14 February 21 • 2019
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jews d
in
the

ilies come together with both instructors. Its emerging
curriculum will entail traditional and experiential Jewish
learning. The lessons will be coupled with community
service projects and outings to reinforce Jewish values by
putting them into action.

MEET SOME FAMILIES

Erin Einhorn & David Lorenz

Erin Einhorn and her husband, David Lorenz, live
near Downtown Detroit with their two children.
Einhorn, originally from West Bloomfield, has
enjoyed the lifestyle of urban neighborhoods in
Philadelphia, Brooklyn and Manhattan. When
she returned to the area with a family of her own,
it seemed natural to her to find a place to live
within Detroit.
Einhorn works as Detroit bureau chief of the
nonprofit education news organization Chalkbeat,
which covers public schools in seven states and
across the country. Lorenz is a software developer
who commutes to work Downtown by bicycle.
This enables them to share one car. Thanks to the
Eastern Market, Whole Foods, other local stores
and Amazon, there is no real reason to leave the city
for anything they need.
“Cities are my comfort zone,” Einhorn said. “We
love walking to places and enjoying the events and
restaurants that you can find only living in a city.
I had all these great things in New York and in
Philadelphia, and that is exactly what I wanted in
Detroit.”
Einhorn is on the board of the RCD and a mem-
ber of IADS. The family enjoys social and holiday
programming with JTot, a group for families raising
Jewish kids in the city of Detroit. Founded in 2015
by Einhorn, Kate Bush and Silverman, it is a partner-
ship between IADS and the RCD, with funding from
the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. It
provides Jewish programming for kids and a social
network for parents. In just three years, it has grown
from serving 12 kids to close to 50. Her family is also
involved in Dor Hadash.
Each school morning, she walks her daughter to
the neighborhood DPSCD school where she is in
the first grade. She says sending her kids to school in
Detroit is a decision questioned by family and friends
back in the suburbs.
“If you only look at test scores for Detroit’
s
schools, you might get the impression that every-
thing about Detroit’
s public-school system is horri-
ble,” Einhorn said.
“But, on a personal level, this is not what we are
experiencing. Just like in any school in any school
district, not every child is having their needs met.
Sadly, test scores are down across the state. Just as any
parent in any school district, you have to be invest-
ed and advocate for the needs of your children in
school.
”

Erin Einhorn and David Lorenz

with their children

Dan & Rebecca Yowell
Since 2016, the Yowells have had another child,
Charlotte, to keep big brother Alexander, 6, com-
pany in their Brush Park home. Rebecca Yowell
works for Wellspring Foster Care and enjoys work-
ing and helping those who live in the city around
them.
“I believe in working for the good of the people
of Detroit,” she said. “In that, I have a personal
investment in Detroit, for the wellbeing of the
people here is also my wellbeing. I want the kids
I work with to succeed just as much as I want my
own to succeed.”
Alexander started the pre-K Montessori program
at Charles L. Spain Elementary-Middle School and
is now a kindergartener. The Yowells are active
parents in their school and attend monthly meet-
ings with other engaged parents and appreciate the
attentiveness of DPSCD Superintendent of schools
Dr. Nikolai P. Vitti.
“Whenever you tell someone that you are send-
ing your child to a Detroit public school, you
always feel like you have to explain your decision,”
Rebecca Yowell said. “In spite of the talk and
rumors floating around that the city may consoli-
date the Montessori program into one building, we
hope the city will sustain and continue to grow the
program.”
The Yowells enjoy participating in JTot and live
walking distance to the city’
s Chabad house.
“We keep meeting new (Jewish families) who
have moved into the city for different reasons. It
is also amazing to have nearby so many of these
activities geared toward young Jewish families,” she
said.
The Yowells are aware of the realities of living
in a city and, just as in any city, there is crime. But
other than their car being broken into a few times,
Yowell said she has never felt unsafe in her home
or walking in her neighborhood.
In fact, it is the walkability of Detroit’
s neigh-
borhoods — and always running into friends and
neighbors when they are out — that makes it feel
most like a community. They have memberships
to multiple museums to give their children’
s child-
hood a true city kid experience.

Rozita Knox
Rozita Knox, a single mom of eight, has
been a Detroiter since 2010 and lives on
the east side of Detroit close to Grosse
Pointe. It was this same year when,
after years of soul
searching, she and
her mother Chava
Knox as well as her
children, now ages
3 months to 18,
formally converted
from Christianity
to Judaism. They
all belong to
the Downtown
Synagogue,
where Chava is
a board member
and Rozita’
s son
Antwoine is taking bar mitzvah lessons.
Being black and Jewish, Rozita finds
herself straddling the different commu-
nities within Detroit. In their former
schools in St. Clair Shores, Knox’
s chil-
dren were the only non-white kids in
school. Now, in Detroit’
s schools, they
find themselves the only kids in their
class who are Jewish.
Knox says her Jewish identity gets
surprised reactions.
“When I tell people I am Jewish, let’
s
just say I get many different responses,”
said Knox, an independent contractor
who works as a stage hand for corpo-
rate event planning. “I have to explain
to people that, yes, you can be black
and Jewish and, no, I do not have a
Christmas tree in my home. But I wel-
come others to come into my home
to celebrate Jewish holidays with me.
Because I converted, I get to understand
faith from both sides.”
Knox loves that now there are more
Jewish families in Detroit to enlarge her
circle of Jewish connections.
“Finally, there are adults [with their
kids] in town who understand where
I am coming from, and there are now
classmates for my children who they
can relate to as Jews.
“These are such welcoming chang-
es; it’
s great to see Detroit grow and
change, to be part of it all and to see
that the growth has a Jewish component
to it.”
The Yowells: Dan, Rebecca, Alexander and Charlotte.

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Dor Hadash friend

Rebecca Long and

Brooklyn Pertee-Knox.