Authentically Detroit
Authentically Detroit is the leading podcast in the city for candid conversations, exchanging progressive ideas, and centering resident perspectives on current events.
Hosted by Donna Givens Davidson and Orlando P. Bailey.
Produced by Sarah Johnson and Engineered by Griffin Hutchings.
Check us out on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @AuthenticallyDetroit!
Authentically Detroit
Rebuilding Hope In Regent Park with Aaron Marsh and Noah Stricker
On this episode Donna and Orlando sat down with Aaron Marsh and Noah Stricker of LifeBUILDERS Detroit to discuss how they’re pouring into a community on the city’s east side.
Established in 2005 with the mission to bring life and hope to the east side of Detroit, LifeBUILDERS seeks to restore a community that had suffered the devastating effects of disinvestment for nearly 20 years.
They seek to help form new connections in the neighborhood by providing a place for neighbors to come together and have times of fellowship and help form a neighborhood that’s based on mutual support.
After 18 years of effort, millions of dollars, and tens of thousands of hours of volunteer help, the Regent Park community is now in the spotlight of future development and investment plans by the City of Detroit. People have hope, and want to live in the community.
For more information on LifeBUILDERS Detroit, click here.
DETROIT BY THE NUMBERS WITH ALEX B. HILL:
588 PAGES OF DETROIT REPARATIONS TASKFORCE REPORT.
36.6% DETROIT HOUSEHOLDS RELY ON SNAP (25.9% OF HOUSEHOLDS WITH CHILDREN) (U.S. CENSUS, ACS 1-YEAR ESTIMATES)
$63M SPENT ON HOME REPAIRS IN 2024, MOSTLY FUNDED BY ARPA (43.5% OF FUNDING), 3058 HOME REPAIR INTERVENTIONS, 2,628 ADDRESSES
11,021 RESEARCH-GRADE OBSERVATIONS WITHIN THE CITY OF DETROIT ON INATURALIST (DETROITDATA)
Up next, Authentically Detroit welcomes Aaron Marsh and Norris Stricker of Life Builders Detroit to discuss how they're pouring into a community on the city's east side. But first, our new segment with Alex B. Hild of Detroit Geography, Detroit by the Numbers. Keep it locked. Authentically Detroit starts after these messages. Have you ever dreamed of being on the airwaves? Well, the Authentically Detroit Podcast Network is here to make those dreams come true. Formerly known as the Deep Network and located inside the Stotemeyer, the Authentically Detroit Podcast Network are for studio space and production staff to help get your idea off of the ground. Just visit authentically DET.com and send a request through the contact page. Hey y'all, it's Orlando. We just want to let you know that the views and opinions expressed during this podcast episode are those of the co-hosts and guests and not their sponsoring institutions. Now, let's start the show. Thank you for listening in and supporting our efforts to build a platform of authentic voices for real people in the city of Detroit. We want you to like, rate, and subscribe to our podcast on all platforms. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody. We're not quite there yet, but in the spirit of giving today's guests are Aaron Marsh and Nora Stricker of Life Builders Detroit, whose mission is to give back and build community on the east side of Detroit. We also have Alex B. Hill of Detroit Geography on the line for our new monthly segment, Detroit by the Numbers, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite segments that we do. Aaron and Noah, welcome to Authentically Detroit.
SPEAKER_05:Thank you for having us.
SPEAKER_04:Happy to be here.
SPEAKER_02:It's a pleasure to be here.
SPEAKER_04:Good to see you guys. How's this blessed day? Funny. Adana, how are you doing? I missed you last week. Thank you for covering for me.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah. And let's say we had a house full last week. Yeah. So um, it was good though. Of course, I miss you, but Denzel was here. Denzel McCampbell. It's our councilman.
SPEAKER_04:Elect Denzel McCampbell.
SPEAKER_00:So I said, Well, you are a series regular. Have a seat right here. And so he helped. He was unofficial co-host of this podcast. It was really great. I gotta take a listen to it. It's better having you here reading all that stuff off. I miss you in your producer role when you're not here. Um, or I'm sorry, in your host role. Yeah, I love your jersey.
SPEAKER_04:Thank you. This is this is a Hutchinson jersey. This is what I say. I'll wear the jersey the day after if we win. If not, I'm mad and I'm not wearing any of their stuff. Yes, I'm a Fairweather fan. I don't care what y'all got.
SPEAKER_00:Can I tell you a story? You can fact check this with Kevin. We're watching the football game. We're in overtime, and I said, we're gonna need Aiden Hutchinson to make a move. Come on! Aiden Hutchinson made a move and ended the game right then. I said, No, listen, I should be able to boy. You know he's from Plymouth? He's from Plymouth and Michigan. And Michigan. So, you know, I'm a good one. Went to Divine Child. So I am.
SPEAKER_04:You went to Divine Child? Wow, that's crazy. Yeah. That's amazing.
SPEAKER_00:It was great though. I was like, wow. Yeah. I just had it in my mind. We were talking about faith. And I was like, people were, oh my goodness, I can't believe it. And I just had that faith. We were gonna find a way to win the game, and the Giants were gonna find a way to lose it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:And you know, it means so much for him because this is his home. Like, this is legit, like his home team. So it means something different for Aiden.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, but you know, hats off to Jameis Winston, though. Because he was he was bawling out.
SPEAKER_04:And Jameer, Jameer was running. Oh, Jameer, his good gracious. And don't be out of breath. Just be running and look regular. I'm like, dude. Do you all play fantasy football? I don't know.
SPEAKER_00:Does anybody have um Jameer on their um on their team?
SPEAKER_05:I don't, but I know someone who does, and he was very happy.
SPEAKER_00:Very happy. 55 points. I was like, wow. We still lost because of all the other players, but still, he showed up, didn't he?
SPEAKER_02:He did. That was the main offense yesterday. Yeah. He's a baller. Aaron, how are you doing? How's the day finding you? You know, it's finding me well. Good. Good day. You know, I'm not angry after witnessing the loss.
SPEAKER_04:So today's a good day. It's a good day. That's what Ice Cube said. What about you?
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, doing well. It's an exciting Monday. Lots of great things going on and love the holidays.
SPEAKER_04:Exciting Monday. I don't think I've ever heard those two words together. Exciting Monday. Have you ever heard that? Like, oh, this is an exciting Monday.
SPEAKER_00:A Memorial Day. Oh.
SPEAKER_05:Lady Monday. Lady Monday. A day to celebrate. There's some days about the year about Monday. A day to sleep in. Yeah. I'm gonna sleep. I've been feeling that probably the past couple weeks. I've been waking up and really excited about all that's going on. And so there's just a lot to be enthusiastic. That's the word I was using. Enthusiastic. I like feeling really good. I'm like him.
SPEAKER_02:This is you know when I'm feeling a certain way, I can look to Noah to give me the inspiration I need to do. I love that.
SPEAKER_05:And vice versa, Aaron. It's right back at you.
SPEAKER_04:How are you feeling on Monday?
SPEAKER_00:Well, you know, I get to see you on Mondays most of the time. Yes. And that's always a good thing. You know, Orlando used to work here.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And so we buy it. Used to hang out a lot. He used to hang out then, and now he has moved out and up. And so Mondays are the days where we can regularly expect to see each other and have good conversation, which is how this podcast earns.
SPEAKER_04:We get to do it. We get to do it. And listen, we're so excited. Uh, this is a new segment. We're calling it Detroit by the numbers, highlighting significant data and numbers from the past month for Detroiters. Here is Alex B. Hill, Detroit, and chairperson of the City of Detroit's Go Data Commission. The Go Data Commissioners are a diverse group of stakeholders, including data experts, community leaders, and representatives from various sectors. The commission is dedicated to ensuring that the city's open data initiatives serve the needs of all residents and promote an informed citizenry and decision making. Sometimes there are numbers and data points in the news, but it's hard to know the context behind them. So let's talk about them and dig in. Alex, are you with us? Can you hear me? I'm with you. You sound great in the band picking up the kids from school. What numbers do you have for us this month?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. First number I've got is 588. Wow. All right. Talk about it. Um and that's the number of pages in the new Detroit Reparations Task Force report. Uh so I know the report was due last year, uh, but the commission has taken two years, um, and now they've got this really robust report. Honestly, I have not made it through all the content.
SPEAKER_04:I haven't either. I haven't either. I was talking to uh somebody who worked uh for the city putting this together. What he said to me last night, it was actually last night, is that the actual report is like 167 pages, and then you got like appendixes and um references and stuff that makes out the rest of the report. That's what he told me. I'm like, okay, good, because I saw five hundred.
SPEAKER_00:You know, I I skimmed it, I looked at the um titles. Um, nothing new. And, you know, I think there's that cynical part of me that says that we're having conversations about reparations, and we really need systemic fix fixes to stop some of the injustices from going forward. Like I have 0% confidence that we are going to have reparations. We can't even tell history accurately, you know, they're banning books. Are there things that we can do to close the divides, close the gaps between black wealth and white wealth? Some of the legacy of all of this injustice is still with us, and we spend so much time looking back that we don't spend enough time saying what are the present inequities in our system right now. So hats off to the people who read the report and who wrote the report. I know Desiree Ferguson is a friend and she put a lot of effort into it. I do, I'm a student of history, and so I don't think that this is new to me. Um, but again, I don't want our attention so focused on trying to achieve reparations that we are not trying to achieve those things that are within our grasp right now.
SPEAKER_04:Is there a policy route that uh they outlined in the report, Donna, for some of the recommendations? What is what are they saying?
SPEAKER_00:Um, you know, things about housing and giving preferences for this. I mean, it's the Michigan Constitution, you know, we had a constitutional amendment that says you can't. And I get it. I'm not saying we shouldn't. I'm a believer in that. One of my concerns about this conversation though is that sometimes it devolves into who should and should not get reparations. How, what continent were your ancestors enslaved on? And um how long were they enslaved? And were you in the house or the field? I you know, where we are already so divided and it creates more conflict and um dissension. My son-in-law is Nigerian, and Nigeria had a really fun experience with colonialism, just like we've had some experiences here, and yet people uh have become so divided. So I think I have really mixed feelings. Um, as somebody who believes morally we should have reparations. Yes, they did it with Japanese people, but the Japanese people had uh Japan. There's international pressure to create that, whereas I don't think that it happens without that kind of international pressure because the arc of the universe may bend towards justice, but our laws don't necessarily do it without force.
SPEAKER_04:Donna, is there any conversation at the uh Sheffield transition table around this report and what the Sheffield administration may want to do with it?
SPEAKER_00:Our focus is on policy and what can be achieved by this administration in the first 100 days. Um I think it's very focused on pragmatic solutions, on systems, you know, fixes, and that's where my brain lives. And so it's a good fit for me to be in those conversations. I think having that report is important to elevate people's consciousness and understanding of historical injustices. So I don't want to minimize the importance of a reparations report, but I don't think we should view it as a policy Bible or something that's going to move our community forward because there are so many reasons why it won't happen politically, um, you know, legally, and all of those other things. And so again, I think sometimes our expectations that this is where we should be can be a distraction.
SPEAKER_04:Alex B. Hill, by the numbers. What other numbers do you have for us?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, our next number is 36.6%. Um, and that's our number of households that rely on on SNAP or supplemental nutrition assistance program uh to put food on the table.
SPEAKER_04:Food snaps. Because most people don't call it SNAP, people call it food snaps. Okay. Or the bridge card. So go ahead, Donna.
SPEAKER_00:We're really saying I'm seeing here that 25.9% of these are households with children, which tells me that a lot of the people relying on SNAP are actually seniors.
SPEAKER_01:There there is a large percentage, yeah. And it's uh right. So one in four households with children uh rely on on stamps. Oh, I see.
SPEAKER_00:I see. One in four households with children, and then thirty-six point six percent of the overall Detroit population. So who who constitutes the other um percentages that bring us to thirty-six point six percent?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you're right. The other big segment is is seniors. Um get a job in our community.
SPEAKER_00:I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_01:What's that?
SPEAKER_00:No, I'm just saying, you know, people say they should get a job telling us.
SPEAKER_04:Go check the receipts at the Walmart.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. It's it's so crazy to me, though, because people have such misunderapprehension or misunderstanding of who's actually receiving these benefits and the extent to which we are putting our most vulnerable populations in a situation where food is, you know, scarce is crazy to me.
SPEAKER_01:Right. And and the average uh I think it's also helpful for people to understand the average income for folks that rely on these benefits is just over$20,000 a year. My lord. That's that's not enough.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. But you know what?$20,000 a year, you don't get that by not working. And unless you have Social Security. I mean,$20,000 a year, that means you're working a low-wage job, keeping your wages low, to keep prices low so that the rest of us can afford to live the way we do. I think it's important. We used to talk about essential workers. It would be great to get a number of how many of these people, and I know that we don't have enough, there's not enough data points to point to, but how many of these people who rely on SNAP benefits were considered essential workers where we were all hiding at home. Right.
SPEAKER_04:Exactly. Right. Exactly. And had to go to work, right? Uh Detroit by the numbers. Alex, what's the next number?
SPEAKER_01:Uh next we've got 63 million. Um, and that's the amount of funds that were spent on home repairs in 2024. Um, and that's from the Detroit Home Repair Census uh that just came out. You can look that up and read the whole report. Um, but the majority of that uh came from ARPA dollars uh or the American Rescue Plan Act, um, and that accounted for some 3,058 home repair interventions uh across 2,628 addresses.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. It's also philanthropy though, right? Because um we are participants in the Detroit Home Repair Fund. And I see that Rocket is one of the groups that publish this fund. Um so this is with all of those resources put together, excluding DTE, right.
SPEAKER_01:Right. Yeah, I think so. And then I know they're the the Gilbert Family Foundation is the primary backer of the Detroit Home Repair Fund.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, the Detroit Home Repair Fund is largely the Gilbert Family Foundation, although I believe DTE is a participant in that. We um and we do we do a lot of um energy efficiency upgrades on homes, which are significant. And so when you combine those resources, it's probably greater than sixty-four million dollars. And yet, and yet we still have we're hardly making a dent. I think the U of M study said 38,000 homes in dangerously poor repair in the city of Detroit. And so, as excited as we can be about those numbers, it's um humbling. I 63 million, it's humbling to realize that we are just touching the surface of that. Um it would be interesting to figure out how much money it would take for us to truly repair every home. Now, we had a conversation with the current mayor about this a few years ago um with an organization of group of people who I was talking to, and he said, you know, it would be take almost a billion dollars for us to repair every home that needs repair in the city of Detroit. And that's that's unrealistic. I said, but we're gonna spend almost a billion dollars tearing down vacant homes. So it's a matter of priorities. Right. And I was told that the role of government is not to do that, um to fix up, take care of private homes. The role of government is to tear them down or whatever. I said, well, is the role of government to build stadiums? And that was the last time this current mayor is willing to meet with me. But I think the point is because it's it's a question, like you know, um, how you treat the most vulnerable people says who you are as a society, whether it's seniors eating or in my opinion, housing is a human right. And not just having a place to live, a place having a place to live where the roof doesn't leak, where the furnace works and the hot water tank works.
SPEAKER_04:If having a place to live where your home isn't making you sick.
SPEAKER_00:Yes.
SPEAKER_04:I mean, and and I I think that's the imperative that sort of gets lost in the narrative when we talk about home repair. Folks are dying in these homes because their homes are making them ill. And we're sitting around saying, well, it's not the role of government. The role of the last time I checked, the charter says that the city is subject, subject to the citizen, right? And and so I'm just trying to I'm again trying to have or frame it differently. We're folks are living in homes that have carbon monoxide leaks, folks are living in homes that have holes in ceilings, they're freezing and you know lead exposure.
SPEAKER_00:Orlando taught a class here talking about the power of narrative.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And this is that power. You're helping to narrate the issue, and I want to thank you about that because, and that's of course what you do, and I'm sorry, that's what you do with um with with um outlier media. I'm sorry, I I'm trying to put my phone on. Do not disturb, because you know, Orlando's gonna start looking at me funny. You just looked at me anyway. Um I understand everybody else is looking shocked and scared. Like, did I do that? Um, I think the power of narrative is super important here. Um and the the fact that people are getting sick in their homes, I want to thank you for pointing that out. And one of the beautiful things about the home repair project is that we do a healthy home assessment. We understand, and the first thing we want to do is just make sure that people's homes are healthy enough for them to live in.
SPEAKER_04:Detroit by the numbers, Alex Behu.
SPEAKER_01:I think you got one more for us. Last one, yep. Uh, and this is 11,021. Um, this is a random number, but uh we've been doing a lot right now. Um we just hosted uh a data forum around wildlife in the city and talked to some researchers who are tracking predators and other types of wild animals across the city. Um and these are these are all uh research grade observations within the city on uh it's a social network called iNaturalist, um, where you can track the biodiversity um of your city.
SPEAKER_00:So what I think yeah, what kind are we looking at with this 11,021 snakes?
SPEAKER_01:Yes, so this could be, and honestly, I'm gonna say, you know what, I think that number is pretty low for Detroit because we have a very biodiverse city. Um we have some really great um and interesting environments, whether we're talking about the riverfront or our historic uh creeks and streams. Um even the old rail lines have some really great uh uh, you know, it could be bird observations, it could be um tracking specific types of plants and fungi.
SPEAKER_04:Um and it could also be the pheasants on the east side and the pheasants on the east side, could be the coyotes, um Below. Yeah, all of the above. Let me tell you something. I didn't go in my backyard for months when I spotted a raccoon who was ready to get down. I mean, he was not backing down. He was like, what? And I'm like, you're not gonna move? And I'm like, oh, I'm making all kinds of nobody. They are absolutely of the. They got the mask on like a villain. I I was like, okay, I guess I'm going the long way.
SPEAKER_00:We had raccoons that were on our house. This is when I was a little girl, right? And I shared a bedroom with my sister, and I looked up and I saw a raccoon, and I went and got my sister, and when she came back, there were two raccoons looking at us, and we got my mother, we came back, and there's three raccoons. So every time we got somebody, they got somebody going back.
SPEAKER_04:One for one, and we're going to warn them. What are we doing?
SPEAKER_00:They would sit on top of our garage and throw acorns at us. Like, get away from my house. I was like, You all are misunderstanding this. This is our house.
SPEAKER_04:Didn't it?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, they're funny.
SPEAKER_04:They're being petty at that point. This is our house. Trying to get you out. So they sound like they're from the west side. I did grow up in the south.
SPEAKER_00:That was the west side.
SPEAKER_04:I know.
SPEAKER_02:I did grow up in the south, so I do know some people who actually hunt it though.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, and eat coon. And eat coon.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. They make I hear, I've never had it, I hear the pistol. Okay.
SPEAKER_04:Is there anything we're gonna have some coons stew, everybody? Come over for Thanksgiving.
SPEAKER_00:People eat possums too. That is the it looks like a giant rat. I've never seen an uglier animal in my life.
SPEAKER_04:We are descending into a piece of conversation that is grossing me out. Oh my God. And you want to know what's funny? You're absolutely correct because there are literal rats that I've seen the size of possums on the subway in New York. And I'm like, oh my God. At first, I'm like, what is that? Uh the native New Yorkers, oh yeah, that's a rat. I'm like, that's just common for them. It's to be that large. Oh my goodness. Alex B. Hill, thank you so much for joining us on Authentically Detroit.
SPEAKER_00:Alex, you know what we're gonna need next? We're gonna need some disaggregated election data, maybe for the next time we get together. It'll be so much fun to understand who did what I've seen, the big stuff, right? Yep, but some of the nuances that people don't capture, um, how many young people voted? What did their votes look like? I'm really interested in youth participation in democracy. Help us, Alex.
SPEAKER_04:Yes, yeah, we'll dig we'll dig in. All right, all right, thank you so much. We'll be right back. Interested in renting space for corporate events, meetings, conferences, social events, or resource fairs? The MASH Detroit Small Business Hub is a 6,000 square feet space available for members, residents, and businesses and organizations. To learn more about rental options at MASH Detroit, contact Nicole Perry at nperry at ecnetroit.org or 313-331-3485. Welcome back to Authentically Detroit. Established in 2005 with the mission to bring life and hope to the east side of Detroit. Life Builders seeks to restore a community that suffered the devastating effects of disinvestment for nearly 20 years. At Life Builders, they fight against the effects of decades of blight and disinvestment by producing real tangible change and the physical attributes of their community. They seek to help form new connections in the neighborhood by providing a place for neighbors to come together and have times of fellowship and help form a neighborhood that's based on mutual support. Life Builders recognize that young people are the future of the community. Therefore, they seek to build them up spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically through various programs that provide them with unique and exciting opportunities. After 18 years of effort, millions of dollars, and tens of thousands of hours of volunteer help, the Regent Park community is now in the spotlight of future development and investment plans by the city of Detroit. People have hope and want to live in this community. Everybody, welcome to Authentically Detroit Aaron Marsh and Nora Stricker of Life Builders. All right, you guys have been at it since 2005. What is it that we don't know about the work that's happening that people need to know?
SPEAKER_02:That's a great question. Um, the main thing that we focus on is empowering our youth through our various after-school programs. You know, we we serve kids from elementary all the way up to high school. Um during the summertime, we run a summer day camp, giving kids in the community, elementary school kids in the community opportunity to engage, um, to have something to do from an activity standpoint at a very nominal cost to the family. And we also employ this past summer, we had 30 teenagers that we employed through our summer youth employment program. They had an opportunity to be camp counselors. They also had an opportunity to give back to their community by service days. We had a week of service projects for them to do where they got to work and do work on senior houses and just really give back and really kind of see what it means to serve in our community.
SPEAKER_04:No, what's the what's the story arc of Regent Park and why was Life Builders needed in 2005 to intervene and you know, eventually help to attract the attention of the city whereby the city wants to invest?
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, traditionally Regent Park was home to many of the city's public service workers, uh, a lot of police officers, firefighters, school teachers. And then when the laws changed, a lot of those people moved out to the suburbs and they just were seeking to get out of the city. It led to a huge housing crisis in our neighborhood where a lot of these houses were just left abandoned over time due to levels of neglect, the community fell into some state of disrepair and the like. And so uh Larry and Marilyn Johnson, the co-founders of Life Builders, were living about 10 minutes away in Gross Point, and they had already they had already retired and realized this is so wrong. The state that so many families are living in, just 10 minutes down the street from us, they saw it as an unjust uh reality that was void of so many opportunities that they've seen provided to other people, and they said, Well, if no one else is gonna do it, we want to take it into our own hands.
SPEAKER_00:I'd like to uh propose another uh um nuance to that description of what happened though. Because I worked at Warren County Development Coalition, which is now East Side Community Network in the 1990s, and people wanted to live in Regent Park, that was the most attractive area. I used to run the nonprofit for Second Ebenezer on Vanguard Community Development Corporation, and Regent Park was a real destination place. But a lot of people got there with predatory loans. When the police officers moved out, people could move in from other parts. So they emptied out Southeast to try to move there, right? But if you don't have a mortgage that makes financial sense and it balloons in two years, that was as destabilizing as as the other moves. There were people ready to replace them because there are beautiful homes in that community.
SPEAKER_06:There are.
SPEAKER_00:And um, so I think it was also a man-made crisis. Somebody, some people referred to the foreclosure crisis in Detroit as Katrina without water. So we had the mortgage foreclosures and then tax foreclosures, and it really was concentrated in an area that everybody wanted to be in at one point.
SPEAKER_05:That's funny that you use the Katrina without water phrase because we've called it the perfect storm. So many things hit. I mean, Detroit as a whole, right? But that community in specific ways that it felt like these dominoes continued to fall, leading to the community ending up where it was in the early 2000s.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, I had a um staff person who was at the time who was really into selling country wide mortgages and getting people in country wide, and you know what country wide did. They went bankrupt. They went bankrupt. They were it was a completely predatory planning process. And so um, you know, it took advantage. Everybody can be a homeowner, everybody should be a homeowner. And you guys are way too young to understand what a no-doc mortgage is, but mortgages where you don't even have to provide a driver's license or a check stub because and in and people who don't have any kind of education or preparation or licensure selling these predatory mortgages because they could. It was like the Wild West. And you had a beautiful community torn apart because of that. Now, 48205 is no longer it's got a kind of bad reputation now.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, it it has traditionally. I mean, at one point, Detroit's most deadly zip code.
SPEAKER_00:4820?
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, 4820 Die. You know what we started to call it? Because obviously we're not fans of that nickname.
SPEAKER_00:That's terrible.
SPEAKER_05:48203. Yes, that's our new moniker for the zip code.
SPEAKER_04:I appreciate that. 4820. I never heard of 4820. I I know it's the ninth present, and the ninth, the knife got a reputation. I mean, I know people who used to live in the least present, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Who refer to it as 4820. I used to live in 4820, so east side gets a bad reputation. 48205 is like, so 482 or 300.
SPEAKER_04:The red zone. Yeah, yeah, the red zone. Understand that you have to you have to use narrative to begin to change a perception. When did you guys understand that, right?
SPEAKER_05:Man, well, Larry and Marilyn started out just with a heart to help where they could, right? They did not understand fully what life boulders would become, but when they started doing work in the community, it was largely just relational. And so they started to get to know the people living in the community, hearing what their needs were and seeing, hey, we don't we don't have all the answers, but we want to try to help where we can, right? And so they started to generate some momentum with a lot of private funders to see how we can provide more opportunities. And so uh a lot of the narrative started out originally around housing and the housing landscape of our community. Um, they right next door to the original building that they purchased on Kelly Road, there were Two apartment buildings, eight units each, in absolutely horrible shape. And they were home to a lot of crime, criminal activity. That's just we can keep it there. It was an abysmal state for people to live in or live next to. And so Larry and Maryland set their sights on that and they're like, we want to provide a beautiful housing opportunity for people in our community. And so they emphatically pursued purchasing those apartment units and using funding that they'd secured privately, they went out, got them, and have since turned them into beautiful units for people in our community.
SPEAKER_00:The interesting thing is that the median income in Regent Park and 48205 remains higher than the median income over here, despite our better reputation. In 48205, it's about$41,000 a year. We're just over$30,000 over here, over here in 215,$214,$213. You're not, and so it was so surprising to me when somebody came to me and they were talking about doing a project there, and I looked it up. I was like, how did this happen? Because the stereotype is there.
SPEAKER_05:It is. And to be fair, a ton of gang activity and violence was taking place in our zip code. Right. And that's if you uh look up the Death by Instagram news story. I mean, there is an incredible uh series of articles written about the bloods in Detroit operating in our in Region Park. And there was an incredible um change that's taken place since so much progress has been made in kind of moving that criminal. I mean, really diminishing that criminal.
SPEAKER_04:You guys have been working with the gangs and stuff like that? No, I'm not, you know, seriously. Like, you know, I know there has been uh many iterations of Operation Ceasefire all over the city, uh where community organizations in partnership with the Detroit police are bringing in gang members to have conversations and to mediate. Um how is that how have you guys been able to change that that tide over there?
SPEAKER_02:Really just being an advocate for members of the community. You know, there was a period of time where parents and family were afraid to sit on their their front porch.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And, you know, listening to people in the community, understanding what their concerns were, and just, you know, being their voice, you know, talking to city officials, talking to DPD. You know, we're intentional about the idea that we can't do this alone, that we need partners and we need to develop relationships. We keep people that that can make the decisions necessary to invoke change within the community. And so just developing that relationship with the city, the Detroit Police Department, the ninth precincts in particular, and saying, hey, we need, you know, we need you to pay attention to this.
SPEAKER_00:One of the other things that I've heard is that the proximity to Eight Mile makes it an ideal place for people who are coming in from other places to come in, buy drugs, and go back home.
SPEAKER_02:Yep.
SPEAKER_04:And so um somehow, although being closer to the suburbs, the suburbanites were coming and buying the drugs.
SPEAKER_00:Right. But there's and and it's the you know, a border community is more attractive than having to go into the city. Is that something that you found to be true, or is that just a reputation?
SPEAKER_02:Well, it's absolutely true. And you know, what we've tried to do to diminish that is strategically um work to acquire those assets where you know you had squatters were primarily the ones that are setting up these operations, if you will, in the in the neighborhood, and where there were opportunities to acquire those pieces and then transform them into a home where a family can now reside to eliminate, you know, the amount of volume that was flowing out of that community.
SPEAKER_00:Right. Because you know, this side of town, Southeast Detroit, used to have a really high concentration of drug use drug dealers back in the day, right? I mean, white boy Rick was over here, the Chambers Brothers, all those people. As it depopulated, though, I always say drug dealers are entrepreneurs. And the drug dealers had to follow the users, and this was no longer the place to be. Nobody's coming into Southeast Detroit for that when you can do it right in Northeast Detroit. And so you saw this movement. Um, there are people in this community who we were doing crime data. I don't know if you remember doing the crime data, and you were giving the crime data to some people in the community, Comstat, and they were like, wait a minute, there's been no murders here? Yeah, there's been no crime here. Like, nope. The gangs picked up and went east, um, northeast. So, you know, it's one of the it's a, you know, so I'm glad to hear that you have been intervening. I also want to talk about your faith roots because this is not just another community development organization. You guys are really rooted in your um beliefs. Can you talk about that?
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, yeah, you're exactly right. We are. We're a faith-based organization. Um, we accept people into our programs of all backgrounds, right? We're not forcing it on people, but what we say is uh we're Christian, we believe in the Bible, and what we want to try to do is like you were uh shared, Orlando, build people up spiritually, you know, and we believe that that sometimes is often overlooked in a person's holistic development. Absolutely. And so we care about every aspect of the human, right? We're talking about the housing things that we've done, uh, which are huge for us. We care about the emotional, the mental health, the education, and we care about the spiritual side of people's development in a huge way. Um, and so yeah, our faith roots go deep. Larry and Marilyn felt called to do what they started in Northeast Detroit. And really, uh, what we share with people who are looking to get involved or hear about a worker, it's not worth it if you don't feel called. We can tell you this there's a lot of hardships that come with this work. And if you don't feel like this is what God has for you to do, oftentimes people don't last.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. I mean, that's mission work, period, right? Uh I I think the same could be said when you're doing like even Eastside Community Network is not a faith-based organization, but it is a community development organization and missional work is hard work and you gotta be in it.
SPEAKER_00:If you don't have belief, yeah, if you don't have belief, whatever your belief system is, if you don't have belief, this is not the place for you. Um, I used to, when I was ran Vanguard Community Development Corporation for Second Ebenezer Church, I remember having conversations with the bishop there with he was a pastor then, and talking about the importance of hope in change. Yeah. Change, hope precedes people change in their lives. If you don't believe, if you can't see it in spiritual development, spiritual support is what gets you there. So, what does it mean to build people up spiritually without imposing your faith beliefs on them? How do you do that?
SPEAKER_05:I think it really starts with what we believe about each and every person, and that is that they have value, right? Every single human soul has value because as a faith-based organization, we believe every single person is made in the image of God, which means that they are created with purpose and value, and they are worthy of love and care. And so that's really what has driven our organization over the years is we care about you because we believe God cares about you. And so that's that starts with showing them their uh what we believe to be uh so much value.
SPEAKER_00:So when I show you love, yes, that improves your spiritual. When I show you, when I walk my walk, then you see it, and you may want to emulate that walk, even if we're not talking and you know, having conversations about Christ. I am acting on that mission. Is that your thought? Exactly.
SPEAKER_05:And they experience the love of God through us loving on them, right? Even if it's just them getting some food for a Thanksgiving meal, right? You know, that is an act of service that we are communicating a care and a love for them. And so, sure, we have people come into our programs from different faith backgrounds and things like that, and we love them, we welcome them because we believe that every we should be accepting of everyone in and around our community. And that's just because every single person has value.
SPEAKER_00:Now, is there a church that is connected to your movement?
SPEAKER_05:Uh, you know, we're not a local church. We don't have Sunday morning services. Some people would say that Life Builders is their church, but we don't claim to be, we're a a local body of Christians looking to impact our community, but uh we don't have like an actual church.
SPEAKER_00:So you guys belong to different churches?
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, like our staff would, you know, attend different churches, are involved in different areas of ministry and things in the city and around it. So yeah.
SPEAKER_04:All right. Can you guys talk a little bit about your various roles within the organization? Like Aaron, what do you do there?
SPEAKER_02:I am the I serve as the director of finance. So I manage our finance and accounting, I manage our grant accounting, I oversee the financial aspects of all of our development projects. So essentially everything with a dollar sign I end up touching in some capacity. Nice. What about you? I'm our deputy director.
SPEAKER_05:So I'm helping uh lead the organization in sense in a sense with strategic partnerships and outreach. And a lot of my background comes from the youth and children programming side. So still involved there. Uh excited to see, you know, as we're celebrating 20 years, a lot of the questions we're asking is how can we have even greater impact over the next 20 years?
SPEAKER_04:And you guys had something over the weekend, right? What happened over the weekend?
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, we had our uh Thanksgiving holiday giveaway. So we were able to serve around 125 families, even more. I think some more went out today uh that was donated to our organization, um, along with gift cards so that people could, you know, get some items specific to their families. And we just welcome people from our community uh to come in and help support them. Uh, you know, cost of groceries is getting crazy, right?
SPEAKER_04:You know, the economy. Yes. Yes.
SPEAKER_05:There's a there's a lot of people in our community who their income has not risen in accordance with the cost of groceries going up.
SPEAKER_00:And that's that's I'm glad you pointed that out. Because over these past 12 years with the current mayor in office, housing prices have skyrocketed. Incomes have not. And if your income is not going up, it's going down in real time, right? So the reality is that we're losing buying power. I'm talking about residence, even as the cost of housing is growing. So um, we're not always recognizing the crisis we're in. I remember having a conversation about water shutoffs, and the question was: would a family with$50,000 a year in income that doesn't need assistance, would they qualify it for assistance? Well,$50,000 in 2025 is not what it used to be, okay? And we have not yet wrapped our minds around that. Even in nonprofit work, I found that we are still using salaries that made sense 10 years ago. And how do we upgrade that is really, really difficult. Some of our foundations are still giving us the money they gave us 10 years ago. And it's like, I need we need a raise, I need a cost of living increase just to keep on doing the same work. The cola. How do you all address that in your work?
SPEAKER_05:Do you mean with our staff specifically or with our community? Ah, I see. Um, well, we recognize what you're saying about our staff. We actually we did roll out a cola. I like that. Hadn't heard that term before. Uh, we rolled out a cola, what, earlier this year, Aaron? Yep, we did. Um, I'm glad to have our numbers guy here, let me tell you. So yeah, uh, just because we recognize for so many of our staff members, I mean, it is a sacrifice working in the nonprofit world, right? Because traditionally, salaries have not matched what they look like in the for-profit world. Even someone with the same qualifications making the same level of impact in a different way. And so uh we we try, you know, as we can. Obviously, we're we're uh funded uh by donations and uh the money that comes in, but we really try where we can to meet the needs of our team members.
SPEAKER_02:So even outside, even outside of, you know, because we also operate a rental operation as well. And so we pride ourselves on number one offering quality, affordable housing. Yeah. Oh yeah, landlords. Just below, you know, market rate in a lot of cases. What what what what rates are those? Um one of our tenants, three bedroom, they're looking at about eight hundred dollars a month in rent. Landlord. And we also offer landscaping, alarm, so we offer quality. We got twenty we have one-site maintenance for maintenance repairs and requests. So we're contributing our part to make sure that it's not too hard for the members of the community.
SPEAKER_00:How many properties?
SPEAKER_02:Right now we're managing 50 um 50 units, including um our apartments, buildings as well. Um, also on the housing side, you know, with I think the last three years, we've sold in the neighborhood 15 different properties, and a lot of those properties were sold to qualified low-income buyers. And so while we're trying to make a difference with stabilizing that community through home ownership, we're also looking for opportunities and partners with different finance organizations to make sure that your everyday person can afford to buy a house.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I was gonna ask about the mortgage access. What does that look like?
SPEAKER_02:With the work that we've done in the community, we've seen mortgage access increase. Okay. Um, you know, just from my personal experience, I actually bought a house in Regent Park and Congratulations. This was 10 years ago, 12 years ago. And at the time, it was hard. You know, the the bank denied the appraisal, you know, and so we worked with another lender that was more favorable to purchasing a home in the city of Detroit, and we finally got the deal done. But it was hard 12 years ago to buy a to to finance a house in the city of Detroit. What we're seeing is that lenders are open, more open than they were then to finance purchases in the city of Detroit. And it's really helped us help more families move into the community.
SPEAKER_00:So tell us about yourselves. Um, where you're from and how you got into this work.
SPEAKER_05:I yeah, to be fully transparent, I was essentially born into it. Larry and Marilyn Johnson are my grandparents. Oh, okay. And so I've seen life, but I still remember the conversations about what are we gonna call this thing? What are we doing, you know, on the northeast side of the city? Uh, gosh, 20 years ago. So I'm 28 now, so just eight. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. And that was um where my heart first start begin started to begin to get stirred. And watching uh Larry and Marilyn, other members of our family, friends, connections over the years get involved and support this work, uh it was awesome. But let me tell you, in some ways, it almost made me want to run. So you grew up in Gross Point or Detroit. Yeah, I did. What school did you go to? Uh I actually went to uh Parkway Christian, Sterling Heights. Oh, right. So at 16 in Chiner.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, okay. Yeah. So you never went to the public schools there?
SPEAKER_02:I didn't actually, no.
SPEAKER_00:All right.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. What about you? So I've been involved with life builders now for 15 years. Where did you grow up? I grew up in Arkansas. I was born here in Detroit. Um, long story short, my father and my mom moved down to Arkansas when I was a toddler. And so where in Arkansas? Pine Bluff is where I grew up. Pine Bluff. Yep, went to University of Arkansas, Fairville, moved back here, um, finished as you finished up my education um collegially. Also worked actually in banking and finance. Before I came to Life Builders full-time, I was actually an investment advisor. Yeah. I actually met Larry when I worked for Chase Bank on Kelly, uh Kelly and Woodcrest. Kelly and Woodcrest. Yep. I worked there and I met Larry. Uh long story short is he was running a summer youth employment program for the teens, and he was upset that they were getting their paychecks, taking them to the corner store. Trying to cash them and paying that fee. And paying that fee. And so he wanted me to come in and talk to the kids about financial literacy and open up bank accounts. And then after that first meeting with him, I said, hey, if you ever need anything, let me know. And then I got a call from him probably a week later. We had lunch. Uh next thing I know, I'm, you know, working with teen boys for our Tuesday night uh boys program. And next thing I know, I'm leading it. Then I'm on the board of directors, and then I just felt a call to leave corporate. That's how they get you. That's how they get you. That's how they get you. One lunch is all it takes. One lunch is all it takes.
SPEAKER_00:That's that's a beautiful story. How did that change your life?
SPEAKER_02:Honestly, it's been a blessing to me. You know, meeting Larry really blessed my life in a lot of different ways. You know, at the time I needed personally some spiritual accountability. And meeting Larry and then working with the teen boys gave me that at a time that was crucial for my spiritual development.
SPEAKER_00:What does that mean?
SPEAKER_02:Well, I I would say this. You know, I grew up in a Christian household. Matter of fact, my father was a pastor. But I felt at the time a little bit rebellious in the past.
SPEAKER_00:A PK, you're a PK.
SPEAKER_02:I was a PK.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And so I was probably living a little rebelliously, and I need and just coincidentally, Holy Spirit kind of found a relationship that kind of pulled me into what I where I need to be spiritually in order for me to fulfill the purpose and calling that I had on my life. Um, and so being a part of Life Builders helped me grow as a man, helped me grow spiritually, helped me grow as a leader. Um, I wasn't feeling totally fulfilled in my professional career at the time. And then, you know, I just felt the tug that, you know what, this is not what you're supposed to be. Having the same conversation over interest rates every day with your client. You're called to do something greater and have a greater impact.
SPEAKER_00:So I was um in Arkansas recently for my niece's wedding. I was in Little Rock and um before going to Arkansas, I was prepared to go into this red state and be subjected to so much racism. But my niece is getting married, so of course we're going in. A whole lot of us came from Detroit. And we got there, and it was the friendliest place I have ever been in my life. Those people are so friendly. I don't know who they voted for or what their thoughts are, political beliefs, but they were nice. Was that your experience in um Pine Bluff?
SPEAKER_02:Overall, yeah. Pine Bluff, interesting enough. So I moved here in 2001. Uh at the time Detroit was the number one city violent crime per capita. Number two was Pine Bluff, Arkansas. And so what's interesting for me is that, and what I think helps me as it relates to our kids, uh, is that I grew up in a time in a city just like them. I grew up in an environment just like them.
SPEAKER_00:When we were in Little Rock, everybody kept talking about the crime in Little Rock. And they said, Oh, there's a lot of crime here, and indeed there is. But the funny thing about the way that the national media reports crime is you know about the crime in Detroit, you don't know about the crime in Pine Bluff or even Little Rock. Um, there's this bias in reporting, wouldn't you say? It was number two. But we would not know that. Did you ever know that, Orlando?
SPEAKER_04:No, no, let me let me tell you what we would hear. We would hear about we would hear about Detroit, we hear about Chicago, we hear about Baltimore, we hear about Philly, and Memphis. And Memphis, these, you know, let me push back slightly overwhelmingly like black cities. Pine blood.
SPEAKER_02:No, it's so I hear you. So I was born in the 80s, and probably 88, 89, there was a documentary on HBO, Gangbanging in Little Rock. Gang banging in Little Rock.
SPEAKER_00:Nobody in Detroit watched that, I promise you.
SPEAKER_02:That's that's fair. So I'm gonna have to look it up. Please look it up. You know, because the environment there, Pine Bluff, Little Rock, so Little Rock's the capital. Pine Bluff is probably half hour south uh east of Little Rock. Banging in Little Rock. Yeah, banging in Little Rock. I mean, the the the the environment was essentially the same. Yeah, you know, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00:You would not know, I did not know the Pine Bluff. That's what we're saying. We don't know. Absolutely. Except is is is majority black city like Detroit. Yeah. And so, yes, I can understand what you're saying, but I think people in the north, people in places like Detroit are not conscious of life. I don't have any relatives in the South. My people have been up here in since the 1920s, and all my cousins live here or somewhere else, you know, north. So it was a real revelation to me. Yeah, no, two things the friendliness of even people who I would anticipate being racist, possibly. Like everybody was nice, the police were nice, the TSA workers were nice, our Uber driver barely wanted to let us out of our car, he was just being so friendly. It was niceness.
SPEAKER_02:No, that's real. And and I think that's one of the things that I think we should recognize a little bit more. But at the end of the day, we're all the same. We all have the same goals and the same desires. We want a safe place for our kids to play, we want to be able to make a good living, and we want to be able to eat good. That's the goal of everyone. And the more we focus on the things that we have in common, the more that we can find solutions to some of the problems that we face as a culture and a society.
SPEAKER_00:I was at Go ahead, I was at a conference not too long ago, and there was a speaker there, and she said it's really hard to hate people close up.
SPEAKER_02:That's real.
SPEAKER_04:We are not as polarizing as the algorithm would have us to believe, especially when you have the opportunity to sit across from someone human to human.
SPEAKER_02:And then to that point, though, what is the algorithm designed to do? Yeah. Enrage. Enrage to make to make money.
SPEAKER_00:And justify, and justify injustice. Because if I can keep this group against this group against this group against this group, then I can take all the spoils for myself while they're all in fighting. And um, this idea that we love each other and we're coming together as human family is threatening to people who benefit from Murder Vision.
SPEAKER_06:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:Always has been, right?
SPEAKER_04:20 years. What's the story of impact of Life Builders? And are y'all what are y'all doing to commemorate 20 years?
SPEAKER_05:Well, actually, uh earlier this month we had our 20th anniversary celebration, which is really awesome. We had about 300 people out. Well, where was it? Uh it was actually at Bethesda. Um, so it's a it's a church, the 16 and Channer. It's a we did a collaboration with uh them for a program we have running with them, and so we had our celebration out there.
SPEAKER_04:Fancy.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, yeah, it was really neat. It was people enjoyed it and it was a sweet time. But uh 20 years, man, the story of impact. I mean, Aaron, you could piggyback off this with me, but to date, we have we have touched and helped transform uh about 150 properties in our community um and millions of dollars invested back in our our neighborhood. We have had thousands of people come through some of our programs. And uh honestly, at this point, we're just we're we're really grateful for the rich history of the organization, but we're pumped about what the next 20 years have to bring. And Aaron and I are just are feeling a lot of excitement. That's uh, you know, I was thinking back to the next one.
SPEAKER_04:No signs of slowing down. 28 years old, you got you got some years ahead of you. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:I yeah, I who knows, right? Right. I would love to be there as long as the Lord would have me. Uh, I hope Aaron and the rest of our team, we've got a great team, and so they stick it out with me. But there is so much to be, I said earlier, enthusiastic.
SPEAKER_00:So is there news, anything going on with the leadership of Life Builders? Um, as you guys ascend, you guys are young leaders. How do you, you know, keep the organization young?
SPEAKER_05:That's a great question. Um, well, Larry and Marilyn obviously traditionally have led the ministry past 20 years, and I I don't want to speak for them, but Yeah, you know, we nosy. I'll do my best journalists. I'll do my best to represent them well. Uh Larry and Marilyn, uh, as of late, you know, and they've been they've been kind of thinking and praying along these lines, have been having those discussions of, okay, it's time for us to transition out. Um, they really want to empower the next generation of leaders, right? And they want to see in a fresh way life builders explode in terms of impact and loving on our community and continuing to to provide what's what's needed. And that that changes over 20 years, right? You hear things change.
SPEAKER_00:It's the responsible thing to do. It is responsible as leaders when we get to a certain age to think through who comes next.
SPEAKER_04:You're thinking through that too now. I am.
SPEAKER_00:You know, I was on a panel and they were saying, in five years, where are you gonna be? And I'm like, five years, I'm gonna be 67 years old. I hope to be retiring, or not retiring, but I'm not gonna do this forever, nor should I. I think when I look at young politicians, I look at young leaders, they bring something different to the table, and we need to allow for that. Sometimes it's scary because I don't want to be irrelevant, but I know I'll be relevant whatever I'm doing, right? Doing different things, but I I I share this a lot. I was born into a different Detroit than today's Detroit. Everything was different then. And I don't know what it's like to live in a city where people are struggling in the way they're struggling right now. I don't know what it's like to live in a city that's been depopulated in so many places, with schools closed in so many neighborhoods, with automobile factories gone. I don't know what it's like to grow up in that. I know what it's like to live in that now. And a lot of us, you know, we have these um nostalgia has a tendency to blind us to what is because we always think about what was. Some of you uh only know what is. And I think people who are really grounded at what is are people who should be designing what happens in the future. And also, whatever we're doing, some of us have really messed things up and we need to step out the way so other people can fix it. We cannot be part of an environmental disaster all over the world and then say we're here to fix it. Because you can't fix what you broke. Other people can come in and fix it. And I'm not saying we're all personally responsible, but our way of thinking has been wrong. I love young people because I have to change the way I think, and I raise children who are extremely opinionated and unafraid to tell me what they think at any given time, and it makes me grow. But I still don't think like a young person.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Well, that's good. I think you see, historically, most major movements were led by younger people.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, almost every what movement has been led by an old person?
SPEAKER_02:That's true.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, Bernie Sanders, okay. Bernie Sanders like a person who did stuff, but look, he didn't become president. It's young people who picked up that baton and are taking it. Mandami, Abdul El Sayed, Donovan McKinney, um, our younger people, Gabby Denzel, our younger people in our community who are thinking through his ideals and figuring out practical ways to put them into motion.
SPEAKER_04:All right. If you have topics that you want to discuss on Authentically Detroit, you can hit us up on our socials at Authentically Detroit on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, or you can email us at authentically Detroit at gmail.com. Donna, it's time for shout outs. So, you have any? I do. All right, what you got?
SPEAKER_00:I want to shout out Mayor Mandami for his sit down with President Trump this past week. I laughed so hard when I saw how they were connected. It was like you know how to have a conversation and stand your ground and walk out with respect and not budging, but also, you know, it was just different. You know, um, our friend Eric um Eric Thomas said, you know, he needs to teach communications courses to people because knowing how to communicate with people who you consider your enemy and walk out, having them praise you is an unusual skill set.
SPEAKER_04:I mean, yeah, the man does have a way with words. Uh Aaron Noah, do you have any shout-outs?
SPEAKER_02:I want to shout you guys out. I think you guys are doing phenomenal work here, you know, spreading the messages that people should hear. Um, so shout out to you guys. Thank you.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, I I second that. I think that the things that you guys are talking about, obviously bringing your areas of expertise. And uh you said uh earlier that a lot of this started because of the conversations you guys had one-on-one, or maybe in a smaller group setting. Now you're bringing in Detroit and beyond on those conversations. I think that's powerful. And you you talked about narratives a lot, Orlando. And I think it's so important for people to have narratives informed. And you guys are doing a lot of that work here. So shout out to you guys.
SPEAKER_04:And shout out to Life Builders on 20 years of impact. Congratulations to you guys for on doing great work. Uh, I want to shout out the Urban Consulate because we just uh did our uh interview with New York Times opinion columnist Tressie McMillan Cotchum and number one New York Times bestselling author, Jason Reynolds, last Wednesday to a sold-out crowd at the Garden Theater. It was a so-enriching conversation. That I know you were teaching your class and you couldn't be there, but you missed um a treat. So thank you. Thank you to everyone who showed up and thank you to all of the organizations who brought young people. Jason Reynolds is a youth and young adult author. He was a former uh national ambassador for young people's literature with the Library of Congress. And so his work is in schools, his work is also banned um in many uh areas as well. And so uh shout out to all of the organizations and schools who decided to bring uh a ton of young people on Wednesday night.
SPEAKER_00:And shout out to Claire Nelson, the founder of Urban Consulate, and shout out to you for um organizing to get all those young people there.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah, we got them there. We got them there. All right, y'all. Thank y'all for listening to Authentically Detroit. We want you to have a really happy holiday. We'll see you on the other side. And until then, remember to love on your name.
unknown:I think don't burn on the grill. I just forget a deal.
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