Marissa Pierce was a “kid” to Janice Harden when she was in high school and lived in the same neighborhood Harden lived in. But Pierce was still one of Harden’s “kids” many years later, when Pierce was established in her career, bought her own home, and moved back to that same neighborhood.
“I mean, all the kids that she knew, she was like, ‘Those are my babies. Those are my kids,’” Pierce said. “She would always just introduce you that way. The community was a family for her. The Janices of our community are so vital, especially for younger people coming up. You need guidance to navigate some of the intricate things about Flint. That was a cool thing about her. She could work with anyone.”
Pierce, who is now the director of development at the Flint Institute of Arts, counts Harden among her strong mentors.
“She was always super supportive of any programs that I was starting and initiatives,” Pierce said. “I knew she would be a champion for it. She was always really supportive. She knew my family growing up. So when I entered the work world, she was one of those people that I knew was watching out for me.”
Harden, a longtime advocate for Flint and a wide range of people and causes within the city, died on January 2 at age 70. She leaves behind an enormous legacy of positivity and support for the place and people that she loved. A cornerstone of that passion was her belief in helping younger generations understand the importance of community.
“We’d be out doing things and she’d see young people, and she’d say, let’s go over there and see what they’re doing. Let’s go and talk to them,” said Karen Weaver, PhD, former Flint Mayor who knew Harden for about 40 years. “If she saw young people, she wanted to be involved and get to know them. That’s just part of her legacy. She’d always say, ‘We’re not gonna be here forever. We need to help them. We need to bring them along. We need to teach them and guide them.’ But she always recognized that we had something to learn from them as well. It was never a one-way street. And I think that was why young people gravitated to Janice as well, because it wasn’t her saying, ‘I’m the teacher, I’m the expert. I know everything.’ It was, ‘Here’s what I can share with you and here’s what you can share with me.’ And so she made it that kind of reciprocal relationship.”
Essence Wilson, chief strategy officer at Communities First, Inc., often saw those interactions at the many family events Communities First hosted that Harden volunteered at, or even in playful moments with Wilson’s own children.
“She could be an event dancing with my children while also registering people and greeting people,” Wilson said. “She just saw everybody, you know? She would look you in the eye and ask you how you were doing and make you feel like you were the most important person in that moment, and to her, you really were. And so I think that that carries on when you can observe a person who cares that much for others and cares that much for the community.”
Wilson, Pierce, and Weaver all separately described Harden with the same phrase: “Life of the party.” And, in part, that was because she had a unique way of making so many people in her orbit not just a friend, they were family.
“Everybody knew her,” Wilson said. “She had so many real cousins, play cousins, people that called her auntie. And then even with kids, there were Jan Jan’s girls and, and Jan Jan’s guys. She just made everybody feel welcome and just had a way of being that was uniquely hers, I’ve never really met anyone quite like her.”
A Love and Focus on Community
Harden was born in Detroit, but has always felt like a Flintstone – Weaver said that she’s one of those people who it feels like “has just always been here.”
She graduated from Flint Northwestern, and then earned her accounting degree from Ferris State before beginning a more than 30-year career at General Motors. After retiring, she also worked for Hamilton Health Network and Genesee County Community Action Resource Department (GCCARD).
But one of the biggest ways she gave back to the community was through service as a board member, volunteer, and advocate for several causes. She was a board member of the Flint Institute of Arts, was heavily involved with the Urban League of Flint and its college scholarship fund, and was a volunteer with Communities First for about 12 years.
Wilson noted that, for much of Communities First’s 15-year history, Harden was a major influence in the organization. Communities First is a nonprofit organization focused on community building through economic development, affordable housing, and programming that improves quality of life for residents. In addition to several significant housing developments, the organization also does several family-friendly events throughout the year that provide cultural and artistic experiences, promote financial literacy, and create networking opportunities. Many of those components of the organization’s mission aligned with Harden’s personal passions.
“I think it was that she could see the tangible results that we were making in the community,” Wilson said. “She often talked about being able to see the impact and see the difference that we were making. And she could be a part of something where she would volunteer at Movies Under the Stars and the kids would come and you really can’t deny the impact made on hundreds of kids coming out and having a lot of fun and seeing families together in a safe place.”
Harden’s family directed memorial contributions in her honor toward Communities First.
Among the many ways she served the organization, Harden was on the committee for Communities First’s annual African American Film Series. Not only did Harden play a critical role in helping shape the films and speakers chosen each year, she was also a prominent figure during screenings at the FIA.
“She was very thoughtful about the types of films that we were selecting and who the speakers were going to be,” Wilson said. “She became much more than a volunteer. She certainly became family in so many different ways. Her going to the African American Film Series was like a family reunion it felt like with the number of people that she knew that were there.”
Pierce noted that Harden’s presence on the FIA’s board also made a major impact, particularly with the annual Community Gala. The Gala, held each January, is in its 19th year and has become an important fundraiser for the museum. Money raised from the Community Gala now allows the FIA to purchase artworks each year, supporting the expansion of the collection as a whole but particularly with work from Black artists.
“She was an art lover,” Pierce said. “She was just an integral part of the growth of the fundraiser. Now we’re at a point where we raise funds that go to the purchase of artwork. I think the involvement of people like Janice was just such an important part of that.”
Her involvement at the FIA also nurtured a side of Harden that not everyone in the community got to see: she was an artist herself.
“She was an avid painter, and took classes here for a number of years,” Pierce said.
Part of the reason not everyone saw Harden’s work is that it was actually in very high-demand. It would frequently sell out. Weaver said she hosted an event about two years ago, and Harden donated a painting for the silent auction.
“People were fighting over it, I wish you could’ve seen the people that kept signing that sheet trying to get Janice’s art,” Weaver said.
Harden also once had a reception during Flint Art Walk. Weaver said she arrived around 30 minutes after it had started, and all of her pieces were already sold out.
“It was just like, what do you mean everything is gone?” Weaver said.
Weaver also said that Harden had a love and appreciation for nature, especially community gardens – she found them hard to pass up no matter where she’d encounter one, often stopping what she was doing to pick some fresh vegetables.
“She liked to explore and try new things,” Weaver said. “Sometimes we’d be walking the streets, we’re campaigning and she’s like, ‘There’s a garden. Let’s go over there.’ She would stop and take time to enjoy nature.”
Loyalty and Honesty
Many of the people Harden worked with and helped over the years have shared on social media powerful examples of ways she supported them. But at a simpler level, she impacted many around her by simply living her life with honesty and genuine care for others.
As Mayor of Flint, Weaver found immense value in Harden’s willingness to tell her the truth – even if it wasn’t always what she wanted to hear. Harden was tireless in her positivity and advocacy for the city and for causes she was passionate about.
“Sometimes you get tired and she’s like, ‘Nope, let’s keep going. Let’s do this’,” Weaver said. “She would give you that extra boost, that extra energy. But she wasn’t going to tell you what you wanted to hear. She was gonna tell you what she believed you needed to know or hear. She’d say, ‘I wouldn’t tell you this if I didn’t love you.’ But you knew she was right. And those are the kind of people that we need in our lives, especially when you’re in a position like mayor or any kind of leadership position. You need people to tell you the truth and be honest, but do it in a way that you can receive and hear that information.”
Wilson said that Harden always focused on wanting to support the community rather than dwelling on the negative.
“I think a lot of it had to do with her faith and belief in the good in other people and wanting to be a part of giving back to a community that had given a lot to her,” Wilson said. “She had a way of not saying negative things about others. You could just trust that and that there was no ill intent. It was just that kind of gentle guidance, to be helpful.”
Pierce said that Harden’s approach was consistent whether people sought her out for work-related guidance, or for personal matters.
“I think she was fun and she was genuine,” Pierce said. “You know when you were talking to Janice, you were gonna get a real answer. You weren’t gonna get something sugarcoated. She was gonna tell you what was the right thing to do or what was right for the community or what was even right for you if you were going to her for personal advice.”
Carrying the Torch
Harden is survived by sister Mary (Tommy) Childres; nieces Dajuana (Trey) Harden Smith, Tiffany Harden, April DeLoney; nephews Thomas (Tamia) Childres and Robert Jermaine Harden, great nieces Olivia DeLoney, Royalty Harden, and Shonell Harden; great-nephews Mason Childres, Sean DeLoney Jr., and Victor Moorer Jr.; godson Marreon Givens; and a long list of cousins, relatives, and friends including special cousin Sheena Manuel; sister-in-law Lavonne Harden; and special friends Desiree Johnson, Brenda Greene, Kat Etherly, Earnestine Lattimore, and Lou Bruce. She was preceded in death by her son DeSean Harden; mother Robbie Harden; and brothers Robert Harden and Jerry Harden.
She also leaves behind countless community members whose lives she and the advocacy work she was involved in impacted.
“It really just speaks to her commitment to the city,” Wilson said. “Janice was always involved in pretty much everything positive that was going on in the community. She tended to stay away from anything that was negative. She was very much about who’s making a difference. What could she do to contribute and be a part of it?”
The void Harden leaves is clear, but so is the blueprint she’s left behind for others to continue advocating for the community in the pure way that she did.
“She just loved Flint. She loved the community. She wanted to give back in whatever capacity she could,” Pierce said. “I hope that those of us that knew her and loved her and will miss her, we carry on her legacy. Some people, you know, they’re not real. They’re not genuine. They don’t have the city’s best interests at heart. And I hope that we kind of carry on a little bit of Janice with us because I think that ultimately she did have the city’s best interests at heart and this community and its people, and I hope we think about that when we’re volunteering or making important decisions, or even just talking about the community. She always had a positive outlook. And I think a lot of times when people talk about Flint, it’s not always positive. So I hope we’ll think about her and we’ll say, you know what, if I’m getting ready to say something negative, I’m not going to, I’m going to be a champion for Flint, like she was.”
Weaver recounted many experiences knocking on doors with Harden during her campaign, and witnessing Harden’s ability to make genuine connections with people whether it was someone she knew, or it was a person she was meeting for the first time.
“She just loved life,” Weaver said. “One of our last conversations, she said, ‘You know what I’m going to do? I’m gonna live my life.’ She wasn’t one that would go and say, ‘I feel sorry for myself.’ She had such a positive attitude and outlook that it rubbed off on you. There are people that have made Flint great, and she’s one of them. And you can see that from the outpouring from the community. People are posting pictures of her all over. They’re saying just wonderful things. It’s such a loss to this community. We’ll be at events and we’re going to be looking for Janice. We’re gonna miss her. She would walk in and say, ‘Okay, now let’s get this started. It couldn’t start without me.’ And you’d just laugh and say, ‘Okay, let’s go Janice.’ She’s gonna be tremendously missed in this community, and you can’t replace her, they’re huge shoes to fill, but you hope that what she did, how she was, that it rubbed off and we can carry on what she would want us to be doing.”
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