2016 Summit Synopsis
In late 2016, we convened our first day-long summit with 63 of 98 stakeholder organizations, at the U‑M Detroit Center.
The largest stakeholder cohorts were CDO practitioners, intermediary/support organizations and academia. We hosted a panel with one representative from each of the eight Kitchen Cabinets that had been meeting all year. There were two separate facilitated discussions between participants and panelists:
- Panel #1: Panelists and participants discussed and debated the “Big Questions in Community Development” in Detroit.
- Panel #2: Panelists reported on their respective subcommittee work, and discussion followed.
Facilitated break-out sessions allowed participants to select a subcommittee topic and provide feedback:
- Community Development Definitions. In order to clarify what community development is and what it means for Detroit, our subcommittee discussed a “working definition,” which may morph and change as we move through the system-building process.
- Framework for Neighborhood Success Measures. Our subcommittee discussed a framework for what stakeholders see as “success” in neighborhoods.
- Detroit Community Development System Structure. This subcommittee discussed how a system of many different parts with many different stakeholders could be coordinated in a coherent and collaborative way to begin to move the needle on neighborhoods in a positive way.
As a result of our summit, through a facilitated plenary session, consensus was reached on key questions.