Grand River Avenue in the Oakland Boulevard Community is bustling with a tire shop, Christian bookstore, church and McDonald’s. But there aren’t any places for youth to play and connect.
Next year, that will change when the northwest Detroit neighborhood welcomes a new park and community center.
Youth organization Give Merit just broke ground on Merit Park, a facility geared toward young people in Detroit through a mix of fashion, entrepreneurship, athletics and arts programming, said former University of Michigan basketball star and co-founder David Merritt.
Give Merit works with Detroit high schoolers through its four-year program Fate where students learn character development and receive mentorship to achieve academic and career goals.
The future park will feature a gym with a basketball court, live video production space and a podcast studio as well as outdoor activities like a splash pad, rock climbing wall, an obstacle course and a miniature turf field. In addition, nearby shipping containers will host food and retail vendors.
“We’re going to have sports programming, community events, placemaking events, concerts and movie nights and things of that nature,” said Merritt, who founded the group with Kuhu Saha, who is Give Merit’s executive director. “We really want to be a one-stop-shop for the community and there will be a number of benefits that are going to help us physically, educationally, economically, as well as environmentally.”
Merit Park will be located at 10123 Grand River, across the street from Give Merit’s headquarters inside Straight Gate International Church. Merritt estimates construction will take 12 to 14 months and is aiming for a summer 2025 opening. The nonprofit has raised $10 million for the project, with support from organizations like the Kresge Foundation, Ally Bank, the Mullick Foundation and the state of Michigan. Meritt said
The organization hopes to raise an additional $4 million. Give Merit launched a capital campaign and is in talks with foundations, corporations and individual donors, he said.
“Supporting Merit Park was an easy decision for us,” Mullick Foundation Director Joey Mullick said in a statement. “The FATE Program is innovative, impactful, and successful. Scaling what has been learned from the hundreds of youth-focused outcomes and applying a community-focused strategy is an organic next step.”
A safe space for the community
Vanessa Bennett, a 50-year resident who lives a couple blocks from the church on American Street, said she’s experienced the neighborhood’s ups and downs and is eager for the project.
The playground at the now-shuttered Tappan Intermediate School down the street, she said, was a popular spot for kids to swing and play a game of football or baseball.
“All the neighbors knew each other,” Bennett said. “The little kids rode their bikes up and down the street, they played ball, and there were always neighbors out watching them.”
Bennett said the anticipated retail and food options are also welcome. Many of the staples from years past that occupied Grand River have since gone, she said.
“We had Sears, all types of clothing stores,” she said. “Slowly but surely, a lot of people began to move away. Crime and drugs came and took over the area. A lot of violence, a lot of theft, a lot of abandoned structures.”
Bennett said Straight Gate began buying property and redeveloping the neighborhood in recent years and she’s hopeful.
“I hope to see a peaceful gathering of youth because they need something to do,” she said. “There’s nothing to do in this neighborhood.”
The organization’s vision for Merit Park has been in the making since 2017. Merritt said he wanted to expand the group’s reach beyond education and provide health and wellness activities for young people and the overall community.
“We’ll be providing programming and services to not only meet the needs of young people, but also for families and seniors within that community and, hopefully, posing as a model for how communities throughout the city can utilize vacant and blighted space and turn those spaces into beacons of hope within our communities,” Merritt said.
Having the park built in the Oakman Boulevard Community was important to the organization, he said, due to resources being few and far between. Give Merit has been engaged with neighbors throughout the process, from seeking youth ideas on the park’s initial design to surveying kids and parents at nearby schools. The organization also helped form the Merit Park Neighborhood Council to gather feedback on memberships and security.
“The people are amazing and it’s a unique position for us to help foster a non-displacement neighborhood so when investment is coming, it is done strategically so that the residents that have been here the longest are able to stay and are able to reap the benefits,” Merritt said.
Gloria Tyus lives a few houses down from Bennett and echoed the need for children in the neighborhood to have a safe place to play.
“It’s so far and few in between where they can go and do things safely,” Tyus said. “It’ll give the elderly and young people a place where they can do things together.”
David Merritt is a true Michigan Man, applying his experience and skills as an all-star athlete to return to his Detroit community to make a difference. This says all the right things about David, and the difference he is continuing to make. Congratulations!
This is fantastic news for the northwest Detroit neighborhood! Give Merit Park sounds like a valuable resource for young people, offering a mix of programs that cater to their interests and equip them with important skills. It’s especially encouraging to see a focus on mentorship and academic achievement through the Fate program.
The article mentions working with residents throughout the park design process. Could you elaborate a little more on the specific ways in which the community’s input shaped the development of Merit Park? Knowing how residents were involved adds another layer of depth to the story.