Meet the Team: Adriana Walker

Adriana Walker joined MCR in March 2023, as a program manager on the Resource Navigation team. She joins a team that works directly with clients through funded partnerships such as the Kresge Foundation's KIP:D+ grant program, Detroit Regional Chamber's NeighborHUB grant program, and other cohort experiences MCR facilitates. Learn a bit more about her below.

WHAT'S YOUR BACKGROUND?

ADRIANA: I was born in Detroit, I grew up in the metro area. My degree is in Community Psychology, and I double majored in Sociology from DePaul University in Chicago.

When I worked in the nonprofit world in Chicago, I worked in jails and prisons. I helped to facilitate higher education programs on the inside with both incarcerated individuals and traditional college students. I also worked with returning citizens, helping them access education, housing, and mental health services. Justice involved work is still a body of work that’s really important to me.

After Chicago, I went to Fort Wayne, Indiana, and was doing community education services around domestic violence, cyberbullying, and healthy teen relationships with the YWCA. We were asking questions like “how do we talk to younger kids about domestic violence?” If you can talk about cyberbullying, and how that works, it can decrease violence in teens and adults later on in life.

From there I returned to the Detroit area, working at Wayne Metro before I worked with the Village of Beverly Hills.

WHAT DREW YOU TO MCR'S MISSION?

ADRIANA: I really appreciate the fact that racial and social equity are so central to MCR’s work. Building equity in the community and providing resources, but more than that, helping people to understand what resources are already available, I’m very interested in helping with that.

MCR also seemed like they were trying to build better resources, so a big part of what drew me to them is that they are actually trying to make better systems and more equity for Detroiters.

IF MONEY WASN'T A FACTOR, WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING?

ADRIANA: Can I say I’d still be doing community work? Because I would still be doing community work, even if I was a billionaire.

If money wasn't an issue, or in a world where money wasn’t a concern at all, I would love to run a community center. We need more in Detroit, and one that focuses on all citizens. Including returning citizens, and those on the inside, I would like to have a focus on that, but also youth programs, and things I grew up with that we don't have in the community right now.

If you want to connect with Adriana, you can reach out to her at awalker@mi-community.org.