“The only belief worth struggling for is the belief, not in gods or messiahs, but in humankind, because human beings have only themselves to rely on in their unending struggle to become more profoundly human.”

- James and Grace Lee Boggs, Revolution and Evolution in the Twentieth Century

Council Members

  • Valerie Jean Blakely (she/her) is a movement photojournalist from Detroit, the Assistant Editor for Riverwise Magazine, the Communications Director for the People’s Water Board Coalition, and produces and co-hosts the weekly Water Wednesday Webcast.

  • bio forthcoming

  • Mike Doan is a Canadian-born parent, activist, and philosopher. He joined the Boggs Center Board in 2016 while working with Detroit Independent Freedom Schools and Detroiters Resisting Emergency Management. He is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Oakland University.

  • Megan is the Managing Editor of Riverwise Magazine, a social justice and organizing magazine and political education hub in Detroit. She holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Michigan, an M.A. in Anthropology from the University of Central Florida, and is ABD in her Ph.D. in Anthropology at Wayne State University, where she also teaches Anthropology. She has over 25 years of teaching experience at all levels. Her research focuses upon studying decolonized methodologies, sustainable movements and the link between grassroots activism and spirituality. She is a mother, a notorious "pollinator" and always ready for a laugh. Her favorite sayings are “if you aren’t angry you aren’t paying attention” and the quote from Ella Baker “strong people don’t need strong leaders.”

  • Shea Howell has been a Detroit activist for more than 4 decades.  She works with youth, artists, and community-based development. She is engaged with issues of social justice and peacemaking. She is a co-founder of Detroit Summer, the Boggs Center and Riverwise Magazine. She also is a member of Coalition for Police Transparency and Accountability and the National Council of Elders. She is professor emerita of Communication at Oakland University and is currently a riverboat captain.

  • bio forthcoming

  • Han (they/them) is based in Pontiac, MI and the editor + organizer of Suburban Connections for Collective Liberation, a newsletter bringing together community-orientated neighbors in the Metro Detroit suburbs through story-telling, updates and reflections. The newsletter aims to be a catalyst for connection, thought, and work rooted in truth-telling, the dignity of all beings, resistance, sustainability, creativity, and care for ourselves, others, and the land. Han is a queer + trans child of God currently on a joyful struggle of (re)claiming their own spiritual practices outside of the christian nationalist setting in which they were first introduced. They are a creative, care worker, writer, neighbor, and excited new member of the Boggs Council. They love dancing, being in gardens + nature, and gathering with others.

  • Dr. Jahzara D. E. Mayes Ed.D. has been involved with various local community groups such as Birwood House, Hush House Black Community Museum and Institute for Leadership and Human Rights, Michigan Coalition for Human Rights, Sierra Leone Association of Michigan, Great Lakes Bioneers Detroit, an inaugural member of the Black Community Food Security Network (2006) to name a few. She is also the founder of Eban Legacy Community Development Exchange and was Co-Founder of Akoma Educational Charity Foundation, in Elmina, Ghana, West Africa, 2019-2022.

    Jahzara has a doctorate from Central Michigan University. Her research focused on Higher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa. A 2011 pilgrimage to Ghana, served as her personal “Sankofa” experience, which means to “retrace one’s steps, return to the roots” (Willis, 1998) . Her dissertation topic was conceived while standing in the personal library of W. E. B. DuBois in Accra. Her current research focus is the arts and cultures of the Afrikan diaspora which is used to create community learning curriculums.

    Jahzara is excited to be a part of the legacy building for the Boggs Center.

    Hobbies: Reading, cooking, and traveling

  • Sam (he/him) is currently a core team member of Freedom Dreams EcoVillage as Project and Program Manager and supports the Birwood House Community Lens youth leadership program. He has recently founded Open Works, LLC, an emerging Design//Build practice that incorporates Community-Scale Production and Place-Based Education to design and build public infrastructures while growing and nurturing human capabilities through the creation and activation of structures and spaces within Community Hubs, Urban Farms, Neighborhood Corridors, Public Schools, and Liberated Territories.

  • Kim Sherobbi is a retired physical education teacher, lifelong learner, and community practitioner. She is the founder and director of Birwood House; a community space where she is a listener, visionary organizer and active community member who is committed to local sustainability. At Birwood House, Kim encourages Detroit residents of all ages and visitors from across the country to take responsibility for their neighborhoods, families, and futures based on inclusion, voice, vision, love, and critical connections. Kim is also a Board Member of the James and Grace Lee Boggs Center.

  • Larry Sparks was born June 25, 1950, in Ecorse, Michigan.

    Larry was a founding member of Alternatives in the late 1970s. He created study groups focused on James and Grace Lee Boggs's visionary book, “Revolution and Evolution in the Twentieth Century.” I R.E.T.C. evolved out of ideas in Conversations in Maine.

    Larry became a James and Grace Lee Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership member in the nineties. This experience shaped his identity as a revolutionary humanist. He was nurtured by Jimmy, Grace Lee, and Freddy and Lyman Paine to think dialectically for the next American revolution.

    Larry lives in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, with Jimmy Waz, celebrating their 37-year partnership.

  • Myrtle is the Co-founder, garden coordinator, and manager of Feedom Freedom Growers.

    As a life-long Detroiter educated in Detroit Public Schools, Myrtle is a dedicated community organizer. In addition to managing Feedom Freedom urban garden, she also co-founded the FFG Kulture Hub on Manistique; participates as a member of the James and Grace Lee Boggs Center's Political Council; is a former member of the Detroit Food Policy Council; is a 2010 Urban Roots Master Gardening class alum; and studies at Wayne District Community College.

    Myrtle has a history of professional food preparation in Detroit and deeply values fresh ingredients and cost-effective ways to prepare delicious, wholesome meals.  Her emphasis is on seasonal and regional ingredients.  Safety and sanitation are always emphasized in her kitchen. Myrtle has facilitated the FFG's signature program "Cooking Fresh Workshop".

    Myrtle’s current focus is on growing crops and saving seeds and teaching these beneficial practices to youth through the FFG Youth Enrichment Program. Rooted in the practice "grow a garden and you grow a community" and "live simply so others can simply live," Myrtle directs and co-facilitates the Youth Enrichment Program. The program assists youth in developing facilitation skills, and maintaining healthy lifestyles through gardening, art and music, and acting. 

  • Stephen has been a member of the Boggs Center since 2002. He teaches African American history at the University of Michigan and is the faculty director of UM’s Semester in Detroit program (SiD). He teaches a SiD course called “Theory and Practice of Visionary Organizing” that explores the legacy and lineage of James and Grace Lee Boggs, in collaboration with the Boggs Center, Birwood House, Freedom Freedom Growers, and Freedom Dreams Collective. He is the author of In Love and Struggle: The Revolutionary Lives of James and Grace Lee Boggs (2016) and editor of Pages From a Black Radical’s Notebook: A James Boggs Reader (2011).

  • Triniti is a cultural worker, community writer, and archivist who uses care as a lens to strengthen communal relationships and preserve Black cultural traditions.

Staff

  • Valerie Jean Blakely (she/her) is a movement photojournalist from Detroit, the Assistant Editor for Riverwise Magazine, the Communications Director for the People’s Water Board Coalition, and produces and co-hosts the weekly Water Wednesday Webcast.

  • Vicki is a Detroit organizer and advocate for community safety, wellness, food sovereignty, engagement, responsibility and learning. She is the co-founder of the Grand River Community Block Club and member of the Coalition for Police Transparency and Accountability. Vicki also builds community with organizations such as Birwood House, Riverwise Magazine, Black Community Food Security Network, Food Justice Fridays, Keep Growing Detroit, and more.

    Vicki is a proud mother of 2 adult children, 3 cats and 3 dogs; loves to garden, camp, read, cook, and participate in community meals and conversations. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration, is a certified Wilderness EMT and studies Natural Medicine.

    Vicki is the Facilities and Operations Coordinator for the Boggs Center.

  • Megan is the Managing Editor of Riverwise Magazine, a social justice and organizing magazine and political education hub in Detroit. She holds a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Michigan, an M.A. in Anthropology from the University of Central Florida, and is ABD in her Ph.D. in Anthropology at Wayne State University, where she also teaches Anthropology. She has over 25 years of teaching experience at all levels. Her research focuses upon studying decolonized methodologies, sustainable movements and the link between grassroots activism and spirituality. She is a mother, a notorious "pollinator" and always ready for a laugh. Her favorite sayings are “if you aren’t angry you aren’t paying attention” and the quote from Ella Baker “strong people don’t need strong leaders.”

Board Members

  • Mike Doan is a Canadian-born parent, activist, and philosopher. He joined the Boggs Center Board in 2016 while working with Detroit Independent Freedom Schools and Detroiters Resisting Emergency Management. He is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Oakland University.

  • Shea Howell has been a Detroit activist for more than 4 decades.  She works with youth, artists, and community-based development. She is engaged with issues of social justice and peacemaking. She is a co-founder of Detroit Summer, the Boggs Center and Riverwise Magazine. She also is a member of Coalition for Police Transparency and Accountability and the National Council of Elders. She is professor emerita of Communication at Oakland University and is currently a riverboat captain.

  • Kim Sherobbi is a retired physical education teacher, lifelong learner, and community practitioner. She is the founder and director of Birwood House; a community space where she is a listener, visionary organizer and active community member who is committed to local sustainability. At Birwood House, Kim encourages Detroit residents of all ages and visitors from across the country to take responsibility for their neighborhoods, families, and futures based on inclusion, voice, vision, love, and critical connections. Kim is also a Board Member of the James and Grace Lee Boggs Center.

  • Stephen has been a member of the Boggs Center since 2002. He teaches African American history at the University of Michigan and is the faculty director of UM’s Semester in Detroit program (SiD). He teaches a SiD course called “Theory and Practice of Visionary Organizing” that explores the legacy and lineage of James and Grace Lee Boggs, in collaboration with the Boggs Center, Birwood House, Freedom Freedom Growers, and Freedom Dreams Collective. He is the author of In Love and Struggle: The Revolutionary Lives of James and Grace Lee Boggs (2016) and editor of Pages From a Black Radical’s Notebook: A James Boggs Reader (2011).