YOU ARE HERE: EMERGING LEADERSHIP > PROFILE > ARCHIVE

Two of the greatest influences on Tonya Allen's life have been her grandmother and mother. She vividly recalls being a young girl and sitting on the porch of her grandmother's house in Detroit, Michigan while neighbors dropped by to talk. The conversation generally involved what was happening in the neighborhood, and there were often complaints about debris filled vacant lots, abandoned houses, or the number of unsupervised children. No one ever offered solutions, however. Allen's grandmother, an evangelist and community activist, used these experiences to teach her granddaughter a very powerful lesson in leadership. "Tonya," she said, "if you see something in your community that needs to change, don't just complain about it and wait for someone else to do something about it. You figure out a way to change it." Allen's grandmother taught her at a very early age to be bold and determined about her goals in life. She also taught her that change was possible. Allen saw the same values modeled in the actions of her mother, a tenant organizer in Detroit. These two women also taught Allen that an important part of leadership is "followership." Their work in the community demonstrated that lasting change occurs through a collective effort, and Allen came to appreciate that a variety of skills, experiences, and perspectives are needed to effect change.

With this upbringing it was perhaps inevitable that Allen would herself become an activist. She participated in various causes during high school and was active in the Black Student Union while at the University of Michigan. However, Allen never really considered making community or social activism her profession. She entered the university hoping to eventually become a doctor, and her activism was extracurricular. After obtaining degrees in Sociology and African American Studies, she entered graduate school as a prelude to medical school. After earning Masters Degrees in Social Work and Public Health, however, she reexamined her goals in life. She decided what she really wanted was the ability to pursue full-time her passion for community activism as a profession.

At the age of twenty-four Allen took a job as a division director of the Warren/Conner Development Coalition's (WCDC) Rebuilding Community Initiative, and soon found herself leading organizing efforts in the same area where she had grown up. She was in charge of two community-building efforts: The Neighborhood Toolbox, a neighborhood strengthening and organizing effort, and Reclaiming Our Schools, a parent organizing effort designed to improve public education. WCDC, named for two major streets that intersect the eastside of Detroit, began as an informal group of concerned citizens, community leaders, and business people who came together to revitalize their neighborhood. Since incorporating in 1984, the organization has been impacting East Detroit by encouraging economic development, assisting community education and organization, and promoting youth and family development.

At WCDC, Allen was young, but like her grandmother, she was bold and determined to accomplish much. The east side of Detroit was an economically challenged neighborhood with high unemployment and with numerous trash strewn vacant lots and abandoned buildings. The first thing Allen wanted to do was to improve the quality of life for the local residents. Furthermore, citizens on the east side of Detroit felt underrepresented in the city's at large system of governance. Allen wanted to empower local residents so that they could act in their own best interests by building local wealth and changing policy and practice. Allen viewed her job as an opportunity to be "a catalyst for other people." She believed that the disenfranchised did not need someone to speak for them. They needed to be empowered so they could be very clear and intentional about the change they want for their own community.

Allen was successful in garnering more than $80,000 in grant money for 45 neighborhood groups that she helped mobilize. She helped to increase child immunization rates from 64 to 89 percent, and she mobilized parents to obtain $3 million in repairs at five east side schools.

Last year Allen received the Do Something BRICK Award in recognition of her work at WCDC. She was one of nine recipients of this award which is given to individuals under the age of thirty who exercise leadership to make a positive change in their communities. Winners receive a $10,000 grant, and a grand prize winner receives $100,000 to use towards community building efforts. Allen is proud of the work she did at WCDC but believed that she needed a new challenge. She recently left WCDC to take a job with the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation in Flint, Michigan. Allen states that "change is either created through organized people or organized money." She believes that she has a good understanding about neighborhood dynamics and how to organize people, but she also wants to explore how "organized money" can make a difference. Through her grantmaking area at the Foundation, Allen continues to exhibit her passion for community building. She is in charge of an area that includes community-driven school reform and policies in afterschool programming that reflect local values. To others who are interested in creating positive change in their community, Allen says: "It's true that one person can't change the world. But one person can help other people change the world." Allen has a daughter herself now, and the strong sense of purpose and powerful lessons in leadership that she learned from her grandmother and mother will undoubtedly be passed on to another generation.