THE CASA BLANCA HOTEL in IDLEWILD, MICHIGAN “Black Eden”

Meet 1st Neighbor

1st Neighbor is a 501c3 nonprofit organization established by African American women educators Dr. Ida Short and Ms Betti Wiggins.  

Dr. Ida Short is a dedicated educator and community activist who has worked to improve educational opportunities for K -12 and college students.  Her primary research involves expanding education and workforce opportunities for African American males who have had experiences with the criminal justice system as a profiled citizen, juvenile, or incarcerated. Her past role as Vice President of the Detroit Public Schools Board of Education focused on school improvement and experiential learning through school gardening. As a Detroit Public Library board member, she championed the public’s access to literacy opportunities provided by the library.  Ida Short continues to seek job training support for youth and the wider community. As a literacy advocate, she teaches composition to community college students.

Ms. Betti Wiggins is an award-winning School Nutrition Administrator with over thirty years of experience.  She has worked in numerous school districts across the country.  Currently,  she is the Officer of Nutrition Service in Houston (Tx) Independent School District. She has built her reputation around serving healthy school meals for students, school and community gardens, and agriculture literacy.  Her work comes naturally, given she

We’re updating the 1st Neighbor website

All of the Latest 3D Technologies. All of the Experts. All in One Place.

RAPID + TCT’s unparalleled exhibit floor, networking events and conference makes it the can’t-miss event of the year! Connections with the entire additive manufacturing industry and the discovering of solutions and applications will take attendees’ projects to the next level from April 8-10, 2025, in Detroit, MI.

Afrotech Detroit is a conversation

more information will be available on the AfroTech Detroit website

This is a loaded blog post

North End community member Juju was arrested and is spending the weekend in Monore County lockdown.

From what I was made to understand by Baba Blair is Julian was on his way to a protest in our state capitol and was locked up for being a longhaired hippy punk.

The retrograde-idiocracy is getting loud.

Detroit has been Wakanda since the 1960s, but we are at the street-level introduction to the politics of using advanced technologies to improve community resilience.

I mean this ain’t Firesticks and Bitcoin for sex, drugs, weapons, and free movies, this is something else.

At the same time, neighbors are making leaps and strides to include tech, nerds, and especially Blerds (Black Nerds) in community conversations regarding now that the cat poop has hit the fan and sprayed everything with the stench of out collective stupid, where do we go from here?

Let’s face facts the last 150 years of technological development (radio, telephone, automobile, Television, refrigerators, microwave ovens, and personal computers ) has done little if anything to improve human relationships inside small urban geographies in America.

Yes, you can keep up with your friends, real and imaginary, all over the world, but you ain’t really developing deep attachments to the people on your block in any meaningful way. Not many people want to admit or really think about it, but a big part of the reason these technologies don’t serve us in a wholesome manner is how affluent people feel about and treat the people who produce and use advanced technologies as a service. Some of us are spoiled enough to know our local Butchers, Bakers, and Candlestick Makers, but many people still base a huge portion of their human value in the ability to go into debt so that they can travel great distances in order to spend future money on cheap trappings and emblems of conspicuous consumption.

CAD/CAM – CNC (computer numerical control) 3D printing and Additive Manufacturing systems have been available for decades.

The development of these technologies has made 3d printers and CNC easy to use and affordable enough for casual artists and everyday hustlers to get into the game.

And a point of conversation in social activism.

Because we are practicing the art of Jugaad as our focus in the Motown Masala exhibit at Red Door Digital, we hosted Detroit Musix Beat Therapy with Northender Mike ‘Agent X’ Clark, Kenny Flav, and Marcus Harris, who gave hands-on speed demonstrations of beat making and DJ mixing to executives from OP Mobility, a global automotive design and manufacturing company.