Dunbar Tower

The AAHC & Avalon Housing, in consultation with Yodit Mesfin Johnson of YMJ & Associates, created a community advisory board called the Community Leadership Council (CLC). YMJ designed the initial structure, purpose, and facilitation approach for the CLC. The CLC brought together multi-generational Black current and former residents of the neighborhood, including local Black artists and entrepreneurs. 

FutureRoot, the firm co-founded by Yodit and Jessica A.S. Letaw, led a justice-centered, community-driven engagement process that surfaced the core values, needs, and vision of the CLC and the broader community. That process resulted in the drafting of “Coming Home,” a community vision for the first-floor space that honors the legacy of the historically Black neighborhood and business district Dunbar Tower is situated in, and affirms a future for Black people, artists, entrepreneurs, and residents in Ann Arbor. 

The CLC worked for over 3 years to create an organizational structure, engage the larger community, develop a vision statement and create a plan to implement that vision statement. Implementation included the design, budget, and programming of the community space.The CLC is paid by the AAHC and City of Ann Arbor to guide the design of the community space.

The CLC has hired InToto Studio as the architect and interior designer for the community space that supports a variety of artists and creatives, from writers and poets to musicians and visual artists. InToto Studio is led by James Singleton, who grew up as a member of the community in Ann Arbor's historically Black neighborhood. The CLC is also working with InToto Studio to commission local artists to create art inside and outside the building. The CLC will be creating a space to celebrate local Black community member achievements and provide a forum to discuss and have rotating displays of historic events focused on Black history. The CLC named the building in honor of the Dunbar Community Center, which served as an important community space for the area's Black residents until the 1960’s at 420 N Fourth Ave. Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872—1906) was a renowned American poet whose most famous poem “Sympathy” ends with the line “I know why the caged bird sings”.