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It's Getting Hot in Here

Ground Zero: Highland Park

Detroit's Summer Program will be located in Highland Park, a community in the heart of Detroit. Just some 5 miles north of Downtown Detroit, Highland Park has been a microcosm of the extreme changes among economic and cultural identities.  Once on the forefront of one of the world's biggest industry's, the automobile, Highland Park experienced times of rapid prosperity, only to see things shift into steady and on-going decline.  Consisting of over 90% African Americans and just under 40% of families living under the poverty line, Highland Park is an ideal opportunity for individuals and community organizations to once again, join, share and lead in the resurgence of sustained prosperity in and around the city of Detroit. 

As Detroit pioneered the automobile industry, Highland Park in 1909 saw itself become home to Henry Ford's first assembly line at the Highland Park Ford Plant.  Established as a village in 1910, Highland Park was home to 4,120 residents, but within the next ten years, it would see rapid expansion  as it grew to nearly 50,000 people, breaking records of population increase. With increased popularity of the automobile, Highland Park embraced and was wise to the increase, as in 1918 it incorporated into a city, mostly to protect itself from taxes and the Ford plants from Detroit boundary regulations. Given that it was in the epicenter of the automobile movement, it was the home to the world's first freeway which was opened in 1944 and ran directly through this ever-evolving community providing a sense of leadership and pride, which had significantly diminished over the last several decades.

The 2010 Highland Park Program will go to great lengths to restore that sense of excitement and accomplishment with the community and its members.  Program leaders and participants will have the opportunity to collaborate with organizational and community leaders, gain and experience new skills while developing positive, lasting relationships with others.  This program will be a leader in clean, energy infrastructure creation within the community, the city and the country while developing future leaders to work within the new green job workforce.