Sustainable Community Development: A model to reconnect neighbors

Abstract

Thi s book is about reconnecting neighbors through sustainable community development. The neighborhood with which we engaged was College Core, a community centered between two anchoring institutions in Detroit, Michigan. To the east is the University of Detroit Mercy (UDM), and to the west is Marygrove College. To implement sustainable community development, we designed a model based on four pillars of equal importance: changing perceptions, creating connections, developing leadership and organizing action. As graduate students working towards a Master of Community Development at the University of Detroit Mercy, we spent two semesters shaping and testing this model as part of our program’s capstone project. We arrived at the four pillars model approximately ten weeks into working with College Core after an extensive discussion with the community about what the community and we wanted to accomplish