Every kid knows what a firefighter does. Almost none know who decided the building would be there.
Placewright Collective makes stories, activities and programs that show kids the people who imagine, finance and build the places we live, starting with a neighborhood called Ribbonfield.
Four ways in, for every age
Ribbonfield
A neighborhood named for the long ribbon farms of early Detroit, and a crew of eight kids, each with a real career, who notice what neighbors need and figure out how to build it.
Meet Ribbonfield →Free resources
Activities for kids, plus career roadmaps, colleges, camps and scholarships for teens and the grown-ups helping them.
See resources →Programs
Classroom kits for teachers, and later, neighborhood chapters where students work on real projects with professionals.
In developmentPartnerships
Design firms, builders, developers and professional groups help fund our work and show kids what these careers really look like.
Partner with us →
Hi, I'm Danielle
I've spent fourteen years as an interior designer in Detroit, working on affordable housing, adaptive reuse, historic buildings and civic projects. I've sat in the meetings where those decisions get made, and I write the specifications that turn drawings into real buildings.
As a girl who loved both art and math, I felt I had to choose between them, until I discovered design and realized I could have both. I started Placewright Collective so more kids, especially girls and kids from neighborhoods like the ones I work in, know those seats exist and that they can sit in them.
Danielle Nowak
Founder, Placewright Collective
The people who build our neighborhoods don't yet look like the kids who live in them
Kids decide early what they can be. When they meet these careers young, through stories, activities and real people, more of them choose them.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Population Survey, 2025 annual averages; NAHB analysis of Census CPS data, 2025; NCARB by the Numbers 2024 (2023 data); National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, 2023, via the Society of Women Engineers.
What we believe
Real jobs, real places
Every character has a real career, and every story happens in a place that works the way real neighborhoods do.
Honest trade-offs
Building means choosing. The bench faces the playground, so it doesn't face the sunset. Kids can handle that, and they learn from it.
What gets built stays built
Nothing resets between books. Places grow and change, so kids see that a neighborhood is the sum of decisions people made.
Built with the industry
Firms and organizations sponsor our work and help kids meet real professionals. Sponsors are thanked on the credit page, never written into the story.
Built one block at a time
- Now
Free resources
Career roadmaps, colleges, camps and scholarships for teens and parents, plus activities for kids.
- Coming next
Ribbonfield books
Our first coloring and activity books, then picture books about the crew.
- Coming next
Classroom kits
Lesson plans for grades 1 to 5 built around the five steps in every Ribbonfield story.
- Later
Neighborhood chapters
After-school studios where students team up with professionals on real projects in their own neighborhoods.