By DALIA ISKANDER, Solutions News Bureau
Angela Reyes had to find neutral ground at a local church to meet with gang leaders in Southwest Detroit, in order to set up a program that provided better pathways for youth in her community. Now, after 25 years, the Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation continues its mission with programs that disrupt the narrative.
Twenty-five years ago, Angela Reyes was tired of watching neighborhood teens fall victim to gang violence in her Southwest Detroit community, so she decided to start the Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation (DHDC). She began working with troubled youth right in the living room of her home, and quickly realized there needed to be alternative pathways.
To reduce violence, DHDC’s Gang Retirement and Continuing Education and Employment program (GRACE) was formed, after forging a truce with leaders of rival gangs by meeting at a local church facility. The program encourages “retirement” in return for jobs in local Hispanic-owned manufacturing companies.
Partnering with businesses, foundations, and government, the nonprofit has served over 48,000 people since then. Housed in a 20,000-square-foot refurbished warehouse at 1211 Trumbull in Corktown, the center provides services to the community through five programs, which have expanded into 15 different sectors for families, youth, and returning citizens. The organization still plays a pivotal role in creating long-term change in the conditions of the community.
“When I first started at DHDC 18 years ago, probably close to 50% of the kids that I worked with were gang-involved or had some type of association to a gang. Now, that’s probably less than 10% of the kids that we see. So, just seeing that, in the amount of violence that has decreased in our community, truly shows that there has been some type of impact. Just this year alone, we had a 75% decrease in murders and violent crimes in our community,” says Lex Zavala, Director of Programs at DHDC.
Engaging youth
The youth program services nearly 500 young people a year and includes programming such as a robotics program, a young ambassador scholarship program, a summer youth program, and an after-school urban arts program.
“Our Robotics Engineering Center of Detroit has become a model program that other organizations are looking to replicate across the country. In four years, this program has grown from two high school teams with 30 youth and 10 mentors, to 10 teams, 150 youth and 70 mentors from various corporate partners,” says Reyes, who is still the executive director of DHDC.
Much of this work is done through collaboration with other community organizations, research institutions, local businesses, law enforcement agencies, community schools, policymakers, government entities, and funders. DHDC has also partnered with General Motors and several other corporations and universities to create a pipeline from Education to Career.
More than 75% of DHDC’s staff members were born and raised in southwest Detroit, and most come from low-income communities of color. Many, as young people, participated in DHDC programming, or programs at similar organizations.
“Being one of Angie Reyes’ kids in her after-school program, it basically inspired me to become a community servant,” says Corinthia Ortiz, 41, who says she grew up in DHDC programs. “She’s played a really big part in my life, she shined light on my life as a young girl, and taught me things I thought I couldn’t do.” Ortiz now works with at-risk youth at Ceasefire Detroit, which she attributes to Reyes and the DHDC community.
New directions
The corporation still has room to grow, specifically within its Reentry Services. Zavala says they face numerous issues within targeted programs like the re-entry program, especially when it comes to resources. “A lot of our prisoner reentry work is unfunded. We do it because it’s a need. We try to find different ways to provide the service, but really, until this year actually we just got a little bit of funding for it, it’s gone unfunded for 10 years.”
DHDC’s reentry services specifically work with people leaving gangs or prisons. The Case Management program, for example, provides group and mentor services: “Participants interact with others who have managed to lead a drug-free life, stay out of gangs, live a non-criminal lifestyle and cope with issues around gang participation,” reads a description on DHDC’s website.
The other sector of the Case Management program is the Freedom Ink tattoo-removal program, in collaboration with Dr. Eric Seiger and the Skin and Vein Center. “Every two weeks we have doctors come in, on a volunteer basis, and they remove tattoos for people completely free if it’s gang or prison-related, or a job-stopping tattoo like something on their hands, face, or neck. […] It’s a huge impact on people. You see grown men cry when they finally get their tattoos removed,” says Zavala.
When asked what separates DHDC from other organizations, Zavala says it “came from the community.”
“It really addresses the community needs from a resident’s perspective,” he says. “We’re residents of the community, we live and work amongst the community that we service, so we’re able to relate, and it holds us to a higher accountability because we’re not just serving people, and then going home somewhere else, you know. We go to church with them, we’re at the grocery stores together, we see each other at a restaurant, you know, we’re amongst the community.”