About 100 community members gathered at the Ann Arbor Farmers Market Friday evening to attend a community forum on the new design plan for the first-floor public space in the Catherine Housing Project, a 63-unit affordable housing development that will be located in Ann Arbor’s Historically Black Neighborhood.
The design plan was the result of a full year of a community engagement-centered Community Leadership Council. The CLC consists of twelve community members with intergenerational ties to the Historically Black Neighborhood and has convened monthly since June 2022 to examine the history of the neighborhood and recommend design ideas to the developer and Ann Arbor Housing Commission.
At the event, the public first heard from community members serving on the council about their memories of the neighborhood. CLC member Diana McKnight-Morton said the location where a…