Rev. Horace Sheffield III on fighting for Detroit’s future

Reverend Horace Sheffield III leads with a unique combination of spiritual conviction and social action. As CEO of DABO Detroit (formerly the Detroit Association of Black Organizations), he carries forward his father’s legacy of organizing Black communities for collective power. A pastor, community organizer, and father to Detroit’s new mayor Mary Sheffield, he approaches social change through what he calls a spiritual mandate. His work spans affordable housing development, free healthcare services, senior programs, and youth enrichment, all while navigating an increasingly hostile political climate for organizations serving Black communities.

You describe yourself as a social change agent with a spiritual mandate. How do those two aspects of your identity work together in what you do?

I’m a pastor and a preacher, so it is certainly a part of what I do to engage in social change, but the difference is that I approach it from a spiritual standpoint. It’s not just the abilities I have, or the connections I have, but it’s the power of God that enables me to be able to do the things that I do. That’s why I say I’m a social change agent with a spiritual mandate.

You are the CEO of DABO Detroit. Can you share the vision behind that organization, and what drove you to create it?

It’s actually my father’s vision who was a labor leader under A. Philip Randolph, along with Bayard Rustin. He actually staffed the March on Washington for jobs in the war industry for African Americans and for women. All these years, he was founding Black organizations, NAACP a part of that, and just didn’t feel that we had the kind of infrastructure where those organizations could collaborate and work together on a consensual basis. 

Always based on crises, not an infrastructure that enabled them to identify what the priorities were for that community, and then pull all the resources and the leadership working in that direction. That’s kind of the history. I’ve inherited that. It’s an organization based on the affiliation of Black organizations and having a place where we can all come together and collectively decide what the priorities are and how we achieve them.

Can you walk us through some of the key initiatives that this organization has launched? Which programs are making the biggest impact right now?

There have been so many. At one point, we opposed the Dearborn Parks Ban. There was a time that the city of Dearborn didn’t want non-Dearborn residents, really didn’t want Black folks there, so we organized against that. We created the first two school based health centers in the Detroit Public Schools, knowing that many of our young folks were not having access to healthcare. We wanted to have it on site, so that they could not only exercise their minds, but also deal with their health.

We have a great clinic where we provide free health services, we have great buildings where a lot of activities are a part of, and we’re just involved in so much. We have a robust senior program. We have a lot of seniors in my community who are going to casinos and gambling, have a lot of idle time, and we have them in our building five days a week, addressing issues of abuse of prescription drugs and gambling addictions. That’s another one of our programs. We also have an after school program, we just got refunded, some enrichment programs for kids. Then, of course, our media platform is really robust. We’re not rolling out, but we’re rolling up.

What are some of the biggest obstacles you’ve faced while doing this work? How have you navigated them while still staying true to who you are and your mission?

What are some of the things we’ve had to deal with that challenges? Obviously, right now, we live in a post DOGE era, but the effect of DOGE is still there. Like many organizations who have the name that we do, we were forced to change our name in this season from the Detroit Association of Black Organizations to DABO Detroit, and we lost federal funds. We lost grant money that was out there and available to us, simply because of our name.

That’s one of the challenges we have. How do we survive in this Trump era where anything related to Black folks is being excoriated? This white male anxiety, this sense that somehow this is our country, even though you came here from somewhere else. It’s forced us to have to figure out a way to make it. But we’re doing it. We’ve gotten help from other organizations that know the great work that we do, corporate sources, and other kinds of grants, which have made a significant difference for us.

You’ve been doing this work for years. How have you seen the landscape of social activism and community organization evolve during this time?

I’ve been very involved because as a child, my dad worked in March with Dr. King, and so I’m a product of the Civil Rights Movement. I remember the upheaval and water hoses and dogs being sicked upon folks. I’ve always had this sense that even the church has a responsibility of organizing to address those things which affect us socially, economically, and otherwise. I’m always going to be a person and not just be concerned about where a person spends eternity. What happens to them while they’re here on their way to wherever they ultimately spend their lives?

What role do you see spiritual leaders like yourself playing in movements for social justice and equity, especially in today’s climate?

I think that in our worst days, the Black church was always a bridge over troubled waters. During slavery, we gathered in the benevolent societies, where they fed people who didn’t have substance, would be educated. Look at most of these Black colleges. Some of them were born out of our church.

I see the church again as having a specific role of addressing those issues and situations and maladies that need to be addressed for us to move forward. It is the largest institution that we have. The real estate values, the monies that are deposited, the places where people aggregate and congregate, so it is still the best place for us to be able to accomplish anything on behalf of Black people.

The problem we have with churches today is some of them are so self absorbed. They’re more worried about trying to maintain themselves and keep themselves open. The whole focus is what the church needs, not what the folks sitting in the pews need.

Looking ahead, what’s your vision for the future of DABO and the communities you serve? What change are you working towards in the next chapter?

Right now, we’ve had a meeting this morning trying to focus on the three things that we think are most important as we move forward. One is affordable housing. Detroit has become a very popular place. Investment is thriving, and neighborhoods that have not been places that folks were interested in, people are now buying homes, buying lots. We’ve been in the same neighborhood since 1983. We own a couple blocks of property, we own lots, housing. We redeveloped some significant property, and so one of the things we want to do is make sure we produce and generate and build affordable housing.

Second area that we’ve really been successful in is access to health and addressing health disparities. We have our own clinic, Premiere Quality Health Services. Our building’s under construction as we speak, doubling the size and the capacity of that clinic, so we can continue to assist people with free healthcare. With our civil rights background, which is important, if you’re not here, nobody’s going to bridge your rights or discriminate, so we want you to be here and healthy enough to help us fight those things.

And then the third one, of course, is just economic development with our properties, being able to use those. We’ve had Joy-Ann Reid, we’ve had Jericka Duncan, we’ve had Eddie Levert, The Stylistics, all kind of people come to our building that we use for entertainment and educational purposes. What do we do with our physical plants to make certain that they’re still of value and usable and contribute to the growth and development of organizations and neighborhoods?

For people that are interested in getting in touch with DABO, for people that are interested in supporting, people that are interested in just reaching out, how can they find you?

I’m out there. I’m on Instagram, @hsheff3. I’m on Facebook, it’s my name, Horace Sheffield, or my church, New Destiny Christian Fellowship. I have my own website, horacesheffield.com, dabodetroitinc.com, or newdestinyworldwide.org. Of course, you can Google and find me and how to reach out to me, but also my email is [email protected], and of course, you can call my office any day at 313-491-0003.