Connections | Detroit Synergy Update

^{Thanks to Lazlo Regos Photography for use of this great shot of the city, part of the Detroit City Beautiful 2006 Calendar available online at www.lazlofoto.com and at selected locations around the city.}

This Week

Third Thursday | Thursday, January 19 | Buddha Lounge | 5:30 - 8pm

Join us for a Community Happy Hour at the Buddha Lounge, located at 21633 W 8 Mile Road just east of Lahser. Bring tools and reasonably sized building materials for donation to reconstruction efforts in New Orleans, coordinated by the Common Ground Collective.

New Projects

Friend in Detroit  | Are you a visitor?  a Detroiter? Curious about the latest and greatest happening during Super Bowl XL and beyond? Check out our new project, Friend in Detroit, and get connected to local "insiders" - volunteer ambassadors trained in everything Detroit: http://www.detroitsynergy.org/projects/friendindetroit/index_html/view

Super Bowl Ambassadors | February 2-5 | In partnership with Downtown Detroit Partnership, fifty Detroit Synergy volunteers will be hitting the streets of the central business district as Super Bowl Ambassadors.  Detroit savvy volunteers will share information about things to do in the city, places to go, parking and other Detroit Insider information.

The best "go-to" for more information about the city during the big game is our community partner, Get in the Game at www.theworldiscoming.com

Future Projects

Do you have an idea for Detroit for 2006? | Bring your ideas to a general meeting.  Do you want to lead a Gallery Crawl, Supper Club, Coffee Talk, Linen on the Lawn, a project to interact with schools, a project related to Development in the City, a Dialog about City Issues, a project about Discovering Detroit? 

Whatever your vision for Detroit is, if you have an idea -- Detroit Synergy is a vehicle to bring your ideas to fruition.  All projects are led and planned by people like you.

Projects 2005

Detroit Synergy would like to commend our project leaders, project volunteers, community organizations and businesses for their success in this past year's projects!  Just look at this list...

• Coffee Talk (Crash movie discussion with NCCJ) – Sonya Harrison, Christyn Carlton, Christyn and Jen Rudd, Project Leaders
• December Third Thursday Community Meet n’ Greet – Derron Sanders, Project Leader
• Detoberfest Pub Crawl VI – Alok Sharma, Project Leader
• Detroit 2030: An Agenda for a Sustainable Metropolis – Matt Clayson, Project Leader
• Detroit Bikes! (8 Rides: River Front-Belle Isle-Eastern Market Ride, Second Ride, Mexicantown and Beyond Ride, Elmwood Cemetery Ride, All-Star Ride, Near Eastside Ride with tour of RenCen and Heidelberg Project, Detroit Bikes Goes to Work Ride with tour of Detroit News, Mansion and Fine Homes Ride) - Alex Froehlich, Project Leader
• Discussing Differences IV, V, VI, VII – Sonya Harrison, Christyn Carlton, Christyn and Jen Rudd, Project Leaders
• D Tours (7 Public Economic Development Tours in partnership with the Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau) - Synergy Member Ambassador Guides, created curriculum, marketed event and led tours
• Get in the Hunt Scavenger Hunt I & II – Cheryl Bartholomew, Project Leader
• Illuminate Detroit – Partnership with Detroit Urban Living, Liz Tintinalli, Project Leader
• Motor City Brew and Bowl Bash – Dan Battjes, Project Leader
• NCCJ Walk-As-One Diversity Walk-a-thon II  – James Mitchell, David Reich, Amanda Dunham, Project Leaders
• Project Clean (6 Project Clean partnerships with neighborhood beautification initiatives) - Jen Rudd, Project Leader
• Shop Detroit 2  – Tanya Stevenson, Project Leader
• St. Patrick's Day hosted by The Hub – Lisa Hickey, Rose Giffen, Project Leaders
• Strolling Supper Club I (Midtown), II (Downtown) – Jordan Medeiros, Project Leader
• Summer in the City (series of 12 Supper Club events) - Jordan Medeiros, Project Leader
• Third Thursday Happy Hours – James Mitchell, Project Leader
• Tigers Take Over Pub Crawl & Tigers Game Re-Take Over - Alok Sharma, Project Leader
• Urbanopolis I, II, III – Kyle Campbell, Austin Black and Christina DiBartolomeo, Project Leaders
  

Shop Detroit

SHOP Detroit 2 was a huge success with 300 people discovering the unique boutiques and shops that make Detroit an excellent shopping alternative.  Tanya Stevenson, project lead, helped plan the project with a large and active project team including Amanda, Cassandra, Dan, Danielle, Frank, Karen, Kevin, Linda, Lisa, Torya. The City of Detroit chipped in with People Mover passes and Wayne State University donated honorary One Card discounts. 

^{left: Families, downtown regulars and out-of-towners all came to Shop Detroit. right: Shoppers check in at the Compuware lobby. photos: Danielle Kaltz}

The holidays are over but you can still SHOP Detroit! Here's our map and some other tips:

• downtown: Map from Shop Detroit 2005
  http://www.theworldiscoming.com/documents/ShopDetroitMap2005.pdf
• eastern market: Map of Eastern Market
  http://www.easternmarket.org/pdf/em_map.pdf
• model d neighborhoods: Model D's guide to shopping in detroit neighborhoods
  http://www.modeldmedia.com/neighborhoods/default.aspx
• detroit shopping myths debunked: Model D debunks the detroit shopping myth www.modeldmedia.com/features/myths.aspx

January General Meeting

January's general meeting was held at the stunning Historic Trinity Lutheran Church www.historictrinity.org  Rev. Dr. David Eberhard gave us the tour of the church, we met Ali Gaylord and the Grand River Connection, a new community group www.grconline.org now six months into DSG-type projects in their city of Lansing....and Alejandra and Aeron, the two artists behind Lucky Kitchen www.luckykitchen.com, recorded some sound bytes of our meeting for their radio project on postive happenings in Detroit. Thanks to all members new and old that gave their time and energy to this gathering!

December's Third Thursday

December's Third Thursday community meet-n-greet was hosted by Youthville Detroit. Detroit Synergy, the New Center Council and the Seward Neighborhood Block Club got a tour of the fantastic Youthville facilities. Youthville Detroit www.youthvilledetroit.org provides youth development activities in the area of technology, music, dance, the arts, health and fitness, recreation, socialization of youth to youth and youth to adult relationships .  Pictured above are shots in the theatre/performance space and the dance studio.

December General Meeting

December's meeting was at the new downtown Detroit Boll Family YMCA www.ymcadetroit.org/Downtown%20Family%20YMCA/default.aspx. We toured the facility and talked projects in the beautifully designed Y-Arts space. Idea generation breakout groups discussed DSG outreach to SuperBowl visitors, exploring the People Mover, discussion of race conflicts and Detroit's historical Underground Railroad.

Detroit Development News

http://www.modeldmedia.com/

http://girl-in-the-d.blogspot.com/

Detroit Synergy Steering Team

Want to get more involved with Detroit Synergy? Come to general meetings, participate in one of the project teams and then think about joining the Steering Team, our all-volunteer resource team! Openings, application and all the pertinent details here http://detroitsynergy.org/folder.2005-10-14.1658559023/