Learning Circles | Los círculos de aprendizaje: Local business partnerships with eleven24, Live Cycle Delight, and the Detroit Pizza Bar

Dig deeper into each partnership featured at 2025 National Prevention Town Hall by engaging with them in learning circles. Feel free to register for as many 1-hour learning circle sessions as you would like. Come with your curiosity and leave with actionable ideas around forging similar partnerships in your community!

Facilitators:

Tonjie Reese (she/her/hers) is a Detroit native, advocate, preventionist, and founder of eleven24, a program dedicated to reimagining gender based violence prevention through a lens of liberation and community. Her work in the movement began as a sophomore in high school, when she participated in a traveling play focused on dating abuse. Her expertise has led to numerous training workshops for caring adults on ways to center marginalized youth in their work and developing culturally specific resources for organizations. In her many years of youth-serving and gender-based violence work, she has held roles as a prevention program director, national community initiatives coordinator, and senior program officer – always centering the experiences of Black youth. She has presented at numerous conferences, including the National Sexual Assault Conference and has built partnerships with several violence prevention programs. Tonjie sits on the IPV Prevention Advisory Board and partners with the National Network on Domestic Violence to create resources focused on technology abuse among young people. She is a firm believer that prevention is possible. Tonjie holds a BS in Behavioral Science and a MA in Education, Leadership, & Change.

Marcus Jones (he/him/his) is an experienced construction entrepreneur building successful businesses along his career. Mr. Jones graduated from the University of Michigan with a dual degree in Urban Planning and Environmental Science, with his focus on green building construction and real estate development. While attending the university he founded the US Green Building Council Chapter at the University of Michigan and created a campus-wide training for LEED Green Associates. He went on to become employed by the US Green Building Council as a Special Projects Coordinator. Upon graduation Jones co-founded the Detroit Training Center, a vocational school located in downtown Detroit MI. As President, he created robust workforce development programs that focused on skilled trades including Construction, Heavy Equipment, Diesel Mechanics, Michigan Residential Builders License, and Green Infrastructure. He created a partnership with MIOSHA and hosted various state safety trainings including OSHA, Confined Spaces, and Lifting and Rigging. He’s also created training for both Lead and Asbestos abatement. While operating DTC, Mr. Jones was also rehabilitating houses throughout SE Michigan. He has rehabbed over 60+ properties from Waterford MI to Toledo OH. His clients include Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Detroit Land Bank Authority, and the City of Detroit. As a licensed General Contractor, he managed both residential and commercial construction projects. His bonding capacity is $5 million and he has successfully completed multiple contracts as a general contractor. His largest completed project to date is $1.5 million, the Detroit Pizza Bar; a commercial project in which Jones developed and built himself with his own team. He believes safety is a top priority then he looks to incorporate the local workforce into the projects. Sustainability is also incorporated into many of his projects, allowing them to exceed current building codes. He’s incorporated solar panels, tankless water tanks, high efficiency HVAC, and controlled systems in buildings, to meet these goals. He believes working alongside Architects and Engineers is essential to completing a project on time and within budget.