Detroit, Michigan
The Center for Community Justice and Advocacy is a Detroit-based community development organization working alongside residents to transform neighborhoods, activate community spaces, strengthen civic participation, and create opportunities for people to connect, grow, lead, and thrive.
We believe strong neighborhoods are built when residents have the resources, relationships, spaces, and power to shape what happens around them.
The Center brings together community development, neighborhood revitalization, civic engagement, arts and culture, environmental stewardship, education, and community programming to create places where people can gather, organize, create, learn, and belong.
Transforming vacant and underused spaces into community assets.
Helping residents participate in decisions affecting their communities.
Creating programs, resources, experiences, and relationships that strengthen individuals and families.
Using arts, culture, entrepreneurship, education, and community imagination to create new possibilities for Detroit neighborhoods.
Our Work
Every project starts on a block, with the people who live there and the future they name for themselves.
The Oasis Project
The Oasis Project represents The Center’s approach to neighborhood transformation: taking overlooked spaces and turning them into places for art, culture, nature, wellness, connection, and community life.
The project includes outdoor gathering space, community events, public art, creative installations, gardening, neighborhood beautification, workshops, music, wellness activities, and opportunities for residents to participate directly in shaping the space.
Community garden
Outdoor art
Performances
Art & Sound Park
Bonfires
Volunteers
Garden construction
Community gatheringsPrograms
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A community-centered approach recognizing that thriving neighborhoods require more than physical development. Whole Person, Whole Community connects residents with opportunities, experiences, information, resources, relationships, and community support designed to strengthen both individuals and the neighborhoods they call home.
An accessible civic engagement series bringing people together around food, conversation, community issues, politics, and the decisions affecting everyday life. The program is designed to make civic participation less intimidating, more culturally relevant, and connected to the real experiences of residents.
A neighborhood placemaking and community-development initiative transforming vacant land into active spaces for art, culture, wellness, environmental stewardship, community gatherings, and resident-led programming.
A creative outdoor gathering space where public art, music, installations, cultural programming, and community events come together to create new experiences inside the neighborhood.
From bonfires and live music to workshops, wellness activities, community conversations, art experiences, and neighborhood gatherings, The Center creates opportunities for residents to experience their community differently.
Our work is designed to create visible change: stronger relationships, activated land, more opportunities, greater participation, and spaces where people want to gather.
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Residents Engaged
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Community Events
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Volunteer Hours
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Vacant Lots Activated
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Artists & Creatives Supported
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Community Partners
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Programs Delivered
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People Connected to Resources
Metrics are managed by The Center and updated as our work grows.
CommunitySaturday, September 12, 2026
18:00 – 21:00
The Oasis Project
Music, food, and neighbors around the fire. Bring a chair and bring a friend.
Civic EngagementSaturday, September 19, 2026
18:30
The Oasis Project
Real talk over real food. This month: who owns Detroit's land, and what it means for our neighborhoods.
MusicSaturday, September 26, 2026
19:00
Art & Sound Park
Live DJs, Amapiano and Afrobeats under the stars at the Art & Sound Park.
Community transformation isn’t something that happens to a neighborhood. It happens with the people who live there.
The Center collaborates with residents and organizations that believe communities should have the power and resources to shape their own future.
