Nine Detroit-area nonprofits will share $1.3 million through the Kresge Innovative Projects: Detroit Plus (KIP:D+) grant initiative for implementation-ready projects that range from development of a world-class equestrian center for youth programs to engaging Hamtramck and eastside Detroit communities around environmental health concerns. The organizations will spend the next two years implementing the projects shaped by community engagement to improve quality of life in neighborhoods.

Funded by The Kresge Foundation, KIP:D+ is administered by Co.act Detroit in partnership with Michigan Community Resources (MCR) and Kresge. It is a successor to the Kresge Innovative Projects: Detroit initiative which was launched in 2014. With the grants announced today, KIP:D and KIP:D+ have distributed $15 million.

The new cohort of grantees includes seasoned KIP:D+ grantees building on previous successes, like Freedom House Detroit, and new faces, like A Girl Like Me, Inc. and Black Bottom Archives.

First time KIP:D+ grantee A Girl Like Me serves teen moms and families in need across Detroit, Hamtramck and Highland Park. They will use grant funds to create a central resource hub in the Brightmoor community in northwest Detroit. The new grant marks continuous growth for A Girl Like Me — whose founder Tyra Moore was featured last year on The Drew Barrymore Show. This is the first grant of this size the organization has received.

A 2022 KIP:D+ planning grant allowed returning grantee Freedom House Detroit to hire an architecture firm to design, restore and transform their current building and grounds. Freedom House continues to build upon this work with their new KIP:D+ grant, which will fund a new intake center connecting recently arrived refugees and asylum seekers with shelter, legal advocacy and other resources.

“The KIP:D+ grant will help Freedom House Detroit build a 4,900 square foot addition to provide space for an official new arrival intake center and family suites to give those seeking humanitarian protection safety and dignity in a welcoming space,” said Elizabeth Vasquez, chief executive officer of Freedom House Detroit.

Another 2024 grantee, Black Bottom Archives, will use KIP:D+ funds to launch their inaugural Preserving Black Legacy Fellowship. This fellowship will support a cohort of Black Detroiters conducting a unique community archiving project on Black Detroit history. The fellowship will culminate in a two-day gathering dedicated to Black Detroit storytelling planned for 2026.

The decision to focus Kresge’s 2024 grant dollars toward implementation-ready projects arose from a program review led by a new advisory group of residents from across Detroit, Hamtramck and Highland Park. The process was informed by an analysis by sector partner Data Driven Detroit. As a result of advisory group recommendations, applicants seeking planning support alone were not considered in this round of grants. In addition to funding focused on project implementation, this round included an honorarium of $2,000 for the 13 finalists that did not receive grants, intended to help offset the operational costs of applying.

$15M awarded since 2015

Kresge has funded innovative projects in Detroit through its KIP:D grant initiative since the first grants were made in 2015, a year after the program was announced in 2014.

In 2017, Kresge began a partnership with MCR to advise on program structure and to support KIP:D applicants, grantees and cohorts of selected grantees. These cohorts have grown into a community of change agents, learning together with a common cause. Kresge transitioned administration of the program to Co.act in 2021, at which time the “Plus” was added to highlight the new collaboration and expansion of the program to include eligibility of projects in Hamtramck and Highland Park.

The 2024 round of KIP:D+ awards brings the total of grants made to projects and planning efforts to 193 – along with $15 million in total grant support dollars.

“A decade ago, KIP:D broke new ground to demonstrate that Detroit neighborhood residents have the vision and will to make transformative changes – they only need the tools and support,” said Wendy Lewis Jackson, managing director of Kresge’s Detroit Program. “This latest round of grants reaffirms the importance of residents and their nonprofits as engines of progress to improve quality of life across the city.”

The KIP:D+ selection committee is composed of 75% Detroit, Hamtramck and Highland Park residents, and 25% Co.act and Kresge staff. Selection committee members represent a diverse range of perspectives, from historians, new American residents and active military or veterans. Of granted organizations, 78% have leaders who identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) and 67% are led by women. Organizations include a range of budget sizes, with 56% working with annual operating budgets of less than $500,000 per year.

Meet This Year’s KIP:D+ Grantees

• A Girl Like Me, Inc. will acquire and transform a property in Detroit’s Brightmoor community into a central resource hub with support programs for teen moms and young girls in need.

• Black Bottom Archives will debut the year-long Preserving Black Legacy Fellowship, training a cohort of seven Black Detroiters in preservation and storytelling techniques to support archival projects that use oral history to share their neighborhood’s story.

• Class Act Detroit will continue developing the House of Hip-Hop, a historic 13,000-square-foot formerly vacant house of worship into a community center and cultural hub for BIPOC youth in Detroit’s Midwest/Tireman neighborhood.

• Detroit Hamtramck Coalition for Advancing Healthy Environments builds upon previous KIP:D+ work to implement a community engagement plan to study environmental health issues, risks, priorities and solutions on the near eastside of Detroit.

• Detroit Horse Power is preparing to reactivate the demolished Paul Robeson School site in central Detroit into the largest urban equestrian education center in the nation, where they will scale impactful youth development programs for the next generation of Detroiters.

• Freedom House Detroit will continue to develop their East Campus Project, including the construction of a New Arrival Intake Center to support recently arrived refugees and asylum seekers.

• Grandmont Rosedale Development Corporation plans to enhance the interior and functionality of their 10-year-old community-based business incubator and co-working space, Grand River WorkPlace.

• Jefferson Chalmers Farmers Market will construct a welcome center, serving as storage for market equipment and to facilitate EBT/SNAP transactions.

• Urban Neighborhood Initiatives will implement their Green Project Playbook vision, which includes goals around stormwater management, clean air, beautification and workforce development in Detroit’s Springwells neighborhood.

Learn more about the KIP:D+ initiative in this 2021 video:

Cydney Camp is special projects manager for Co.act Detroit. Hannah Colborn is director of marketing and digital strategy for Michigan Community Resources.