2023-2024 L!FE Student Community Projects

L!FE believes that youth deserve to have a voice in their future and the future of their community. 

Throughout the year, L!FE Excellence Corps and Youth Summit Council students will lead community projects that advance positive social change in Detroit. L!FE community projects are student-led, requiring students to apply their newfound career and life skills to work as a team and achieve the goals of their community project. Each community project is an opportunity for the imaginative ideas generated by young people to become projects that change Detroit and the world. We encourage students to think BIG because innovation starts with “crazy”, “outrageous”, and “out-of-the-box” thinking!

Your support will help L!FE students initiate student-led projects that create more sustainable, safer, and thriving communities in Detroit.

Above Wisdom Andino (left) Tiera Barnett (right)

In 2020-2021, L!FE Youth Summit Council students Tiera Barnett and Wisdom Andino led a project that addressed their concerns around mental health and financial literacy. To address these issues, Tiera and Wisdom created Discover Self Impact (DSI), an interactive workshop that teaches the principles of financial literacy and how to develop a healthy money management mindset. With the support of L!FE staff, Wisdom and Tiera identified a target community, created a business plan, and developed a curriculum relevant to the youth in their community and schools. Tiera and Wisdom were both honored by the Skillman Foundation’s 20 Black Leaders Making History List in February of 2021 for their work on this project.

How do L!FE students identify project topics?

It all starts each August with the annual Detroit Youth Summit Conference (DYSC). Since 2019, L!FE students have partnered with L!FE staff to plan, host, and lead the annual DYSC. This event is for Detroit youth by Detroit youth, providing young people with a space to connect with their peers, learn about what is going on in Detroit, and discover how they can get involved. During DYSC, L!FE students host breakout rooms where youth attendees get to share their experiences of being young people living in Detroit. Through this sharing, youth are asked to identify the issues that affect their communities the most and brainstorm solutions to solve them. This process requires L!FE students to include the voices of their community and peers, not just their own, in identifying the purpose and mission of the project. Last year, DYSC youth attendees identified the following issues:

• Racial equity for BIPOC youth
• Educational equity for Detroit students
• Financial literacy and independence
• Mental health awareness
• City beautification
• Health and nutrition  

How do students identify project objectives and goals?

Themes are inspired by the current needs of Detroit communities, requiring students to explore Detroit. L!FE students will speak with city and state officials, attend field trips, and conduct research on the neighborhoods they want to serve. Through place-based learning and research, students complete a community need assessment that allows them identify the objectives and goals of the communities they wish to serve. 

What's Next?

Once students have identified their topic and objectives, they then create a project proposal and budget for review. Once the project scope and budget is approved, Students work up to 6 hours per week from September to June, hosting student-led project meetings completing project tasks, and connecting with project mentors for guidance and support. Students leverage their skills of networking, communication, time management, project management, financial literacy, and more to achieve the goals of their community project.

What community projects might L!FE students initiate. 

Project topics, goals, and manifestation depend on the passions and interest of that years cohort and the outcomes of the DYSC youth breakout rooms and discussion. Students are encouraged to be guided by the current needs of the community based on in-depth research, observation, and community needs assessments. Passed project ideas have included peer-to-peer workshops, community gardens, letter writing campaigns, Instagram Live Series, Social media campaigns, and more. Students have taken on the following issues in past years:

• Financial literacy and independence
• Mental health awareness
• Health and nutrition
• Voting and the 2020 Census