Yearlong project will seek feedback on what Detroit's Black residents need to thrive

By Sherri Welch | Crain’s Detroit

A yearlong formal effort to collect feedback on what Detroit's Black residents need to thrive is taking shape.

The goal of the Detroit Thriving Index project is to inform development, city planning and philanthropy in the neighborhoods, said Lauren Hood, founder and director of the Institute of AfroUrbanism, the newly formed nonprofit leading the research effort.

The project has attracted more than $500,000 in early support from major foundations toward a $1 million goal to fund the study. It will seek feedback from Black residents in the 10 areas that are part of Detroit's Strategic Neighborhood Fund, along with the North End, where there is also development happening and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is focusing grants.

"People are certainly on alert that things are happening in their neighborhood, and there's outside interest," Hood said.

They want things to happen, but when the interest comes from outside, it creates anxiety, she said. "Those are the places where I think it's important to look at what people are feeling and what they need."

Feedback from residents has often been considered anecdotal or one-offs, said Hood, who chairs the Detroit Planning Commission, led the Live6Alliance in Detroit from 2015-17 and has a master's degree in community development from the University of Detroit Mercy.

The index will validate what people are saying so it can't be dismissed, she said.

"At the core of this is just understanding the whole story is not told by unemployment numbers or housing values," she said. "Feedback from citizens on how they are experiencing all this change is also needed."

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