Brilliant Detroit

Brilliant Detroit builds kid-success families and neighborhoods where families with children have what they need to be school-ready, healthy, and stable. They provide proven programming and support year-round in high-need neighborhoods. With 16 active hubs across 22 neighborhoods, Brilliant Detroit has reached over 22,000 people with programs that increase student reading levels by an average of three levels per year.

The Problem
Over 24 million children in the U.S. are under the age of five, and over 4 million live in poverty. Only 48% of low-income children are ready for school at age five, compared to 75% of children from moderate or high-income households. Children who are not reading proficiently in third grade are 4x less likely to graduate from high school on time. In Detroit specifically, 50% of children under five live in poverty, with the majority being unprepared for kindergarten. To add to this issue, 30,000 of Detroit’s kids have zero learning and care options for the near future.

The Solution
Brilliant Detroit is creating generational change in Detroit by addressing gaps in early childhood education and family care. To do this, they holistically engage with children aged 0-8, starting with their family — working to fulfill their needs at the most basic levels. Brilliant Detroit coordinates and connects families and children to critical, evidence-based programs and services in one centrally-located, welcoming place: a repurposed house (aka hub) in each neighborhood. With more than 150 partners, Brilliant Detroit allows families and children to choose what programs they need to be school-ready, healthy, and stable. They provide love, safety, and growth through their neighborhood-based hubs.

Brilliant Detroit’s model is simple: relationships and trust between children and caregivers, providers, and communities are foundational to solving systemic poverty. Children and families cannot learn if they are hungry; they cannot thrive if they do not feel safe and supported. After being invited in by a high-need neighborhood, Brilliant Detroit hosts eight or more listening sessions with a neighborhood advisory group, purchases a neighborhood house to eliminate the barrier of transportation, hires local builders (like the Black Builders Association) to renovate the house into a hub, and then hires staff from the community to reflect that neighborhood’s culture, language, and experiences of participating families. Then, in connection with each of their neighborhood advisory teams, Brilliant Detroit brings in partner agencies to support the needs and wants of the community with evidence-based programming for children eight and under and their families. To eliminate the childcare barrier, children attend programs at the same time as their caregivers. Until age three, children at Brilliant Detroit build language and begin their learning journey through talking, reading, and singing. From ages three to five, they are introduced to books and other learning experiences. From ages five to eight, they are moved toward reading two to three levels above their baseline.

With 16 active hubs across 22 neighborhoods, Brilliant Detroit has reached more than 22,000 participants. By 2024, they are targeting 24 neighborhoods in order to serve approximately 24,000 individuals over time in Detroit. In addition, they are replicating their model as “Brilliant Cities” outside of Detroit, including launching in Philadelphia by early 2025. Brilliant Detroit enables population-level change where families and neighborhoods begin to shift citywide early childhood statistics of grade-level reading and generational poverty.