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 Sam Robinson.
Produced by Sarah Johnson and Engineered by Griffin Hutchings.
Check us out on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @AuthenticallyDetroit!
Authentically Detroit
Equity First, By Design with Graig Donnelly and Aaron Abney
On this episode, Donna welcomes new co-host Sam Robinson to Authentically Detroit! They’re joined by Graig Donnelly and Aaron Abney of the newly launched Community Owner’s Representative Initiative (CORI) to discuss how they’re building Detroit’s capacity for equitable real estate.
The Community Owner’s Representative Initiative (CORI) is building Detroit's capacity for equitable real estate development, poised to model a new way forward to deliver impact through technical assistance while training leaders in the field.CORI is a long-term partnership between proxy and CDAD driven by the belief that we all deserve access to beautiful, uplifting spaces — because good design is not a luxury, it is a decision.
They believe that while the current ecosystem of funding, training, and coalition-building has strengthened the capacity of organizations to expand their programming and overall footprint in their communities. We need a systems-level approach to develop and preserve the real estate projects that neighborhoods need to thrive, not just projects that the private market will support.
For more information on CORI and to apply to the Quick + Equitable Fund, click here.
FOR HOT TAKES:
"GENERATIONAL CHANGE HAPPENING": MICHIGAN LAWMAKERS CROSS PATHS AT SHEFFIELD INAUGURATION
GILCHRIST ENDS GUBERNATORIAL CAMPAIGN, LAUNCHES SECRETARY OF STATE BID
Up next, Authentically Detroit welcomes Greg Donnelly and Aaron Abney to discuss the newly launched Community Owners Representative Initiative, CORI, the Quick Plus Equitable Impact Fund, and how they're building Detroit's capacity for equitable real estate. But first, this week's hot takes from the Michigan Chronicle and the Detroit Free Press. Generational change happening. Michigan lawmakers cross paths at Sheffield Inauguration. And Gilchrist and gubernatorial campaign launches Secretary of State Bid. Keep it locked on soon to Detroit starts after these messages.
SPEAKER_03: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.
SPEAKER_02: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.
SPEAKER_04:And I'm Sam Robinson.
Donna Givens Davidson: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. I'm proud to announce that the one and only Sam Robinson has joined Authentically Detroit as my new co-host. Sam and I have co-hosted the Black Detroit Democracy Podcast together for the past nine months. And with Orlando's departure, we miss you, Orlando. He agreed to join us over on Authentically Detroit. We look forward to a robust partnership with Sam with more changes to come. Today we have Greg Donnelly and Aaron Abney here to tell us all about the newly launched Community Owners Representative Initiative and the Quick and Equitable Impact Fund. Welcome to Authentically Detroit, everyone.
unknown:Thank you.
SPEAKER_06:Thanks for having us.
Donna Givens Davidson:All right. So how are you all today? Happy Monday.
SPEAKER_03:Doing pretty good.
SPEAKER_05:We're doing great. Um happy to be here, happy to celebrate in this moment in Detroit and all the good work that's happening.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:What about you, Chris? Yeah, I'm I'm excited, you know, despite all of the horrible things going on uh in the world around us, I think there's a lot to be celebrating here in Detroit, and uh just really proud to be part of it.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, yeah. Talk about the work that that you guys are are heading up. I've been reading about it uh this afternoon. Um and I'm uh interested uh to hear from your guys' perspective uh how this work really fits into uh what folks are thinking, Donna and others uh as part of the transition, this new administration. It's kind of like a turning of the chapters, a new era of Detroit. Yeah, you guys are are a part of that. Let's talk about it.
Donna Givens Davidson:And I I'm excited about that, you know. Um I I'm excited to get to that part of our discussion where you can tell us how it connects. Um if you've listened to Authentically Detroit for the past almost seven years, you know the kinds of things we care about. You know we care about equity, we know we care about people and poverty and addressing poverty and homelessness and all of these entrenched social problems. And in the past, we really haven't had a city government that really focused on those issues. We touched on them, but we didn't focus on them. We have a mayor right now who has prioritized the things that we have prioritized as part of her administration. She's rolled it out. The first rollout was the um RX Kids um program, which gives mothers, new mothers, low-income mothers money when they first give birth to their children, and then$500 a month for the first year. I think it's$1,500 upon the birth and$500 for the first year. We know that's gonna have a dramatic impact on child outcomes because it's been tried um in other places, but this is the largest rollout in the state of Michigan. I am so proud of our mayor. Um, and I know I'm not the only one. I um was having dinner with some friends on Saturday, and that was the thing that really caught their attention was not just talking about it, but doing something as the first announcement. Um, I think in the past it's always felt like business first, and then you know, good things will trickle down to the people. And you know, um, wealth never trickles down.
SPEAKER_06:That's not where it goes. It's not how capitalism works.
Donna Givens Davidson:It's not how capitalism works. So you have to be intentional about that kind of stuff. So we're excited about that. Um we're gonna hear from some hot takes though. So generational change happening. Yeah, uh, Michigan lawmakers cross paths at the Sheffield inauguration, and this is by Sam Robinson, the Michigan Chronicle. Sam, you wrote this. Um, former and current elected leaders filled concourse at the Detroit Opera House Friday to celebrate the symbolic inauguration event for new Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield. It's a historic day for Detroit, historic day for Michigan, U.S. Senator Alyssa Slotkin told Michigan Chronicle in an interview Friday at the Detroit Opera House. People feel proud of what Mayor Duggan accomplished, and they're really excited about what Mayor Sheffield is going to do to take it to the next level. Lawmakers in attendance expressed optimism when asked about their expectations for Sheffield's tenure. Some pointed to the 77 percentage point victory over Triumph Church pastor Solomon Kenlock Jr. saying Sheffield has inspired excitement across the city. While Sheffield, city council members, Detroit police commissioners, and the city clerk were already sworn in last month. The investor event offered the public, the public, a chance to see the new administration take the oath office in person. Slacken was one of many Michigan lawmakers that came to celebrate the city's first woman mayor. It's about time, State Senator Mallory Morrill told McMurrell told the Michigan Chronicle. McMurrell's Democratic primary challenger, former Wayne County Health Director, Abdul El Sayed, also stopped for an interview with Michigan Chronicle. Former Mayor Mike Duggan chose against running for a re-election to a fourth term to run for governor, leaving the Democratic Party behind last year and becoming an independent. So what do you say about this, Sam? You wrote this article.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, well, you know, it was interesting. Abdul Al-Sayed told me that Rx Kids was something that he was trying to get bring to the city while he was the Wayne County Health Director. He said the fact that it's happening now is a direct result of a change in leadership, he told me. Um I thought it was interesting to see Debbie Stabenow and um Alyssa Slokin. Stabenow has kind of just been everywhere that the people are uh in her in her retirement era. Um she told me that she's gonna support Democrats um in this US Senate uh election um after August. I'm sure she will not uh get into the primary between Mallory McMurrow and Abdul Al-Syed and Haley Stevens. But um Yeah, it's interesting. I think a lot of people that that might not have um thought to themselves I'd I'd be here were there at that investiture. Um I think a lot of people I I just heard a lot of people from the morning on Friday to the um at night uh that that you know had told me I didn't necessarily support Mary Sheffield's uh campaign, so I'm kind of surprised that I'm actually even here right now. Um, but you know, I I think a lot of people were excited. The posters were cool, I thought. Um yeah, you guys uh saw those. Um and and uh yeah, I think it was uh a positive event. Um and it's gonna be interesting to see if that positivity can continue.
Donna Givens Davidson:Yeah, you know, I expected Slack and Stabenell to be there. I expect elected officials to show up at that kind of event. Um, the joy I saw from Detroit residents, the joy I saw from black Detroiters, this feeling that we are seen, we are represented, and we have a mayor who is going to act on our behalf is the main thing that I felt. And I kept hearing that from other people. I happened to sit right behind um State Senator Stephanie Chang and her husband, and it was just a great conversation. I learned some interesting things about um, you know, even how organizations like mine were perceived from um that perspective and the fact that we are our organizations are going to be more valued. I think that made a big difference to me. Um, so the the investure itself was just beautiful. Um, everything from can we talk about um Jessica Kermore's poem?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, I mean it was a it was a really moving uh you know I think it went on for uh two or three minutes. It was about five minutes, actually.
Donna Givens Davidson:I recorded it so I can listen to it again.
SPEAKER_04:Sure. And yeah, I think that was a you know kind of symbolic of the entirety of you know what people felt like when they told me that they voted for Mary Sheffield um for mayor. Um you know, some people uh, you know, are are full-throated supporters, some people were more skeptical. Some people told me that you know they're gonna be voting for for Mike Duggan Um at that investiture. I think I quoted a couple folks that said, you know, I we're gonna see if if she can um you know uh sustain the perceived momentum. I think the perceived momentum is gonna be a very important conversation as we talk about the governor's race because the Democratic Party really is going to want Mary to succeed. A lot of people are riding on and you know, uh Mary being successful as mayor, and so Duggan can't go back and say, Well, look, I left and then it all went down.
Donna Givens Davidson:I mean, he left and it started going to hell before he left, though, right? Um, there was an article in the paper talking about the contaminated soil um left by his contractor, um, both the person who sold the backfill iron horse and also the contractor who he celebrated and said was the future of Detroit, um Guyanga. And so I think, you know, leaving that kind of debt um and placing it in the hands of the next mayor is really interesting because this is her burden out to clean up. Um I think that okay.
SPEAKER_06:I was just gonna say that I think there there is this economic truth that over the last decade there's been a tremendous amount of resources that have come into Detroit from the federal government. And that's not what the next several years look like for a lot of really nasty reasons. Um and and so to some degree, you know, Duggan probably picked the right moment to leave the next person like having to deal with that. But I think that what I feel right now is that um for most of my lifetime living in and around Detroit, uh the idea of of equity and striving to be equitable in what we do feels like this thing that you get permission to do after you do the other capitalist driven stuff. And I think the conversation that we're trying to have right now is how is that the baseline? How would how do we start with equity?
Donna Givens Davidson:I don't know if I I I hear you, but I think that um Duggan had other choices. He made the choice to be so-called colorblind. He made the choice to not examine what it meant to be to Detroit. He drew the lines around neighborhood development. And if we're having an honest conversation, we also have to talk about all of these developments that he supported, whether it is downtown office space that is underused, underutilized, or apartment buildings that were underutilized. And a lot of our dollars went into these projects that are not really successful. If and when they fall apart, they'll fall apart in the hands of another person. So timing is great on so many ways for him. He leaves before the, you know, environmental disaster gets really publicized. He leaves before a lot of what's happening in terms of his development agenda, which is already struggling. I want to point this out because people aren't going to acknowledge this possibly. But I think it's important for us to acknowledge at the top of the year, we knew there were problems last year, and this is before Mary Sheffield was elected mayor. And so um I think equity always has to be a choice. And equity is never complete, it's never absolute. We live in a capitalist economy. And it's important for us to realize that so that we don't have unrealistic expectations for what any mayor is going to do. You're always going to have privilege enjoyed by the 1% that are not joined by the, you know, 99%, right? That's always going to exist in this nation, and it always has. But I think that there are things that you can do as workarounds. There are ways to mitigate some of that imbalance and injustice through the resources that you have. Um, you know, what kind of recreation center funding are we losing as a result of the federal funding? It doesn't look like recreation centers have been fully funded in our community. We have a whole library on Kirchhoffal. I can't I can't think of the name of that library, that's been closed for the past 10, 5 years. And even when Celantis came in and we had the community benefits process, and people demanded we reopen that library, that was never put on the list of demands. When you look at the kind of funding that has come to organizations like ours, when you look at so many services that have been under supported, when you look at housing in neighborhoods like the ones that we serve on the east side of Detroit, we know that that money has not been available to us for over a decade. And so um there will be less money, but there's also going to be less money spent in places that we didn't have access to money anyway. And that's not to say there's not going to be hardship. I just think it's always important to right-size the conversation and to acknowledge um how people in our community have sometimes struggled. Um, so we have another story. Um, Gilchrist in his gubernatorial campaign launches Secretary of State bid. And this is by Clara Hendrickson and Aaron Arpin Lobo with the Detroit Free Press. Lieutenant Governor Garland Gilchrist II has ended his campaign for Michigan governor and begun a bid for Secretary of State, describing a change of heart that compelled him to seek the post as Michigan's top elections official. The pivot came as Gilchrist's fundraising lagged behind his opponents in the governor's race, and early polls indicated Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson enjoyed a formidable edge over him. In addition to Benson, Gilchrist's departure from the race Monday, January 12th, leaves Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson as the other major Democratic candidate. While campaigning, Gilchrist said he consistently hurt fears about political extremism under President Donald Trump from voters seeking protections for elections. And if he breaks that system, we won't have this really important tool of our vote that we can use to vote people in to fix the other systems, Gilchrist recalled, voters relaying to him. Gilchrist previously sought an election administrator role in 2017 when he ran for Detroit City Clerk but lost to Janice Winfrey. He argued his professional background as a software engineer makes him uniquely suited to protect voter data. Gilchrist has served as Lieutenant Governor alongside Governor Gretchen Whitmer since 2019. The governor backed Buck the tradition in declining to endorse a running mate or any other Democratic candidate in the race to replace her in an interview with WKAR's off the record that aired in January 2025. Whitmer cannot run again due to term limits. Gilchrist didn't rule out a future run for governor in his Secretary of State campaign announcement. So what do you think, Sam? I think you actually talked to Garland Gilchrist today.
SPEAKER_04:I did. Yeah, it's just so interesting to me. I really a lot of people were looking at Garland and being like, hey man, you're uh the only thing um that would give Democrats the ability to say we've never we've not had a black they've never had a black nominee for governor. Uh Bill Lucas was the Wayne County executive, uh I believe it was 86. He switched parties and actually received the Republican nomination. Uh Bill Lucas lost to Governor Blanchard, I think, by uh almost worse margin than Whitmer defeated Tudor Dixon in in 2022. So it was a blowout. Uh Republicans did not vote for uh Bill Lucas. But it makes me wonder are they gonna vote for John James? You know, and and if it's James, Duggan, Benson, you know, you know, it's just it creates an interesting thing for Michigan voters. I think uh a lot of people um are correctly identifying Duggan as um not having the movement that he had after he announced that he was gonna run as an independent in December. I think that um you know a lot of people will say that he's Cuomo. A lot of people will point out the fact that he's not pulling above 25 or 26 percent. Uh he was in New York on election night. Where was he uh in New York on election night? Uh if not at the Cuomo party or with some Cuomo donors. Um, I just think this governor's race is so interesting. Uh Garling Gilchrist is now going to run for Secretary of State. There's already a progressive leftist running for Secretary of State. His name is Agogo Adevier, um, Adam Ollier, of course, uh former state senator, and um Barbinum, by Rum, excuse me. She is a Ingham County clerk. Former lottery commissioner Susanna Skrelli is also running. The interesting thing that Garland told me on the phone, Donna, is that he could take the Secretary of State into the next level. We kind of think that you know Jocelyn has had success as Secretary of State because she went from, you know, Ruth Johnson, you wait an hour to get your driver's license, to the appointments, which you know are a lot better. Garland says that it can go even further. Susanna Screli has said the same thing. She says she wants to do digital driver's licenses. She says she wants to um speed up uh how quick we get our election results like on election night, like wants it to come quicker, faster. Garland has said that you know he is a software engineer, he knows how to do it. Republicans and you know, reporters are correctly identifying the fact that the state's campaign finance system, after I believe it was a nine million dollar um um change to it, is actually in a worse off place. It's harder to see um um state campaign finance records now. Um Garland kind of went after that point. Um, you know, I said there remain significant challenges with the campaign finance website. That's something that I can make right work with those professionals to address those challenges and make it better. Um he said, while there's been improvement, we still need to bring the services that we offer and the experience that we offer fully into the 21st century. Uh a spokesperson for uh Jocelyn Benson did not agree with that framing. Uh when Secretary Benson took office, Michigan's Secretary of State system was broken. Alyssa Bradley is a spokesperson for Jocelyn Benson's campaign, told me families waited for hours just to get IDs. Um, employees worked late into the night. Every one of her present predecessors said it couldn't be fixed or refused to try. Uh Secretary Benson proved them wrong, Bradley says. And so it's interesting, you know, Secretary Benson actually gave Garland like a, you know, quote tweet kudos. Thanks, Garland, for dropping out and making my campaign easier. And so it was interesting for me to hear him sort of take her on, you know, and and criticize her tenure um while she is the presumptive front runner and nominee for the Democratic Party.
Donna Givens Davidson:Yeah. Seems like he's a team player in this, right? Well, you know, um Garland when he ran for um Detroit City Clerk, I was really engaged in his campaign and um was really impressed with his ideas for how he would improve the clerk's office. And of course, Den Bell Denzel McCampbell followed him and continued to have these ideas that transparency around so many things matters to us. Um, because it's not just, you know, the transparency around who donates to campaigns. There's so much other information that you can have transparency and improvement. On. And the I I think the Secretary of State appointment system has been a mixed bag. I'm going to be really honest with you. It's hard to know how to go in there and get certain things done. And so it got confusing, especially during the pandemic. Now, I, you know, a lot of times I just renew by mail right now, so I don't have to go through all of those challenges, but um I think that it can be further improved. That's all I'm going to say. Because there's if you have unusual situations, you're not sure how to move forward. And I think Garland, being a software engineer, has the skill set to figure that out. I know a lot of people like Igogo. Is that his name? A lot of people like him. I have friends who are supporting him, and you have two black men, well, three black men running against each other. Adam Ollier's candidacy is really interesting, but we won't need to go into that, right? Um, he dropped out of the 13th Congressional District because he didn't get signatures. And no, because he had fraudulent signatures. And so this is not a person who has demonstrated, you know, best practices in campaign stuff. And so I'm not certain, you know, that he is as credible as a Gogo, but isn't a Gogo deputy Secretary of State, or didn't he serve time in the United States?
SPEAKER_04:Yes, he's a deputy secretary of state currently under Jocelyn Benson.
Donna Givens Davidson:Yeah. So we have two progressive people. I don't know what his credentials are. I'd love to hear them both. It's again, it's hard having two black men who are highly qualified, perhaps running against each other, and people have to choose sides. Um, but you know, that's how politics works. And so ultimately, um, you know, may the best man win. Um, I like both of them. Um, I like Adam. I just don't know that this is his calling. Um so it's interesting. What do you think? You guys.
unknown:Greg.
Donna Givens Davidson:Greg?
SPEAKER_06:So I I think um I think they're both qualified, and I think that's amazing news for the people of the state of Michigan. I also thought that Carlin was qualified to be governor. Um, and I think Jocelyn's qualified to be governor. Um, and so uh to me, kind of the the bigger risk here is that I I actually think people are underestimating Duggan at the state level in terms of his ability to drive the conversation in an election and be successful winning a campaign. He's he's an incredibly shrewd politician.
Donna Givens Davidson:He is, and I just don't want to know if this is his day. If he had run and um and the um I don't know, if and we had a Democratic president or anybody but Trump, we'd be in less extreme circumstances. You're not gonna get many Republicans to cross the aisle, I don't think. I know that he's hoping that people want common sense politics and they don't want extremism on either side, but it feels to many of us like extremism sits on one side and everybody else is just trying to hold on. And so um I think this both sides argument is not necessarily politically wise right now, but I don't know. The other thing is that there are so many, um, so many how do I put this? Um skeletons that people have been sitting on. And depending on how journalists decide to proceed, those skeletons can come out. I mean, you know, you can talk about all of the successes, or you can talk about all of the investigations, all of the failures. We just mentioned one of them. Um I can imagine people choosing to, you know, move in that direction. I don't know if it's necessary and I don't know if it's gonna work. I don't think people are underestimating him. I've heard a lot of people say they think he's going to be governor because of his, you know, great campaigning skills, and nobody's a better storyteller. Again, I just don't know if this is his day. I think that that's the only question I have.
SPEAKER_04:And I mean, could could Duggan have sort of misinterpreted Kamala Harris's victory, I think, in December of 24 uh last last year? Um a lot of people were at a point to say the Democratic Party was in a place that we didn't we weren't sure what the future was, seeing Trump operate, right? I mean it's pretty clear that uh people are are clamoring for an opposition to what's currently happening.
Donna Givens Davidson:I I I think that's absolutely the case. I think sometimes people misread the room. Um, a lot of people have gone sour on the Democratic Party, not because it is too progressive, but because it's not progressive enough. I think a lot of people feel as though the Democratic Party has abandoned its base. And that base is not saying big business first and then people. I think that, you know, you have a president who is absolutely opposed to um environmental justice or environmentalism, any kind of environment, right? I mean, absolutely opposed to certain things, and you have somebody who wants to be governor, excuse me, who has not been really clear on where he stands on those matters. You kind of want that clarity. I want that clarity in an elected official. And I know he's been criticized kind of softly so far for not speaking up in big things. And he says, Well, people don't want to hear about Washington, people want to hear about what's here. But Washington is coming into our state and imposing things. They're sending, you know, troops into cities.
SPEAKER_05:Absolutely, yeah.
Donna Givens Davidson:And controlling schools. I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, I think that um to your point, Greg, I do think that we are underestimating what Duggan can do on the state level. I think he has sold the success of Detroit to the greater Michigan. Um, and those who may not be aware of the intricacies of what have happened throughout his tenure here in Detroit, um, are just seeing the successes of what Detroit is at large. And so as you travel throughout the world and you say you're from Detroit and they they speak of the last 10 years, which such promise and positivity, I think that that may um trickle in in into his favor.
Donna Givens Davidson:It may. I again, if people are just looking for Detroit to happen all over the state, that will work. But I think that um I'll mind you something, emergency management. Um emergency management has been in place for some time. Um and it was okay when it was happening in Detroit. When Jennifer Granholm um put Detroit public schools under emergency management, that was cool. But when Jennifer Granholm, I mean when Rick Snyder was elected after her and he said, you know what, we can put emergency management in any city in the state, people came out in droves and voted against it. There are sometimes these two-tiered types of thinking that it's okay to do these things in Detroit. The question is, do people want that in their backyard? And they might. They might. That might be exactly what people want. I think it's going to depend on how he stakes out his vision. I know he's talked about suspending school principles in order to improve schools, and we have a shortage of educators. And so I think the opposition adds right themselves. That's me. I think that um I can think of so many things that can be said. And the question is, will people say it? Will it be believed? Will it be heard? Because, you know, there's this exception for Detroit. It's okay if if things don't happen this way in Detroit because Detroiters don't deserve much in the eyes of many people. Now, whether Grand Rapids thinks they deserve it and whether other people think they deserve it, that's a whole nother question. I I think it's going to be really interesting.
SPEAKER_06:Those are and those are false choices to some degree. Like just it shouldn't have to be a choice between good things happening in Detroit or good things happening in Grand Rapids. And I think, you know, from my perspective, if Jocelyn wants to win, she needs to lean into her progressive roots. And she actually does have progressive roots. Like if you look at her her background, you know, way before um running for public office. Um Southern Poverty Law Center. Yeah.
Donna Givens Davidson:She's got she's a mixed bag, though. She's got some progressive roots, and she's got some lingering accusations of racism, especially towards black men. And she's also married to somebody who is actually pushing data centers all through the state. And that's become a political, you know, uh hotbed. And so I think that she has her own vulnerabilities. I'm not trying to suggest that Duggan is the only one with vulnerabilities. I think you have three candidates who have pluses and minuses. John James is a black man trying to represent this party. And I think that, you know, the Republican Party that is clearly anti-black, but they sometimes vote for people who are willing to carry their water. Um Duggan, I think, does not have a progressive mindset, and we might be moving in that direction. It depends on voter sentiment. And then again, you have um you have Benson, who has many upsides, but there's some criticisms. And my concern about her is that the resentment and the feelings that some people I've talked to have about her may lead to voter suppression where people just stay home. I don't care about this.
SPEAKER_04:That's already happening in Dearborn and in Hamtream and Arab and Muslim communities in which they felt like Jocelyn Benson did not support them. I mean, we saw how those communities affected the state. Um, of course, uh Michigan also has a large Jewish community that is going to be looking at what Benson says specifically on that issue. Um, a lot of the pro-Israel Zionist Democrats that I talked to around the time of the election last year actually told me, you know, Sam, you know, Kamala Harris didn't do enough to appeal to us, which was the exact opposite of what Muslim and Arab voters felt, right? Was she just appealing to them at every turn and and just ignoring their community. And so it's gonna be a difficult, it's gonna be a difficult uh, you know, triangulation uh that Jocelyn Benson is going to be.
Donna Givens Davidson:I mean, I think safe that she was not appealing to Jewish voters enough is um not laughable, so I'm not going to laugh. I think the idea that her, first of all, her husband's Jewish. Secondly, she made a point to show sympathy and empathy for what was happening to um people in Israel um after the Hamas attack and show very little sympathy in the same way towards people who were Palestinian.
SPEAKER_04:And she did, she did right at the end of her campaign, I think it was three or four days before the election, actually in an arbor, she actually gave the most sort of supportive statement to that cause, saying that the death and destruction happening in Gaza is terrible and it must come to an end.
Donna Givens Davidson:Yeah, it would have been nice if at the DNC somebody had been allowed to speak to that. And it that, you know, the the official mantra of the Democratic Party has been pretty much, well, you know, you heard what uh former President Obama said. It's sort of it's weighted in favor of um Jewish Israeli people and not in favor of the actual, you know, I don't know, is it 60,000 people who have been massacred? Um 40 to 60,000. I don't know what number we're arriving at. And it's still happening, you know. So I think that hopefully as we vote, we're not gonna vote based on that this year. Um, anyway, we're gonna stop. We're gonna take a break, and when we come back, we're going to talk to Aaron and Greg about their initiative. And I'm really interested in hearing how this new city administration plays into that and also what you hope to see at the state level.
SPEAKER_03:Detroit 1 Million is a journalism project started by Sam Robinson that centers a generation of Michiganders growing up in a state without a city with 1 million people. Support the only independent reporter covering the 2025 Detroit mayoral race through the lens of young people. Good journalism costs. Visit Detroit1million.com to support black independent reporting.
Donna Givens Davidson:Welcome back, everyone. The Community Owners Representative Initiative Corey is building Detroit's capacity for equitable real estate development, poised to model a new way forward to deliver impact through technical assistance while training leaders in the field. Corey is a long-term partnership between Proxy and CDAD, community development advocates of Detroit, driven by the belief that we all deserve access to beautiful, uplifting spaces because good design is not a luxury, it is a decision. Greg Donnelly is president of Proxy and onus representative for mission-based organizations, including Eastide Community Network, that want to improve their physical environments in order to uplift their people and their purpose. Aaron Abney is a Detroit-based multidisciplinary designer and community advocate whose work bridges architecture, interior design, and social impact. They believe that while the current ecosystem of funding, training, and coalition building has strengthened the capacity of organizations to expand their programming and overall footprint in their communities, we need a systems-level approach to develop and preserve the real estate projects that neighborhoods need to thrive, not just projects that the private market will support. And that's exciting to hear. So, you want to talk about this project, the genesis of this project? How'd you get started?
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, so uh the genesis of this, uh, well, it's lifelong for me probably. Um, trained as an architect um and always throughout my early career struggled to find a place that made sense for me in architecture school and bounced in and out of a bunch of other types of professional experiences. And finally, uh almost seven years ago, um, launched this business called Proxy that was intended to help organizations in Detroit on their own terms achieve the kind of beautiful spaces that I know they deserve to be in because when they're in better spaces, it helps them to do better and be better. Um, Donna mentioned ESIC Community Network here where we're sitting, like, really been proud over the years to contribute to continuing to better this environment. And um, we have some great things to come this year with building the Angel Baron Wilson Gardens outside. And and so it's rooted in that. Um, but more recently in 2022, the Ford Foundation uh funded some research that I was uh really proud to co-lead uh with India Solomon and Bucky Willis, where we dug into equitable real estate development in Detroit. Why was it not happening? Why was it not happening enough? We interviewed around 80 practitioners and took that, that those conversations, those inspirations, and developed a series of recommendations around what should be happening so that we have more equitable real estate development happening in this city. Um and that's really the grounding for this. Uh, that work was actually intended that whoever is the next mayor at that time, we knew it wasn't likely to be Duggan uh in this this next four-year period. Um, so that that administration would actually have some really good information direct from people doing this work about what should be happening and how people should be involved in that. Um, so fast forward to today. Um, a couple years ago, my business was about five years old, and uh I'm the only employee and um really seeing a lot of opportunity to grow, but I'm not that interested in just having like a bigger company. I'm interested in having colleagues and collaborators, and there really isn't anyone else out there doing this kind of owner's representative work to help organizations better their spaces in quite this way. And so started conversations with some folks in the funding community and the community development advocates of Detroit, and we landed on launching what would become this initiative, uh, grounded in a few things. One would be uh that we hire some folks who are early to mid-career and train them. Um, they get to do this work, paid full-time employees of CDAD place with my company to learn how to take their talents and apply them in this world. Um, and so we're raising money right now to actually do that and hire our first full-time fellows. But in the meantime, with some seed funding that we have right now from the Ford Foundation, the Gilbert Family Foundation, and Momentous Capital, um, we're doing some really fun things, including that Aaron Abney here is our first student fellow. So while he's a student at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Architecture, he's all spent also spending 20 to 30 hours a month with us working on actual projects and learning about this career path. So I'll talk to you.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah. Um so I come from an interior design background, a more high-end residential background. Um, I'm a Detroit native. I went to Howard University where I studied interior design. I graduated in 2020 and then kind of made my way back here. Um, and so life kind of led me in a lot of different ways. And I realized that space is how we how we dream. And it says so much about how we are perceived and um how we belong in different places. So um, and I decided and I learned quickly that, you know, good design, like Greg said, there, it is not a luxury. It just takes thought and it takes just um a passion for seeing people thrive in their spaces and not merely exist. And so our our world's collided, and it this has been a great uh blessing to my early career and uh my matriculation and my understanding of the built environment.
Donna Givens Davidson:So you are a U of D Mercy on your master's in architecture.
SPEAKER_05:So yes, it'll be another bachelor's and master's and master's in another year.
Donna Givens Davidson:Okay, awesome. Yeah, well, that's exciting news. I think you know, the built environment is so important. And a lot of times, and and a lot of times we think of the built environment, we think downtown. But what happens in neighborhoods impacts mental health, it impacts the way that people interface with each other. And what I love about this conversation is that um you're looking at creativity and helping people envision for themselves, I would imagine, what things look like. Now, as owners rep for ECN, I know what you do. You um help us deal with all of these technical professionals. We just went through a bid process and we got these bidders, and all the bids came in super high, and we've got to figure out how to make them manageable. And so it's important to have somebody do that for us and to keep the ball rolling, you know, all these little steps that you have to take to get city permits and agreements, I think will be before the planning commission on Wednesday.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, yeah, on Wednesday we have a hearing.
Donna Givens Davidson:We have a hearing um to change our building use finally. We've been in this building since 2012, but you know, when you want to do any work, you have to have that use. So I see what you do for us, and it's been amazing. We've been able to move things along. Can you talk about how that is different from what you're gonna be doing through this project?
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, so uh the this is about expanding the impact of what I do already and what proxy does already, which if I had to distill it, it would be um kind of two things. So we are helping organizations make possible things they might not have otherwise by uplifting what they already know about themselves, what they're already good at, and and turning that into agency in these really big important decisions about the future of their the places that they call home that that have to happen often through processes they're not familiar with. Like many of the organizations we work with, they're gonna renovate a space or build a space once in the next 20 or 30 years. And so they're not they're not already familiar with all the steps of that and how to how to be able to navigate in that way in a way that like uplifts their mission and makes sure they have real meaningful choices. So we're expanding that. So we're we're going to train more people to be able to help organizations do that because there is a need out there. There's way more work than I could serve as just this one person doing this work. Um, in the near term, uh, we're launching actually uh with the seed funding I mentioned a few minutes ago from these these generous, generous folks in uh philanthropy, um, the quick and expelled impact fund. Um so we're trying some things out here where we can say, take a space like this podcast studio. And let's say that ECN and Authentically Detroit had like$1,000 they'd saved up to transform this room, and you wanted it to be able to fully function in the best way you possibly could. We have funding where we can uh take that opportunity and that vision and that passion the organization has, partner you with a designer and some funding that we've been able to pull in to do even more with that space than you would have been able to otherwise, and do it fast. We don't need to transform a space like this, which by the way is beautiful already and has already been transformed, so it doesn't need it. Um, but we don't need to get a building permit. We don't need to Go through years and years of just like steps before we can actually like transform the space. And so we want to show on a smaller scale some immediate impact that helps people see like in action what they deserve and build that into momentum for larger spaces over time.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah. Yeah. So to piggyback on what Greg said there, um, we are adding to the capacity, but as owners reps, um, you serve, you kind of stand in the gap between the organizations and, like you said, all of the technical skilled trades and uh draftsmen, architecture studios, uh, general contractors, subcontractors, and as you stand in that gap as an advocate for an organization. I think that that's probably just as important um as the knowing the technical side of things and being able to advise correctly is that you're advising from your moral compass as well.
Donna Givens Davidson:That's wonderful. You know, I remember when we were first getting started with the Stademeyer Wellness Hub, and I think Greg was the only person on the board at that time who really got my vision. I was like, let's do this. They were like, huh? Um that's been infectious. Everybody gets it now. Oh, everybody gets it now. But I think at first it was just a little bit, you know, out there. And um, and as we were looking at this space, there's things we had to do that I didn't think I wanted to spend money on. Like we have to do a building assessment. Why? The building's fine. You know what I mean? It's like, oh no, we have to do this, and all of these expenses and processes we had to follow that we would not have known. And as we started applying for various grants, having those things in hand helped us. And so I think it's the questions you don't know that you should answer. Um, somebody bringing those things up. Can you talk about some other projects that you have worked on or will be working on in the near future?
SPEAKER_06:Oh, yeah. So uh this is exciting. Uh so the the main project that Aaron's been helping me with lately is called Detroit Horsepower, um, which is currently in construction um in the area around Focus Hope at uh Finkel and Linwood. And it is a 14-acre horse farm in the middle of the city of Detroit. Um, it is a really unique uh facility that will be open later on this year. Um, that took the organization 10 years actually to get to the point of actually being able to build. Um, there's a few other places around the country that have urban equestrian centers that are focused on uh helping young people, um, usually like middle school to high school age folks, um, basically with their positive personal development and learning how to be leaders in their own communities through interaction with horses. Horses are amazing animals. Um and this will be the largest such facility in the country, um, both in acreage, which is really important for the health of the horses, actually, which goes hand in hand with your ability to work with them on your own positive personality. How many acres? 14 acres. Oh yeah. Um eventually 17 horses will be able to call it home, and uh hundreds and thousands of kids every year in Detroit will be served through it. Um so that's a really exciting, unique project. Um, we've been working with the folks at Detroit Horsepower since 2019. They were one of uh our first clients, actually.
Donna Givens Davidson:Amazing. David Silver. I met him when um I first got to ECN and he was trying to see if he could put this um Detroit horsepower in Chandler Park. Um since then, I have a cousin who relocated from Detroit from Raleigh, North Carolina, and she was involved in a similar kind of organization in Raleigh and was looking to do similar types of work. It impacted the young people, but it also impacted her in a real positive way. So I think that um those types of activities can just, you know, be positives all around. So you're working on that. Anything else?
SPEAKER_06:Uh so just uh just before the holidays, we uh were really fortunate to have an announcement from the Michigan State Housing Development Authority and the city of Detroit um awarding low-income housing tax credit funds to uh Central United Methodist Church and NOAA at Central downtown.
SPEAKER_04:Right down there.
SPEAKER_06:Um they're a client, and we're going to be building 39 units of permanent supportive housing there, right next to Camerica Park, right next to Grand Circus.
SPEAKER_04:She got the land. Yeah, we that was a whole thing, I remember.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, yeah. So actually it's it's an existing building that Central United Methodist Church has had for over 100 years. Um they, as a congregation, would tell you they've been a witness to peace and justice in downtown Detroit for over 200 years. And also their congregation is a lot smaller than it was 100 years ago. There were like a thousand plus families a hundred years ago. Today, there's you know 150 maybe families. Um, and so that building, a 60,000 square foot annex basically to the sanctuary itself, was built for a time when they had like basketball leagues and all sorts of stuff happening every day associated with the congregation. And much of that space, unfortunately, they haven't been able to care for in the way that they should have been able to had they had different resources for the past couple of generations. But amazing organizations have grown into that space, including Nowett Central, serving the population in and around downtown experiencing homelessness. And so their day program is this intake really for services for people experiencing homelessness that that's a model. And that space needs to be transformed, but also giving folks a home, the dignity of a home in downtown Detroit. There is no permanent supportive housing within the freeways right now, downtown. It will be the first.
Donna Givens Davidson:So you got one of the few LightTech grants this life cycle.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and I think those are that was just a moment. That project is a moment that says this is a Detroit for all that we're building, um, especially where that's located. Yeah. Um, so really, really, really special project.
SPEAKER_04:That's like a crux of the sort of two Detroits that we heard about during the mayoral race. But when I was there on election day, um, you saw kids who had just, you know, I'm saying kids, 25, 26, 27-year-old caste tech teachers that had been living in Detroit since 2021, um, you know, that live down there, you know, as part of the 1% of Detroit residents, the 7,000 people that live downtown Detroit, right next to uh some of those folks that you're talking about, you know, low-income seniors, um, um, domicidally challenged folks that were there sitting around the church, but also volunteering. And I walked, I think, did I have to take the stairs up to like the fifth or sixth floor because the elevator wasn't working that day. And so um I met a bunch of different people, but it was very different people. It was like on the extreme ends of, you know, white, uh uh, a younger uh person living in Detroit for the first time, you know, probably in their history of anybody in their family to ever have lived anywhere. Um, and and it was just interesting. I know District Detroit had a big um uh disagreement with the city over one of those parcels that was right next to the one of the parking lots that's right there. Um, so that's a really big deal. I I I want to ask you guys before you get out of here. As somebody that grew up, um, I spent over 10 years in Midland, Michigan. And so architecture design has a rich history there with the um uh Alden B Dow home and studio. And I mean, we we just you'd grow up with a some guy that was his mom was the you know vice president of whatever at Dow Chemical or Dow Corning to where they would live in what we would be known as colloquially a Dow House, right? If you were rich enough, you would live in one of the hundred and however many Dow, Alden B Dow designed homes. Alden B Dow, if you guys listening do not know, is a um sort of like Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired modernist. I think he died in like the 80s, but um, a lot of his work, uh, you know, in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s lives on throughout the state and really throughout the country, he's a renowned guy. Um, and really in this conservative place of Midland existed um um a rich arts and culture environment solely because of Alden B. Dow's existence in Midland in a Dow Chemical. Yeah, right. I mean, I would have friends that, you know, they would have the conservative dad, liberal mom that would want them to be playing the piano and in orchestra and whatever. And it was just really interesting. I, as a person that, you know, wasn't good at math, I stayed away from that. I had a theory of knowledge class at the old Alden B. Dow Holman studio that was just so inspiring. They do tours through that um building, and it's just amazing. It sparked my love for just good design and being in spaces that's cool.
SPEAKER_05:I I wonder, Aaron, uh, specifically as a young person, yeah, what what made it possible for you to do this? I saw a need for me to be able to gift what I was given. So I was lucky enough to grow up in a home in a space where my parents designed it, they built our home. Um, and so the way I was allowed to dream, and I I quickly understood how dreamy was expensive. And this was like, you know, I would I just saw the world so differently. Um, and I wanted to give that to the built environment, to everybody, and not just the 1% that could afford a single family residence. Um, I think that it's also important to see more people that look like us serving and designing spaces for us. We have probably less than 2% of licensed black architects in the world. Um, and so that is truly important that we we fill up these spaces because we know us the best. We know what we need.
Donna Givens Davidson:Yeah, I think that it's you know really important for us to incorporate our culture in the design and not to um be erased by other people coming in. And Detroit has um, you know, so many amazing black architects historically to drawn. Um you know, my dad went to college with Howard Sims from Sims Varner, you know, and so I grew up next door to his son. Did you? Which one?
SPEAKER_06:Uh uh Larry.
Donna Givens Davidson:Okay, yeah. Larry. All right, the middle son. So um, yeah, we we grew up together, and you know, I just got exposed to architecture. My mother is an artist, my husband's an artist, and I'm just so you know, inspired by beautiful built environments and you know, also how we decorate them. So the interior design thing is really exciting too, because that is also something that sometimes gets overlooked. Our culture and the way that we design spaces. So interested in seeing your work. We're gonna take another break and we'll be right back.
SPEAKER_03: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.
Donna Givens Davidson:I want to talk to you about CDAD, um, Community Development Advocates of Detroit. It's an organization that has been around for 35 years, maybe. I'm not sure exactly how long. Um, I used to chair the board of CDAT back in the day, and I chaired the public policy committee, and we've been more loosely involved with CDAT in recent years, but it's certainly an organization I highly respect. Um, this is an unusual partnership for CDAT. How did this get started?
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, that is a great question. Thank you. Uh so I I kind of alluded to that a little bit earlier, where um I'm not that interested in making my business bigger. I could probably just bring in more business to the to Proxy as a company, which is a for-profit LLC, and hire folks um like Aaron full-time to work with us and and train folks that way. Um but I think if I've learned anything about myself and how I want to show up in the world, it's that I want to be doing things in in ways that sort of redistribute the typical sort of framework of how power and access move. And so uh Community Development Advocates of Detroit is committed to the world of community development in Detroit, to uh strengthening it, to giving it the resources and the um the ability to grow and evolve and do better. And so um speaking with the with some of the folks on the team there as well as some folks in in philanthropy over time, what started as this idea that I might hire a staff evolved into this idea of partnering to have a fellowship where um actually, in a way that I think is great for the folks who we will eventually hire for this, um, there'll be full-time employees of CDAD for three years with benefits that are benefits that are better than I could actually offer as a small business owner. Um, and being attached to that organization and what they mean and how they serve and the connectivity throughout Detroit and and and and the community development industry and all the other things it touches um really just made sense. And um, you know, I I can't wait to be in a place, hopefully in the next six months to a year, to actually hire our first fellows to have the funding to do that.
Donna Givens Davidson:Oh, you'll have to come back on when you are ready for that. Can't wait. I'm really excited about that future. Um, Mata V. Reddy is such a great leader. Um, she is the um executive director of CDAD, and you know, she just brings so much enthusiasm and you know, her willingness to just think outside the box and doing things differently. Um Detroit's community development ecosystem has changed for the better in recent years. Almost interestingly, it got stronger even though we were kind of ignored by the former mayor. We didn't really have a lot of partnership there. Um, but you have to give um Linda Clemens just a tremendous amount of respect for raising, I think she said$40 million for the first phase of the um community development operating fund. And, you know, has raised uh about$35 million for this next phase, um, putting money in it. I remember when we used to compare ourselves to Cleveland and we were at the disadvantage. And I was at a national convening a couple of years ago, and Cleveland was like, How are you all doing this? And you have to give credit to those people in the private sector. I think sometimes we want to give mayors all the credit. But in this instance, it's really people, philanthropists, it's really people who invested in us and saw us as having value. And the new CDAT is part of that. You have to give Maggie DeSantis credit as well. Absolutely because Maggie DeSantis was not only one of the founders of the CDAT, but then she went on to found building the engine for community development in Detroit, which was integrated into CDAT operations. And now you have enterprise communities and CDET working together to build capacity for community development organizations. I would imagine you guys are going to be at our table at some point, helping us, um, other community development organizations do our work better.
SPEAKER_06:Uh yes, and I would say we are already. So um, the vast majority of proxies clients, over 30 clients, over the last um almost seven years, have been, if not a community development organization, like adjacent to a part of what I think how you and I both, Donna, would define that ecosystem of community development, whether they call themselves or not, that or not, we we would define them in that space. And this is all connected. You know, some of the inspirations around why it made sense to start this business, but also now try to sort of make its next evolution around working with Corey and working in partnership with CDAD. Um, that was forged when I was sitting around the table with dozens of other folks almost 10 years ago when Maggie DeSantis and others launched building the Engine of Community Development. I was learning things then that became inspirations for why this is important. Um, Modavi, I met her when she was a Detroit Revitalization Fellow, and I was actually uh one of the first directors of that program at Wayne State a couple of roles ago. And programs like that, that over the course of almost a decade invested in dozens of emerging leaders and the organizations that they were working at to in cohorts to build collectively and give people access to leadership development training and ways of working with each other that they might not have other had otherwise had. Um all of these things over the past, you know, decade plus, I think, are kind of, you know, and a bunch of other stuff we're not mentioning today, too, are all interconnected and woven together to, I think, make this moment that I'm really excited about.
Donna Givens Davidson:I also want to um hats off to Sarita Scott, who preceded uh Modavi and really helped to grow CDAT beyond its early days. You know, um it used to be considered an organization that represented um like a trade association on behalf of community development organizations. And um, Sarita saw it as being an organization that was supposed to act on behalf of the community itself, and that we had a role, but we were not the only people who were important, and then building the engine took it to another level. And now what I see Modavi doing is institutionalizing some of those changes um in a beautiful way, so that as you pointed out, you're already working with a lot of us, but there's not necessarily a systematic process for getting connected, and there's only one Greg. So by getting fellows in, yeah, and also just creating pathways for people to be um trained while they are still in school to learn how to do this so that when you graduate and become an architect and pass those 2,000 tests that apparently you have to pass in sequence. Greg told me all about that. Yeah, um, that that you'll be ready to to take on some of this work yourself and you'll integrate this into building a Detroit that is for Detroiters.
SPEAKER_05:Absolutely. It's beyond the classroom for sure. Um it's those decisions that are are that just seem really, really minute, but that are directly reflect the quality of the experience of the end user, and which here is the people of Detroit.
Donna Givens Davidson:So, where'd you go to high school, by the way?
SPEAKER_05:I went to U of D Jesuit.
Donna Givens Davidson:I know you did. I don't even know why I asked because I can just tell you D. I went to Mercy High School and all of my friends went to U of D. Okay. That was a long time ago, but I figured you went to U of D, and that kind of sent you to Howard, right? Because U of D was an experience you were like, let me just go to an HBCU this time.
SPEAKER_05:Exactly. I felt so seen getting to Howard, and there was so such diversity of thought, and yeah, it was amazing.
SPEAKER_06:Can I actually give a shout out to somebody who has a strong U of D Jesuit connection that Aaron and I just discovered a couple weeks ago had huge impacts on both our lives, and that's Kim Redigan. Yeah. So she was an English teacher that I had at Holy Redeemer High School in Southwest Detroit back in the in the mid-late 90s. And then Aaron, she was in in the mid-2010s your English teacher.
SPEAKER_05:She was English, then theology, um, then a morality course. But yeah.
Donna Givens Davidson:What year did you graduate from high school?
SPEAKER_05:2016.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_05:Yep.
Donna Givens Davidson:Yeah, so you are younger than my youngest child. But I'm not feeling old though, right?
SPEAKER_04:I graduated in 2015. So Sam, do you have any more questions? No, I mean, I guess, you know, uh, where can the people follow you on Instagram? You got a pretty cool Instagram account yourself.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah. Um, so personally, Aaron XAbne, that's where you can kind of find all my creative work. Um, and then you can find both of us at Proxy by Design on Instagram as well and on all platforms.
Donna Givens Davidson:All right. Well, it's time for shout-outs. So you have any shout-outs. This is a time where we take time to reflect on and acknowledge people who have made an impact, especially people over the past week, we'll say.
SPEAKER_05:Well, I would just say India Solomon and Greg Donnelly, the that the impact that they've had on my life and the work that I've seen them do and how people speak of them in the community is moving to me.
SPEAKER_06:So yeah, uh, so India was not able to join us today on the podcast. She's not feeling well today. And she uh she introduced me to Aaron. She also is an a working artist like Aaron is as well, and and reps his work. And so she's like, Hey, I know we were thinking we're looking to hire full time fellows, but there's this guy who's a student at UDM, and maybe we can find a way to pull in a student now with the funding we have. And I met Aaron, and yeah, best thing ever. So um I I want to give a shout out, actually, uh, at a statewide level, um, to A state rep from uh the Lansing area, Kara Hope. So she has been fighting for years to pass anti-slap legislation in Michigan. And it finally passed, and the governor signed it just in the last couple weeks, which is, I think, huge, actually, in this moment and time that we have, you know, our First Amendment rights to sort of uh say what we believe and not have people with lots of money and power like sue us for it and be able to um kind of like really make our lives miserable because they have access to the money to take folks to court for silly reasons for long periods of time. Um, that that's a tool we have in our tool trust now in this moment in time that we didn't before.
Donna Givens Davidson:Yeah. As somebody who has been known to be outspoken, that's important. I do want to acknowledge one thing about India. I met her when she was an intern while she was at the University of Michigan. So it's one of those full circle moments. Um, she was working on a project that we did in partnership with um um Grandma Rosedale and uh Detroit Future City. So to see her rise and um become an artist in her own right. And I found out that she was actually in school at the same time as my son. So they graduated together. Um, Sam.
SPEAKER_04:Well, I could also, you know, I met Indy Solomon at uh my apartment. She was doing a yoga class underneath the uh one of the, you know, we had a uh a landlord that was trying to inject new life into this old building. Um, and India offered me a free yoga class that I didn't take up, so I I gotta get back with her and and uh get down with with some yoga. My my roommate Colin Jackson, I will give him a shout out. He's actually been doing the 30-day yoga challenge in the month of January, and so he'll turn it on on my on my YouTube, on my TV in the living room, and we will do yoga together. And in that spirit, shout out to Colin Jackson, Michigan Public Radio.
SPEAKER_01:All right.
Donna Givens Davidson:I would like to shout out um senior judge, Denise Page Hood, who administered the oath to um our mayor Sheffield on Friday of last week. When I was a teenager, Denise Page Hood and her husband Nick Hood were the youth ministers at Plymouth Church, and I was in the youth program. My first taste of politics was helping to um, you know, get her on. We used to go, what is it, when you get they have people sign petitions to get her on the um ballot to become a 36th district court judge. And so I followed her over the years, you know, we were kids, we called them Nick and Denise. It's hard for me to call her anything else. And then she became a mentor to my sister, my younger sister, who's a magistrate judge in the federal courthouse. So um, shout out to you, Denise. She has been such a stalwart for justice and equal rights. And in high school, we talked about topics like this all of the time, um, which is one of the reasons why I always want to have a youth program anywhere I go, because that's really what saved my life in high school. I think that Nick and Denise helped me through some very troubled family. They didn't know the family circumstances. It was just a place for me to go and feel seen and loved and belonging. We went on HBCU tours. They took us to New York to see a play. They were wonderful to us. I don't know how there were like 60 of us, and we had great parties in the city of Detroit. So I saw you, Judge Denise Page Hood. I love you, and it was great seeing you administer the oath to Mary Sheffield. I know it meant a lot to her. All right. So um, let's see, where are we on this thing? Can I give one more shout out? Yes, absolutely.
SPEAKER_06:So uh I want to shout out the uh 18 organizations that have already applied to the Quick and Equitable Impact Fund. So our applications close uh a week from tomorrow on the 20th. Um, if you visit proxybydesign.com, P R O X Y B Y D E S I G N dot com, there's a sub page there where you can apply. It's a very quick um and easy to fill out form. Um, but we've just been blown away already by the quality of the applications. And our our I guess our fear right now is that we won't be able to actually uh do all these projects that are that are going to be deserving, but that's also hopeful because that means we need to go to our funders and say, hey, there's more need here, and can we please do more of this?
Donna Givens Davidson:That's wonderful. Yeah, it's exciting stuff. All right. If you have topics or guests you want discussed 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 authenticallydetroit at gmail.com. Thank you so much for listening. Love on your neighborhood.
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