Good Friday afternoon, everyone:

One of the enduring contributions Kresge has made to the civic infrastructure of Detroit is the notion of a Conservancy. Although we certainly didn’t invent the concept – placing a public asset in the hands of an independently governed nonprofit charged with ownership and stewardship responsibilities – we certainly have utilized it with uncommon frequency and effectiveness. Consider:

The Eastern Market Conservancy. Restructured almost twenty years ago through the efforts of Laura Trudeau (a Kresge program officer who would a few years later become the Managing Director of our Detroit program and hold that post for more than a decade) and others, the operations of the 126-year-old Eastern Market were transferred from city management to a free-standing nonprofit partnership that operates it today with revenues of more than $6 million. The market comprises 165,000 square feet spread across five buildings, serves more than two million people each year, sells almost $400 million of wholesale foods and $425 million of meat, and accounts for some 1,500 food-processing and distribution jobs in 125 businesses.

The Detroit Riverfront Conservancy. The Detroit Riverfront Conservancy manages the Detroit RiverWalk, offers extensive programming, and increasingly the hub of the city’s network of open spaces, including the Dequindre Cut and the Southwest Greenway. Kresge catalyzed its creation with its $50 million capital challenge grant in the early 2000’s. The structure of the partnership, its operating framework, and its early implementation were overseen by – again – Laura Trudeau.

The M-1 Rail Board (in effect, a private-philanthropic conservancy). Kresge, Roger Penske, and Quicken Loans took the lead in forming a nonprofit governance board to plan, oversee the creation of, bring to life, and manage the M-1/Q Line. Again, Kresge’s $50 million seed capital catalyzed the work. And again, Laura Trudeau did an enormous amount of the heavy implementation lifting, even after retiring from Kresge.

The Marygrove Conservancy. When we first engaged with Marygrove College in 2016, transferring ownership of the college’s land and facilities to a conservancy was the furthest thing from our mind. But as the College was forced to close, as the debt had to be transferred to a third party, as the P-20 campus plan began to crystalize, and as operations needed to be embedded in a sustainable, ongoing independent board, we called on our playbook and created yet another conservancy. This time, Aaron and Wendy were the prime movers.

The Detroit Future City Board (although not a steward of public spaces, it is nevertheless, in effect, a private philanthropic conservancy – although not of a physical asset). After the four-year community planning process involving more than 100,000 Detroiters in every conceivable form of public engagement, Toni Griffin and her planning team produced the landmark Detroit Future City Plan. Kresge determined that the stewardship of the plan, its ongoing refreshing, and its continuing engagement of community voice would best be stewarded by a private-public-philanthropic-civic Board.  Guess who was instrumental in setting that up (if your answer was informed by the Eastern Market, Riverfront, and M-1, you would be right).

These remarkable conservancies are now joined by a potentially robust newcomer not of Kresge’s making: the Joe Louis Conservancy, the formation and governance of which was announced just yesterday. I’ve previously written about the Greenway, a thirty-mile-long loop of walking and bicycle paths that will connect residents in Detroit, Hamtramck, Highland Park, and Dearborn to the Detroit River.

Lest we disclaim any influence, however, it should be noted that in an incredibly wise and promising move, the new Conservancy named Laura Trudeau as its Executive Director.

I couldn’t be more excited, and the City of Detroit could not be better served. Laura’s skill in operationalizing complex entities is unparalleled. Her passion for the city has never waned. And her profound integrity is exactly what is required for an undertaking that carries as many political landmines as this does. Congratulations Laura!! It is a huge step forward for the city.

Rip

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