When Deanna Stewart acquired an aging and shuttered building on Detroit’s west side a couple years ago, she knew there would be hard days ahead. 

Starting a business can be complicated. But like the cross she wears around her neck, Stewart said she kept the faith. 

“That’s what happens when you’re on assignment, (God) just tells you to go,” the 57-year-old told BridgeDetroit. “You don’t spend a lot of time trying to figure out what it looks like, how you’re going to get there. You just go because he’s already decided and laid the way for us. You just have to be obedient and that’s what I did.” 

Stewart is the co-founder of Equity Alliance Management, a community center nestled in Detroit’s Midwest neighborhood. Alongside friend and co-founder Carleton Ballard, Stewart now offers resources and events in a long-neglected part of the city. The center hosts back-to-school giveaways, community baby showers, resource days for senior citizens and more. It also has a community kitchen and garden. 

Equity Alliance is being proposed as a resiliency hub for the city’s Midwest-Tireman framework study, where the building and nearby streetscape will receive improvements in an effort to spur development.  

The process of getting going hasn’t been easy. Stewart and Ballard put thousands of dollars into renovating the former paint shop on Walton Street, with some financial assistance from the city’s Motor City Match program. But the two envision a place where the community can gather, gain resources and have fun. 

Midwest is home to almost 11,000 residents, but has just one active school and limited food and recreational resources. 

“Before the (community center) building, there was no place on this side of Warren where the block clubs and community could hang out,” Stewart said. “Now this is the home for the community to have their monthly meetings.” 

Nicole Jerks, a participant in the center’s entrepreneur workshop, said having Equity Alliance in the neighborhood has been a “breath of fresh air.” She resides in the nearby Dexter-Linwood neighborhood, but has had grandparents in the Midwest community for 60 years. Jerks said blight has been an issue for the neighborhood, but residents and businesses are stepping up efforts to clean up their properties with the opening of the community center. 

“It’s really helped build up the area,” she said. “It’s been very encouraging to watch.” 

Started from the bottom 

From the outside, Equity Alliance’s plain beige building, surrounded by houses, may not look like much. But inside, the space is bright with studio lights, round tables and black hardwood floors. 

The building wasn’t always this way, Stewart said. She and Ballard bought the crumbling building in April 2021 and began renovations. The business partners maxed out credit cards and dipped into their 401ks, with the total well over $100,000, Stewart said. 

Stewart said the process was difficult, from the high cost of renovations, to obtaining a city building permit and a food license from the state. Last year, Equity Alliance was able to get a $40,000 Motor City Match grant for its community kitchen. 

She said she wishes the road to entrepreneurship was less complicated and more accessible for the everyday person. 

“I always say to folks, ‘talk to me like I’m two. Don’t assume I understand,’” Stewart said. “I was a fish out of water. I continue to share with the city that we’ve got to make this process easier because you have people like me that just want to do the business.” 

But through the hard days, Stewart and Ballard still managed to put on several events for the community–-cookouts, Juneteenth celebrations and Mother’s Day brunch. 

Stewart said the building was so dilapidated that some people in the neighborhood couldn’t see her vision of turning the space into a community center. 

“I could tell by how they were looking, they couldn’t see it,” she said, laughing. “Everybody had an opinion of what it should be. I said, ‘No, my assignment said community center.’” 

A renewed focus on Midwest

For Ballard, opening a community center in the Midwest neighborhood was personal. While Stewart grew up in nearby Dexter-Linwood, he’s a native of Midwest. Ballard said the neighborhood was a once thriving area with lots of businesses and homes filled with families. 

“I remember, as a kid, playing baseball on the side of the building,” he said. “On this street alone, I bet you there were at least 30 kids here. There were a lot of good times over here.” 

But the neighborhood’s downfall began in the 1980s due to the crack epidemic, Ballard said. Then, 20 years later, the Great Recession caused the housing market to crash and people to lose their jobs. 

Ballard said he’s hoping to bring some of the activity he experienced as a kid in the neighborhood to the community center. 

“I always tell people ‘Don’t complain about situations if you’re not prepared to step in and make a move to try to change the situation,’” he said. “I’m trying to put my money where my mouth is.” 

Stewart and Ballard aren’t the only ones dedicated to revitalizing the Midwest. In October, city and state officials celebrated the opening of the Warren Gateway stretch of the Joe Louis Greenway, a 27.5-mile recreational loop that will connect several Detroit neighborhoods, as well as the cities of Highland Park, Hamtramck and Dearborn. And the Detroit Sound Conservancy (DSC) is in the process of rehabbing the historic Blue Bird Inn on Tireman Avenue. 

Detroit’s Planning and Development Department began a planning framework for the neighborhood last year in partnership with residents, businesses and agencies. The aim is to create opportunities for future growth, said Lead Urban Designer John Sivills. The focus is on five elements: neighborhoods and housing, retail and economic development, industrial center development, mobility and parks and open space.

“We thought it was best to try and tie in an overall neighborhood study, knowing that it isn’t just about putting in a greenway, but the environment in which the greenway is in,” Sivills said. “And if there’s ways to bring about a sense of revitalization, which the greenway certainly can be a catalyst.” 

Four of the planning department’s public meetings took place at Equity Alliance, including a framework expo in October. Sivills said some of the feedback from the community was the need for housing repair, grocery stores and businesses, as well as a streamline for resources. 

“Say you’re looking for housing assistance or how to start a business, things that make things easier and better for residents,” he said. “As we seek to study the neighborhood, we want to present a plan for growth and to catalyze growth to make sure that residents have a part in it.” 

Some potential plans include turning the former Biddle Primary School on Seebaldt into a recreation center and the vacant Ruthruff School on West Chicago and Livernois into a grocery store. 

In addition, the department is recognizing Equity Alliance as a “resiliency hub,” since the organization is a leader in building neighborhood resiliency, improving food access and connecting residents to resources. 

“They’ve become that de facto community center where folks meet,” Sivills said. “It’s about the community’s resiliency and trying to maintain and trying to push forward. This community has a very proud history that is integral to Detroit.” 

Being a hub could mean exterior improvements for the community center, such as lighting and giving Warren Avenue, the closest main road, a “street diet,” or lane reduction, to slow down vehicles.  

Sivills said an update on the study is expected on the city’s website next month, while the development of Midwest will be an ongoing process for years to come. 

“This is a strong, resilient community and any effort to help support their growth and the prospects that could come out of here…we’re willing to do that,” he said. 

Addressing community needs

Next year, Stewart wants to host financial literacy and technology classes at the center to further address the needs of residents. 

“We have a computer class that we’re starting in January and we’re gonna start from the beginning. ‘Here’s how you turn the computer off. Here’s the software. Here’s how you stay safe on the internet,’” she said. “We’ve catered the program to children and then we’re going to have programs for seniors.” 

Stewart also wants to expand Equity Alliance into a full resource center, where residents can get documents notarized, work on their resume and fill out job applications. 

Growing up, Stewart’s grandmother had a saying, “To whom much is given, much is expected.” Stewart said she felt like that’s what she had to do for the residents of the Midwest. The center has been open for two years, but Stewart said there will be an official grand opening next summer. 

“Coming into this community and meeting the residents, I just felt at home,” she said. “I felt like I was in the community with my grandmother.”