We are excited to share that the most recently approved federal budget included two million dollars to the Creative Connections Collaborative, a project developed by the Southwest Organizing Network, which includes the following organizations in Michigan's 13th Congressional District: Urban Neighborhood Initiatives (UNI), Equitable Internet Initiative Southwest, Grace in Action Collectives, Garage Cultural and Inside Southwest Detroit.
The Creative Connections project will stimulate economic and creative capital through the deployment of high-speed broadband infrastructure as well as the construction and renovation of four indoor and outdoor community spaces where residents build businesses, develop and nurture creative and entrepreneurial networks, and non-profits provide programming focused on community, youth, art and culture.
The funding supports the completion of capital projects that exemplify the network members’ shared value of neighborhood development without displacement of residents, especially those who have lived here long-term.
In celebration of this award, Amelia Duran of Garage Cultural said, “As a community, we deserve all this and more. We deserve spaces that allow us to dream up new ways to organize, to be creative, to make art and make noise, to celebrate our uniqueness and ensure all of who we are is seen and understood.”
Each development project began with a participatory design process that kept community members of various ages and identities at the center of vision, design, decision making and ongoing use of the spaces.
The network’s proposal responded to the 2022 Congressional Community Projects initiative in which elected officials put forward projects that serve the needs of their districts. Christine Bell of UNI said, “we want to thank Rashida Tlaib and her team for their hard work and dedication to the community. Thank you for continuing to fight hard for your people day after day, you are the true embodiment of what politicians should do for their communities.”
Members of this network have been building together in shared values and authentic partnership for more than ten years. Initially meeting in garages and on front porches, they continue to share space, resources, and talents, whether there is funding or not, to meet community needs with community assets. The result of the award affirms the power of authentic, long-term community collaboration.
Capital Improvement Project Sites:
1725 Lawndale, Detroit, MI
Equitable Internet Initiative of Southwest Detroit
4670 Junction, Detroit, MI
Garage Cultural
1725 Lawndale, Detroit, MI
Grace in Action
1540 Elsmere, Detroit, MI
Inside Southwest Detroit
2026 Lawndale, Detroit, MI
Urban Neighborhood Initiatives (UNI), Lawndale Center
PHOTO CAPTIONS (From top to bottom):
Community gathers at Grace In Action along The Alley Project for the annual Blessing of The Lowriders in May of 2017. The Blessing of The Lowriders brings community, faith, and culture together through a celebration of the creativity and craft of lowriding.
Youth and adult neighbors bike through the community along Vernor near Lawndale together during the 2020 Juneteenth bike ride organized by SW Rides, a program of Urban Neighborhood Initiatives.
Amelia Duran and the Detroit Collaborative Design Center co-facilitate a participatory design workshop in 2018 with partners and community of Garage Cultural. These workshops bring together decision-makers, professionals, and constituents to collectively envision the activities, values, and physical features of the space.
Mary Luevanos facilitates Open Studio in 2017 on The Alley Project in the same garage where Inside Southwest Detroit, Radical Productions and other Grace In Action collective co-ops have split and shared space since 2012 when the organizations didn’t have indoor locations to run programming.