Luther Keith
Luther Keith,nephew of U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Damon Keith, used to be an editor and columnist at the Detroit News.
These days, he's making a difference in the community as executive director of ARISE Detroit, a broad based coalition of community groups out to improve the city. The organization turns a decade old next year.
"Our mission is to launch a new wave of volunteerism for the many worth while programs and activities that are struggling with the issues that trouble our community – illiteracy, high school dropout rates, crime and youth violence, drug abuse, domestic abuse, neighborhood blight and unemployment." the organization's website says.
WWJ features Keith in a story Thursday on its website to mark Black History Month and showcaxse on African Americans making a community impact.
Keith developed the concept of ARISE Detroit while still working at the News.
"I took a magic marker and some sheets of unlined paper and scribbled some ideas down and low and behold that was the genesis of the idea for ARISE Detroit – and a lot of great people came together; the Skillman Foundation, a lot of great community people came together, and made this idea a reality,” Keith tells WWJ.
From building playscapes and cleaning up parks to parades and showcasing talent; Neighborhoods Day is the biggest annual event for ARISE Detroit, WWJ writes. The event this year is Aug. 1.
“I don’t know any city that does something quite like this, and now we are at the point where we are … mobilizing hundreds of organizations and thousands of volunteers across the city,” Keith told the station. .
Keith also contributes musically to the community.
For years now, he's been known as Luther "Badman" Keith, who plays guitar and sings the blues in a band that appears in venues around town.
