"During the pandemic, we realized that we couldn't talk to anybody about civic engagement or anything else until their needs were met," says Kermit Williams, co-director of Oakland Forward in Pontiac. "People need to know that you care about them before they can even begin to consider deeper issues."
COVID-19 has inflicted a disproportionate burden on many groups, but one of the least recognized is people living with autism spectrum disorder.
Michigan health care leaders are advocating for investments to support staffing needs in hospitals, nursing facilities, emergency medical services, and workforce training programs.
Economic development is more critical than ever, as our communities work to recover from the devastating impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, including the loss of many small, local businesses. Leaders in the field point to past project successes to demonstrate impact in Detroit, and what role they might play post-COVID.
Using Michigan Fitness Foundation’s Promoting Active Communities assessment and tools, GIRESD staff are on their way to having a better understanding of the barriers to active living and finding solutions to overcome those barriers.
Over the course of the next year, we’ll be taking a deeper dive into Detroit’s commercial corridors; some of them widely known and appreciated, and others that should be.
“I’m seeing people making similar things going through similar struggles, and especially here in Detroit — but I’m also seeing them persevere,” says furniture designer Andre Sandifer. “I think Detroit has this reputation that people here are strong; you persevere and you get through stuff. I think that attitude is definitely heavily rooted here.”
Eastern Upper Peninsula Intermediate School District staff have spearheaded numerous initiatives through the LifeSPAN program, which gives families the tools to lead all-around healthier lives.
Placemaking and communty-oriented development can take a lot of different forms. Here are three minority-led Detroit development efforts that are putting community up front in their work.
Transit in Metro Detroit costs low-income people of color disproportionately more in terms of costs, travel time, and access to their jobs or job opportunities. COVID has made it worse, but these are longstanding problems— and proposed responses would require political will to implement them.
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