Brightmoor

Brightmoor and the DP

Since its founding ten years ago as a U of M student organization focused on the Brightmoor neighborhood, The Detroit Partnership has remained an active member of the community, including as a member of the Brightmoor Alliance. The DP also organizes community meetings each semester to assess the programs and services of greatest need. Ten of our twenty weekly programs take place in Brightmoor, with activities such as youth tutoring and mentoring at Brightmoor Community Center, resume training and early parenting programs at Shurly Family Learning Center, and art after-school programs at Murphy Middle School. Close to 100 DP student volunteers travel to our community sites each week to help our partner organizations run these programs.

The Detroit Partnership also organizes two major events in the Brightmoor community each year:

DP celebrated its tenth annual DP Day on March 28th, 2009 with an estimated 1200 student and community volunteers at 27 different sites, 20 of which were in Brightmoor. Site projects included demolition of abandoned homes, tree planting, cleaning up parks and schools, and painting murals. The keynote address at the DP Day Rally was given by then-Detroit mayor Ken Cockrel at Stoepel Park in Brightmoor.

Previously, on December 6th, 2008, DP co-sponsored its annual One Stop Shop Food and Clothing Drive at the West Outer Drive United Methodist Church. This event, which provided an estimated $52,000 of food and clothing to Brightmoor residents, is also noteworthy for its integration of community and University volunteers into single team serving the city. The joint leadership of United Methodist Church members and the Detroit Partnership planning team maintained a community-focused approach that has allowed the event to expand from its grassroots beginnings to its current success.

The Detroit Partnership's latest activities, including sign-ups for new volunteer programs in Brightmoor, are listed at our Weekly Programs page.