GOOD Stories

If you ask members of the Detroit Youth Initiatives Project, some traditions were never meant to last. In fact, it’s the view of about 30 local student activists who announced a New Year’s Eve campaign Dec. 15 that, at least, one custom has long overstayed its welcome in the city. A program of the Neighborhood Services Organization (NSO), Youth Initiatives is promoting “Hugs, Not Bullets” as a cease-fire alternative to the practice of shooting guns into the air at midnight to welcome New Year’s Day.

Speaker inspires Female Teen Summit attendees to search for who they want to be

Male Leadership Summit participants learn the importance of developing a game plan centered around education, training and self-discipline.

Individual attention and extra reading instruction set students in America Reads program on path to better learning, increased opportunity.

Jason Wilson was becoming one of the most sought-after producers in hip hop. In the 1990s Wilson expanded his resume to include studio work for hit-makers Redman, Kurupt, and an aspiring rapper who went by the stage name of “C-Webb,” ex-NBA star Chris Webber. His future in the music industry appeared to be an easy prediction – but Wilson’s personal convictions would cause him to change course.

To an outsider, the neighborhood blocks surrounding Warren and Livernois avenues near the Jeffries Freeway and Grand Boulevard might appear to be just another struggling section of Detroit. But to residents of what’s known by The Skillman Foundation and its partners as the Chadsey/Condon community, the area is a city symbol, proud of its landmarks and history.

Three major organizations have joined together and helped develop a unique partnership that symbolizes the innovation encouraged by the Detroit Youth Employment Consortium’s effort.

Two years ago, Alvena Culver felt that her life was at a stand-still. She had no income, no education and she was a single mother in her late 30s with a teenager and a toddler. She had no hope that life would ever be any better than it was.

Thirteen-year-old Christian Sanchez was an upcoming participant in Youth Adelante – “youth moving forward and upward” – at Latino Family Services in Detroit. Not only was he smart and creative, he was also generous and helpful, frequently volunteering at Latino Family Services special events, and wrapping and distributing gifts for Toys for Tots.

Going public with personal experiences involving race is something many adults avoid as they squirm over the correct words and being placed in a perceived no-win situation. So what makes 13 Detroit area teens of African, Asian, European, Latin American and Middle Eastern descent write so candidly about ethnicity, discrimination and their segregated world?

The customer service world has helped open Javianna Gray’s eyes to a new world – one of opportunity. A recent Chadsey High School graduate, the college-bound Detroiter is one of nearly 100 youths who’ve been trained through a Skillman Foundation-funded employment program since it began in 2008.

It may be known as the Color Me Healthy Expo, but in the Osborn community, the Aug. 1 event at The Center has come to mean much more than a day to focus on health. Now in its ninth year, the expo will welcome hundreds of families to the site on East McNichols to share a day of activities presented by Matrix Human Services, its mission partners and community organizations and supporters.

Its studios are alive daily with the sights and sounds of flamenco, hip hop, a song, a strum and a beat, so there’ll be plenty of spirited performances this fall to put COMPAS in a mood to celebrate its second anniversary. 

You’ve served your time. You need a job, but who’s going to hire an untrained man with a record in this economy? These seemingly hopeless circumstances face many of the thousands of Michigan prisoners released each year. For those willing to earn a second chance at a better life, a Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit program can help them “Flip the Script.”

Lots of lawn-mowing and odd jobs were all that Tim Holiday had planned for the summer. In a shrinking employment market, a 19-year-old Detroiter’s options for earning money are fairly limited, and Holiday had his heart set on a goal that would further his long-term career vision of becoming a music producer: keyboard lessons.