Something special happens whenever a community comes together and gathers in a shared space. The collaborative energy is contagious and you cannot help but feel inspired by the people, stories and sense of connectedness that surround you.

This collaborative energy has, and continues to be, a driving force behind Strategic Community Partners’ work and the growth of our organization. But as our team and projects expanded over the last four years, we realized the need for collaborative space of our own. Our organization is founded and ran by community members, for community members, and we knew that when the opportunity came to secure our own building, it had to serve more than just our staff. From our experience working with non-profit and community-based organizations, we have seen countless groups doing phenomenal work without equitable access to affordable and reliable spaces. As SCP prepared to enter our fifth year in operation, we looked forward to the day when we could secure a space that could serve our team, our partners and our community.

After an intentional and detailed search process, we are proud to see that day finally come.

Located on West McNichols Road in Detroit’s Fitzgerald neighborhood, our new building is more than just an office space. Instead, it serves as a hub where our partners, community members, youth, and educators can access resources and have space to explore, learn, engage and progress together.

In addition to being a core component of our mission and work, the community focus of our new building comes at a key moment in Detroit’s history. With the city’s “revitalization” occurring so quickly in many areas of the city, it can be difficult to keep up with all of the new developments. Unfortunately, many developments and the opportunities that come with them are not distributed equitably across Detroit’s 149.2 square miles or amoung it’s 673,104 residents, many of whom come from families who have lived here for generations (like our CEO’s family). With this context in mind and considering our goals for the space, our team knew that the building had to be in a neighborhood.

While there are many vibrant areas in Detroit for community-focused organizations to do work in, the Fitzgerald community felt like the right place for SCP to set down its roots. The area has a long legacy of Black excellence and entrepreneurship that goes back to the mid-19th century when James J. Kanada successfully escaped slavery in Mississippi and ultimately made Detroit his home. Despite the racism and violence he faced as the only Black farmer in his community, Kanada used his talents to triple the value of his farm in only ten years. He led with a spirit of resilience, perseverance, determination, and entrepreneurship.

The dedication ceremony for Kanada Road in Detroit

At a time when streets and roads were being named after slaveowners, Puritan Street was renamed after Kanada. Kanada Road is now just blocks from our community center.

The area that made up Kanada’s farm was later redeveloped into a neighborhood and named after the “First Lady of Song,” Ella Fitzgerald, who used her iconic voice to break down racial and gender barriers within the music industry and beyond. This strong cultural legacy carries on throughout the neighborhood’s close-knit businesses and residents.

Within the Fitzgerlad neighborhood, our building resides on a strip known as the Charles McGhee Corridor, named after the renowned painter and muralist. One of McGhee’s iconic installations can be seen from the corner of our block where he housed artists for decades to hone in on their craft and study under him. McGhee’s legacy as an internationally renowned artist and muralist runs deep in Fitzgerald.

McGhee’s installation on Six Mile and Wyoming outside of The School at Marygrove.

McGhee’s art installation at the corner of McNichols and Wyoming also welcomes students, families, and community to The School at Marygrove. Just this past fall, this Detroit Public Schools Community District institution opened its doors to the inaugural freshmen class. This school will ultimately become a world-class early childhood center, K-12 school, and teachers’ college. As a native Detroiter and former middle school teacher and administrator, there is not much that is more important to our CEO than Detroit youth having access to an excellent education.

Given the Fitzgerlad neighborhood’s history and its deep sense of community, our team knew that this was a perfect place for us to begin contributing from day one.

With an area selected, the focus quickly switched to the renovation and remodeling process. In every step, we practiced intentionality in selecting Detroit-based vendors and companies to stay true to our commitment to the community. Thanks to the interior design efforts of Interior Compositions and full-service construction and design work from P&P Group, Inc, the vision for space became a reality over the course of a few short months.

Overall, the building represents a quarter-million-dollar investment and features a robust collection of features including conference rooms, a multi-purpose meeting space that can be utilized for co-working, workshops, and events, and a cafe and kitchen. All of this will be available to our partners and community members for free or at a heavily discounted rate to ensure its accessibility.

With this important step forward, our team is excited to continue fostering the collaborative energy that has been fueling our work for the last four years. If you or someone you know is searching for affordable and reliable space to host their community-based program, meeting, or event please reach out to our Community Manager, Dina Bankole, at Dina.Bankole@strategiccommunitypartners.org!

Creating Space With and For Our Community