About Model D

Model D is an award-winning digital news magazine, and Detroit institution, focused on the dynamic communities, businesses, and residents of Detroit, Michigan. We cover what's next in entrepreneurship, creative culture, and urban development in and around the city, and are part of the Issue Media Group family.

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and SIGN UP for our free weekly newsletter!


Meet the Model D team, and contact us here:
 

Mike Galbraith, news editor
If the name sounds familiar you might recognize it from his byline in our sister Urban Innovation Exchange publication. Galbraith has also contributed stories to the University Research Corridor, Workforce Intelligence Network, and Mode Shift. Galbraith is also a singer-songwriter who has performed in area coffee houses, pubs, and music venues, including the Lager House and the Old Miami. If you have a development news tip for Galbraith, drop him a line here.

Contributors:
Nina IgnaczakPatrick DunnDavid SandsSarah WilliamsErin Marie MillerGreg Tasker, Melinda Clynes, Ellen Piligian, Biba AdamsRandiah Camille Green, Kahn Santori Davison, Kyla Wright, Sam Corey, Leah Olajide, Sarah Gudenau, Blake Woodruff, Sierra Okoniewski, Layla McMurtrie, Genevieve Fox, Veronica Johnson
 
Nick Hagen, managing photographer
Nick is a Detroit-based portrait and documentary photographer interested in showcasing the world in the most objective and truthful way possible. His work has been commissioned both nationally and internationally. His professional and personal photography can be viewed here. Follow him on Instagram @nickhagenphoto for pictures of funny signs.

Photography Contributors:
David LewinskiDoug CoombeJoe PowersSteve KossValaurian Waller, Rosa Maria Zamarron

Social Media: Chrishelle Griffin, Lauren Reid, Madeline Mason, Cayla Smith
 
Emeritus Editors and Editors-at-Large: Kate Roff, Dorothy Hernandez, Nina Ignaczak, Biba Adams

AWARDS

From the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Detroit Chapter’s 2023 Excellence in Journalism awards:

- 1st in Education Reporting - Sarah Williams, Rosa Maria Zamarrón, Mayté Penman, Biba Adams, Sarah Spohn for the Early Education Matters series.
- 4th in Consumer/Watchdog/Investigative Reporting -  Sarah Williams, Nick Hagen for Has Detroit's weatherization assistance program worked, and what happens to it now?
- 4th in Social Media Strategy  Mike Galbraith, Nick Hagen for our Street View: Detroit Corridors series.
- 4th in Feature reporting -  Sarah Williams, Nick Hagen for Shakespeare in Prison program offers far more than an escape.

From the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Detroit Chapter’s 2022 Excellence in Journalism awards:

- Feature Photography (Print Class C): First Place - Nick Hagen for the way he captured mastercraftsman Carlos Nielbock in Model D, which judges praised for a talented display of using depth of field.
Portrait Photography (Print Class C): First Place - David Lewinski for his photograph of Metro Detroit veterans sharing perspectives on Afghanistan.
Social Media Strategy (Digital): First Place - Mike Galbraith for his innovative style with Model D’s Instagram Explorer series. 
- Consumer/Watchdog/Investigative Reporting: Second Place - Jane Simons, for her insights into how Detroit development can avoid pushing out older adults.
Third place - David Sands, for his powerful story about Detroit’s eviction crisis.
- Feature Reporting: Fourth Place - Barb Pert Templeton for her meaningful coverage of the way staffing shortages solutions offers a chance for more inclusivity.
- Health Reporting: Fourth Place - Sarah Williams for her in-depth reporting on the impact of masks on our deaf communities.
- Newsletter Strategy: Second Place - Biba Adams, Kate Roff, Mike Galbraith, Nina Ignaczak, and Dorothy Hernandez for their relevant and on-point creation of weekly newsletters.
- Portrait Photography: Second Place - Joe Powers for the way he captured Detroit baking entrepreneur Ruth Bell.
Fourth Place - David Lewinski for the way he captured Detroit homeowners in the wake of flooding.

From the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Detroit Chapter’s 2020 Excellence in Journalism awards:
  • First place, community/local news reporting - Kate Roff, Melinda Clynes, Ellen Piligian, Greg Tasker, and Erin Miller for their reporting in Model D’s ‘Building Communities’ series;
  • Second place, consumer/watchdog/investigative reporting - Kate Roff for her story covering minority contractors in Detroit;
  • Third place, feature reporting - Kate Roff for her reporting in Model D’s ‘Detroit Innovation’ series;
  • Honorable mention, feature reporting - Dorothy Hernandez for her story chronicling key places and moments in Detroit’s racial history.
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Model D is published by Issue Media Group. Incorporated in 2005 in Detroit, Michigan, IMG operates a national network of online media outlets leveraging the power of solutions-based journalism to report on community change. Our publications aim to connect readers to their communities’ most visionary and innovative people, projects, businesses, and organizations – fostering civic capacity, improving understanding of key issues, amplifying underserved voices, and building community attachment during a time of local media decline. 
 
We work with like-minded stakeholders across public, private, nonprofit, and grassroots organizations whose values and missions align with ours through an underwriting model of publishing.  Our journalists connect with community stakeholders through regular listening sessions designed to build trust and shape authentic community stories.
 
IMG's work has been recognized and supported by leading journalism organizations nationally including INC Magazine, Knight Foundation, Columbia Journalism Review, Facebook, Lenfest Institute, Google, Solutions Journalism Network, Ground Source, and Society for Professional Journalists.



Michigan Assets 
Issue Media Group’s Michigan footprint of 18 local online community news sites is grounded in cross-sector stakeholder coalitions comprised of leadership in foundations, nonprofits, government and municipalities, education, community and economic development, health, entrepreneurship, and workforce development. Through regular community listening sessions, these leadership coalitions help guide relevant community-informed coverage, increase local audience engagement and ensure influential readership networks.   
 
All Michigan content is published through a growing network of sites that include: Detroit’s Model D, Grand Rapids Rapid Growth, Metro Detroit’s Metromode, Ann Arbor / Ypsilanti’s Concentrate, Kalamazoo / Battle Creek’s Second Wave Southwest, Flint’s Flintside, Port Huron’s The KeelCatalyst Midland, Route Bay City, Epicenter Mount Pleasant, UPword in the Upper Peninsula, and Rural Innovation Exchange covering Michigan's rural community. Every week, Second Wave is published to a statewide audience featuring a listing of top stories from across IMG’s network of sites. Current Michigan assets include over 120 community partners, 80 journalists, 4.6 million annual readers, 280,000 emails, and 213,000 social media followers.

Detroit's Model D: www.modeldmedia.com 
Second Wave (statewide):  www.secondwavemedia.