Challenge Detroit

07/22/2026

06/12/2026

We wrapped our project focused with the Detroit Land Bank Authority in May.

Here’s what Veronica Johnson, Director of Strategic Development & Construction Management at the Land Bank had to share about the experience:

“Working with the Challenge Detroit Fellows on the Affordable Housing Pipeline has been a meaningful experience for our team. They stepped into a complex environment and quickly built a strong understanding of the contractor and developer landscape through thoughtful engagement and real conversations.

What stood out most was their ability to translate what they heard into clear, actionable insights. They helped identify capacity gaps, readiness levels, and opportunities that will directly shape how we structure this work moving forward. Their approach was intentional, collaborative, and grounded in impact—and that truly made a difference for us.”

Alumni Fellow and DLBA Staff, Serena Brewer also had this to share:

“As an alumna of the program, I truly had a full-circle experience working with the Challenge Detroit Fellows. The Affordable Housing Pipeline Initiative was especially meaningful to me because of my long-term goal of advancing sustainable, accessible housing solutions. Though complex, the fellows embraced the challenge—exploring housing models, contractor capacity building, community engagement, and equitable approaches to affordable housing development.

I was amazed by the final results and believe the fellows genuinely listened to DLBA’s needs while honoring its history and future vision. I loved serving as a liaison and am excited to dive into the deliverables and to help bring this initiative to life!”

Thanks to Veronica, alumni Fellows Serena Brewer, Justina Jeffers and Jo’Charta Rogers (who served as liaisons on this project), and the rest of the DLBA team for trusting us with this work and guiding the fellows along the way.

To learn more about our partnership, read about it at https://www.challengedetroit.org/blog -1122-y-dlba (link in bio).

03/26/2026

TBT to our most recent Leadership Friday where we spent the day . After touring and learning about Kintsugi Village from co-founders Hamsa Yaqo and Paul Spiegelman, we dove right into a full day of reflection, creativity learning, and connection. 🤔🎨📝🧠🤝🌱

We had specials guests join us throughout the day:

• Alumni Fellows Annie Hakim (co-owner/grower .garden 🌸) and Detroit City Council member Gabriella Santiago-Romero 💜 came by to share about their journeys and their current work in the city of Detroit.

• We were also joined by Edward Lynch, Director of Research 🏡 and Tracy Priska of 🥣

We ended the day with an alumni mixer in KV’s maker space which will be a space for future artists 🎨 in residence.

We are so grateful to for hosting us and to all of our guests and alumni who spent time with us.

And last but not least—big shout out to and for providing us with tasty treats and beverages for our mixer. 🍉🍇🥂🍪

03/24/2026

Last Friday, we kicked off our spring Challenge Project with the 🏘️ Detroit Land Bank Authority (). We’re especially excited to partner with three alumni Fellows (JoCharta Rogers, Justina Jeffers and Serena Brewer) who have been at the Land Bank since their fellowship year!

We’ll work to answer “How might we support the DLBA’s Affordable Housing Pipeline Initiative (AHPI) to restore underutilized multi-family buildings across Detroit?”

Teams will focus on:
1. contractor and developer capacity building, 🛠️
2. community engagement and disposition, and 🤝
3. design, affordability and long-term sustainability 🏡

During this day we heard from multiple DLBA departments to better understand their work and how they do it. We also heard from partners to build more context.

For the immersion part of the day, alumni Fellows, Serena Brewer and Justina Jeffers, created a game called “Rehab Rumble” by using the design thinking process to answer “how might we create an immersive experience that allows Fellows to understand DLBA’s complex processes?” This game allowed Fellows to step into the experience of what it’s like for the DLBA to rehab a property—decisions about budgets, funding, materials, timelines, design, repairs, permits, insurance and much more. It was a very eye-opening experience!

Next, we’ll interview more stakeholders to gain even more insights to inform how we moved forward. Tap in to learn more!

03/18/2026

Aren’t these so cute? 🌸🍳♥️ We spent the day for our recent Leadership Friday and were joined by Tracey Priska of “a globally recognized and food initiative that brings people together to raise funds and awareness around ” that started here in Metro Detroit.

While we weren’t able to create the ceramic bowls ourselves, we were able to use our creativity to glaze our own designs on bowls that were thrown/handmade by Tracey’s students, to support their event this Friday, March 27 at the Shed 3. You can buy tickets and all proceeds from ticket sales go to With each ticket you can select your own handmade bowl and two different servings of soup from culinary talent across 5 continents!

And, if you’re into ceramics, we also learned about the upcoming conference which is coming to Detroit!