Founder of Detroit Homecoming tells Warren how the event has helped revitalize Detroit

Staff report

WARREN

New York native Jim Hayes returned to Detroit three years ago after having worked there a decade quite a few years ago.

“I thought it was astonishing” what had become of Detroit, which he says was arguably one of the most-powerful cities in the world at one time.

A person who enjoys improving things, Hayes said he went about trying to find something he could do to improve the Motor City.

After talking to friends, he latched onto the idea of having a homecoming for the thousands of Detroit natives who went somewhere else and had “dazzling” careers.

He went to the most-prominent people in town. “They liked the idea instantly,” and they reached out to their friends and others, and the people they wanted – expatriates – came back.

This fall will mark the third Detroit Homecoming, and the effort has produced results – $240 million worth of investment in Detroit.

Hayes knows that because the people who have come for the homecoming have only been invited back if they have contributed something to the city – an investment or philanthropic effort.

Hayes, a former Fortune Magazine publisher who once employed recent Warren mayoral candidate Dennis Blank at the magazine, spoke at the Wean Foundation on Wednesday night about the Detroit Homecoming because Blank is helping to plan one for Warren this fall.

Warren’s homecoming will take place Sept. 23-25 and is being organized by the Fine Arts Council of Trumbull County, along with the Trumbull County Historical Society and Sunrise Entertainment.

It will feature a concert in the amphitheater, a Warren Harding High School football game, a concert in Dave Grohl Alley, a tour of the Garden District and an art hop.

“Our goal will be to get 1,000-plus people to come to Warren that weekend,” according to a flier. “This is a form of economic development we can do ourselves,” the flier adds.