The Stoudamire @ Eastside Community Network

Written by Nayomi Cawthorne

Every Thursday night around 6pm, The Stoudamire’s main room, the Atrium, is filled with the sounds of laughter, music, and the familiar melody of “five, six, seven, eight!” 

Our weekly Hustle Class, led by Cynthia Johnson of Hustle 4 Life, has cultivated a community of Detroiters ready to dance together. It is but one of the classes held at our center located at Eastside Community Network. In 2021, ECN expanded its work and impact by converting their building at 4401 Conner into The Stoudamire–a community recreation and wellness center for residents on Detroit’s Eastside. 

The center, founded in 2021, is named in honor of Marlowe Stoudamire, a community leader born and raised on Detroit’s Eastside. His heart, his passion for community wellbeing, and his commitment to and love for Detroit are central to our work. ECN commemorates his life and his untimely death as an early loss from COVID-19. His passing underscores the urgency of ensuring that our community is equally equipped for emergencies related to climate, health, and overall well-being. His family and his memory continue to inspire and guide the vision of The Stoudamire.

Through the model of a recreation center, The Stoudamire seeks to meet the needs of our community. We provide classes in the arts–Introduction to Crochet, Family Art, Introduction to Pottery–to foster an environment of creativity. We offer fitness and dance classes to build community through movement that is fun and relevant. We work in partnership with Connect 313 to host an open computer lab in our Neighborhood Tech Hub that assists community members as they explore the digital world.

Our approach to wellbeing centers nine dimensions of wellness–social, financial, physical, spiritual, creative, intellectual, occupational, emotional, and environmental. As a climate resilience hub, we seek to enhance and promote resilience to climate health inequities caused by air pollution, heat and cold emergencies, and power outages through the implementation of solar energy and green stormwater infrastructure. Our classes are multidimensional in their impact on individual and community wellbeing. We offer special events that bring our members together for fun, joy, and rest. 

The Wellness Network, a program for members who are residents of the Eastside, is a unique element of our work. Through the Wellness Network, members can schedule one-on-one meetings with our wellness coaches. With the support of the coach, our members will move through their wellness journey with access to our referral partners and classes at The Stoudamire. Our caring approach to Coaching invites members to identify their needs and co-create creative approaches to improve their wellbeing.

We welcome all to become a member of The Stoudamire. Membership is available on a sliding scale from $0-$20. Members may also exchange volunteer time in the place of, or in addition to, monetary payment. Benefits of membership include use of our facilities which include a fitness room, tech hub, dance studio, art studio and more. Members also receive discounted tickets to ECN events, priority registration for classes, and discounts with affiliated businesses. The podcasting studios at The Stoudamire, managed by Audio Wave Network, are available to members at discounted rates. Members who are residents of the Eastside will have access to wellness coaching and transportation services. 

We invite you to join a class, teach a class, host an event, hold a meeting, or come read a book in our Garden Atrium. This is a community space that is designed to meet the needs of those who walk through our doors. Whether you come to The Stoudamire for a class or for our resources and programs available through Eastside Community Network, you are always welcome in our space. Here, we aim to live well, play well, and be well. 

If you have any questions or want to get involved in any way, please contact Nayomi Cawthorne, Director of The Stoudamire, at ncawthorne@ecn-detroit.org. You can become a member in person at 4401 Conner St. between 9am-5pm Monday-Friday or online anytime at ecn-detroit.org/the-stoudamire