Features

Feature Story A headline from the July 25, 1934 edition of the Detroit Free Press

HISTORY LESSON: Fire, blood and baseball on the hottest, most chaotic day in Detroit history

July 24, 1934, was a day filled with extremes; lumber fires, traffic deaths, police crackdowns, baseball hysteria, and City Hall hijinks.

Longform Head Start and similar programs build academic skills as well as social and emotional strengths. 

60 years of Head Start. What's next?

As Head Start marked its 60th anniversary this past May, the program’s legacy stands as more than a historical benchmark. It offers a powerful example of how early learning can drive equity, resilience, and long-term impact. 

Feature Story Summit Pointe youth staff. CMHs collaborate with schools and families to provide care to kids and teens.

Community mental health advocates take stand against privatization plan

Community Mental Health Association of Michigan (CMHA) advocates against proposed MDHHS plan to privatize community mental health care.

Partner Content JPMorganChase volunteers

JPMorganChase teams up with the Pope Francis Center to help serve homeless in Detroit

JPMorgan Chase is partnering with the Pope Francis Center to support its new housing campus and efforts to serve people experiencing homelessness in Detroit.

Longform Community collaborations help coordinate shelter, food, clothing, and other basic needs alongside behavioral health services. Community Action of Allegan County home-delivered meals drivers.

Mental health agencies strengthen services through community collaborations

Across Michigan, community mental health (CMH) agencies are expanding their reach through partnerships with local organizations that address housing, transportation, and other barriers to care. These collaborations aim to create a more coordinated and accessible mental health system, particularly for individuals with complex needs.  

Feature Story Alberto Ruiz, owner of El Amanecer in Ecorse

From aspiring to own a restaurant to dishing out tostones: Program brings small businesses to lifeResilient Neighborhoods Feature

A Puerto Rican entrepreneur opens his restaurant with a noble dream, much perseverance, and plenty of guidance from a Detroit program aimed at people who want to start their own businesses.

Feature Story Former President and CEO Christi Coady Narayanan speaks at one of Opp Fund's anniversary events. Courtesy photo.

OppFund looks back on impact with 40th anniversary; new leadership looks to continue legacy

For more than 35 years, Christi Coady Narayanan led the transformative work of the Opportunity Resource Fund (OppFund), as the President and CEO of the nonprofit community development financial institution. She retired last month, passing the torch to the new President and CEO Byna Elliott, to continue the organization’s unwavering commitment and innovation in empowering individuals, businesses, and communities all over the state.

Longform Rx Kids has provided for the Wright family stability during an unpredictable time.

More than a stipend: Rx Kids is transforming childhood beginnings

Rx Kids, the country’s first universal and unconditional cash prescription program for pregnant people and infants, provides financial support to every eligible family within a geographic area, no income requirements, no strings attached. Families receive a one-time $1,500 payment during pregnancy and $500 per month during the baby’s first year of life.  

Feature Story Kevin Fischer3

Medicaid cuts threaten Michigan’s mental health

Federal Medicaid cuts threaten the very lives of those living with serious mental illness, disabilities, and substance use disorders as well as the quality of life and livelihoods of those managing their mental health care with medications and support that Medicaid currently covers.  

Feature Story A prescribed burn at Kensington Metropark.

Where there's smoke, there may be environmental renewal: How parks use fire to support nature

A burning field, forest, or prairie in your local park may be an alarming sight, but sometimes it's actually a sign of an intentional, controlled process with significant benefits for the environment. 

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