Morningside 48224

My name is Matthew Green. I am from the eastside of Detroit. When I say I know the inner city. I mean that I know the inner city! I am 24 years old. I am old enough to have a mature mind-state about things, but young enough to connect with the youth.

I'm Scotty Boman. I was born and raised in Detroit and have been a resident of the MorningSide community in the 48224 for 15 years. As a child, I lived just across the street from what is now MorningSide on East Outer Drive, and I attended church and Boy Scout meetings at what was then Christ United Methodist Church. I remember viewing feature films at the Alger. I have fond memories of building model boats and cars at the Cannon Recreation Center that was adjoining Finney High School. East English Village Academy is now there.

I grew up in Detroit during the ‘80s, a period of recession and white flight. As industry left, our community went from being a stable middle-class neighborhood to one that was falling apart at the seams. Cultural centers disappeared and money for education and other city services evaporated.

Long before the city of Detroit rebranded itself, a tight-knit neighborhood on the far east side decided to make a name for itself. The community formerly known as NEAR (Neighborhood East Area Residents) wanted a name that could state their wishes, dreams, hopes and struggles aloud.

In this episode, we meet the founder of the Detroit Artists’ Test Lab, the head of an African American podcast network called Audiowave, neighborhood activists young and old, a closet poet, and the woman who taught The Slide to a generation of skaters at Royal Skateland roller rink. Have no pity on our souls, ‘cause we don’t want it. We’re proud, and we flaunt it, like a badge of courage. We’ve taken blows, but we’re not discouraged. Been down but never out, and you better know it. Got scars, warts, and wrinkles, and we ain’t afraid to show it. Poet and MorningSide resident Derrick Gray

In this special episode, MorningSide 48224 teams up with WYPR's Out of the Blocks to share voices from MorningSide. On the east side of Detroit, the streets of MorningSide are lined with stately, brick Tudor-style houses. But today, one in four of those houses is abandoned, boarded up, gutted, or burned out. The foreclosure crisis of 2008 hit MorningSide like a tidal wave, and the neighborhood is struggling to sprout again from the rubble. There’s a lot of buzz about a new Renaissance in downtown Detroit, but the locals in this corner of town are wondering when – and if – the revival is going to make its way to them. In the meantime, they’re holding their own and looking out for each other.

Over three generations, grandmother Patricia Robinson, mother Tamiko Clark, and daughter DaTrice Clark have lived on the same street in MorningSide. Their family story doubles as a history lesson in the neighborhood.

There are a few basic steps journalists take when reporting. Pick a newsworthy topic. Track down the facts. And then talk to people out in the community what they think about it. But what if you flipped that script?

This year, Michigan Radio is trying something new. Instead of sending a reporter in to tell stories about MorningSide, we’re inviting the MorningSide community to tell their own stories. From family histories to local happenings, we want to highlight narratives that feel true and honest to the people who experience the neighborhood every day.

What happens when community members lead the conversation about their community? MorningSide 48224, a community-led podcast, will endeavor to find out. Instead of unearthing city stories from a distance, Imani Mixon , a Detroit-based and embraced journalist who grew up in MorningSide, will be embedded in the community working closely with residents to produce their own stories about their own experiences.