Alumni Spotlight: Barbara Wynder
By: Serena Maria Daniels
Barbara Wynder’s approach to development starts with something simple: ownership.
Raised between Detroit and Virginia, she grew up in a family where land ownership meant security. Her grandmother purchased property in 1929 and passed it down to her father, shaping how Wynder understood independence early on.
“I've always learned from my father and my grandmother that land ownership is very important,” she says. “My father would tell us early years ago, don't spend more than $10,000 on anything that doesn't have an acre of land around it.”
That perspective followed her into Detroit, where she would pursue a winding career in development that would stretch across law, planning, business, and public service.
After graduating from college, Wynder began her career as what she describes plainly: “a glorified secretary.” From there, she earned a masters degree in urban planning, and in the 1970s she joined one of Detroit’s first Black-led planning firms.
Her work involved conducting surveys, gathering demographic data, and working directly with residents navigating federal housing programs during the Model Cities era. The Model Cities Program, part of the federal War on Poverty, funded neighborhood planning efforts in cities like Detroit while expanding opportunities for Black residents to participate in planning and local decision-making.
It was an early introduction to how development decisions shape neighborhoods, and who gets to influence them.
Over time, Wynder moved across roles — serving as Assistant Corporation Counsel for the city of Detroit, business owner, and elected in 2018 to the Detroit Charter Revision Commission — building a wide-ranging understanding of how development, policy, and city processes intersect. Still, there were aspects of the development process she hadn’t fully learned.
“With all of that, I still did not know how to put together a real pro forma,” she says.
That realization led her to enroll in Building Community Value. The program taught her how to structure deals, communicate with lenders, and understand what it takes to move a project from concept to execution.
“You have to have your numbers together,” she says. “You have to be competent when you're making a presentation to bankers.”
That shift shows up in her work today.
With her husband, Wynder has taken on two rehabilitation projects, including on one property acquired through the Detroit Land Bank Authority. The work has been long and, at times, unpredictable.
She says that during a walk-through of the land bank property after a winter season, she found that about three feet of water had accumulated in the basement. That project stretched across years, complicated by contractor issues and the disruptions of the pandemic. At one point, progress stalled entirely.
“We just took our loss, and licked our paws, and held our head down and said, ‘Okay, we'll try something else,’” she says.
Eventually, the project moved forward in phases, followed by the acquisition of the second property on East Canfield. Together, the projects reflect a steady, incremental approach — less about speed, more about persistence.
That work sits alongside an earlier foray into development. In 2008, Wynder and her sister developed the Collective, a commercial building on East Jefferson that they transformed into a shared space for small businesses and artisans.
The vision was straightforward: a cluster of independent businesses operating together under one roof. Upholsterers, jewelers, a shoe repair shop, and their own company all shared the space, creating what Wynder describes as a “Ujima village.” An Ujima village draws from the Kwanzaa principle of collective economics, she says, and brings together businesses and like-minded individuals that operate with shared investment and mutual support.
Wynder says she has since seen similar collective concepts sprout up in the city and is encouraged by the trend. “We can go further together than we can individually, ” she says.
For Wynder, the model has always been about more than one building. It’s about demonstrating what collective economics can look like in practice.
For emerging developers, her advice is practical: start where you are, and pay attention to what others overlook.
“Take every opportunity that you can to search around the city for properties,” she says.
That might mean a single house, or a cluster of vacant Land Bank-owned properties on one city block. Over time, those small investments can build momentum, raising property values and stabilizing neighborhoods.
“You can help save blocks of the city,” she says.
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Just as important is how that work is done. Wynder consistently returns to the idea of shared ownership — co-ops, partnerships, and collective investment — as a way to expand both access and impact.
“We need people who come together to do certain things,” she says. “Development is one of those.”
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