14 February 21 • 2019 jn continued from page 12 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. continued on page 17 Dor Hadash friend Rebecca Long and Brooklyn Pertee-Knox.