Three years ago, Rapid Growth began to suggest that part of our state’s recovery was going to involve finding new ways to look at how our urban centers could better address Michigan’s shortcomings and bad reputation through meaningful dialog and real teamwork.
As the second largest city in the state, I knew we couldn’t do it without Detroit. So, in the course of only a few years, we have implemented bus trips, consulted on symposiums and made friendly excursions to visit new friends and business partners as we developed exciting pathways to a future that included all of us. Even Detroit.
Undeterred by such moves from the halls of Lansing’s government officials that seems to work against us, many on the ground in Grand Rapids, as well as in Detroit, are pressing on despite the Capital City’s name calling language de jour of Non-Entitlement Cities to our recent “F” grade from the joint study from the
Center for Public Integrity, Global Integrity, and Public Radio International that seeks in the most simplest of fashion to once again find new ways to keep us apart.
“Non-Entitlement” might seem fresh and new to some in Lansing, but it is once again simply divisive, dressed-up racist and out-of-touch verbage with most people’s reality as the world and technology has shrunk our borders, bringing us closer, not further apart.
On Rapid Growth’s first bus trip to Detroit, we made a stop at the
Avalon International Bakery in the oft-overlooked Cass Corridor where the lively midtown residents have created a neighborhood on their terms, including this weekend’s popular
Marche of the Nain Rouge, where residents chase the devil from the city from the streets with much fanfare and pageantry.
But long before they began to drive that pesky red devil out of the Cass Corridor, Jackie Victor, with her business partner, Ann Perrault, drafted a business plan while cutting their baking skills at Leland, MI’s Stonehouse Breads before they settled down in a neighborhood others had up and left in droves. It was 1997.
Victor, a graduate of the University of Michigan and a marketing whiz, had noticed in this neighborhood that while it was truly a neighborhood with signs of neglect, it was also a place people still frequented at different points of the day, from the universities to the arts centers -- all within walking distance.
A bakery was something that the neighborhood needed because looking around, she also determined it was a bit of a food desert for the residents. Choosing to adopt a model that Victor and her partner felt they could not exist without, they adopted a triple bottom line philosophy, paying careful attention and respect to earth, community and employees.
For earth, they insisted right from the start to use only organic flour (and other organic ingredients as they were available), and also to create a product that people liked because it, well, quite frankly tasted good, too. Their area was not supported with a quality product, so part of their mission beyond making their baked goods available was seeking to contribute to their community in ways that would enrich all of their lives.
The last core value was a commitment that many employers struggle to meet: the ability to pay a fair living wage to their employees. This was a struggle, but one that has paid off over time for the bakery who honors their employees with benefits, advancement and an open-book management style where the employees have access to their company’s financials.
“Jackie Victor has been a champion of sustainability since long before it became popular,” says Local First’s Elissa Hillary. “These underlying ideals are the ideals Local First is promoting here in West Michigan, and at our upcoming
annual Sustainable Business Conference, where Victor will be the keynote speaker.”
Victor was invited because Local First believes that if business owners in West Michigan have the opportunity to hear these kinds of stories, then they will have a chance to learn from the trials and triumphs Avalon International Bakery has experienced over their history. It is a truly fascinating story that has been well documented in places like
CNN’s Money, which showcased the growing pains of the bakery in a very frank view at the realities of owning a business with your romantic partner. Victor’s frankness and honest nature is refreshing.
What we have learned at Rapid Growth from our time spent in Detroit, as well as our time in Grand Rapids, is that every city should have more businesses like Victor & Perrault’s that become more sustainable and in doing so, create an overall better place to live for the people in our community.
The results are there for Avalon, which not only sees over 1,000 customers every day pass through their tiny space in Detroit, but they also have turned an initial $6,000 investment between friends into a real community treasure. Their bread is exported to restaurants and stores via bread wagons and now bikes with the newly launched Hot Spokes delivery service.
Their product’s message is quickly and easily transported all over now, just like their inspiring story. “Local First and Avalon share the belief that independent businesses play a major role in creating thriving local communities,” says Hillary. “They don’t just create profit –- they do so in a way that is respectful of people and their neighborhoods."
And since people like Jackie Victor are a jewel for any city for the great feats they perform in the pursuit of the principals of the triple bottom line, maybe it is time for our two sizable cities to flex our muscle in a creative way.
Lansing seems to be well versed these days in the language of the religious, so why not meet them on their turf with a lexicon they understand as we continue to buck their vision of divisions as we celebrate our cities unique traits and ability to work in collaboration. After all, if Detroit’s Midtown can organize to drive the devil and all his foul deeds out of town, then maybe if we wanted, between GR and Detroit, we could drive the devil from Lansing -- even if only for 364 days until we had to do it again.
At the end of the day, Avalon’s colorful T-shirts that the staff wears say it best: Eat Well, Do Good. Respect. It is really that simple.
The Future Needs All of Us.
Tommy Allen, Lifestyle Editor
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