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If you know anyone in Detroit’s social justice and organizing scenes, you likely know Alia Harvey-Quinn.
For 20 years, she has been one of the city’s most powerful voices for equity, anti-racism, and community-centered change.
A Detroit native, Alia began her career in youth development and anti-violence organizing in the late 1990s, working nationally in movements for systemic justice without ever forgetting Detroit’s still-hemorrhaging wounds: disinvestment, over-policing, poverty, and generational trauma.
Alia founded Force Detroit in 2015, with one foot on the street and the other in the strategy room.
Her idea was simple:
Even if people are selling drugs, carrying guns, or leading crews, those same people can save lives if steered in the right direction through the language of the heart, the right training, the right resources, and ample support.
From its inception, Alia has led Force Detroit into becoming a national example of how cities can end violence from within.
She also fought to divert public dollars from enforcement to empowerment, winning millions in ARPA funding for local CVI organizations such as Force before going on to create “My Brother’s Keeper” strategy plans for the City of Detroit and developing the framework for Detroit’s first credible messenger fellowship programs.
She believes in healing-centered leadership for Black men and women fighting to restore their dignity in the face of systemic harm, and she has forever changed how the city approaches gun violence, refusing to retreat even when she left her executive role in late 2024, letting DuJuan Kennedy take the reins while still being a strategist and mentor.
True to her mission, Alia is still on the frontlines helping Detroit rebuild its future through the same people it tried to throw away.
In every space she touches – from city hall to healing circles – Alia Harvey-Quinn is sending one message: that power exists only through the people.
