Building community, one coffee cup at a time

WARREN — Warren resident Michael Howard has been actively involved in the community for nearly a decade, hosting block parties, founding Warren’s first Juneteenth celebration, running for City Council — and now organizing monthly community coffee nights.

“When I ran for City Council District 2, I knocked on thousands of doors and then continued to help candidates after I lost my primary to help them get elected,” Howard said. “I would say the No. 1 thing that residents identified was a lack of sense of community, a lack of togetherness.”

The former barista is fusing this disconnect with coffee as an icebreaker, to help unite the community.

“Coffee a lot of times is the first date or a quick business meeting because you don’t know if you want to go to dinner with this person, but you can at least get a cup of coffee with them,” Howard said. “It’s such a low barrier of entry, it drops everyone’s walls.”

The coffee nights have attracted a diverse group of people, according to Howard. There have been people of all ages, races and cultures in attendance, as well as longtime Warren residents, newcomers and nonresidents, elected officials, people who knew Howard, and those who did not, all gathering and talking about the community.

The monthly events have grown since his first coffee night in November.

“The first one, I was anticipating five people,” Howard said, “I was going to be really excited if seven people showed up. We had 21 people that showed up that night.”

Being a change agent in the community is Howard’s goal.

“My life’s mission is to cultivate community and catalyze change,” said Howard. “My decision is that anything that falls into those two pockets, I’m going to say yes.”

The 30-year-old husband and father of three small children ages 6, 4, and 2 said yes to coming back to Warren soon after he graduated from college in 2015 to work as a domestic missionary with Send Relief, a Southern Baptist church group that refurbished and rebuilt houses that had been damaged by the 2014 flood.

“If my neighbor has a need, instead of saying, go call so and so, maybe I can be the person to meet that need,” Howard said.

He said he wanted to make an impact in the community, “So be the change you want the world to be.”

Howard calls Warren City Council President Angela Rogensues a great friend and mentor.

“He is fantastic. He is an incredibly hard worker and cares deeply about his community and his neighbors,” said Rogensues. “(He) is ambitious in wanting to solve problems and learn about how to best do that.”

One neighbor he met rebuilding flood-damaged houses complained kids were getting in trouble because they have nothing to do in the summer. Howard partnered with the Fitzgerald Public Schools district and held monthly block parties at Schofield Early Childhood Center for six months. The former college basketball player and native Detroiter then started basketball clinics for kids in Warren and Detroit.

“Those little things have a huge impact,” Howard said.

He said he had three top priorities for the changes he wanted to see: to clean up Austin-Dannis Park near Stephens and Mound roads, establish a Juneteenth celebration and ensure fair redistricting.

“Our local park was an absolute dump. I mean that literally. It was mounds of rubble,” Howard said.

When Howard first moved into the neighborhood, he saw there were no nets on the basketball hoops, so he bought nets and put them up. When the nets were torn down, he would put more up.

“When they tore up the basketball courts with no notice to the community it really grinds my gears.” Howard said.

The park is now rebuilt and is frequented by many residents, according to Howard.

“It’s great to know I had a little bit of an involvement in advocating for that,” Howard said.

Howard spearheaded Warren’s first Juneteenth celebration in front of City Hall in 2023 and is planning another one this year.

He was very concerned about the redistricting process that the city went through in early 2023.

“The redistricting process in Warren was a great concern,” Howard said. “I saw very blatantly how our current redistricting violates the Voting Rights Act. How they were going through the redistricting process, it was not done transparently. It was not done openly. It was not done honestly.”

Howard crossed the finish line with two of his three top priorities and credits Warren business owner Loren Papasian for helping him to navigate the coffee night events.

“We have similar beliefs as far as helping to make (progress) in the city,” said Papasian.

Howard has more events to come including a job fair, a college fair and a mental health fair. The next coffee night is scheduled for 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. March 15 at The Dovetail located at 29200 Hoover Road in Warren.