empowering gen y’s x’s and millennials because you shouldn’t let your age hold you back. Running that organization didn’t allow me to you know be deterred. But when people thought I was young but now when people think I’m young it’s hilarious because if you think I’m 20 something I’ll take that all day. Sometimes being a younger female it’s one of those constant demographic battles that have to be fought and you have to prove yourself. They aren’t gigantic horrible obstacles but it’s about changing the status quo.”
 
8. How did a Detroit play in a role in all of this? 

“Definitely growing up here because I always wanted to come back here after school. I always saw the potential and knew Detroit was full of assets and world leading institutions, companies, people, etc. I think I had a chip on my shoulder a lot because I was like yeah I’m from Detroit. Honestly, it influenced me to move back to do something but clearly there was another plan and path for me.”
 
9. How would describe social entrepreneurship? 

“I would say it’s a business with a social conscious.”
 
10. What’s your favorite part about working at Build? 

She said the people were her favorite part!
 
While this interview was pretty short, I thoroughly enjoyed listening to bits and pieces of Christianne’s story because I thought it was fascinating how she handled things. She’s always maintained her passion for community development and lacrosse, and she also recently started a lacrosse club in Detroit. I think it was just interesting for me to hear a first-hand experience of someone not following a clear-cut path but still enjoying the process. 

This week, I interviewed Alana Tucker, a project manager at Downtown Detroit Partnership and urban planner. Her insight and views on the city, its bike culture, and the revitalization that has been taking place over these past few years were intriguing and thought-provoking. Since I don’t specifically work with her, I appreciated this opportunity to interact with others in my office.
 
How did you get to where you are? 
I was raised in Lincoln, Nebraska where I lived for 22 years. I studied International Business at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and, there, I took several classes in urban planning, including environmental planning and urban economics. These courses, as well as an internship with the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce, inspired my fascination with cities and human behavior. So, I decided to get my master's in urban planning at the University of Michigan in 2015. There, I did my capstone for the Downtown Detroit Partnership where I investigated ways that the DDP can incorporate sustainability into its operations.
 
How do you describe social entrepreneurship and how do you think it relates to urban planning?
This is a great question... especially in the context of a city like Detroit where an economy sorely needs investment for entrepreneurs and creative thinkers to have a place in the change that is happening. I think social entrepreneurship is really the consideration of more than just the profit for a company to be considered successful. It is a philosophy more than a rule. It is predicated on the very requirement that the wealth generated by a company is not only benefitting people and planet, but also sharing and distributing that wealth more fairly so that all people are beneficiaries of the system, not just a few. 
 
However, I always must qualify this by saying that I don't believe social entrepreneurship is the idea that "altruism sells." We should not be social entrepreneurs just because it is cool, trendy, and even sexy to a market of millennials who want to "do good" while justifying their over consumption. 
 
Urban planning must be inclusive of social entrepreneurs to create vibrant, diverse, and creative communities for all the reasons I mentioned above. Because, if we believe that cities and, frankly, our world, are for ALL people, we must enable and allow our communities to be built by community members for the community. I think our cities have the potential to be more wholesome, livable, and safe places for all to live if only we can unleash the capacity of social entrepreneurship. Fortunately, I believe these changes are in the appetite of young urban planners around the world and it's only but a short amount of time before these notions are going to be manifest in planning practice.
 
Why did you choose to live in Detroit? Why did you choose to work at DDP?
I wanted to live in Detroit, because I see it as my responsibility as an employee that serves the public and public spaces of Detroit to be a resident and stakeholder of these spaces. It's also my first time living in a "big city" and I'm learning a lot about hustle and bustle and vibrancy and culture of what that means. 
 
What is your view on bike culture in the city?
Bike culture is one of the best touch points for all Detroiters. One of the reasons I love it is that it is an equalizing factor for people of all socioeconomic, cultural and racial backgrounds. To me, this is missing in the narrative about bike culture right now in Detroit. Instead of bike lanes or bike services being for any one group of society, the message should be that the more, the better to enhance equity and access around the city. However, this needs to be sensitively addressed since some residents of the city are more concerned about the roof above their head than a fancy new bike lane. There's really a need for better communication and information about these initiatives.
 
What concerns do you have for the city, specifically related to the revitalization of downtown?
I have a concern that this development is irreverent to the history of the city. Some of the new stores and businesses are not representative of the people who live here. Specifically, in the public realm, it doesn't take much for people to stop thinking that public space is truly public. That's why we are embarking on some extensive community engagement at DDP to better understand what makes people feel a sense of belonging in public space. It's important to make sure that we continue to ask people who are both from Detroit or not, "What makes you want to be in this space?" As long as we are asking these questions and incorporating it into our work, the city can be a place for everyone.
 
How do you feel about working for an organization that focuses solely on downtown as opposed to other Detroit neighborhoods?
I think a strong Downtown is ever important for a strong city and strong neighborhoods. However, as Downtown continues to develop, I'm getting the itch to take my ideas and implement them elsewhere. This will definitely be an experience that goes unmatched in terms of learning and growing wherever I end up next.