Michigan Lead Team's Community Mapping Project
by Leah Wallace, Program & Lead Coordinator
July 2008
Gus Kanakas, owner of the Steak Hut Diner in Corktown, was genuinely confused by all the attention. In addition to his normal Tuesday breakfast crowd, he found himself answering the questions of eight high school students from the buildOn Lead Team.
As part of the Lead Team’s Community Mapping Project, students were tasked with finding as much as possible about local businesses, residents and community organizations, including the 75-year-old Steak Hut, which presents itself as "Detroit’s Oldest Diner."
Meanwhile, in Southwest Detroit, another group of Lead Team members were traveling from the Tamaleria Nuevo Leon after speaking to its owners to the Matrix Theatre, a community theater group, where they were to learn about the volunteer opportunities for puppet making, ushering at performances or even participating as a writer or actor of plays designed to raise awareness about important social issues.
buildOn's Lead is a yearlong leadership program for students who are new to buildOn and to extracurricular activities in general. Students on the Lead Team have an intense summer that includes a service learning trip, professional development and global education workshops, community service projects, and an internship at a local non-profit organization.
Community mapping is a helpful tool for students to learn how their individual volunteer work helps the entire community become a better place. Students explored two of Detroit’s most vibrant neighborhoods, Southwest Detroit and Corktown, noting the assets and challenges in each. They spoke with small business owners, directors and volunteer coordinators at non-profit organizations, and with people who simply live and work in the neighborhoods. After a long, hot morning of walking, students gathered for lunch and put their findings into presentations they shared with each other.
By the time the Lead Team began their walk through Detroit’s neighborhoods, they had already learned a great deal about the importance of engaging in their local communities.
At the 10th annual Allied Media Conference in June, Lead students met teenagers from around the country and saw how the issues affecting their lives where similar to issues that young people from other communities faced.
At the conference, Western High School sophomores Sharalda Colber and Alexis McCaine spent most of their time learning how to spin records and record music tracks. Cass Tech Sophomore Vashti Armstrong and Osborn High School senior Shandria Vaughn learned about ‘zine making and self-publishing, and Osborn High School senior Karrington Kelsey discussed school closings and school privatizations with young people from the Philidelphia Student’s Union and Durham North Carolina’s Youth Radio.