As someone who has experienced housing insecurity in Detroit firsthand (in addition to watching friends and family members struggle with similar experiences) our Founder and CEO, Ms. Courtney, set out to explore the programs and best practices being implemented in other communities across the country in search of solutions. In doing so, she wanted to bring new ways of problem-solving back to her hometown to ensure youth transitioning out of homelessness and poverty greater access to the vital resources they need.

 

This desire led Ms. Courtney to embark on a transcontinental journey on-board the Millennial Trains Project (MTP) in 2016. This program acted as a social incubator for aspiring change-makers who were not only crazy enough to believe that they could change the world - but actually set out to do it.

 

While aboard the train, Ms. Courtney conducted focus groups with youth and spoke with thought-leaders around the youth homelessness space in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Milwaukee, Denver, and Detroit.

 

Many of the young people that Ms. Courtney came across felt like their voices were being suppressed and that the best ways to serve youth experiencing homelessness were not being implemented in their communities. This led Ms. Courtney to work toward finding ways to amplify the voices and lived experiences of youth experiencing homelessness in Detroit and adopt a service model that had never been used before.

 

All of this effort materialized itself into the form of Detroit Phoenix Center, which opened in 2017 as the first completely volunteer-driven Asset Based Resource Center providing drop-in services and basic need support to teens and young adults in need.