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DFC Implementation Office: A Year in Review
December is an interesting time of reflection as I prepare to conclude my first year as Executive Director of the DFC Implementation Office.
I joined the DFC Implementation Office in January, after serving four terms as a member of the Detroit City Council. I served Detroit during some of the most interesting years in the City’s history. Since assuming the reins at the DFC Implementation Office, I’m constantly running into people who tell me that I look much more relaxed. My reply is usually that looks are deceiving. I am just as busy today, as I was during my time on City Council, working to help transform the City of Detroit. I’m thrilled to be working with a dedicated team of professionals who are fully committed to an agenda of positive transformation and growth for the city of Detroit and, most importantly, for the people who live here. Our portfolio of work is diverse and includes initiatives that fulfill five strategic priorities emanating from the DFC Strategic Framework: Employing more Detroiters, Policy and Regulatory Reform, Strategic Renewal of City Systems, Neighborhood Stabilization, and an Open Space Network.
One notable project this year was our Blight Bootcamp. Held in June, this event drew over 300 Detroiters who came to hear best practices and share insight on how to eliminate blight at a block-by-block level.
Consistent with this theme, the DFC Implementation Office concluded its Partial Deconstruction Pilot initiative. This initiative targeted 10 homes in the Springwells Village neighborhood of Southwest Detroit to test deconstruction practices that offer an alternative to the complete demolition of blighted structures. Goals of this project were to show how partial deconstruction can create jobs, reduce soil and air pollution, and create a secondary market for materials reclaimed from deconstructed buildings.
The DFC Implementation Office also continued with its highly successful school-based initiative at Denby High School. Denby's graduating senior class saw the DFC Strategic Framework incorporated into three core classes: math, science, and language arts. Each student worked all year to prepare a senior portfolio defense for graduation. This portfolio defense required the students to identify a challenge connected to DFC and offer evidence-based solutions. The defenses were presented to a panel of faculty and community leaders, which included DFC Implementation Office staff and Steering Committee members.
Students also put what they learned into practice by organizing to get the City to remove one dangerous, abandoned home near the school and have 11 other homes boarded and secured. Lastly, they also adopted and beautified the nearby Skinner Playfield as a legacy project. This partnership was so successful that the school principal and faculty are now incorporating DFC into the coursework for all grades.
These initiatives are just three highlights from the incredible and important work the DFC Implementation Office conducted in 2014. Our team dedicated countless hours, collaborated with hundreds of partners and stewarded millions of dollars in investment to help transform the City. These initiatives and many other key moments and measurements from 2014 are in our 2014 Year End Report.
Click here to view the annual report.
I encourage you to continue to connect with the DFC Implementation Office for more information on 2015 initiatives, such as our Vacant Land Transformation Guide and Ideas for Innovation, which is a series of six community events and six publications that will bring various elements of the DFC Strategic Framework to life in a new way.
Lastly, in keeping with our mission to empower Detroiters and those invested in Detroit’s transformation with information and resources, we are also proud to announce that our website now features a completely digitized, scalable and searchable, version of the DFC Strategic Framework that can be accessed from your PC, smart phone, or tablet.
Click here to view the digitized DFC Strategic Framework.
Thanks for reading and best wishes for a safe and happy holiday season.
Sincerely,
Kenneth V. Cockrel, Jr.
Executive Director
DFC Implementation Office
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Digital Strategic Framework
In keeping with DFC's mission to empower Detroiters and those invested in Detroit’s transformation with information and resources, our website now features a completely digitized, scalable and searchable, version of the DFC Strategic Framework that can be accessed from your PC, smart phone, or tablet.
View the digitized Framework here.
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DFC Initiatives
DFC works with a wide range of partners to cultivate initiatives that demonstrate how the recommendations of the Strategic Framework may be fulfilled.
The listing of initiatives on DFC's website includes descriptive chartering documents, and represents Detroit Future City's existing portfolio.
View the initiatives and their charters here.
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