A Sense of Place

Neighborhood projects in seven city council districts aim to connect communities
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In addition to educating people about the events of Detroit in 1967 and their aftermath, a “Placemaking Project” aims to have a long-lasting impact on each of the seven city council districts in Detroit.

Detroit 67 reached out to Community Development Advocates of Detroit (CDAD), a trade association of community development organizations that had some experience with placemaking in areas like Brightmoor and Palmer Park.

Placemaking is a recently bandied around term that basically means creating public spaces to promote people’s health, happiness, and well-being. “We define it as any act of getting together with your neighbors to create, enhance, and use outdoor space in the community,” says Madhavi Reddy, the strategic framework process manager at CDAD.

The Detroit 67 project enlisted the support of the PNC Foundation (the charitable arm of one of the largest diversified financial services institutions in the United States), and put out the word. Grant applications for more than 40 projects were received, each loosely based on Detroit 67’s theme of “Looking Back to Move Forward.” Seven of those projects received grants of up to $7,000 each. The winners were chosen by a community review panel.

The projects should be up and running by the end of the year. In addition, the City of Detroit is working on a project at “ground zero” of the 1967 unrest: 12th Street and Clairmount Avenue. (Twelfth was renamed Rosa Parks Boulevard in 1976.)

Here are the seven projects.


For more information, visit detroit1967.org.