‘Teen takeovers’ show need for safe youth spaces. Here’s what Detroit’s doing

Mayor Mary Sheffield’s administration is working on a year-round slate of activities to engage, employ and entertain youth after a bout of so-called “teen takeovers” downtown illuminated the need for more safe spaces for Detroit’s young people.

Teen takeovers – a trend where young people organize a massive gathering via social media channels – are popping up in Chicago, Milwaukee and other major cities. While places such as Washington DC and Charlotte are enforcing curfews in neighborhoods and malls in response to the large-scale gatherings, Sheffield is taking a different approach in Detroit.

Even before, youth and education were already a cornerstone of Sheffield’s early priorities. After taking office in January, she created an Office of Youth Affairs with Umoja Debate League Founder Jerjuan Howard at the helm and hired education leader Chanel Hampton as Detroit’s first senior director of youth and education.

Hampton serves as a liaison between the mayor’s office and the Detroit Public Schools Community District, charter schools, out-of-school-time partners and community groups to better understand the needs of young people and their families. She also leads the city’s work supporting people from birth to 26 years old. Meanwhile, Howard’s department works to ensure youth have a voice in city government.

The city is gearing up for the rollout of new programs and resources to better connect with young people and is working to engage with City Council, business leaders and other stakeholders in and around the downtown with the hopes of carving out even more opportunities.

In June, the city will launch its new Occupy the Summer series, as an extension of the popular Occupy the Corner events created by Sheffield more than a decade ago while serving as a council member. The annual series of youth events features carnival rides, backpack drives and performances from Detroit musical artists like Skilla Baby.

Occupy the Summer kicks off June 12 and runs through Aug. 14 and will provide six-day-per-week programming to youth during the summer months. Among those offerings will be expanded recreation center hours until 11 p.m. and the return of Midnight Basketball leagues for ages 18 and up. The city is planning a men’s and women’s league on Thursdays and Saturdays. There also will be activities for young people every Friday, Hampton added.

Sheffield’s team also is working on a portal for the city’s website, where visitors can enter their age, ZIP code or City Council district to find free programming from the city and partner organizations, Hampton said.

The youth programming is part of a larger out-of-school time strategy, she added.

Many concepts, Hampton said, were born out of discussions with Detroit teens, including a contingent who took part in an Opening Day teen takeover downtown. The group helped plan a city-supported “teen kickback” in late April with the mayor in Hart Plaza.

Hampton noted a pair of those teens, Danasha’ Tidwell and Daveion Page, meet with her on a weekly basis as part of the city’s newly launched mayoral Youth Advisory Committee and they will be interns for Hampton and her department.

“All we’re hearing from young people is, ‘We want to have fun, safe, engaging spaces,’ and if they’re of age, ‘we want to make money,’” Hampton said. “There’s an entire office that I’m building out around out-of-school time and workforce.”

But the efforts are expected to span far beyond the summer, she added.

“We want to make sure we have year-round, out-of-school time opportunities for young people,” Hampton said. “Everything is really a building block that is going into this year-round strategy, so that by the time we wrap up Occupy the Summer, I’ll be activating our fall strategy.”

Looking for a space of their own

As teens made their way downtown during the recent takeover, they gravitated toward popular places like Campus Martius Park and Woodward Avenue.

Eric Larson, CEO of the Downtown Detroit Partnership (DDP), said DDP has and will continue to partner with the city government to welcome people of all ages to the downtown parks, including teens. DDP operates Campus Martius, Beacon, Capitol and Grand Circus parks, as well as Cadillac Square and the Woodward Esplanade.

Larson said DDP team members attended a recent meeting with Sheffield, Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison and downtown businesses. Larson was unable to attend, but heard from staff that the meeting was positive. Sheffield talked about plans for Occupy the Summer, while businesses discussed the challenges faced when teens hold informal gatherings like the takeovers, he said.

“It was more of a listening session on both sides to better understand what the intent and objectives are and then how that could be managed relative to the downtown business and resident community trying to reside in the same space,” Larson said.

DDP, he said, will continue to offer a slate of family-friendly activities throughout the summer such as Movie Nights in the D at Campus Martius and pickleball at Beacon Park.

Teen Hype CEO Ambra Redrick was a teenager in Detroit during the 1990s and remembers how different it was compared to the experiences teens have today. She recalled first date with her then-boyfriend and the freedom they had to roam around downtown.

“My little boyfriend saved his summer job money, and I met him at the Renaissance Center, and he took me to Burger King,” Redrick said. “We rode the People Mover, and walked through Greektown. I can’t even tell you how in the world we were navigating those spaces, but not one single door ever said, ‘You don’t belong.’”

The Detroit youth organization CEO said she’s happy to see the Sheffield administration prioritize youth voices since the city has largely been built up without teenagers in mind.

“We have built grown-up spaces and over the years, we continue to push kids out,” she said. “I don’t see them employed downtown. Are there reflections of them downtown? No. They are perceived as dangerous.”

The unseasonably warm weather was the reason why Janiya Chavers and her friends headed downtown for the Opening Day takeover. The Renaissance High School sophomore saw an Instagram story about the gathering and was curious to see what it was about. Chavers said that she and her friends kept away from the major activity, hanging out instead near the riverfront.

Chavers acknowledged that some young people downtown were disruptive but believes most of them had good intentions.

“I feel like people were just trying to connect with their friends and have a nice time on that one hot day of the week,” she said.

The Opening Day takeover stayed mostly peaceful, but some social media videos depict some teens running down the streets and others being detained by Detroit Police and placed on buses. According to the Detroit Police Department, 40 curfew violations and 24 parental responsibility tickets were issued that day. Last summer, the city amended its curfew ordinance. DPD has issued 309 curfew violations and 184 parental responsibility tickets between July 29, 2025 to April 12, 2026.

DeLashea Strawder, executive and artistic director of Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit, also felt that the takeovers were cast negatively – as if teens aren’t welcome downtown or that they’re not supposed to be there.

“That doesn’t make sense to me,” she said. “I don’t understand – unless it’s a 21 and up area – I’m unsure why we would even be discussing the fact that they shouldn’t be in a public space enjoying the celebration along with everybody else. They live here.”

District 6 Detroit City Council Member Gabriela Santiago-Romero has helped lead the charge for what she’s called “teen care” after the takeovers and the launch of a new free bus service for Detroit students. The council member has been engaging with young people since the takeovers to ensure they feel supported and to take note of their needs. Among them, more third spaces, late-evening lighting and a skate park around the Detroit River or Hart Plaza.

“For me, it means a lot,” said Santiago-Romero, who noted she began working at age 15. “What I’m going to continue to do is meet the people, see how I can help them. I think we need to invest money into actual third spaces.”

Having a seat at the table

Beyond the planning for Occupy the Summer, Howard has been developing the mayoral youth cabinet to increase access to opportunities for young people. Informal discussion occurred in March and the official kickoff meeting is planned for this month, he said.

“The idea is that 50 or so students represent the interest and ideas of all the youth in the city,” Howard said. “That was part of our strategy for our first week here in the new administration.”

So far, there are about 30 young people involved, but the Youth Affairs Office plans to have 40 or 50 people by the kickoff meeting, said program coordinator Angelica Williams. She and Howard have been reaching out to youth councils around the city, such as groups representing the Detroit NAACP, the Cody Rouge Community Action Alliance and the Skillman Foundation.

To be eligible for the one-year, volunteer cabinet position, the person should be between the ages of 14 and 26, a young leader with lived experience in Detroit who is nominated by an individual who’s familiar with their leadership. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the person has to live in the city, Williams said.

“You can live, for example, in Redford but you’ve gone to Detroit schools your entire life, so you can speak to what it’s like to be a student,” she said.

One of the cabinet’s goals is increasing accessibility and awareness to opportunities for Detroit youth. During the meetings, the city will educate cabinet members on available resources and encourage them to share the information with their peers.

Williams said a common theme from young people is that they don’t have positive feelings about the city.

“They don’t see positive futures or thriving futures possible in the city, and they feel like they’re disconnected from civic decision making and from opportunity,” she said. “The biggest goal with the cabinet is that we are addressing that head on. We are not only creating a platform for us to be able to share information, but for them to share information across one another and to also bring information to us from their host organization. That way, we are creating a new narrative for Detroit youth about what is possible and what the potential of Detroit has in their future.”

Other goals of the youth advisory group include increasing the role community action plays in city government and growing a network of other young people who could potentially serve on the cabinet in the future, Williams said.

“One of the big reasons we opted for the cabinet structure was not just for the deepening ecosphere, but specifically because these are all youth who talk to five, 10, 20 youth on their own time,” she said. “At the end of the day, we’re hoping that next year we have this fully functioning and autonomous body that can pass on wisdom to the next generation, build relationships and deepen their idea of a productive future here.”

What kind of spaces do young people want to see?

Cass Technical High School sophomore De’Ziaha McIntosh spent time downtown on Opening Day, visiting Chick-fil-A and hanging out near the RiverWalk with her sister and friends.

The 16-year-old member of Teen Hype said she hopes to eventually see a teen entertainment space downtown that has a little bit of everything–a movie theater, arcade, rage room and a spot to ride go-karts.

“A lot of teens would be there almost every weekend,” McIntosh said.

Meanwhile, Ryan Townsend, 16, a member of the Mosaic Youth Theatre, wants to see more youth-oriented events, like a teen music festival.

“I feel like Detroit and other cities should have events for teens to get together and meet up, talk to each other, and build connections, instead of it always being just this chaotic thing where there’s fighting and arguing and just tearing up things,” she said. “That’s why places like Mosaic are so important, just to have that space to get with your peers or people who have the same interests as you, and to be able to communicate with them and learn things with them and build relationships.”

Townsend also noted how some teens were barging into businesses. Downtown businesses should offer teen nights so that young people will be viewed more as more welcomed rather than a disturbance, she said.

“Caring for the youth who are the future of this country, in this city, is really important, and if you don’t do that, you won’t have anything,” Townsend said.

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This story was originally published by Bridge Detroit and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.