LENOX COMMUNITY CENTER ENVISIONING

Background: The Lenox Center was a shuttered community center located in a large riverfront park in the Jefferson-Chalmers Neighborhood on the east side of Detroit where I live. I worked with neighbors to shape a vision for the center years before there was municipal and philanthropic funding available.

The building was eventually torn down and replaced with a new space, but our work helped in the planning process of this site. The final design aligned with our shared vision in a few areas like flexible space for events, a reading room, and a demonstration kitchen.

Our vision was shared in this white paper.

Our community co-creation materials and findings was shared here.

Vision

We envisioned a new kind community center that could respond directly to the immediate needs, hopes and dreams of neighborhood residents who had long desired an inclusive, welcoming and productive community space. We envisioned a space where community-focused collaboration would meet recreation and education, bringing together programmatic partners and residents to provide S.T.E.A.M. and youth entrepreneurship programming to help boost local economic development and create pathways to college and careers. Our plans illustrated a networked 3-pronged approach that would engage different levels of collaborators:

An environmental entrepreneurship destination

Despite Detroit’s gorgeous and active riverfront, and Michigan as a hub of alternative energy projects and environmental progress, to date there are no entrepreneurial centers along the Detroit River that take advantage of the riverfront ecology. The Lenox Community Center can be the space that directly considers the unique intersections of place-based S.T.E.A.M. and entrepreneurship. 

A hyper-local, micro-enterprise hub

Leveraging a strong DIY culture and tapping into the growing network of local creatives, the Lenox Community Center can directly support neighborhood enterprise development and growth of the local creative and entrepreneurial economy. We could do this through site-specific workshops, activities and events that connect youth to both environmental and entrepreneurial ecosystems. A range of programs would develop and showcase local talent through, for example, an on-site community commercial kitchen and guest chefs, a maker space and residency programs for entrepreneurs.

A neighborhood wellness and welcome center

The Lenox Community Center would be framed by a social purpose business development strategy where the center would be both a resource and welcome center for the community while also engaging in new ventures and through diversified revenue sources. Above all else, the center would be welcoming, inspiring, supportive and fun.