Detroit Heals Detroit

Est 2018

WHO WE ARE

A youth-led organization deeply committed to cultivating spaces for healing, empowerment, and leadership among Black youth in our city.

Guided by the leadership and experiences of those most impacted by systemic harm, we mobilize Detroit BIPOC youth aged 14 to 24 to lead in the dismantlement of oppressive structures through innovative youth-led strategies that address the impacts of intergenerational trauma, systemic oppression, and violence within their communities. With the goal of building collective healing and resilience, we deliver culturally rooted, trauma-informed, engagement programs integrated with healing centered restorative practices that equip young people with the skills, support and empowerment needed to counter systemic, racial, and carceral harm while actively disrupting the systems that perpetuate it.

Mission & Vision

Mission Founded by and for youth, Detroit Heals Detroit emboldens young people to transform their trauma into transformative action.

Vision Our vision is to create vibrant, youth-led healing spaces in Detroit and beyond—spaces that foster access to healing, joy, liberation, and endless possibilities. Through dynamic partnerships with community stakeholders, we pave the way for intergenerational healing, collective liberation, and the abolition of oppressive frameworks.

"According to ACE, one in every four students currently sitting in American classrooms have experienced a traumatic event, and the number is even greater for those living in marginalized communities. Exposure to trauma has a profound impact on cognitive development and academic outcomes and our specific students in Detroit seem to wake up to trauma like its breakfast. As young people we have been forced to develop in a world that has sought to silence our pain. Young people face more challenges than any individual person can remedy so our goal is to help each other heal from their trauma together. There are no safe spaces for youth in Detroit to heal in the city together so our solution is to create that safe space together. Healing spaces that are so radical that it actually disrupts the status quo. " - Brianna Donald, Founder

"Healing that is about our liberation, not about our survival. Healing that is actually rooted in abolition. Focusing specifically on the trauma and power of Black communities, balancing the pain of oppression with the joy and beauty of Black identity, history, and cultures. Giving youth a space to talk about our feelings is cool but also giving us a space where we can strategize ways to dismantle a system that has caused our people pain for decades is the real revolutionary space Black youth need in schools and communities." - Mercedes Luscious, Founder

"We will lead community healing and learn strategies to advocate for ourselves and others, to deepen our own and others knowledge, & to illuminate the lives we live and the worlds we are a part of. Speaking, writing and advocating around your trauma is an important and powerful step to healing. When the youth in neighborhoods heal, the community begins to heal. Healing is very much rooted in community and we are committed to leading the movement toward Healing Justice for Detroit youth and beyond." - Kobi Sparks, Founder

Executive Board

Our executive board is composed of youth all under the age of 25 from Detroit, Michigan. As youth, we already have a deep understanding of our community's current and historic context, beauty, and complexity and understand what is needed to heal. We are experts in helping create a youth-led Healing Space. We follow a group-centered leadership approach so there is no one clear leader of the organization, we all carry collective and equal responsibility.