JOHN HARDWICK, FEDERATION
OUR COMMUNITY
Spencer Lucker
The O Perfect Stranger Meet Spencer Lucker, who works for Mayor Mike Duggan and volunteers his time with NEXTGen Detroit. DAVID ZENLEA SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
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FEBRUARY 3 • 2022
ur sense of belonging comes from the memory that we were all once strangers. This quintessential contradiction of Jewish identity, explicitly commanded in the Torah and echoed throughout our history, binds our people together and drives a shared commitment to tolerance and empathy. It certainly drives Spencer Lucker, 34-year-old resident of the Boston Edison neighborhood. By day, he helps fellow Detroiters as director of employer engagement for Mayor Mike Duggan’s Workforce Development Board. In his spare time (a precious resource since he has 6-month-old twins), he oversees community outreach and identity efforts on NEXTGen’s executive committee. His passion for Detroit’s Jewish community, particularly those new to it, owes to the fact that he was very recently a complete stranger here himself. Lucker is a native of Little Rock, Arkansas, and moved here just three years ago from Washington, D.C. “We need to ensure that all Jewish young adults in Metro Detroit are able to feel the warm embrace by the Jewish community that I did when I moved here three years ago,” he said. The need to welcome young Jews is a growing one. The number of Jews in Metro Detroit ages 18 to 34 more than doubled between 2005 and 2018, and there is anecdotal evidence that the influx has continued during the pandemic, as young adults seek more affordable housing and look to be closer to family support networks. This is cause for celebration, not to mention a credit in part to community efforts like NEXTGen, which was established about a decade ago with the express goal of attracting and engaging millennials. “In many ways, we’re ahead of the game,” Lucker says.
