We are a community that values youth. Linh understands that our children are tomorrow’s leaders and that a welcoming community helps our youth develop the compassion and skills needed to make the world a better place. As a strong supporter of the Neutral Zone, Linh has worked to make sure that our community offers teens self-driven opportunities to lead, grow, and build.
The Song families’ extensive support for the Neutral Zone has not gone unnoticed. In 2014, this and their strong commitment to the community earned them a Bezonki Award from the Ann Arbor Chronicle. Linh and Dug song were honored again at the Neutral Zone’s signature annual fundraiser in October 2019..
Though financial support is a factor, Linh has always taken time to directly engage youth. Be it intergenerational NZ toddler dance parties, or supporting a youth-led newspaper, Linh is often on the ground interacting with and encouraging youth.
Most recently, Linh helped bring attention to work by NZ teens who questioned our community’s failure to adequately address socioeconomic disparities in our school and transportation systems. The following excerpt from “Staying Power: Concrete Not Wood” is authored by NZ teens, many of whom attend Ann Arbor Public schools. Linh notes that this is “[t]he housing crisis in real life, experienced by children sitting next to our own during the day, and sitting in buses for hours in the morning and evening.”
Part of building community means establishing meaningful relationships with surrounding localities and community stakeholders. In 2015, Washtenaw County was ranked as the eighth most socioeconomically segregated communities in the country. This is us. Our community is on the frontlines and must fight for tangible change.
