Create NED Launches Resident-led Beautification Program in Northeast Detroit

Create NED, an initiative of the Restore Northeast Detroit coalition, is activating residents to utilize art, design, and technology to make their neighborhood visions tangible and shareable with the broader public. The project, which was formed in July 2015 with a grant from ArtPlace America, aims to build a more equitable, beautiful, and creative district through community festivals, landscape architecture projects, and resident-led community transformation projects. Create NED is a partnership between Restore NED, Allied Media Projects, and The Work Department.

Mini-grant Program Opens to Residents of District 3

We are excited to launch our mini-grant program for neighborhood beautification projects in District 3. Through an open application process, we will offer mini-grants of $50 – $2500 to residents of District 3 for small scale beautification or placemaking projects that re-imagine or transform open space and underutilized property. These projects can include public art, landscape architecture, urban gardens, rain catchment systems, community clean-ups, signage, tree plantings and more.

District 3 residents, block clubs, business owners, churches and community groups are all encouraged to apply. The deadline to apply for a mini-grant is February 29, 2016. Projects will be selected in March 2016 and implementation will begin in April and continue through October.

The mini-grant program is one aspect of our larger vision for a grassroots revitalization of District 3, emphasizing community priorities that we identified in a district-wide land use planning process funded and supported by the Community Development Advocates of Detroit (CDAD).

We look forward to collaborating with you to envision and implement your ideas for the district!

If you are interested in applying for a mini-grant, please join us for an open information session on January 23rd at 2pm at Nortown CDC (20017 Van Dyke). Feel free to contact us with your questions at restoreNED@gmail.com or 313-444-3633.

Create NED Team and Advisory Board

This fall, Create NED welcomed two new staff members to our team. Jamii Tata, the Community Arts Coordinator, will organize community arts festivals, engage local artists and manage the mini-grant program. He is an artist and community activist who founded the Oakland Avenue Artists Coalition and Know Allegiance Nation and has previously worked with Keep Growing Detroit and Vanguard Community Development Corporation. We also welcomed Jeff Klein, a landscape architect and the founder of Detroit Farm and Garden, who will lead a participatory park design process with Northeast Detroit residents.

We recently formed and began convening our Advisory Board, made up of District 3 residents, business owners, and community activists. The Advisory Board members review mini-grant applications, provide feedback on community arts projects and festivals, and act as ambassadors for the Create NED project within their communities.

Advisory Board members include: Verlene McLemore, Sonja Hill, Ronald Nemerski, Paul Martinsky, Mark Covington, D’wayne McCaskill. Ron Jacobs, and Diana Morris.