Opportunities From: United Way for Southeastern Michigan

Brilliant Detroit is hosting summer programming for kids in grades K-3, designed to support literacy development, promote health and wellness, and provide engaging enrichment experiences that help young learners thrive.

Our Littlefield hub is currently looking for a dedicated volunteer to support their weekly programming! We're seeking an enthusiastic, dependable volunteer who enjoys working with elementary-aged children and is excited to lead a small group of students through engaging reading, writing, and conversation activities.

Your support will help prevent the "summer slide" and ensure students return to school in August feeling confident and prepared. We're looking for someone who can commit to at least one day per week during our summer programming, from July 6th through August 13th.

Available days include:

Monday through Thursday: 11:30-2 p.m. and/or 2-4 p.m. 

Examples of weekly programs: 

Between August 17th and August 29th, our hubs will transition from daily summer programming to our after-school fall schedule. During this time, we'll be refreshing our spaces to prepare for the return of our Brilliant families.

This is the perfect opportunity for volunteer teams to make a meaningful, hands-on impact by helping us paint, organize, and complete light facility improvements that create welcoming, vibrant environments for the new season. If you're part of a company, community organization, or other group looking for a rewarding team volunteer experience, we'd love to welcome you to Brilliant and partner with you to help get our hubs ready for fall!

Additional details:

We’re currently looking for volunteers who enjoy connecting with others and want to help strengthen neighbor-to-neighbor relationships across our Brilliant Detroit community! This role centers on friendly, informal conversations, sharing what Brilliant offers, and helping neighbors learn about our free programs and resources.

As a volunteer, you’ll support our Community Engagement team by distributing items like free books and literacy program calendars, and sharing information about accessing essentials such as food, diapers, clothing, and more. By connecting with residents, you’ll help keep our community informed, supported, and connected while expanding our reach and impact.

Our Brightmoor, Central, and Russell Woods hubs are currently seeking volunteers to help assist with weekly outreach efforts. This opportunity offers flexible scheduling; please inquire. Volunteer groups are welcome!

Each year, the Brilliant Detroit team, along with participants and volunteers, gathers at our 18 operating neighborhood hubs to enhance our landscaping and cultivate flower and harvest gardens. These efforts reflect a season of renewal and growth, helping to beautify shared spaces while fostering community pride and environmental stewardship. It’s also an opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to creating thriving neighborhoods where kids and families can succeed.

Tasks will vary depending on the site and time of the season; however, volunteers can expect to assist with weeding, planting flowers, collecting sticks and leaves, trimming overgrowth, mulching, and preparing garden beds. Materials will be provided, though we always appreciate volunteers who are interested in donating tools or bringing their own gloves.

If your group is interested in organizing a beautification project or hosting a collection drive, we would love the opportunity to partner with you in supporting and beautifying our Brilliant community! Please respond using this opportunity link, and a member of our Volunteer Team will reach out shortly to begin planning your project or coordinating your donation.

Brilliant Detroit is hosting summer programming for kids in grades K-3, designed to support literacy development, promote health and wellness, and provide engaging enrichment experiences that help young learners thrive.

Our McDougall-Hunt hub is currently looking for a dedicated volunteer to support their weekly programming! We're seeking a teacher, parent, education student, or experienced reading tutor who enjoys working with elementary-aged children. The ideal volunteer has a strong understanding of phonics and early literacy instruction and is comfortable leading a small group of students through engaging reading, writing, and conversation activities.

Your support will help prevent the "summer slide" and ensure students return to school in August feeling confident and prepared. We're looking for someone who can commit to at least one day per week during our summer programming, from July 6th through August 13th.

Available days include: 

Monday & Thursday - Lit Lab from 2:45-4 p.m.

Tuesday - Book Club & Lit Lab - 12:50-4 p.m.

Additional opportunity: 

Wednesday - Martial Arts - from 12:50-2 p.m.

We're also seeking volunteers to assist with our Wednesday martial arts program. If you're passionate about keeping kids active, engaged, and having fun while providing positive encouragement, we'd love to have you join us!

Join us and our partner, 360 Detroit, for the annual Virginia Park Block Party! Together, we'll celebrate community, strengthen neighbor-to-neighbor connections, and foster a spirit of mutual support.

This family-friendly event will feature games and activities, music, delicious food, community resources, and exciting giveaways for attendees of all ages.

Volunteers will assist with event setup, attendee check-in, vendor support, Brilliant Detroit resource distribution and cleanup throughout the day while helping to create a welcoming and engaging experience for all participants. Volunteer shifts are available; please inquire for more information. 

Brilliant invites skilled professionals to share their unique talents in support of our vision to create thriving Detroit neighborhoods. There are many meaningful ways to get involved across our community!

We welcome skilled volunteers from a variety of backgrounds. Opportunities may include:

If you have a special skill or talent you’d like to volunteer, we’d love to connect and explore how we can make brilliant things happen together at one of our Brilliant hubs!

Brilliant Detroit is hosting Summer Discovery, a summer learning program for kids in grades K-3, designed to support literacy development, promote health and wellness, and provide engaging enrichment experiences that help young learners thrive. Throughout the day, kids will participate in literacy, STEAM, and arts & crafts activities, with opportunities for volunteers to support phonics development, read during book clubs, and facilitate one-on-one or small group conversations on a variety of topics.

Our westside location serves a large Arabic-speaking community, and we would love to welcome bilingual volunteers who enjoy working with kids to support literacy enrichment. This role will help our Brilliant kids strengthen their language skills and bridge communication gaps while learning in a supportive environment. 

Our summer programming begins the week of Monday, July 6th and concludes the week of Friday, August 14th. Programming generally runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Thursday; literacy programming will take place in the morning between 10 a.m. and noon. Volunteers are welcome to join us for either a half day or a full day, however, we strongly prefer volunteers who can commit to a regular weekly schedule.

Voted Best Day Camp in the 2024 Detroit Community’s Choice Awards, Brilliant Detroit invites you to join us for a summer filled with fun, learning, and enrichment!

Brilliant Detroit is hosting summer programming for kids in grades K-3, designed to support literacy development, promote health and wellness, and provide engaging enrichment experiences that help young learners thrive.

Do you enjoy working with kids and making a positive impact in your community? We’re looking for enthusiastic, dependable volunteers who can commit to multiple dates throughout the summer to support our literacy programming and help create meaningful learning experiences for young readers.

How can you support summer programming? Examples of volunteer opportunities may include (but are not limited to): 

Our summer programming begins the week of Monday, July 6th and concludes the week of Friday, August 14th. Programming generally runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. Whether you can volunteer for a full day or just a half day, we'd love to have your support!

Join us in creating vibrant green spaces where learning and growing go hand in hand!

Brilliant Detroit hosts an annual summer camp across our neighborhood sites, offering outdoor educational programming that covers a wide range of topics—including literacy, science, nature exploration, and hands-on gardening. Each site features an education garden with several raised beds growing tomatoes, leafy greens, peppers, and more! We’re currently seeking volunteers of all experience levels who are interested in gardening to help us prepare our gardens for the upcoming summer camp season. 

Volunteer tasks may include:

This is a wonderful opportunity to:

Whether you’re an individual, a group of friends, or a family, you’re welcome to join! We’re especially looking for recurring volunteers who can commit to visiting their site once or twice a week; volunteers are not responsible for a daily watering schedule. 

By submitting your interest through this form, we will contact you via email to guide you through the volunteer onboarding process. Please be sure to specify which site you are interested in volunteering at when completing the form:

Brilliant Cities is a neighborhood-powered model ensuring children 0-8 are school-ready, healthy, and supported. We do this by transforming houses into family-focused, community hubs and partner with organizations to coordinate research-based programs for children and families. These programs focus on education, health, and family support, giving young children and families what they need for a bright future.

To date, Brilliant Cities has reached more than 24,000 children and caregivers, raising reading levels by an average of three grade levels per child. Since 2016, the model has expanded to 24 neighborhoods in Detroit, launched a hub in Pontiac, and is currently expanding to Philadelphia.

We’re inviting volunteers to join us in turning our mission into action. Whether reading one-on-one or with a group, painting a room, organizing our book library, or sorting in-kind donations, our hubs have meaningful volunteer opportunities that arise throughout the year, and we would love to welcome you!

Current volunteer opportunities

Brilliant Clothing Closet Organization 

Each Brilliant hub offers free clothing to families in need, helping build confidence and a sense of belonging by ensuring they have appropriate attire, which can be especially important for school success and positive social interactions. Clothing Closet volunteers impact our communities by helping to create an organized and welcoming space that supports smoother operations and makes clothing easily accessible for Brilliant participants. With support from hub staff, volunteers will review donated items for quality, condition, and seasonal fit, categorize them by type and size, and help create a department store style shopping experience for our community. This role involves standing, bending, reaching and moving around for most of the shift. Multiple locations and flexible scheduling available, please inquire.

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Brilliant Osborn Organization & Redesign 

Flexible scheduling; please inquire 

Our Osborn hub is preparing for a spring cleaning day to organize the free community clothing closet in the basement and sort and rearrange items stored in the garage. This effort will help ensure the hub’s spaces are accessible for regular programming, that our Brilliant families can easily navigate the clothing closet, and that everything is ready for our upcoming summer day camp. We're currently looking for a group of about 6-10 volunteers to join us, with half working in the garage and half in the basement. This project will involve moderate to heavy lifting.

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Brilliant Dexter-Linwood Basement Organization Project

Help create a welcoming and efficient space for our Brilliant participants! We're looking for volunteers to assist with organizing the basement of our Dexter-Linwood hub which is home to our free community clothing closet. Volunteers will assist with assembling shelving units, sorting totes, and organizing clothing by size. Your efforts will help us maintain a welcoming, clutter-free environment, making it easier for community members to access the resources they need. Flexible scheduling available; please inquire. (Volunteer groups welcome!)

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Brilliant Cody Rouge Hub Organization

We’re seeking volunteers to help organize our storage and programming areas. Tasks include assembling shelving units, and storing totes—some heavy lifting required. Your volunteer efforts will support smoother operations and ensure resources are accessible in a clutter-free environment. Flexible scheduling available; please inquire.

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Brilliant Brightmoor Organization & Redesign 

Our Brightmoor location is currently looking for volunteers to help organize basement rooms, assemble shelving units, and properly store totes to declutter and sort items. Volunteers will assist in creating storage solutions and ensuring our programming areas remain clean and functional. Tasks may include lifting and moving boxes, sorting supplies, and organizing materials. Volunteers are needed weekdays between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. (Volunteer groups welcome!)

Brilliant Cities is a neighborhood-powered model ensuring children 0-8 are school-ready, healthy, and supported. We do this by transforming houses into family-focused, community hubs and partner with organizations to coordinate research-based programs for children and families. These programs focus on education, health, and family support, giving young children and families what they need for a bright future.

Our O’Hair Park hub is looking for a volunteer to support their weekly 'Distribution Day' where Brilliant families can access essential items such as fresh produce, clothing, books, and diapers. These events are designed to help parents meet their children’s needs with dignity, care, and ease. Volunteers play a key role in making Distribution Days successful by helping create a welcoming and well-organized environment so that our families can focus on selecting the items that are most meaningful to them.

Distribution Days will take place each Thursday, from 4-6 p.m.

Brilliant Cities is a neighborhood-powered model ensuring children 0-8 are school-ready, healthy, and supported. We do this by transforming houses into family-focused, community hubs and partner with organizations to coordinate research-based programs for children and families. These programs focus on education, health, and family support, giving young children and families what they need for a bright future.

We’re looking for volunteers who are passionate about working with children, supporting literacy in Detroit, and leading engaging reading cohorts at our hubs.

As a volunteer leader, you will work in-person at one of our sites to lead an hour-long program once a week from October to May. 

Volunteers will be partnered with a child and be tasked to read aloud books and lead activities based on those books with that child. This opportunity is best suited for those with early childhood education experience and/or interest, however, anyone can lead these programs. These programs work best when the facilitator is upbeat, energetic, compassionate, and engaging.

These programs are offered in person at hubs based on the volunteer's availability. Volunteers will be placed based on the needs of our hubs and the volunteer's proximity to one of our Brilliant pods.

A Brilliant Detroit orientation and background check are required to serve in these programs. Specialized training for this opportunity will also be given after the background check is completed. For more information, please contact volunteer@brilliantdetroit.org.

Brilliant Cities is a neighborhood-powered model ensuring children 0-8 are school-ready, healthy, and supported. We do this by transforming houses into family-focused, community hubs and partner with organizations to coordinate research-based programs for children and families. These programs focus on education, health, and family support, giving young children and families what they need for a bright future.

Brilliant Cities takes great pride in honoring National Days of Service that closely aligns with our mission and core values to educate and unite individuals, families, service clubs, businesses, schools, and faith-based organizations in volunteerism throughout the year. 

We actively coordinate service projects around the following Days of Service: 

To collaborate on an upcoming service project and explore how our missions can align, please complete the interest form through Galaxy. A member of our Volunteer Team will contact you directly.

Dear Kid Success Champion,

We are thrilled to share the launch of Brilliant Detroit's very own podcast -- Brilliant Together.

Each podcast episode will feature top experts, leaders and changemakers dedicated to strengthening families and children from belly (0) to eight. 

Conversations explore a range of topics and thought leadership on engaging families, mobilizing communities, and providing children with the support they need to reach their full potential.

Brilliant Together is now available on Apple and Spotify. We are so excited to have made this project a reality and to continue lifting up the amazing work happening in the early childhood education and care space.

Yours in Kid Success,

Brilliant Detroit is dedicated to building kid success neighborhoods where families with children 0-8 have what they need to be school ready, healthy and stable. We do this by providing proven programming and support year round out of Brilliant Detroit homes in high-need neighborhoods.

If you are not already, become a FAN of Brilliant Detroit and receive the latest information happening at Brilliant!