Would you give up a successful career to work for a charity? Can art save a community? Over the course of the last century Detroit moved from being the epicentre of the automotive industry to becoming the embodiment of America’s urban woes. Deindustrialization, disinvestment and White flight have left much of the city a mere shadow of its heyday when Ford’s factory alone employed over 90,000 workers. In this collection we explore the last 50 years of this city with the through the perspective of the Whitfield family and how one of its members; Jenenne was inspired to join the Heidelberg Project. A charity that encourages community development, through the arts and education. This material forms part of the Open University course International development: making sense of a changing world