More than 700 free bikes, Skilla Baby, and 10 weeks of programming: Detroit kicked off 'Occupy The Summer'

Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield launched "Occupy the Summer" on Friday, kicking off a 10-week citywide youth initiative with a giveaway of more than 700 free bikes and a performance by Detroit rapper Skilla Baby at the Adams Butzel Complex in northwest Detroit.

The kickoff drew hundreds of families to 10500 Lyndon St., where registered youth picked up bikes while city officials and local entertainers marked the start of what Sheffield has framed as part of her broader plan to keep young Detroiters safe and engaged this summer.

"Every Friday during the summer, we will have safe spaces, fun, entertainment and giveaways," Sheffield said at the event.

The program grew out of a winter and spring marked by a series of teen takeovers, a national trend in which large groups of young people organize gatherings through social media. Detroit's version drew sustained attention, and the Sheffield administration responded with a program that leads with opportunity. "We are not going to allow the actions of a few to paint a negative picture of all of Detroit's youth," Sheffield has said. "The majority want to do right."

Occupy the Summer is backed by $1.5 million from the city's budget, with title sponsors The Sterling Group and Amazon on board. It runs from June 12 through August 14 and includes weekly Friday activations that rotate through every city council district, bringing entertainment and giveaways to a different neighborhood each week.

Nine recreation centers are staying open until 11 p.m. on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays through the end of the program: Adams Butzel, Crowell, Kemeny, Farwell, Heilmann, Butzel Family, Coleman Young, Helen Moore, and Northwest Activities Center. Midnight Basketball, open to participants 18 and up, returns on Thursdays and Saturdays.

Two more signature events are on the calendar before the summer closes: a mid-summer activation in partnership with NW Goldberg Cares and a finale tied to Metro Detroit Youth Day, powered by Boys and Girls Club of Greater Detroit, which will include a school supply and backpack giveaway.

The administration has also convened a youth advisory group of roughly 50 young Detroiters, a standing channel for the city to hear directly from the young people the program is built around.

For the families who showed up at Adams Butzel on Friday, the bikes were the headline. Skilla Baby, among the most prominent voices in Detroit hip-hop right now, closed things out with a free set for the crowd. It was a fitting close for an event designed not just to serve young Detroiters, but to actually meet them where they are.

Full programming details are available through the city at detroitmi.gov.