All Saints Literacy Center enables adult learners to meet the challenges of today by improving their reading, writing, math and English speaking skills. Qualified tutors provide an individualized learning plan tailored to the goals and objectives of the learner in a welcoming environment.
Recognizing the need for adult literacy services in Southwest Detroit, Sister Mary Hemmen, OP established All Saints Literacy Center as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and opened its doors, with Roger Frank, in July of 2015. Since then, ASLC has welcomed over 500 learners and over 200 volunteer tutors.
Sr. Mary remained a champion for adult literacy until her death in 2018. She is remembered as remarkable, a gem, pragmatic, and a faithful servant. We are honored to continue her vision and grateful to be one of seven literacy centers that is a Sponsored Institution of the Adrian Dominican Sisters.
At All Saints Literacy Center, we are committed to literacy as a social issue. This social issue has a long history and powerful impact on many critical movements that align with values of empowerment, community solidarity, and economic security. As a learning community that works for the social well-being of the Southwest Detroit community and beyond, our work is not complete without recognizing and respecting the original stewards of the land that we reside on:
We operate on Waawiiyaatanong (Detroit) and more broadly in Mishigamaw (Michigan), an ancestral home to twelve federally-recognized Native American nations, including: the Anishinaabeg—Three Fires Confederacy (Ojibwe, Odawa, Potawatomi), the Wyandot, and a large global diasporic Indigenous community throughout the state, especially in the Detroit metropolitan area.
What we currently recognize as the City of Detroit was colonized by the Treaty of Detroit in 1807, in which the leaders of the Ottawa, Chippewa, Potawatomi and Wyandot tribes ceded tracts of land in the southeast parts of the Michigan peninsula and a small section of Ohio, north of the Maumee River. We know that although as amenable to Indigenous peoples’ as these treaties may appear, within the historical context and threat of colonization, there is no such equitable or peaceful agreement when Indigenous nations’ livelihoods, and survival are at risk. These nations retained pieces of lands throughout the peninsula, also described in the treaty. However, over the centuries this treaty was broken and unobserved. These historical encroachments have repercussions to this day and have shaped our realities.
Furthermore, the colonial violence of the past informs the violence and violations of our rights today. We do not condone the profiling and fear tactics imposed by federal agencies, and supported by local law enforcement, that target many Southwest community members, a community whom we are deeply connected to and serve. No one should have the power to antagonize people and instill fear within our communities.
We recognize and strive to illuminate the often violent histories of the Roman Catholic Church, which we are connected to via our sponsoring institution of the Adrian Dominican Sisters. In solidarity with the Sisters’ Enactments, we have the duty to move forward, and to stay committed to molding radically different futures—one that has no room for the erasure, oppression of and violence against Indigenous peoples’ and all historically-marginalized peoples.
We recognize, support and advocate for the sovereignty of Indigenous nations throughout Mishigamaw / Michigan and beyond. Our aim with this letter is to begin building a deeper relationship with all Indigenous peoples of Mishigamaw / Michigan, the global Indigenous diaspora and all historically-marginalized communities of Waawiiyaatanong (Detroit).
RESEARCH
Library of Congress
Treaty of Detroit 1807
https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667584/
Legible Treaty: https://treaties.okstate.edu/treaties/treaty-with-the-ottawa-etc-1807-0092#:~:text=Articles%20of%20a%20treaty%20made,a%20treaty%20or%20treaties%2C%20with
Map of Ottawa Village according to
https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15497/?r=-0.217,-0.075,1.465,0.757,0
https://loc.gov/item/today-in-history/january-26/
Michigan entered the Union as the twenty-sixth state on January 26, 1837
Michigan Name
Detroit Name and Michigan Native history
https://geezmagazine.org/magazine/article/waawiyatanong-land-acknowledgement
Flag of Detroit – history – detroit historical society
Elizabeth Nanas is an educator, designer, and organizational strategist specializing in collaborative learning, cross-cultural communication, multi-method evaluation, and social impact storytelling. She holds a Master of Education (M.Ed.) degree and has more than 20 years of professional experience in K-12, post-secondary, nonprofit, automotive, biomedical learning, and economically informal communities. As of 2023, she is the Executive Director of Detroit’s All Saints Literacy Center.
Elizabeth has taught and conducted research for the Wayne State University Department of Anthropology and College of Engineering Management Master’s Program. She has held a King-Chavez-Parks Future Faculty Fellowship at Wayne State University and a Dow Chemical Hong Kong Research Fellowship at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and has advanced study in medical and organizational anthropology with a focus on identity, collaboration, innovation, and scientific breakthrough acceleration. Her work has been published in Anthropology News, Anthropology of Work, SAGE Reference Series on Green Society, Society for Applied Anthropology, and United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women, and she has served as a grant reader for the Michigan Department of Education.
Elizabeth earned a social impact storytelling certificate from Georgetown University in 2020 and is using what she learned to help people harness the power of effective storytelling for the strategic benefit of organizations and society as a whole. Most recently, Elizabeth was honored to be a Fellow of the 2023 Detroit Workforce Leadership Academy. The Academy — launched in partnership by the Corporation for a Skilled Workforce and the Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program — brought leaders from across the Detroit workforce ecosystem together for a year-long series of retreats, workshops, and action learning projects.
Génesis Mancheren Ab’äj has been working as a filmmaker in the independent film and art world for the past ten years, primarily as a producer, actor and film editor. Their work, both inside and outside of film, is informed by Queer and Indigenous media practices, both taught and created with(in) their Maya Kaqchikel and Central American communities. They also bring a background in journalism and creative writing from Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism and New York University, respectively.
