Sign up for Chalkbeat Detroit’s free newsletter to keep up with the city’s public school system and Michigan education policy.
Six years ago, Christina Jordan was focused on becoming a tennis star.
At West Virginia University, the Detroit native played on the college team and majored in biochemistry. But, as Jordan entered her senior year, her interest in human behavior took precedence over studying living organisms.
The decision to switch her major to psychology was personal – Jordan’s twin brothers, Christopher and Christian, have intellectual disabilities and she wanted to find a way to assist them with life’s challenges, she told BridgeDetroit.
“I’m definitely inspired by my family, and I have a purpose that I’m trying to carry out,” Christina Jordan said.
After graduating from WVU in 2020, Jordan found that purpose by teaming up with her mother, Anisha Jordan, to establish Safeway Community Services, a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving youth in underserved communities and individuals with disabilities. In the past three years, Safeway has served around 1,000 people through its autism awareness training, special education support, and community events, Christina Jordan said, including around 700 people in Detroit.
The organization also offers an independent living program for adults with disabilities.
“My mom and I created [Safeway] to help them [Christopher and Christian], and now we have them semi-independently living on their own,” Christina Jordan, 27, said. “They have support services, they are able to go to school and things like that. Once we figured out that the system that we created works, we wanted to be able to share that with other people.”
One of Safeway’s signature initiatives is a free youth summer sports camp, where kids can learn how to play football, tennis, and track and field, as well as cheer and dance. The camp has taken place at West Bloomfield High School and Metropolitan Racquet Club in past years. While the program was not offered in 2025, Christina Jordan said she hopes to bring it back next year.
Safeway has programming for a broad range of age groups, Christina Jordan said. About 80% of the children served come from Detroit Public Schools Community District, with others coming from nearby cities like Redford and Southfield.
“For the autism awareness program, those are typically all ages because we’re spreading awareness to not only the kids, but to the caregivers,” she said. “Our programs range from youth as small as three and it goes all the way up until 35.”
Another Safeway program is designed for people with or without disabilities who were formerly enrolled in college and wish to return.
“We’re working on bridging the gap and helping individuals go back to college,” added Anisha Jordan, a special education teacher. “We partner with Talladega University in Alabama, and we’re looking to expand that and get more colleges on board.
“We want to provide extended services to these individuals, whether it’s into homes, education, transportation.”
The majority of the nonprofit’s programming and events are self-funded by the Jordans. However, the organization has started to receive interest from donors this year, Christina Jordan said.
Safeway does not currently have a physical location open to the public, the organization meets the community in schools, libraries, and online, Christina Jordan said. She hopes to eventually open an office space in downtown Detroit.
On the Jordans’ agenda for next year is a plan to expand Safeway’s teen mentorship program, Safe Track. Along with the existing program in Detroit, Safe Track will be offered in Houston, Pittsburgh, and Charleston, West Virginia.
Houston has been home for Christina Jordan for the last three years and she has ties to Charlestown and Pittsburgh from her college years. In August, Safeway held a back-to-school drive in South Charleston and a financial literacy workshop for Pittsburgh Public Schools in September.
“I just noticed that those kids are eager to learn, and being able to spread and share the support that we have with other people is super important,” Christina Jordan said. “I want to be able to expand that across the U.S.”
Creating a safe space
Anisha Jordan began her teaching career more than 20 years ago at DPSCD, working with students at the Drew Transition Center and the now-closed Cooley High School. She’s now with the Redford Union School District.
The Jordans came up with the name Safeway because they want to provide a safe space for the people they serve, she said.
“That’s how I’ve always built my environments,” Anisha Jordan said. “It’s about safety first, whether they’re at home or in the schools. When working with people with disabilities, you gotta have the right people around you.”
The Jordans mostly work with people with cognitive disabilities like autism, as well as people with physical disabilities. People can sign up for the organization’s programs by calling or sending a message through the website. Donations to Safeway can be made via its Zeffy page.
Since the mother and daughter can’t handle everything on their own, they hire contract staffers and interns to facilitate programs and events, Christina Jordan said.
Keeping the faith
As an athlete, Christina Jordan knew she had to incorporate sports into Safeway’s programming.
One of the biggest events the nonprofit has hosted so far is its inaugural celebrity softball game in June at The Corner Ballpark in Corktown. The all-star local roster included R&B artist Ronnie “Detroit Zeus” Irons, Minnesota Vikings player Tavierre Thomas, former Detroit Lions player Joique Bell, and rapper Vae Vanilla.
The organization awarded its first $1,000 scholarship during the event to Lincoln Neely, a Plymouth Canton graduate who was part of the Safe Track program.
Neely, 18, is now studying computer science at Michigan State University. He said Safeway provided him with so much more than the funds. Christina Jordan worked with Neely to help him figure out where he wanted to apply to college, helped him with his essays, and explained the financial aid process. She also helped him with time management, which was essential since Neely was a high school swimmer and had trouble balancing practices with classes. As an athlete herself, Christina was able to help him prioritize.
“I faced some challenges adapting to AP classes in high school. I was going to drop them. Christina and the Safeway program helped me stick with it,” he said. “It felt good to know I had people behind me who wanted to see me be successful. Whenever I had a low point, I could go to her for help.”
Neely says he aspires to work for a company like Microsoft or Google to help create or adapt technology to make it easier for everyone to use.
Program lead Gia Thomas said it’s important that Safeway donors are able to see the impact of their contributions, whether it’s helping get someone like Neely into a good college or assisting other kids with confidence through sports.
“People will really support you when it’s a good cause,” Thomas said. “And a lot of people, when they’re donating their time and money, they sometimes don’t know where the money’s going. We make sure you see what we’re doing and that’s really important for our events.”
Christina Jordan is already seeing how Safeway is affecting her brothers.
Christopher Jordan is enrolled at Lawrence Technological University in its business management program and Christian is showing an interest in going to the college, she said.
“Seeing how much he’s [Christopher] grown, it really makes me super proud,” Christina Jordan said. “And my other brother, he’s making strides every single day.”
The Jordans said they are excited to see what comes next for Safeway.
“Just to see how far we have come is exciting and inspiring and it motivates us because now we know that we can do this. We only want to keep pushing forward,” Christina Jordan said. “Initially, our goal was to just serve the community in Detroit, but we said over the last year, we noticed that there’s a need in the US and all over the world, so we want to be able to grow as much as possible and serve as many people as possible.”
Meanwhile, Anisha Jordan is enjoying serving others with her daughter by her side.
“Being able to have Christina on my team really helps me,” she said. “I’m happy to be able to teach her to expand herself into the community and be able to help others.”
Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.
