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Long before community violence intervention acronyms, American Rescue Plan dollars, or national headlines, there was the Detroit 300 – concerned citizens, clergy, and retired professionals who said: enough is enough.
Launched in 2011 by founder/owner/community activist, the late Eric Ford, Detroit 300 was not born out of a think tank.
It was born on the pavement:
That would be 12-year-old Samantha Lee, killed in a carjacking in broad daylight.
The city’s slow response to her death started a movement: One that stood for community justice, neighborhood accountability, and for the idea that Detroiters need not wait for the system to save them.
Black jackets and black boots on the ground, along with a code of honor, Detroit 300 stormed the scene to help the police by being the “eyes and ears” in neighborhoods largely void of conversation.
The organization had hundreds of trained citizen volunteers in the city at one point, with men showing up where crime occurred, protecting seniors from theft, and taking women to and from work as well as walking children to school.
They had no weapons, but they were present, and in neighborhoods where trust in law enforcement was deeply fractured, that presence mattered.
As national conversation about community violence shifted from policing to prevention, the Detroit 300 became the Detroit 300 Community Action Team (CAT).
They now work with organizations like Beat the Odds, the People’s Action, and Wayne Metro to stop gun violence before it happens, mixing traditional patrol work with modern intervention tactics: Mentoring at-risk youth, showing up after shootings to quell tensions, and resolving neighborhood fights before they become deadly.
After all, one of the qualities making Detroit so special is its multigenerational leadership.
It’s a city where you’ll find veterans, former city workers, retired professionals, and new recruits of all ages patrolling city blocks, exchanging wisdom, and acting as a bridge between what was, what is, and what can be.
On top of that, the Detroit 300 hosts community safety, self-defense, emergency response, and civic engagement workshops, resurrecting their Saturday Patrol Program in recent years in areas where car theft and street violence have had a huge negative impact on daily life.
They aren’t the flashiest group in the city’s community violence intervention portfolio, but they may just be one of the most reliable.
Though the Detroit 300 won’t chase the media, they will chase down a suspect who hurts a neighbor.
And while no one gives out fancy business cards, they instead give out groceries, diapers, and rides to court, always showing up – whether it is 2 PM on a school block or 2 AM after gunfire.
Through it all, Detroit 300 has remained true to their founding mission: Protect people, empower the block, and honor the fallen by making sure there are fewer of them in the future.