Civil rights & activism
Eleanor Josaitis
1931–2011 · civil rights activist, co-founder of Focus: HOPE
Suburban homemaker who co-founded Focus: HOPE in 1968 and led it for four decades, called Detroit's Mother Teresa for her work against racism and poverty.
- Born
- Died
Livonia, Michigan
aged 79- Birth name
- Eleanor Mary Reed
- Detroit years
- 1960s–2011
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Eleanor Josaitis was a young mother in the Detroit suburbs when televised violence against civil rights marchers in Alabama in the 1960s shook her out of what she later called a comfortable life. After the 1967 Detroit uprising she and her family moved into the city and in March 1968 she co-founded Focus: HOPE with Father William Cunningham. She served for many years as associate director, organizing its food programs for mothers, infants and seniors, and after Cunningham's death in 1997 led the organization as chief executive, expanding its training and child-care programs. Known for her energy, her plain talk and her refusal to leave Detroit, she became one of the city's most admired civic figures and was often called Detroit's Mother Teresa. Crain's Detroit Business named her among the most influential women in Detroit in 2002. She died of cancer in 2011. The Detroit Free Press and the Detroit Metropolitan Affairs Coalition present an annual Eleanor Josaitis Unsung Hero Award in her memory.
Highlights
- Co-founded Focus: HOPE in 1968
- Led Focus: HOPE after William Cunningham's death in 1997
- Named one of Detroit's most influential women by Crain's in 2002
- An annual Unsung Hero Award carries her name
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Founded · 1968–2011
Focus: HOPE
The organization she co-founded and led; its Oakman Boulevard campus continues her food, education and job-training work.