Lifelong Grandmont Rosedale Resident, BrieAnn Bell is GRDC’s New Grand River WorkPlace Manager
It would be hard to find someone more familiar with Grandmont Rosedale than BrieAnn Bell is. BrieAnn Bell grew up in Minock Park and currently lives in North Rosedale Park. From playing softball in the Rosedale Grandmont Little League, to carpooling to Detroit Open School with Grandmont Rosedale neighbors, you could say understanding the value of community is in her blood. As the daughter of Vicki and Jarrell Holmes, she has been raised to believe that creating community takes some work. BrieAnn is the perfect fit as GRDC’s new Grand River WorkPlace Manager,Along with her in-depth knowledge of the Grandmont Rosedale community, BrieAnn comes to her new position with experience as a teacher, service provider for families with special needs children, marketer, volunteer organizer with the successful Rashida Tlaib campaign, mother of two, and a pretty good softball player. While BrieAnn was certainly familiar with GRDC, she “didn’t know the capacity of GRDC,” its many ongoing initiatives to make Grandmont Rosedale a great play to live, work, and play. “There are layers of good people here,” BrieAnn says, “I’m looking forward to enhance what we have here, to make what we have better.”BRIEANN’S ROLE AS THE WORKPLACE MANAGERAs the WorkPlace Manager, BrieAnn will be able to effectively enhance the commercial community in Grandmont Rosedale. The WorkPlace is not just an economical office space for new and growing businesses, it also offers numerous services and workshops that directly address the needs of small business. Making connections with small business owners who are looking for a vibrant community that will support their business is exactly what BrieAnn is most looking forward to. “All areas of District 1 have been touched by GRDC. I’ll be working on creating a greater, more complete connection with the wider business community.”BrieAnn understands the importance of relationship, whether it’s with neighbors or business associates, as her relationships with various people in the Grandmont Rosedale community is what lead her to her new position at GRDC. BrieAnn’s professional history with GRDC began some years ago when she was working on her senior project as a Wayne State University student. BrieAnn’s assignment was to work with a non-profit organization on a project for which she would provide the research and marketing. BrieAnn came up with the idea to help promote GRDC’s Northwest Detroit Farmers’ Market by creating a relationship with Cooke School in Grandmont Rosedale. BrieAnn pitched her idea to GRDC’s former Community Engagement Manager Chelsea Neblett. BrieAnn did a healthy eating presentation at Cooke, solicited donations from Royal Fresh Market, and was able to offer the elementary school kids $5 each to spend at the Market. BrieAnn’s senior project helped spread the word about the Market, about healthy eating, fostered a relationship with a local business, and demonstrated her owns skills as a community organizer. BrieAnn also got to know Larissa Richardson, GRDC’s former WorkPlace Manager through Young Professionals, an organization begun by Grandmont Rosedale residents that encourages collaboration, support, and collegiality among the young professionals living and working in Grandmont Rosedale.CHOOSING GRANDMONT ROSEDALEA few years ago, when BrieAnn and her husband Michael were looking at houses, they didn’t just look in Grandmont Rosedale. As they looked though, they realized that they weren’t just looking for a house, they were looking for a community. BrieAnn remembered her rides to school with neighborhood friends, playing softball at Stoepel, and she knew that Grandmont Rosedale was what she and her husband were looking for. BrieAnn sees her position with GRDC as an opportunity to “enhance what we have here. The residents own this neighborhood and businesses see that.”When you grow up in a community like Grandmont Rosedale, it can be tough to live anywhere else. GRDC is lucky to have BrieAnn as an employee, and Grandmont Rosedale is lucky to have her as a neighbor.If you’d like to find out more about the Grand River WorkPlace, stop by 19120 Grand River, call 313.387.4732, ext. 118, email workplace@grandmontrosedale.com, check out the website at www.grandriverworkplace.com, like Grand River WorkPlace on Facebook, and follow the Grand River WorkPlace on Instagram.