To make sure their business solutions are targeted toward Detroit small business needs, community engagement will take a center role in the course like never before.

Brilliant Detroit runs a host of programs out of houses-turned-community hubs in 14 neighborhoods across the city. On a mission to create “kid success” neighborhoods, the nonprofit offers tutoring, GED preparation and testing, health and fitness classes, nutrition information, reading activities, and social-emotional and mental health services for children and their families. It was co-founded by two U-M alums in 2016 and has partnered with the university from the beginning.

The Office of the Vice Provost for Engaged Learning has announced the 2023 Engage Detroit Workshops grant program, designed to support a new workshop or speaker series on a topic that connects U-M with Detroit communities.

Among the 73% of Detroiters who believe the average Black person is worse off than the average White person in terms of income and wealth, 71% support reparations and 75% say policies that address racial inequality should be a high priority. Among the 14% of Detroiters who believe the average Black person is equally well off as the average White person, 38% support reparations. 

Does it matter who is telling the story? Moderated by Rochelle Riley, former Detroit Free Press columnist and the Arts and Culture director for the city of Detroit, the panel explored individual responsibility, how to teach people to take a deeper look at what diversity means and how we can all play a part in changing the narratives around us.

From U-M to GM, May Mobility and now Newlab Detroit, Alisyn Malek has become one of the country’s top innovators. Named one of the top-10 innovators to watch by the Smithsonian Institution, her experience as a founder and entrepreneur has served her well for her most recent endeavor. In July she became managing director of Newlab Detroit, a collaboration with Michigan Central, Ford Motor Co.’s mobility innovation district in Corktown. 

Earl Lewis, the Thomas C. Holt Distinguished University Professor of History, Afroamerican and African Studies, and Public Policy, will be the first U-M faculty member to receive this prestigious award.

Researchers found that Black patients were 1.62 times more likely to be readmitted to the hospital within 90 days of discharge after the procedure and were 1.45 times more likely to die in long-term follow-up when adjusting for age and gender.

“When I talk about leadership with my students, we’ve talked a lot about social identities. We interrogate the history of leadership studies and we complicate that picture to be more inclusive of the people who actually make up our institutions today.”

~ Fatema Haque, U-M lecturer and program manager