Meet Jelani Stowers, VP of Narrative & Research at the Steen Foundation, Co-Founder of Critical Youth Theory and lead advisor of the Peter Pan Fund! #criticalyouththeory
Thank you @dct5050productions / @davontravier for supporting the Steen Foundation!
Meet Jeremiah Steen, Founder & Executive Director at the Steen Foundation and Co- Founder of Critical Youth Theory! #criticalyouththeory
Thank you @dct5050productions / @davontravier for supporting the Steen Foundation!
Meet Shamere Duncan, VP of Programs and Operations at the Steen Foundation and lead advisor of the @theblackinitiative313 ! #criticalyouththeory
Thank you @dct5050productions / @davontravier for supporting the Steen Foundation!
Jeremiah Steen, MEDA Member, Executive Director of the Steen Foundation, Community Growth Fellow at Detroit Future City through Community Economic Development Association of Michigan (CEDAM).
MEDA is helping communities across Michigan prepare for long-term economic resilience as the auto, energy, and workforce sectors rapidly evolve. My role focuses on aligning youth engagement, education, and workforce systems so young people can access real pathways into the jobs that are growing, particularly across climate-tech, mobility, infrastructure, and skilled trades.
One insight driving my work:
“We are investing billions to engage young people in programs, but those systems are not designed to move them into the 62% of jobs that are actually growing.” If you’re working on workforce development, youth access, employer alignment, retention, or economic transition strategy, let’s connect. Always open to learning, collaboration, and partnership.
Spoke at the @youthtank.detroit ‘s Youth Mobility Summit about something I believe deeply: Young people are not “disconnected.” Many are navigating systems that are fragmented, difficult to access, and not designed with them in mind.
Detroit Future City’s Tech Tomorrow reinforces both the urgency and opportunity ahead: 62% of regional job growth is concentrated in growth occupations, and 57% of those roles do not require a bachelor’s degree.
The opportunity already exists. Access to pathways do not. We have to stop treating youth as the problem and start designing systems worthy of their ambition.
In Detroit, the Steen Foundation engaged 250 youth, distributed 2,000+ books, and led a mural now living at the Detroit Zoo. This is what exposure looks like.
Detroit Future City’s Tech Tomorrow shows 410,000+ tech-enabled jobs, and growing, many tied to climate infrastructure. We’re using literacy as the entry point, connecting curiosity to opportunity.
We were also honored to welcome Jane Goodall to Pages Bookshop for her final private gathering in Detroit. Thank you to @880cities and @knightfdn for making this possible.
Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield will be at the Detroit Youth Mobility Summit. Will you?
April 18th, 10AM - 2:30PM, @ 950 Selden St., Detroit, MI 48202
We are excited to highlight some of our speakers that will be joining us at the 3rd annual DYMS, including YouthTank student leaders and youth leaders from across the city. This year we are focused on education because…. education is mobility, mobility is freedom, and Detroit youth are leading the way!
We will be also designing the future of education at our Build a School workshop along with lunch from 12:30-1:30 PM.
Use the QR code above or the link in our bio to RSVP
We need you there. We need your voice. See you then! 💙
Honored to contribute to the FAO Youth Consultative Dialogue, supporting the elevation of youth-led solutions, innovations, and best practices in agrifood systems, while helping shape youth-informed inputs into ERC35 and broader rural transformation efforts.
What stood out is how consistent the challenge is across regions. Youth are engaged and contributing, but that engagement isn’t always connected to where opportunity and value are captured.
The learning is simple, participation alone isn’t enough. The work now is ensuring that what youth are building and sharing is meaningfully connected to systems that create income, ownership, and long-term opportunity.
Detroit reflects this challenge, and in many ways, is where we’re working through what it looks like to get it right.
The Steen Foundation was honored to provide the Aaron Smiles Afrofuturism Scholarship, expanding access to entrepreneurship, tech/EV careers, and skilled trades.
Congratulations Langston Little for winning the $1000 scholarship and becoming a Steen Foundation Fellow!
The Black Awareness Society of Education (BASE) at University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy is an incubator for Black and Brown brilliance, preparing students to lead our city, state, and country. Research shows students involved in co-curricular programs are 30–40% more likely to develop leadership and civic skills, making spaces like BASE essential.
Support these opportunities through the Wolf and Kettle Fund, which helps ensure students can participate in retreats, service trips, arts, athletics, and college visits.
Donate to the Wolf and Kettle Fund and in the comment section write “BASE” to show the impact this co-curricular has had, and will continue to have, on developing the next generation of leaders. Learn more: @uofdjesuit
Thank you @shesodetroit for stewarding the resources to make this happen. Phenomenal work: Eric Cannon , Tariq Rodgers , James Bernard III , Solomon Spann IV , Lincoln Hessler, Garrett Simmons, Xaiver Poole — the future is bright because of the impact you’re already making!
Honored to partner with @detfuturecity to help build a coalition expanding exposure for DPSCD students to high-growth career pathways and giving young people a real shot at earning a middle-class income. This work will help shape a more inclusive talent pipeline and inform Michigan’s broader economic transition strategy. #CEDAM
The Steen Foundation was honored to partner with @non.stophiphop and @backwoodsandbonfires to present the Pages Bookshop Black History Month Mini Concert( @pagesontheave ), where 10 phenomenal emerging artists performed and were voted on for the opportunity to win a $1,000 award and perform at Backwoods & Bonfire as a Steen Foundation Fellow.
Congratulations to @zyaires_world for being selected as the evening’s winner.
Opportunities like this matter. More than 2 million U.S. students lack access to arts education, and public arts funding has declined in recent years, limiting pathways for emerging creatives. 
Detroit has always led through culture. Investing in artists strengthens entrepreneurship, storytelling, and the creative economy that shapes what comes next.
To every artist continuing to create and show up: your voice matters, your work has value, and the stage is growing.
Thank you @shesodetroit / @sheso.detroit Butterfly Network for stewarding the resources to make this opportunity possible!
