DREAM of Detroit

Mission: To combine community organizing with strategic housing and land development to build a healthy community and empower our neighborhood on the Westside of Detroit.

Our story is rooted in the rich Black history that has shaped the City of Detroit over the last 100 years. It emerges particularly in that vein of Detroit’s narratives that welcomes Marcus Garvey-contemporary Duse Mohammed Ali to open a mosque in the city in 1921; and Elijah Muhammad to found the “do-for-self” Nation of Islam in 1932; that found a generation of legendary jazz musicians convert to Islam; and that welcomed waves of Muslim immigrants from the Levant, South Asia and more recently, West Africa. It brings these narratives together today in a holistic attempt to build community and engage folks from throughout the metro area in the struggle for racial and economic justice in Detroit’s neighborhoods at this moment in time.

To date, we’ve rehabbed nearly 10 homes, welcoming new families and organizations into our neighborhood. We also offer entrepreneurship training courses, host an annual street fair with thousands in attendance, and join in coalitions to promote more beautiful and secure neighborhoods. Dream of Detroit envisions a city anchored in its sustainable neighborhoods; a city where homeownership, small business development and cooperative economics, local food sourcing, and access to education and the arts are priorities of every neighborhood; and a city where compassion and mercy define the relationships of its residents.