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Another Detroit Is Happening

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Last weekend, I attended Another Detroit Is Happening. The invitation-only event included 125 thinkers, doers, entrepreneurs and activists from across North America.  In short, it was an exclusive, but grassroots gathering of big brains who came to Detroit to explore, reflect, let loose and contemplate on how they could affect and potentially enter the local economy. What I walked away with was a glimpse into what Detroit could look like in the future.

The agenda was casual. Most of the participants camped in tents set up in the parking lot of ADIH’s home base at Ponyride, a DIY warehouse enclave in the Corktown district that houses young, artisanal and cool small businesses in its 30,000 sq.-ft. structure. Local hosts, including Ponyride founder Phil Cooley, pitched in to prepare the campsite. But while participants slept in tents, they weren’t entirely roughing it. Every morning, local roaster Anthology coffee served pour overs and lattes.

Another Detroit Is Happening (ADIH) was not a traditional power-point conference. The weekend was designed to let participants experience a section of Detroit on more intimate terms. The meetup kicked off with a four-course dinner prepared by local chefs at a Saarinen built structure on the island park Belle Isle. The theme of the evening was celebratory and playful, honoring the author and co-host dream hampton’s birthday, and included multiple rides down a giant slide. Detroit’s cultural draws were emphasized throughout the four-day gathering. ADIH participants toured the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, the Detroit Institute of Arts and Cranbrook Academy. They also caught a rare performance by folk musician Rodriguez, who is featured in a new award winning film Searching for Sugarman. They visited the community based Alley Project to see Detroit organizing at work. Some took part in a thirty-mile bike tour and played softball in a fabled match  — the '35 Tigers vs the '84 Tigers. A dinner catered by Slow’s Barbecue and hosted by Google was held just outside of the abandoned train station on another evening. Guests got around town by old school shuttle buses and the five Chevrolet SUVs (Suburbans, Tahoes and Traverses) provided by GM.

The more formal discussions were focused on the challenges in the city. One Google presentation focused on strategies for dealing with the high number of abandoned and torn down houses. At the fundraising lunch Detroit Soup, local activist upstarts pitched projectsin  urban farming and educational music programs to the ADIH group. After eating their soup, attendees voted on which organization the soup fund would support. Kevin Conroy Smith wrote this blog post about his visit to the winning entrant's headquarter at the Occupy Yourself Farm.

Detroit is a fascinating backdrop as a metaphor for America – its hidden cultural gems, its industrial revolution legacy, the fortitude of diligent business owners and its stark and vivid displays of neglect. But what made this visiting group different was the caliber of insight offered by the attendees whose list of accomplishments is nothing short of outstanding. Singer songwriter Mike de la Rocha is engaged in a massive community based tour Living Rooms Across America Tour focused on youth empowerment. Paul Bloch is the founder of the San Francisco based car sharing program the Cush Club. Jenn Garcia is CEO of Metamoki, a company that makes mobile apps for the casual audience. Julia Roy is a New York based social media consultant. Many of the visitors have been active in the brain trust of the Summit Series.

Some had never been to Detroit, where others, like me, grew up there.

One first time visitor, Justin Fishkin is the Chief Strategy Officer for Local Motors, a company that takes a crowdsourcing approach to making cars. The company has just announced a partnership with BMW.

“What cannot be understated is the palpable renaissance of the same can-do spirit that made the city great to begin with,” he said. “ A diverse community of individuals are rethinking, repurposing and refreshing. In aggregate their efforts are empowering the greater whole. We saw profitable urban farms sprung on land that's been neglected for decades. I bought homemade candles from a nine year old girl whose entrepreneurial prowess and composure would rival the very best speakers at TED.” He added that his company would explore the potential for bringing a micro-factory to Detroit.

Other participants were engaged in research. Scott Beale, founder of the organization Atlas Corps, was looking to connect with Detroit non-profits. His organization brings non-profit leaders from around the globe to the U.S. to volunteer.  “It’s such a unique city. Under great challenges there can be inspiring people with great ideas,” he said.

The hosts set up the weekend in a way that would allow these visitors to become enchanted with the city and to imagine how they could build and thrive and also contribute to solving problems. Mission accomplished.

While the city continues to struggle with high unemployment, abandoned buildings, suffering schools and lack of infrastructure, there is a new energy in these downtown neighborhoods that suggests a gradual shift. How Detroit copes with the changing community and gentrification in a city that is 90 percent African-American remains to be seen.

If individuals from both the outside and in commit to reimagining the city, I’m positive about the  potential. Another Detroit Is Happening, right before our eyes.

As self-described entrepreneur Tobias Rose-Stockwell and founder of the non-profit organization Human Translation, framed it an email he wrote to me:

“Detroit feels largely like an emerging economy, full of tremendous potential but grossly mischaracterized by its outward facing image. The massive real-estate vacancy and reclamation of space for the purposes of art, urban agriculture, design and unique craftsmanship is a powerful testament to how the narrative has shifted. The story is far from one of hopelessness and urban exodus. It is now a story of scrappy rebirth and creative optimism, of entrepreneurs and artists taking back the heart of the city and beginning to use it as a broad canvas for their dreams and talents. That opportunity is there, and it is palpable after spending only a few moments at places like Ponyride. That story needs to be told to the rest of America.”