Brilliant Detroit

I am applying for the Elevate Prize because I believe in the brilliance of Detroiters and that our youth can change the world. Brilliant Detroit was founded on this idea: that neighborhoods can come together to lift up our children and ensure families have everything they need to be school-ready, healthy, and stable. 

Brilliant Detroit’s theory of change holds that transformation begins with families, ripples across neighborhoods, and expands to include entire cities. We repurpose abandoned houses into early childhood neighborhood hubs where staff meet regularly with caregivers to match them with high-quality early childhood programs that meet each families’ unique needs. Our hyper-local model allows us to coordinate and make accessible the work of more than 90 partner organizations within Detroit neighborhoods. 

We work “with, for, and by” our neighbors every step of the way, and with more than 7,000 families already in our network, we have a vision for a world where ZIP codes do not determine a child’s future. The support of the Elevate Prize will provide us with the funding and storytelling expertise needed to transform our vision throughout Detroit and boost our efforts in scaling citywide, launching 24 neighborhood-based hubs in Detroit by 2024.

My desire to change the world began as a fourth-grader when I won a young changemaker essay contest. As a first-generation high school graduate whose family was supported by our community, I know first hand the power of people pulling together. I’ve held many roles from childcare worker to communications, from small business owner to education administrator. This journey has taken me from grassroots to region-wide efforts in foreclosure prevention and education preparedness and now to my life’s purpose in helping to co-found Brilliant Detroit. I feel bolstered and uplifted each day knowing my work has helped build an organization in four short years that has grown immensely to eight neighborhood-based hubs where we ensure that children are ready for kindergarten and that families are healthy and stable. I continue to be fueled and made whole from the relationships, kinship, and transformation that I personally see every day working with 6,000 children and caregivers and 92 partner organizations. At this point in my life, I have found my calling and am grateful for the ability to continue as long as there is need on this journey.

In Detroit, 52 percent of children live in poverty and 16 percent are reading at grade level by third grade. Compounded by systemic racism, the early childhood system is failing Detroit families three-fold:

(1) Disconnection between high-quality programs. In Detroit, there are countless early childhood programs operating in silos that fail to holistically meet the needs of families.

(2) Disconnection between programs and people. One-third of households do not have access to a vehicle, the city’s transit system is under-resourced, and organizations view themselves merely as “service providers” without incorporating neighborhood input.

(3) Disconnection between neighbors. A history of disinvestment and foreclosure in Detroit have created conditions of poverty. Blighted homes separate neighbors from each other, damaging the fabric of vibrant communities.

We believe that scaling a hyper-local approach that is driven with, for, and by families will create structural change in early childhood.

Our mission is to create kid success neighborhoods where families with children ages 0-8 have what they need to be school-ready, healthy, and stable by connecting families to a neighborhood network of support. Nestled in the middle of neighborhoods, our hubs offer a variety of programming: one-on-one literacy tutoring, fitness classes, community meals, and much more.

Brilliant Detroit was created to provide a radically new approach to kindergarten readiness in neighborhoods. Our approach is built on a unique delivery model that transforms Detroit’s abandoned housing stock into early childhood and family centers throughout the city, each within a 20-minute walk of the people it serves. 

This hyper-local approach to delivering high-quality programs succeeds because Brilliant Detroit works “with, for, and by” our neighbors. Our listening sessions, Advisory Teams, and policy of hiring from the community build trust within the neighborhood. As a result, Brilliant Detroit is not simply a partner organization but a place where neighbors come together to build a successful future for their children — together.

Our community engagement is asset-based and driven by each neighborhood’s unique voice. We begin not by asking what the neighborhood lacks, but: “What are the existing gifts and talents in this neighborhood?” This approach allows us to hire excellent candidates from the neighborhood to staff each hub, as well as to form an Advisory Team made up of current and future community leaders who keep the hub aligned with neighborhood priorities.

By 2024, we will open 24 neighborhood hubs and effect population-level change in Detroit, as measured by outcomes we measure in our four focus areas: Education, Health, Family Support, and Community-Building. By 2028, we envision that the majority of Detroit children we serve will be ready for kindergarten — meaning they are equipped with early literacy, social-emotional regulation, and healthy attachment skills — and reading at grade level by third grade. 

The importance of kindergarten readiness and grade-level reading to a child’s future is well-documented. Third grade is a crucial turning point in a child’s education, where one shifts from “learning to read” to “reading to learn.” Third grade reading levels also strongly correlate with important life outcomes, such as health, employment, and civic engagement.

To date, families have shown significant improvement on 75 percent of our key indicators. In Education, for instance, students participating in our high-dosage literacy tutoring programs have grown by more than 1.5 grade levels during their time in the program.