Once a booming area buoyed by the automotive industry, Highland Park, a city just outside of Detroit, has faced decades of blight. In 2011, the city repossessed more than two-thirds of Highland Park’s residential streetlights due to outstanding electric bills. The streetlights were removed, literally leaving residents in the dark.

It was around this time that a visionary woman known to everyone as Mama Shu, decided to embrace a mission of “blight to beauty” for her Highland Park neighborhood known as Avalon Village. She began buying up crumbling properties on her rundown street, having solar-powered lighting installed, renovating buildings or tearing them down and replacing them with new shipping containers to house small shops run by local entrepreneurs. She was named one of CNN’s Heroes.

One of Avalon Village’s great accomplishments is The Homework House, a renovated single family home that now serves as a meeting space for local youth. There, young people can enjoy a warm meal, get help with homework, and gain important life skills.

Under the guidance of our guest today, education director Boniswa Brock, who was a public school teacher and administrator for 35 years, The Homework House also serves as a warm and welcoming hub for local homeschooled students who enjoy daily access to the space for classes and enrichment opportunities. 

Boniswa is currently preparing to launch a STEM-focused, child-centered preschool, called Every Child Is A Genius, at The Homework House, but has encountered regulatory snares that have delayed the preschool’s opening. We talk about that frustration and more on today’s episode. 

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