Welcome to Voices of the Community, I’m Lloyd Jackson and today we will speak with Theresa Landum, an advocate for her southwest Detroit community and for African Americans across the city as has worked, and volunteered and served in several leadership roles with various organizations. We will hear more about the work she does and how she has helped her neighbors and community during this pandemic.
Of course, we start off by letting our listeners get to know Theresa a little better with the lightning round of questions. I started by asking Theresa what her first car was... and she says a big long and heavy Lincoln Continental. Next was a question of if she was a dog or cat person… she is a dog owner and has female pit bull named Ronni. I asked Theresa if she had any hidden talents and she said just like when a pit bull gets ahold of something and won’t let it go, she has a talent of doing tedious work and not letting it go until its finished. I went on to ask Theresa if she had made any mistakes in the past that she’s learned from and she says of course. She’s very passionate about the things she works on and sometimes her mouth can be a little spicy and she has to watch that. As far as her favoritDetroit food is concerned its pizza all the way and if you throw in a scoop of ice cream afterwards that’s a winner!
Theresa tells me she’s a lifelong Detroiter and lives in the area of Southwest Detroit where the area code is 48217 which she says was once the most polluted area in Michigan and number 3 in the country.
I asked Theresa what led her to become an advocate for her community and she said growing up she saw her community go from “Hello, how are you?” to not really being close anymore so she started paying that many in her area started getting sick so she began paying attention to the neighborhood and the air quality and environment around her.
Not only does Theresa advocate for her community when it comes to environmental issues and air quality, she’s also an advocate for the needs of those less fortunate in her community especially during this covid-19 pandemic. Theresa drives her personal car around to pantries to pick up food and clothes and items 6 days a week for those in need during this pandemic. She’s also requited others to help her.
Theresa has been a Detroiter all of her life but could have left the city and lived somewhere else if she wanted to so I asked her why she chose to stay in Detroit… and her answer is “ Why not, She loves Detroit”.
I asked Theresa if she could take a visitor anywhere in Detroit where would she take them? She said although the city has many fabulous areas to take a visitor to, she would like to take them to her community to show them what family is all about.
There have been so many misconceptions about Detroit, so I asked Theresa what she though the biggest misconception was, and she said that African American people in the city don’t care. She said citizens take pride in their homes and neighborhoods. Detroit has assets and people that care and want a better quality of life.
Theresa Landrum, is a volunteer, a leader, and an advocate for her southwest Detroit community and was recently named one of 7 women honored during the Power of one Dedicated women virtual awards that took place virtually on Sept 22nd sponsored by the organization “Michigan Community Resources”. Congratulations on that as well. Keep up the Great work!
You can find out more about the awards and the women that were honored by going the Michigan Community Resources Facebook page or their website www.mi-community.org If you know of a voice in your community that needs to be heard send me an email at voicesofthecommunity@wwjnewsradio.com
I’m lloyd jackson and thanks for listening to Voices of the Community.