was born to a single young mother December 10, 1975 in impoverished Detroit Michigan. He was raised between the slums of Detroit, Michigan and the gang ridden Southside of Chicago, Illinois.

As a result of dysfunctional and unstable housing, ill-education and violence, Phillip became his environment. He joined a gang at 11 years of age and became the leader of his own gang by the time he was 14. Phillip caught his first felony as a juvenile and continued to expand his criminal record until he was convicted of 3 counts of assault with intent to commit murder at 18 years of age and sentenced to 12-20 years in the MDOC.

While in prison he began to undergo self-evaluation and inevitably would began the process of self-transformation. He became heavily involved with prison politics and experienced the horrors of incarceration to the fullest extent.

Released after serving 15 years, Phillip has returned to society with intent to amend his past actions and contribute to the re-building of the community that he helped to destroy. He is currently the owner of The Passion of The Life LLC., Circle Member at the Criminal Justice Initiative (CJI) and Co-Owner of HMI Ent.

Tepfirah Rushdan, known affectionately as Tee, is a Co-Director at Keep Growing Detroit. Tee is a native Detroiter that is passionate about serving community.

She has combined her love for people and nature through various environmental projects here in the city including developing conservation skills in youth, vacant land remediation, youth and adult farmer training programs, wild edible walks, community gardening and climate change and resiliency research.

She has also worked hard to provide resources and technical assistance to hundreds of gardens in the city over the years through her work with the Garden Resource Program. A few of her accomplishments include graduating from the Urban Roots class of 2010, holding a seat on The Detroit Food Policy Council, and helping to guide the work of the Uprooting Racism Planting Justice Initiative. Other notable projects have included helping to complete the Detroit Residential Parcel Survey in 2009, which helped to map vacant land in Detroit and make this information available to community members. 

She currently serves as the board member for the following: Detroit Peoples Co-op , R.A.H.A.M Detroit (Responsible hands and minds), and Black to the Land Coalition.

Kardell”Jigsaw” Pruitt Owner of Jacote Film LLC has been filming for over 10 yrs, From Law Commercials For Retired Judge Vonda Evans to Movies on Amazon Prime and Videos that aired on BET MTV & World Star.

Now his goal is to open a 501C  film school for disadvantaged kids to help them learn filming, writing, editing, screenplays, and more.

Cincere Al’Talet, father of 3, Army Veteran, 15+ years of incarceration, who studied Computer Information Systems at  Eastern Michigan University,  Cleary College, Henry Ford Community College and U of D Mercy, and took apprenticeships under several criminal, civil and probate attorneys, along with becoming a freelance paralegal in his current profession. 

He is the owner of Cincere’ Thoughts Consulting Services, LLC, Legal Services Liaison and Resources Coordinator for Ceasefire Detroit, Special Project Manager for Detroit Youth Violence Prevention Initiative, Mentor in the Brotherhood/Sisterhood, NO BOUNDARIES mentoring program in partnership with the Detroit Police Department and the Mayor’s office of the city of Detroit.