LEAF Harm Reduction · The Ypsilantian

211 E. Michigan Ave, 2nd Floor, Ypsilanti · Director: Corn Williams · Open 7 days/week, 8am–5pm

LEAF Harm Reduction operates from the second floor of 211 E. Michigan Avenue in downtown Ypsilanti, one block east of the Washington/Michigan intersection. Director Corn Williams described its approach to WEMU in November 2025: "The best way is really just to come by. We're open seven days a week from 8 to 5. And we would love to see folks in spades to come and bring ideas on how we can better serve the community."

LEAF offers clean syringes, drug checking, food, respite, and naloxone. Its mission is rooted in harm reduction — a public health approach focused on reducing overdose deaths and treating people who use drugs with dignity. Michigan overdose deaths dropped significantly over the past year, and harm reduction programs like LEAF are credited as a contributing factor.

LEAF operates at the center of Ypsilanti's contested harm reduction policy framework. The city passed Ordinance 1465, which created zoning permissions for harm reduction services. The ordinance was opposed by residents and business owners who argued it enabled open drug markets near downtown commercial areas. Simmons' 2024 recall petition cited "the Growing Hope open-drug market situation" as a grievance — Growing Hope, founded by Amanda Edmonds, operates near the same downtown corridor.

The tension is geographic and political: LEAF provides documented public health services — overdose prevention, clean needles, drug checking — in a corridor that also hosts the city's transit center (requiring armed security due to frequent violence), a fire-damaged closed strip club, vacant storefronts, and documented open drug activity. The city's harm reduction framework and the ground-level conditions of downtown Ypsilanti exist simultaneously in the same quarter-mile.

LEAF staffer KJ Pedri was arrested in connection with a YPD call for service at or near the park adjacent to the Ypsilanti District Library (229 W. Michigan — one block west of LEAF). The call appears related to a substance use or overdose incident in the park. Pedri's specific conduct — and whether it constituted obstruction of that response — has not been independently confirmed by The Ypsilantian and remains pending verification. This was a YPD call for service, not an ICE enforcement action.

Ordinance 1465 — Harm Reduction Zoning The city passed Ordinance 1465 creating zoning that permits harm reduction operations like LEAF's. The ordinance is one of the documented accountability items in The Ypsilantian's network — connecting city council voting patterns to the physical reality of downtown Ypsilanti.

Desiraé Simmons — Policy Alignment Simmons' recall opponents cited downtown drug conditions — adjacent to the Growing Hope / LEAF corridor — as evidence of failed policy. Simmons opposed the recall and retained her seat 467–429 in May 2024. She is considered ideologically aligned with the harm reduction framework.

Transit Center — Same Block The Ypsilanti Transit Center at Pearl Street — one block north of LEAF on Washington — has armed security due to frequent violence and received $750,000 in federal security funding. The federal government's response to conditions in this corridor was a security investment, not additional harm reduction funding.

Care-Based Safety — $1M Unarmed Responder Program The city's $1M unarmed response program (Care-Based Safety, sunsetted March 2026) operated in the same policy space as LEAF — an alternative to law enforcement response to substance use and mental health crises. The program's sunset while the transit center maintains armed security illustrates the contested policy terrain.