Dream of Detroit is combining community organizing with strategic housing and land development to build a healthy community and empower our neighborhood on the Westside of Detroit. We believe that If we can mobilize our residents and allies, improve the existing and build the next generation of the neighborhood’s housing stock, and create an economic corridor along Woodrow Wilson street, we can revitalize the entire upper-east Dexter-Linwood neighborhood. Further, we’ll use a people- and partner-centric strategy that makes sure our current neighbors are leaders and beneficiaries of the area’s transformation even as we bring in new growth and opportunities. “What’s happening now is we have to come together and build one here in Detroit. That’s how I see the DREAM of Detroit. The fulfillment of A BIG DREAM by a lot of people, the fulfilment of the prayers of a lot of people, with many different histories, and many different roots.” Imam Zaid Shakir, Building a Prophetic Hood (March 4, 2018) We’ve rehabbed homes throughout our neighborhood and plan to develop our first new residential and commercial properties beginning in 2022. We’re also a founder of the Longfellow Block Club, a member of the Coalition for Property Tax Justice, and we’re allied with partners throughout the neighborhood and across the country. Our work has been featured in local and national media: The Nation, The Detroit Free Press, Crain’s Detroit Business, The Guardian, WDET Detroit 101.9, WBEZ Chicago 91.5, WJR NewsTalk, Sapelo Square, AltMuslim, Mad Mamluks, Diffused Congruence. We envision a city anchored in its sustainable neighborhoods; a city where homeownership, small business development and cooperative economics, local food sourcing, and access to education and the arts are priorities of every neighborhood; and a city where neighborliness is a shared value.
