401.... t$ ASHLEY AIDENBAUM: Detroit As 'Global City' Shelli Liebman Dorfman Contributing Writer A shley Aidenbaum is committed to helping build a positive future for the city of Detroit, promoting its revitalization and contribut- ing to efforts that help to attract and retain talent. A University of Michigan graduate, Aidenbaum is a group publisher for Issue Media Group, a Detroit-based media company that creates weekly online magazines focusing on growth and investment in various cities. Aidenbaum, 26, has working to drive the Inc. 5000 company's expansion into larger markets, including Baltimore, Tampa and Toronto. She participates in the publication of Model D, an online magazine high- lighting stories of Detroit's development, creative people and businesses, vibrant neighborhoods and places to live, eat, shop, work and play. Ashley, who lives in Ferndale with her husband, Ryan Hertz, also has been an urban policy consultant for the state of Michigan and is published in the Michigan Journal of History. In 2008, while consulting for the Michigan State Housing Development Authority, she helped plan the Creative Cities Summit, an international conference in Detroit that focused on issues facing post-industrial cities. Growing up in West Bloomfield, Ashley was involved with the BBYO and belonged to Temple Beth El in Bloomfield Township. Her parents — Connie and Guido Aidenbaum of West Bloomfield — are now members at Adat Shalom Synagogue in Farmington Hills, where Ashley will attend services on the High Holidays. Ashley's Dream: So many experiences have shaped my love for cities and for Detroit in par- ticular. My Jewish upbringing fostered curiosity, a thirst for learning and a deep appreciation for community. But it wasn't until my first trip to Israel in my adolescent years that I saw how a particular place could contain and facilitate these values. As a publisher, I travel to cities like Baltimore that share many of Detroit's challenges as well as cities like Toronto that have realized an impressive cul- ture of inclusion and innovation that has helped the city to prosper. All cities experience crime, struggle with forms of inequality and tension, and have to adapt to economic changes. We publish in other Rustbelt cities, like Pittsburgh and Cleveland, that also had to make a major transition into the new economy. Thomas Sugrue's Origins of the Urban Crisis is perhaps one of the most powerful accounts of Detroit's distinct story, and helped me to understand the injustice and intolerance that tore apart our city. In spite of this troubling legacy, Detroit continues to emerge as a creative hub ripe with opportunity to create art, business and social change; we find stories for Model D every week about companies hiring and expanding, new neighborhood and downtown growth and redevelopment, and community leaders doing great work — highlighting especially young people choosing to return or relocate to the city. Chip and Dan Heath demonstrate the effectiveness of studying "bright spots" in their recent book Switch, which struck me as an encouraging vali- dation of our approach. Our publications focus on success and what's work- ing rather than focusing on failure and loss. So much is possible! One effort we will continue to publicize and support in particular is the "Global Detroit" initiative, spearheaded by former State Rep. Steve Tobocman (supported by the New Economy Initiative), because in short, to transition to the new economy and facilitate economic growth, Detroit must embrace its future as a global city that welcomes new Americans and embraces diversity. We should care about the future of Detroit and its residents regardless of whether they are Jews, but precisely because we are Jews. I envision a future Detroit that is dense, thriving, inclusive and sustainable. Jews have a rich tradition of the kind of entrepreneurship and leadership required to help facilitate the emerging revitalization of Detroit; part of what compelled me so deeply about my first trip to Israel was imagining the barren land that is now so thriving and fruitful. I hope that through my current work and future efforts that I can play a part in Tikkun Olam — which I've decided must begin with my home, Detroit. 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