Highland Park's Mama Shu among CNN's Top 10 CNN Hero's
HIGHLAND PARK, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - Highland Park's Mama Shu has turned areas that were once vacant lots into community hubs.
"The idea was to transform it into an eco-village," she said.
She's reimagined her neighborhood, which was overwhelmed with blight, and turned it into something beautiful.
Avalon Street, now affectionately known as Avalon Village, is Mama Shu's gift to the city and its people.
"When you think about where we actually are, we have a beautiful downtown, and then there's Highland Park. And then we go down to the other cities going north of Woodward. They are beautiful down there. The grass is green, they have flowers, [and] there is no blight in those places. I'm figuring, why do we have to live like that, and we don't," she said.
Mama Shu has rehabbed homes on the block to provide resources for her neighbors and programs for the youth.
One of those places is Mama Shu's Homework House, where kids can get help with their schoolwork while also getting social and emotional support.
"Beauty is healing. Beauty is healing," she said.
And as much as the community needed Avalon Village, Mama Shu needed it, too.
The village was born out of her pain after her 2-year-old son Jakobi was killed in a hit-and-run in 2007.
Mama Shu continued the work of building the village despite losing another son, 23-year-old Chinyelu, who was shot and killed in 2021.
She says the village is her way of healing.
"I just said why. I really did. I felt it was unfair. I felt that it was bold that this could happen two times," she said.
Her kids are now memorialized in the village after Mama Shu dedicated a park and community garden in their honor.
Mama Shu's inspiring story and mission to uplift her community has made national headlines, and now she's once again in the spotlight.
Mama Shu is being considered for CNN's 2023 Hero of the Year, which is an award given to people who are making a difference in their community.
Mama Shu is among the top 10 candidates vying for a chance to win $100,000.
She says winning would be a huge deal.
"I think that would shine light on our work and really shine light on what we're doing and shining a light on blighted neighborhoods and showing what the possibilities can be besides hopelessness," Mama Shu said.
If she wins, Mama Shu plans to use the prize money to build on Avalon Village, finishing existing projects like the "Healing House," which will soon bring more resources to her community.
No matter the outcome, she says she is proud to know her work is touching people across the country.
"Hopefully, it will be an inspiration. If they see our place, if they see Avalon Village and what we've done here in Highland Park, they will think they can do that in their blighted areas. And think that they deserve to live somewhere beautiful. Somewhere clean."
Voting for CNN's Hero of the Year will run through Dec. 5. You can vote every day until the deadline.
The winner will be selected Dec. 10.
