The History of Youth Development Network Building in Detroit, and Our Experience with Dr. Cassandra Montgomery

At the end of the summer, our team had a retreat (all virtual this year) and we had some courageous conversations about our earliest memories of race, as well as our journeys with youth development network building in Detroit. It was a powerful experience that resulted in tears for some of us, particularly as we reflected on how each of our individual journeys with this work intersected and how we impacted each other, sometimes in positive ways and sometimes in unintentionally harmful ways. The discussion was made all the more tender and vulnerable because it could not be done in person.

The conversation helped us identify our key priorities for this unusual year. The biggest priority we identified is getting back to basics and focusing on our local relationship building. A sense of community across the youth development sector is one of our greatest offerings.

At the end of the two day experience, Yvonne and I got an email from a youth development professional in our network asking us for their organization’s data because their Executive Director had passed away this summer.

If you have participated in this community of youth development professionals for a while, you might have met Dr. Cassandra Montgomery who was both the Program Director and then the Executive Director of People’s Community Services, which runs the Delray Community Center on Detroit’s southwest side. She was one of our most regular participants, and we were really saddened to learn of her passing. She had an extraordinary life.

People know YDRC because of quality or data or professional development, but our roots are in the neighborhood-based network-building done by the former staff of the Youth Development Alliance (Partnership for Youth and the Youth Development Initiative) and the Youth Development Commission that came before YDRC. We’ve kept some of that network building alive, but this summer we’ve really felt the loss of those deep and wide networks in Detroit neighborhoods.

My first memory of Dr. Montgomery was probably 7 years ago when she brought youth from the Delray Community Center to the Patton Recreation Center to present on the results of the small grant they received from Partnership for Youth. My last memory was being in her office, talking with her about how stretched for resources her program was but that they needed to keep the doors open for Delray youth who really needed somewhere to be when out-of-school. She gave me a tour before I left. The gym floor was buckled from a water leak, but youth were arriving afterschool to do homework and hang out.

While continuous quality improvement is at the heart of what we do, we’d like to be as known for relationship building and advocacy for youth. To youth, the caring adults and the safe spaces in their lives are their greatest resource, especially right now.

If you have a few dollars to spare, please make a donation in Dr. Montgomery’s honor to the Delray Community Center.