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“Dancing With the Stars” this is the way to best describe Harriet Harris. Chicago Style Stepping, Detroit Ballroom, Salsa and/or Tango are on her weekly agenda. If she isn’t dancing in her free time she is reading a good Mystery Novel by Tom Clancy, or author Stephen Carter. On the job, Harriet has been eager to share her healthy habits with residents of the cooperative. In the mornings after the sun has peeked on the horizon, Harriet is out walking with the residents. Harriet starts her days breathing in the fresh air connecting to the world around her. Harriet’s response to the world around her rests in the famous words of Gandi and used by leaders, such as, Martin Luther King Jr., “We must be the change we want to create.” Harriet feels her work as a service coordinator at the Madison Heights Co-op with its diverse population is one step in helping to create the change she wants to see in the world.

Harriet received a Bachelor of Arts in English, Education and Communications from the University of Detroit and later received a Juris Doctorate from Wayne State Law School. Even as a young girl, Harriet’s dream of becoming a lawyer was driven by her interest in serving others. Harriet is a certified mediator and has recently worked in local district courts facilitating civil mediations. She also worked through a non-profit mediation center in a truancy prevention program in the public schools. Harriet, a life-long Detroiter, is the proud mother of a son and daughter.

Thank you for the interview Harriet.

Created by Monika George

Jane is a full time Service Coordinator at the Meyer Co-op located in Detroit. Jane has been with the Meyer Co-op since August 8, 2013.  Jane went to undergrad at Wayne State University attaining Bachelors in Sociology, and received her Masters in Business Administration from Central State University. She has extensive training in Mental Health and experience in community and motivational speaking. She is a licensed social worker and worked as Director of a Headstart program for over 18 years overseeing an 11 million dollar budget and 154 staff.

Jane’s compassion for helping started when she was very young. She particularly liked helping seniors; she cultivated this love for seniors at an early age running errands for elderly neighbors. She not only likes being around seniors and helping them, but also enjoys helping the youth.

When Jane is not working she volunteers as a mentor for girls 9 through14 years. She is the founder and President of a non profit organization, Women Preserving the History of Idlewild/GIrl Power Rules, which she  started in 2000. Girl Power Rules means they have the power to make healthy life choices. Jane encourages the girls to have compassion for those who have less and to appreciate what they have; Jane and her girls volunteer at DAAA delivering food to shut in seniors during the holidays, serve dinner to the homeless at Capuchin kitchen, and give care packages to the homeless in the Cass Corridor and Alternative for Girls shelter

“Pride and dignity is foremost important and how to pick the right role model is at the top of the list for the girls to learn” say Jane. Also dealing with bullying and peer pressure is addressed. Jane enjoys, helping young women develop the skills they need for the future.  Jane days doesn’t always end at 5:00pm and she keeps late nights attending community meetings, she does find a little time to read go estate and resale shopping. Her favorite movies are The Green Mile and To Kill a Mockingbird, and her favorite books are What looks like Crazy on an Ordinary Day written by Pearl Cleage and The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks written by Rebecca Skloof.. Jane work does not end with being a service coordinator, but continues with helping anyone in need.

Favorite quote: Its not the load that breaks you down,
it the way you carry it.

Adrienne is the service coordinator at Dearborn Heights Co-op in Dearborn, Michigan. She has been working at the Co-op since April of 2012, and has loved every moment of it. Adrienne has a Bachelors degree in Health Services Administration from the University of Detroit Mercy. Along with her degree, Adrienne has special training in (MMAP), Medicare/Medicaid Assistance Program she received training from the Detroit Area Agency on Aging 1A.  As a MMAP volunteer, it is her job to answer questions related to Medicare, Medicaid and supplemental insurance plans.  During her career Adrienne has always worked with the aging population. At the beginning of her career, she worked at Blue Care Network, where she worked with their Blue Choice Program. This program was specific to seniors who needed extra coverage with their Medicare. Then transitioning to a sales and marketing position at Sunrise Assisted Living as Director of Community Relations. Prior to joining Hannan, Adrienne worked for Matrix Human Services.

Adrienne started working with the elderly greatly due to her grandmother living with her when she was six years old. As Adrienne got older she started to help her grandmother. Assisting her grandmother and understanding what it means to age really helped Adrienne see the need to become a senior advocate. Adrienne decided to become a Service Coordinator because she wanted a job were she could use her skills gained working with elders, while advocating for them at the same time. Her past jobs limited her ability to advocate for the aging population and to growing her skill base. When she found Hannan she knew it was the perfect fit for her. She feels she can grow and advocate for the elderly in a greater capacity.

When Adrienne is not working at the Co-op, she enjoys golfing, walking, baking, trying new restaurants, and traveling with family. When baking she loves to try new and creative recipes. Adrienne also has a strong faith, which allows her to work and be the best advocate for her Co-op Members.

Adrienne enjoys working at her Co-op, and would like to see everyone at the co-op get the services or help they need. She also wants all of the members to understand the purpose of a Service Coordinator, so when they do need services or help they know where to receive them. Wit
hin herself, Adrienne aspires to attain a Master’s Degree.

Catrina is a service coordinator at the Southgate Co-op, located in Southgate Michigan.  She has worked as a service coordinator since March 2013. Catrina obtained an Applied Science degree from Wayne County Community College, after graduating she went to Mary Grove College and received a bachelor’s degree in Social Work. In the near future, Catrina will pursue a Master’s in Social Work at Wayne State University.  Catrina has also received a certificate as a certified benefits planner from Cornell University, and a certificate for customized employment from Goodwill Industries.

Before working as a service coordinator, Catrina worked for the United Cerebral Palsy Detroit for 12 years as an Advocate/ Training Coordinator. She started as an Advocate working in crisis intervention, information/ referral, assisted disabled individuals with benefits planning, and understanding their benefits. After working as an advocate, she became a Training Coordinator, in this position she developed training materials and trained parents and professionals. Helping individuals at this job encouraged Catrina to become a social worker. At this job she gained skills in resolving conflict, time/ stress management, communication, and effective advocacy.

In Catrina’s free time, she enjoys dancing, playing board games, listening to jazz, reading, swimming, and traveling to warm weather states.  She also enjoys helping the community and advocating for the rights of all people. Catrina has worked in the community as a community representative, advocate, and has set on several committees such as: St. Vincent DePaul, Detroit Parent Network, Wayne Westland Educational Committee and Oakland Interagency Coordinating Council. She is currently working part-time as a home help provider, which she has done for the last 9 years, and she serves as a companion to seniors.

Catrina is a service coordinator because she enjoys working with the aging population, and she was inspired by her past intern supervisors, Cheryl Bukoff and Wylene Jones.  These women encouraged and motivated her while she was an intern.  They provided her with a number of resources, which have helped her as a service coordinator. These women have impacted her career because they taught her lifelong skills. The specific skills Catrina learned while being their intern: the importance of writing effectively, analytical/ critical thinking, and managing multiple priorities. Catrina appreciates them because even though she is no longer an intern they are only a phone call away.

Catrina enjoys working at the Southgate Co-op, and she has accomplished a lot in her months here. She has assisted  members with applying for state benefits, provided case management services, scheduled educational presentations, and  monitored/ assessed  member’s needs. Catrina enjoy working with the members of Southgate Co-op because they are wise, full of inspiration, humorous, and appreciative.

“To thine own self be true, and it must follow as the night day, thou canst not then be false to any man.”  This is Faith Junor- Hughes’ favorite quote from the famous play write Hamlet, written by William Shakespeare. Faith understands that you must first be true to yourself before you can be true to anyone else, which is important to understand and know as a social worker. Faith is one of the full time service coordinators at the Southgate Co-Op located in Southgate Michigan.  She has been working as a Hannan Service Coordinator since March 2013.

Faith is originally from Jamaica, she migrated to the United States permanently in 1993 because she wanted to give her daughter all the opportunities not afforded in Jamaica. Faith is a single parent and has one daughter. Once her daughter finished high school, Faith decided to further her education. She received her Associates degree in Applied Science at Oakland Community College. After graduation Faith received the Presidential Scholarship and full tuition scholarship to Marygrove College based on her academic performance at Oakland Community College.  Faith was lucky enough to accompany her daughter at Marygrove cCollege, while her daughter was attaining her Master’s in Social Justice; Faith was working toward her Bachelors of Arts in Social Work. Faith has finished her BSW, and now attends Wayne State University for a Master’s in Social Work.

Faith is a Limited License Bachelor of Social Worker, and has a certificate in gerontology, Gestalt Therapy, and counseling. She also has counseling experience with domestic violence and anger management. Her main focus is gerontology; she feels it more fulfilling to put a smile on an elder’s face when they were crying once before.

Faith believes you can be age 100 years with a degree or age 100 years without a degree, and she chooses to be age 100 years with a degree. She feels it is never too late to return to school and she always encourages people to go back to school if they are able.

During Faith’s free time she enjoys reading, watching movies, trying new foods from different countries, traveling, and playing games. Her favorite games are scrabble, jeopardy, and dominos. Faith’s favorite book genre is inspirational books, specifically anything written by Iyanla Vanzant. Her favorite movie is Cry Freedom.

Faith has always enjoyed helping people, every since she was a little girl her parents raised her to give back. She has continued this teaching in everything that she does. Faith enjoys her job as a service coordinator because she is able to give back to her residents by linking them with services and helping them maintain their independence as they age.  

Trudy Jones is the service coordinator at the Village of Harmony Manor in Detroit. She is fairly new to PVM, she has been working at Harmony Manor for little over a year, starting in April of 2012. In her short time at Harmony Manor she has started a program with the Veterans Affairs Administration to conduct ceremonies for Veterans and the wives of deceased veterans.

Before starting her career as a service coordinator Trudy worked for the State if Michigan where she worked in several capacities, case management, Family Independent Specialist, and as an investigator with the office of Child Support. Trudy retired in 2002, after working for the state for over 30 years. After working with the state, she became a MI café coordinator with elder law of Michigan, until she retired from there in 2009. MI café was a great experience for her because it enabled her to observe the needs of senior, when she helped them apply for the Bridge card and the Medicare savings program. Trudy has a strong background working with DHS through her work as a MI café worker.  In addition to her work with the state, Trudy is also a licensed real estate agent. She has had her licenses for ten years, and she enjoys selling houses because she is able to help others find a home that they love.

Trudy received her bachelor degree in Sociology with a minor in psychology, from the University of Michigan Dearborn campus.

In her spare time, she loves golfing (she is currently on two leagues), reading, and exercising. She has participated in an intensive boot camp, for the last two years, which is held three times a week. Shw continues to workout and be active; she believes it contributes to living a long and healthy life.   Trudy loves all books, but her two favorite books are The shack and Roots.

The number one thing that Trudy loves to do is Give Back! In everything that she does it always has an element of selflessness.

Name – Diane Crawford

Hired date – April 23, 2012

Name and Location of Building: Labelle Towers Co-op

Diane Crawford is a lifelong eastside Detroiter, who grew up in her beloved Brewster Projects, graduating from Northeastern High School and today lives in the Lafayette Towers area.  She considers trips to the Eastern Market as one of her rituals and Belle Isle as her playground.

Diane is a proud Spartan, having attended Michigan State University as an undergrad, majoring in History and English.  She continued her education and attained her MSW from Wayne State University.  Diane earned her PhD in Human Services from Walden University.

Diane grew up with 2 older sisters. Her father worked at the Ford Motor Company and  her mother worked for the Aladdin Coverall Company in Highland Park, Michigan. She developed a fondness for working with seniors while running errands for her grandmother and other seniors in her youth.  She sees this as a form of community service and has always given back.

After 32 years with the Detroit Public Schools (DPS), Diane retired as a teacher and school social worker. Diane loves to dance and listen to Motown, Contemporary, and Jazz music. She has been to 9 countries in Africa, Paris, and Brazil. When relaxing, she enjoys watching movies. Her favorite movie to watch is the Godfather.

While she has been a mentor to many young people throughout the years, Diane has two great nieces that are the loves of her life, Saniya 9 and Zariya.6.  She tries to spend as much time with them as possible, teaching them the same lessons she learned when she was their age.

Kari Wilson has a heart that beats to the social work drum.

Kari joined the Hannan Family in April of 2012. Currently, Kari has two homes: one at the Royal Oak Manor Cooperative and the other at the Madison Heights Cooperative. Kari’s undergrad was at the University of Missouri, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism. Kari’s path drove her to acquire a MSW degree from Wayne State University and she is currently a LLMSW.

Kari worked as a copy editor for the Free Press for 10 years. During that time, she edited many special projects, including some about child abuse and neglect. Kari felt helpless but at the same time she felt a need to do something. During her MSW program, she had two great internships: one as a service coordinator at Bethany Villa senior apartments in Troy, and one with Citizens for Better Care as a volunteer long-term care ombudsman. Kari worked to resolve problems of individual residents and to improve residents’ care and quality of life. This is when she met Ann Kraemer, also part member of the Hannan family. During this time, she worked at Ambassador nursing center on Jefferson Ave in Detroit and Sorrento Care Center on West Chicago (now closed), and also worked on a research project about adult guardianship.

Kari spends her free time reading mysteries and historical fiction, especially medieval, regency and Victorian. Kari has too many favorite authors to list but she did name a couple: Dorothy Dunnett was a Scottish historical novelist who started her career as a press officer in the civil service, and she was also professional portrait painter. Iain Pears is an  English art historian, novelist  and journalist.  Deanna Raybourn is an  American author of  mystery novels  set in  Victorian era England. If she wasn’t a social worker, Kari would love to be a professor of medieval European history.

Kari loves Monty Python, classical and New Wave music, the Stratford Shakespeare festival and “The Princess Bride.” One of Kari’s favorite quotes is by “Great Gatsby” author F. Scott Fitzgerald, “I am a cynical idealist.”

Kari has passed on her love for reading and the arts to her children, Tristan, 11, and Annabel, 8. She has traveled to London and Ireland with her husband, Jeff, and to Ireland with Tristan as part of a Suzuki Royal Oak music tour. This summer, Kari and Tristan will be traveling to Estonia and Russia, also on a music tour. History, music, art, what a grand adventure for this history- and music-loving mother.

Written By: Monika George