being a good neighbor

“Without community, there is no liberation.”

Audre Lorde

In this episode of Radicals for Good, we're talking about all the many ways we can become better neighbors, especially in times of crises with Lejuan Council, an east side neighbor, mother, lead of Feed Your Neighborhood Corp., and a candidate for Michigan State Senate.

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We prefer you didn’t but if you must, listen on:

• Substack

• YouTube

• Apple Podcasts

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Who’s in this episode?

lejuan council

Founder & CEO of Feed Your Neighborhood Corp

Lejuan is a neighbor, mother, and master problem solver. She was raised on the east side of Detroit and has spent much of her life building more resilient neighborhoods and helping residents stay in their legacy homes.

She leads Feed Your Neighborhood Corp, a nonprofit that feeds over 3,000 community members every month and converts vacant homes into transitional housing. She is also running for Michigan State Senate - District 3 in this upcoming election.

Shayla Zimmerman

Founder, Host, & Producer of Radicals for Good

Shayla is a Detroit-based community organizer, storyteller, and activist whose work centers community power, collective care, and everyday acts of resistance. She currently leads for good co., a consulting firm for values-aligned organizations. She started community organizing at 15 years old, since then she’s led local and national climate resilience and water justice initiatives and built grassroots emergency response efforts on Detroit’s East Side. Previously, she was producer and co-host of Michigan-focused conversations on United Way’s Virtual Town Halls.

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Get out of your comfort zone & take action

• Volunteer with Feed Your Neighborhood Corp

• Register to Vote, finding polling location, request absentee ballot, etc.

Further Learning

• Detroit Area Disaster Recovery Group

• Basement Backup and Flooding Handbook

• State of Michigan All About Mold

• Flood risk maps

• Long term trauma and public health impacts of flooding

Sources

1. Land Acknowledgement: https://geezmagazine.org/magazine/article/waawiyatanong-land-acknowledgement

2. Southwest Detroit Flooding 2025: https://www.wxyz.com/news/its-one-detroit-donations-pour-into-sw-detroit-as-community-recovers-from-devastating-flood

3. Detroit flooding leads to mold: https://www.bridgedetroit.com/devastating-floods-leave-detroiters-with-toxic-mold/

4. Flood risk map 2021: https://detroitography.com/2023/04/14/map-current-flooding-risk-in-detroit-2023/

5. School sound levels and nervous system stress: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/15/8/4128

6. Student mental health days: https://adolescentmentalhealth.com/blog/mental-health-days-for-students/

7. Detroit flooding 2014: https://www.clickondetroit.com/weather/2018/02/20/great-flood-of-2014-how-historic-was-it/

8. Tornadoes 2014: https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/reports-of-funnel-cloud-spotted-in-northern-macomb-county/

9. Detroit flooding 2016: https://www.michiganpublic.org/weather/2016-09-29/detroit-keeps-flooding-whats-being-done-about-it

10. Michigan flooding 2021: https://today.wayne.edu/news/2021/07/12/detroit-household-flood-report-gives-overview-solutions-to-decades-long-issue-42849

11. Michigan flooding 2021: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/26/us/flooding-detroit-rain.html

12. Detroit flooding 2021: https://bridgemi.com/urban-affairs/understanding-why-detroit-floods-and-why-it-keeps-happening/

13. Detroit trash collection issues: https://michiganchronicle.com/detroits-waste-management-plan-addresses-residents-trash-collection-challenges/

14. Detroit food sovereignty: https://www.detroitagriculture.net/

15. Detroit food sovereignty: https://www.bridgedetroit.com/food-sovereignty-detroit-um-detroit-center/