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Detroit Pistons celebrate 60 refurbished basketball courts
The brand new bright-blue basketball court at Howarth Park was the final stop for the Detroit Pistons who sought to refurbish dozens of courts around Detroit. On Sept. 20, their six-year, $2.5 million collaboration finally ended.
DETROIT (FOX 2) - After six years, 64 basketball courts in Detroit have been refurbished and are ready for use after a collaboration between the city and the Pistons organization.
The $2.5 million project ended Wednesday when its organizers convened at Howarth Park to celebrate years of work. Stefen Welch who is vice president of diversity, equity, and inclusion, said they saw the finish line "with the community."
"Everything that we’ve done has been through community voice," he said.
"One of the things that we wanted to do was to make sure that we were in every district in the city of Detroit, not just downtown, not just midtown, we wanted to be in all neighborhoods. From the east side to the west side, to southwest to central Detroit, literally everywhere in the city of Detroit," he said.
The project was part of a community benefits agreement established between the city and the Pistons when they moved back downtown in 2017.
The refurbished courts are a testament to that commitment, Welch said.
"He’s charged our organization to be mentors, whether it’s our beyond the basketball mentorship program we have with King High school, the mentoring program we have with Jalen Rose Academy, with Platinum Equity, literally he’s charged us with making sure we are impactful in every way we can," he said.