prosperity, kindled briefly during the
tenures of Mayors Jerome Cavanagh
(1960s) and Dennis Archer (1990s).
Statistics show that more than 80
percent of all juvenile delinquency in
Detroit takes place after school.
So there's urgency still to Kilpatrick's
call to nurture young minds, not just
strong bodies, through after-school
youth programs that build computer
and job-interview skills. That approach
requires not only urban leadership, but
also assistance from suburbia. We're all
part of Metro Detroit — one commu-
nity with many governmental districts.
Kilpatrick had a personal stake in his
dream: He and his wife, Carlita, have
three boys.

Shining Examples
I grew up in Detroit when its population
was peaking at 1.8 million. It is where I
became bar mitzvah and graduated high
school (Henry Ford). It is where I grew
to love both Judaism and journalism,
setting the stage years later for my join-
ing the Jewish News. My family roots in
the city go back to the 1890s.
In recalling Kilpatrick's pitch urging
reconnection, I think of Jewish busi-
ness leaders who have stepped up: Dan
Gilbert, A. Alfred Taubman, Eugene
Applebaum, Bernard Glieberman,
Gary Torgow, Matt Lester, Warren
Cohen, Jonathan Holtzman, the Fisher
family, Farbman Group and Schostak
Brothers, to name just a few.
Many synagogues are partners with
Detroit churches or schools; Temple
Israel's budding healthy-living alli-
ance with the Northwest Activities
Center (the old Detroit JCC) and Adat
Shalom's lead role in the Holocaust
Remembrance Day interfaith obser-
vance held Sunday at Detroit's
Orchestra Hall (whose recent restora-
tion was jump-started by the Fisher
family) are the latest examples.
In 2011, Shaarey Zedek honored
its 150th year and its 1861 founding
in Detroit. Temple Beth El enjoys a
rich association with Rev. Kenneth
Flowers' Greater New Mount Moriah
Missionary Baptist Church in Detroit.
Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue
remains a venerable asset for Jews,
especially young adults, who live and
work in the city.
The Detroit Jewish Coalition for
Literacy is one of the JCRC's endur-
ing successes. The Anti-Defamation
League and the American Jewish
Committee have built portfolios in
black-Jewish relationship building. The
Detroit Jewish News and the Michigan
Chronicle have teamed up to tighten
black-Jewish ties and lift the region.
Jews have a special bond with Wayne
State University because of a Jewish
presence among students, instructors,

administrators, board members, alum-
ni and donors over the years.
The Motor City Moishe House and
the Repair the World-Moishe House
offer Jews in their 20s meaningful,
pluralistic Jewish experiences inside
Detroit. Jews within the city and
beyond support its cultural jewels, hos-
pitals and sports teams.

A Hard Fall
Kilpatrick's backslide intensified in
August 2005 when he described Nation
of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, a clas-
sic anti-Semite, as a spiritual inspira-
tion and gave him a Spirit of Detroit
Award and a key to the city.
Farrakhan had come to Detroit to
promote his Millions More Movement
and an October 2005 Washington
interfaith rally marking the 10th anni-
versary of the Nation of Islam's Million
Man March for black empowerment.
Both events were redemptive in theory;
anti-Jewish support, from the likes of
Farrakhan and Malik Zulu Shabazz,
leader of the New Black Panther Party,
ultimately tarnished them.
The Farrakhan honor sullied Detroit
and people of good will everywhere,
regardless of race, ethnicity or religion.
It dulled what black and Jewish groups
had achieved in galvanizing under-
standing. All Kilpatrick's press office
could do was berate me in a JN letter
for challenging the mayor's judgment.
Farrakhan was on record ridicul-
ing the "Nazi-like State of Israel" and
blaming America's ills on Jewish con-
trol of government, business, finance,
entertainment and the press.
Kwame Kilpatrick's big ideas proved
hollow. The political irons eventually
branded him a fraud. He let down the
people who believed in him. He was
elected to serve, but opted to indulge.
One of the Democratic Party's rising
stars, he had flamed out. Mayor Dave
Bing and Emergency Manager Kevyn
Orr are left to try to salvage the Motor
City and restore some of its luster.
But Kilpatrick's dream of a new spirit
and a new energy in Detroit lingers. It's
a noble dream — despite his ignomini-
ous fall. Fittingly, the Jewish communi-
ty labors at the forefront of innovation
and investment in helping drive that
dream, no matter who's in control of
the city's frayed leadership reins.
The Jewish community has done
much to propel our core city. But we
can, and must, do more.
Federation — buoyed by its
NEXTGen young adult department,
which sponsors several Detroit sup-
port programs, and by its JCRC-
administered Detroit Jewish Initiative,
which took root in the early 2000s — is
in the best position to chart and com-
mand our collective course.

I

In Detroit Jewish
Initiative's Wake

n November 2001, Mayor-Elect Kwame
• Detroit Public Schools' literacy pro-
Kilpatrick told Detroit Jewish Initiative
gram, featuring 100 Jewish volunteers.
(DJI) members the central city and the
• Annual community health fairs, which
suburbs must work together regionally:
include volunteer physicians and health
"No one man, no one city council mem-
professionals.
ber, no one business can do it. It's really a
• Detroit-centered humanitarianism,
collaborative effort that brings communi-
from helping lower-income residents fill
ties together to develop relationships and
out forms for social services to coordinat-
move communities forward:"
ing Belle Isle volunteer cleanup crews.
DJI was supported by
• Mitzvah Day each
the Jewish Federation of
Dec. 25, when hundreds
Metropolitan Detroit and
of volunteers fan out
administered by its Jewish
to cover work respon-
Community Relations
sibilities for Christians
Council to deepen con-
celebrating Christmas.
nections between the
This year, the JCRC
Jewish community and
also sought Jewish
city of Detroit residents.
volunteers for Meals
Programs included a 2002
on Wheels duty Easter
mission to Israel and
morning on Detroit's
Africa for Metro Detroit
east side.
rabbis and ministers so
In June 2011, the
they could visit Jewish,
Jewish community
Christian and African sites Detroit Jewish Coalition for
hosted a national com-
Literacy's Marlene Bresler
to spotlight each other's
munity leaders mission
and Lily Broner, both of West
heritages and help build
in Detroit, where black
Bloomfield, tutor at Emerson
bridges of understanding
and Jewish leaders from
Elementary in Detroit.
and fellowship.
around the country visit-
DJI no longer exists as an
ed Detroit to learn about
initiative, but remnants of it continue via:
its problems and work toward solutions.
• Harms Elementary in southwest
Since 2006, JCRC Executive Director
Detroit, where students receive holiday
Robert Cohen has been a member of New
gifts (and, in years past, learned team
Detroit, a coalition of business, govern-
building at Tamarack Camps).
ment, nonprofit and religious leaders work-
• J-Serve, a Jewish teen community ser-
ing to reduce racism in Metro Detroit.
vice corps working in the central city and
"The Jewish community has much to
for which the Jewish community also pro-
offer as a participant in that process — and
vides financial support.
much invested in its outcome," he said.

❑

A

NEXTGen Detroit

key goal of NEXTGen Detroit is
transforming southeast Michigan,
from the central city outward,
as young Jews discover a vigorous Jewish
community — from professional to philan-
thropic, cultural to educational, nightlife to
religious.
City of Detroit-oriented programs hosted
by this Federation young adult department
include:
• Pitch for Detroit, which gives young
adults a chance not only to reconnect with
one another and the community through
sport and charity, but also to host a fun,
community-wide event that builds on the
momentum for a reinvigorated central city.
• Do It For Detroit Fund (Di4D), in part-
nership with Repair the World, provides
micro-grants, ranging from $500-$3,000, to
support empowering grassroots initiatives

intended to promote positive social change
within the central city. Grantees must active-
ly engage the general community in produc-
tive volunteer service.
• Live Detroit Fund, which provides rent
subsidies for up to 25 "next-gen" change
agents to live in Detroit and host events to
bring peers into the city.
NEXTGen Detroit's annual EPIC Event
in March at MGM Grand Casino in Detroit
drew more than 850 young people.
"As the city experiences a renaissance, the
young Jewish community wants to be a part
of it and see the city thrive, said Miryam
Rosenzweig, NEXTGen Detroit executive
director. "Through NEXTGen, they are
finding different avenues to be connected,
from entrepreneurial to social justice, for
example'
— Boxes compiled by Robert Sklar

❑

❑

JN

April 11 • 2013

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