Renee Grice, Teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Northland High School

For Renee, a teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing at Northland High School, recognizing inequity was never going to be the finish line. It was the starting point. The question was what to do next, and where to do it.

She found her answer in Northland

Renee came to Northland High School four years ago after a decade teaching third grade at Huy Elementary. The move was a professional leap, a chance to work with high school students and take on a new challenge. What she didn’t anticipate was how deeply the neighborhood itself would pull her in.

“I found a deeper connection to the Northland community,” she says. “I saw the variety of cultures living and working together, and was inspired to deepen my work within the community outside of the classroom.”

The Turning Point Nobody Talks About

After COVID, Renee found herself sitting with hard truths she could no longer ignore. The news. The protests. The weight of inequity that had always been present but suddenly felt impossible to look away from.

“I had been aware of the inequities within our systems for a long time,” she says, “but had rarely given myself the time and space to fully understand and appreciate the depth and history of those inequities.”

She didn’t just sit with the discomfort. She moved toward it. She went to protests. She educated herself. She faced her own biases and privilege with a directness that most people never get around to.

And then she did something about it.

That decision led her to community conversations happening at Northland High School — gatherings where residents talked openly about the real challenges they were facing. Access to resources. Connection to opportunity. Knowing where to turn for help. The Northland Market grew directly out of those conversations.

From Isolation to Action

Meaningful work can still feel profoundly isolating when you’re doing it without a community around you.

It’s a feeling a lot of people recognize. Entrepreneurs building something real but working alone. Nonprofit leaders carrying a mission without the infrastructure to support it. Community members who care deeply but haven’t found where to plug in. The commitment is genuine. But without proximity to others who share your values and your neighborhood, momentum is hard to sustain.

What changed for Renee wasn’t just a new job or a new project. It was finding people. The staff at Northland High School who welcomed her, guided her, and connected her to others already doing the work. The community conversations that put her in the same room as people who were working toward the same things.

And most recently, Elevate Northland.

“In meeting the people, seeing the facilities, and experiencing the passion of the staff there I was in awe,” she says. “I knew in my bones that I wanted to work with and partner with this organization.”

She wasn’t looking for coworking space. She was looking for community. She found both.

What’s Being Built

The Northland Market is a direct expression of everything Renee has been moving toward. A gathering that brings local businesses, community resources, and Northland residents into the same space, on purpose, together.

Northland Market

Saturday, May 9, 2026

Northland High School

10am – 1pm

Volunteers, vendors, local businesses, and community organizations are all welcome. Elevate Northland will be there with a community resource booth. Stop by to learn more about coworking, business services, and partnership opportunities. To get involved, highlight a resource, or volunteer, contact Renee directly at [email protected].

For Elevate Northland, this partnership is a natural extension of what this space was built to do. Bring mission-driven people together and watch what happens when proximity meets purpose.

About Elevate Northland

Elevate Northland Center is building an ecosystem where small businesses launch, nonprofits collaborate, and community members access the opportunities they deserve. We provide coworking space, warehouse infrastructure, and programming designed around one core belief: when people have the tools, space, and support they need, entire communities rise. What started as a vision for a “Nonprofit Mall” has become a hub where entrepreneurs and organizations work side by side to elevate Northland.