In January 2020, right before Michigan’s mandated “shelter-in-place” order, eight Detroit Public high school girls attending MEP’s CCR after-school enrichment program, won the Ford Mobility City: One Michigan Central Station Challenge for their Mobility Hub pilot.

 The young women submitted their pilot proposal because they were concerned that Detroit didn’t offer a safe location for them to access various methods of mobility, including a safe place to wait for their parents to pick them up after school or hang out downtown. The students also felt passionate that as Detroit natives, they still had no idea what their city had to offer.

They took this challenge and turned it into an opportunity to create a space that served them, their peers, and their community. What started as a fun class project on serving their community regarding mobility issues, evolved into something magnificent that has the potential to serve everyone in Detroit and introduce a new definition of mobility in Detroit. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, finishing a school year remotely, and getting ready for college, these young women stayed committed to designing their Mobility Hub and have been working with Ford’s Mobility and Michigan Central teams, several local and national corporations, and Detroit-based organizations to make it a reality.

This award-winning class project by MEP student innovators is set to launch in early summer 2021, bringing an innovative mobility hub and enhanced safety to the neighborhoods around Michigan Central Station.