MEET THE 2023 KIP:D+ COHORT
PRE-PLANNING RECIPIENTS
DAPCEP aims to increase the number of historically underrepresented students who are motivated and academically prepared to pursue degrees leading to STEM careers. They plan to use their KIP:D+ Pre-Planning grant funds to hire a consultant that will lead engagement sessions in Cody Rouge and build an actionable project designed by the community.
eleven24 aims to reduce the prevalence of relationship abuse and sexual violence among young people. They plan to use their KIP:D+ Pre-Planning grant funds to collect community feedback and develop an innovative relationship abuse and sexual violence prevention curriculum for young people.
Embassy Community Development Corporation aims to provide mental health education, counseling, financial literacy, mentoring, and empowerment programs that will be offered by skilled staff in a safe and secure housing or community facility. They plan to use their KIP:D+ Pre-Planning grant funds to engage with the McDougall-Hunt Neighborhood Association, community leaders, and residents to gather feedback, find a site within the community, and in partnership with Minyon Properties, create a facility where they can provide support services programming.
The National Audubon Society is a national organization that aims to protect birds and places they need today and tomorrow throughout the Americas using science, advocacy, education, and on-the-ground conservancy. Their Wild Indigo Nature Explorations–Audubon Great Lakes program uses community engagement to build lasting relationships between urban communities of color and their local natural areas. They plan to use their KIP:D+ Pre-Planning grant funds to partner with the Southwest-based organization Garage Cultural in developing a participatory community process that will result in a plan for activation of vacant lots around Southwest Detroit.
Planet Ant Theatre is a professional theater and performance venue in Hamtramck that seeks to build community by facilitating artistic expression and collaboration in theater, music, film, and other visual and performing arts; to promote artistic freedom and expand stage access; and to enrich individual artists through training, coaching, performing, and networking. They plan to use their KIP:D+ Pre-Planning grant funds to support the planning and promotion of the Hamtronic Music Festival, with a particular focus on attracting new audiences for local musicians.
Read Art Loud aims to improve literacy and foster a love for reading by providing impactful and memorable enrichment activities to schools, youth organizations, libraries, bookstores, community-based efforts, and online. They plan to use their KIP:D+ Pre-Planning grant funds to offer enrichment activities at Nandi’s Knowledge Café, conduct community engagement, and develop a fundraising strategy.
SAY Detroit provides pathways to success for Detroiters in need by offering an after-school motivational learning center for youth, a free family medical clinic, and a housing program for families. They plan to use their KIP:D+ Pre-Planning grant funds to expand their arts programming by continuing to build partnerships with community organizations and businesses, conducting outreach to community members, and hosting events, including a one-day Showcase Experience Festival and Open House that will bring community members together.
Teachers Supporting Teachers Everywhere, Inc. is working to develop and implement innovative ways to encourage, support, and celebrate teachers while advocating for their well-being. They are using their KIP:D+ Pre-Planning grant funds to develop a Workplace Wellness Program in two public schools in Detroit that will create opportunities for teachers to maintain more sustainable wellness practices.
Wildemere Park Neighborhood Association is a volunteer-run organization comprised of community members that aim to help their neighborhood thrive. They plan to use their KIP:D+ Pre-Planning grant funds to create a community park and tool library that will have both domestic and landscaping tools for residents to complete home repair and renovation projects and to assist with blight cleanup efforts.
Women’s Innovative Social Enterprise (W.I.S.E.) Partnership is a volunteer-run organization that aims to develop innovative, interactive, sustainable, and environmentally healthy communities throughout Detroit for Black, Brown, and marginalized residents using the resources and talents provided by unique and purposeful partnerships. They plan to use their KIP:D+ Pre-Planning grant funds to establish a marketing and fundraising strategy to install their Regenerative Hub, the first phase of their Regenerative Initiative, where they will collect community feedback.
PLANNING RECIPIENTS
Atlantic Impact trains and equips Detroiters with the skills and experiences necessary to increase their academic, economic, and professional mobility through college readiness, workforce development, and experiential learning programs. They plan to use their KIP:D+ Planning grant funds to develop a series of community beautification projects in the North End neighborhood for participants of their career and technical education programs to complete.
Central UMC of Detroit Community Development Corporation runs the Networking, Organizing, and Advocating for the Homeless (NOAH) project which serves as a central hub for services, resources, and relationships as they journey alongside individuals on the path to stable housing. They plan to use KIP:D+ Planning grant funds to support a full-time employee with lived experience that will design a persons with lived experience (PLE) advisory group to provide feedback on programs, building designs, and services, and engage with neighbors.
Chandler Park Conservancy aims to develop exceptional educational, recreational, and conservation opportunities at Chandler Park for youth and people of all ages. They plan to use their KIP:D+ Planning grant funds to conduct a community-driven process that will include engagement meetings, hiring a design firm, developing a Request for Proposals, and working with the city for their Open Space Entertainment Venue at Chandler Park.
City of Asylum/Detroit provides safety to exiled dissident writers and artists who will have an outsized impact in Detroit by bringing their powerful voices for justice to our community. They plan to use their KIP:D+ Planning grant funds to support the renovation of a vacant apartment complex into permanent housing for their fellows by hiring an architecture and design firm to shape the project into one that reflects community priorities.
Communities First aims to build healthy, vibrant communities through economic development, affordable housing, and innovative projects. They plan to use their KIP:D+ Planning grant funds to support the creation of a multigenerational design plan for the Gray Street Playground and Pocket Park in the Riverbend neighborhood.
Detroit Achievement Academy exists to holistically support the education and development of students who have the determination, drive, and skills to shape their own path to achievement with the ultimate goal of creating civically engaged, joyful citizens who are ready to change the world. They plan to use their KIP:D+ Planning grant funds to develop and create a .25 acre farm at their school and hire a part-time farmer, building towards their vision of having a one acre, cafeteria-focused production farm, buying supplementing food from local farmers, and hiring a chef to prepare nourishing food for students.
Detroit Hives aims to improve underserved communities for people and pollinators by transforming vacant landscape into pollinator friendly green spaces. They plan to use their KIP:D+ Planning grant funds to involve the Osborn community’s voice in preparation of their architectural plans and construction estimate for a new site that will reactivate a vacant lot.
Hannan Center aims to preserve the dignity and enhance the quality of life of seniors in Michigan. They plan to use their KIP:D+ Planning grant funds to host planning and community engagement sessions for older adults and creative collaborators in Detroit, Hamtramck, and Highland Park who are seeking to expand access to the arts for seniors and to inform Hannan’s future programming.
The Konnection aims to inspire youth by broadening their horizons through positive relationships and healthy connections. The plan to use their KIP:D+ Planning grant funds to transform an underutilized space within Durfee Elementary-Middle School into a Konnection Kloset where underserved students and families can access resources such as hygiene supplies, food, clothes, health conversations, and school supplies.
Living Arts envisions a future in which all youth have access to engaging, high-quality arts experiences, so that they can lead with confidence and empathy, drawing strength from their cultures and communities. They plan to use their KIP:D+ Planning grant funds to provide a full-scale feasibility study for an expansion of their physical space, including financial reviews, community engagement, market research, and project planning.
Regent Park Community Association aims to build, improve, and maintain Regent Park Community through sharing of the combined efforts of residents, civic groups, and businesses. They plan to use their KIP:D+ Planning grant funds for neighborhood beautification including gathering community feedback to generate ideas for beautification projects, lot acquisition, blight removal, landscaping, and creating architectural plans for vacant spaces.
Veterans Village of Highland Park aims to provide sanctuary, housing, counseling, and training to veterans, while ultimately giving veterans a sense of community that many lose when leaving service. They also provide a training facility where veterans can obtain tangible work and life skills necessary to be self-sustaining, productive, prideful citizens. They plan to use their KIP:D+ Planning grant funds to hire a consultant, gather community feedback, and prepare engineering and architectural drawings for a Pocket Park and Artist Pavilion.
Woodbridge Neighborhood Development is dedicated to creating a diverse, vibrant, residential and commercial urban environment by eliminating blight and expanding housing opportunities through rehabilitation and new construction. The plan to use their KIP:D+ Planning grant funds to support creating a community plan for their new project: Activate Grand River, which will bring together residents, business owners, and other community members to envision a safer, more walkable, and inclusive street experience along Grand River Avenue in Detroit.
PLANNING & IMPLEMENTATION RECIPIENTS
Bulk Space is an arts organization dedicated to uplifting the works of marginalized creatives in taking up physical and digital space and building platforms for success via community conversations, exhibitions, performances in which they identify and develop resources for participants. They plan to use their KIP:D+ Planning and Implementation grant funds to support the migration of their BULK Media Lab to an ADA-accessible location in the North End and offer existing and new programming.
TeMaTe Institute for Black Dance and Culture aims to embody a more culturally just and equitable world by uplifting the contributions of the African diaspora. They plan to use their KIP:D+ Planning & Implementation grant funds to support their Space Collective project in the Russell Woods-Sullivan neighborhood. This will transform a vacant lot into an inclusive arts landscape that reflects their community’s unique perspectives, experiences, and history.
Women of Banglatown is a neighborhood-based community arts organization that provides a supportive, culturally-sensitive space for arts and well-being programming for first generation and immigrant girls and young women (10-26 years of age) from the Banglatown neighborhood of Detroit and Hamtramck. They plan to use their KIP:D+ Planning & Implementation grant funds to develop, design, and build a Home Base, where first generation and immigrant girls and young women can be unapologetically who they are and explore themselves through nature, art, entrepreneurship, and community.
IMPLEMENTATION RECIPIENTS
Bailey Park Neighborhood Development Corporation works with residents and aligned partners to create a safe, sustainable, resilient, and equitable community in the McDougall-Hunt neighborhood. They plan to use their KIP:D+ Implementation grant funds to finish renovations, including leveling and grading 15 lots, fixing sidewalks, installing accessible landscaping, erecting a community theater, adding accessible play equipment for children, and adding a wi-fi charging station.
Brilliant Detroit exists to build “kid success neighborhoods” where families with children from belly to age eight have what they need to be school-ready, healthy, and stable by accessing resources and programming at Brilliant Detroit hubs that exist in repurposed homes in neighborhoods where they live. They plan to use their KIP:D+ Implementation grant funds to transform a vacant lot in the Morningside neighborhood into a park based on community-led designs developed by Detroit Collaborative Design Center and implementing a Talent Bank where people can share their skills with others.
Heritage Works aims to promote youth and community development through cultural traditions, arts, and education and to celebrate cultural traditions and ancestral art forms through movement, music, storytelling, and adornment. They plan to use their KIP:D+ Implementation grant funds to support their North Corktown (NoCo) Choice Neighborhood Initiative–Owen School Project, which will serve as a community cultural hub.