Highland Park's 'Mama Shu' is in the running for the 2023 CNN Hero of the Year award
A Highland Park community leader on a mission to turn "blight to beauty" in her city was named one of CNN's top 10 heroes and is in the running for the network's 2023 Hero of the Year award and $100,000 to support her work.
Shamayim "Mama Shu" Harris is the founder and CEO of Avalon Village, a nonprofit rejuvenating a block in Highland Park by creating spaces and offering support for the community. She is among a group of honorees providing scholarships and mentorship for young adults with incarcerated parents, restoring coral reefs in the Florida Keys and connecting migrant and refugee children in shelters with educational resources.
Through Avalon Village, Harris is on a mission to transform vacant and abandoned lots and structures into a sustainable community on Avalon Street, between Woodward and Second avenues. Avalon Village also includes a Homework House for students, a marketplace for women entrepreneurs, a basketball court and a community garden. Avalon Village came about after the death of her 2-year old son, Jakobi RA Harris, in a hit and run in 2007.
"I needed to just basically change grief into glory, pain into power. I just tried to transform it and make it into something bearable and something beautiful," Harris told CNN.
Highland Park is a municipality located within Detroit's city limits with a population of more than 8,600. The city has gone through tumultuous times, as properties emptied and street lights dimmed. Avalon Village grew from about four lots, Harris said, to 45. It's a space for children to get tutoring in a house that feels like home and where women can run their businesses and network. Harris plans to grow the village with a cafe, greenhouse, restaurant, laundromat and market-rate housing.
AVALON VILLAGE: Highland Park's 'Mama Shu' opens Homework House after 6 years of development
"I would love to see all four blocks of Avalon look beautiful," she said in the CNN video. "I would love for it to be infectious. I would love for it to spread throughout the whole city. I remember every inch of how this whole block used to look. Folks hated to come over here, now they're like, 'Woah, what's going on over there?'"
For her work, Harris is one of this year's Top 10 CNN Heroes and will receive a $10,000 prize, according to the network. People can vote to decide who will become the 2023 CNN Hero of the Year and get another $100,000 for their efforts.
Go to CNNHeroes.com to learn more about the honorees, cast a vote or make donations, via GoFundMe.
CNN's Anderson Cooper will announce this year's CNN Hero of the Year on Sunday, Dec. 10, starting at 8 p.m.
Contact Nushrat Rahman: nrahman@freepress.com; 313-348-7558. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter: @NushratR.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Highland Park's 'Mama Shu' is one of CNN's 2023 top 10 heroes
