Elizabeth James, now a program manager with the LSA Department of Afroamerican and African Studies, was nearly three years old when her grandmother packed a lunch for the two of them and set out to join a walk that was part of the Civil Rights Movement. It was June 23, 1963 ,and the event was officially called the Detroit Walk to Freedom.

The Office of the Vice President for Research has awarded nearly $450,000 in grants across seven research teams to investigate the effects of systemic racism and inform strategies to combat them. These include two project teams working on Detroit topics.

For Michigan Law faculty member Dana Thompson, the law isn’t just a profession. It’s a way to bring about economic change and further social justice. Thompson was born in Detroit and is a true Motowner – her father worked for Motown Records as a writer, arranger, and lyricist. She leads the Detroit-based Community Enterprise Clinic that connects law students with clients in the city.

Joshua Sirefman leads what some see as the most important economic development project in Michigan. Sirefman is chief executive officer of Michigan Central, a sprawling, 30-acre mobility district centered at the historic, but long-abandoned Michigan Central Station in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood.

Detroit Greenways Coalition, Doing Development Differently in Metro Detroit (D4), GreenPath Financial Wellness, Southwest Economic Solutions Corporation, and Communities First Inc. were recently awarded grants of up to $200,000 each from United Way for Southeastern Michigan – a total investment of more than $1 million – to pilot their ideas as part of the Detroit Financial Well-Being Innovation Challenge. 

Detroit had the highest proportion of adults with severe disease based on responses about symptom severity and hospitalization, while the southwest region of the state had the highest proportion of adults with long COVID—persistent symptoms 90+ days after COVID-19 onset.

The School at Marygrove is in the Detroit Public Schools Community District, located in northwest Detroit, and the site of the nation’s first teaching school.

Detroit Black Community Food Security Network, community-based nonprofit led by Malik Yakini, works to give Detroiters food security, food justice and food sovereignty – and, in doing so, is leading the conversation about the need for racial justice and equity in the food system. 

Sandoval was part of the U-M’s Health Sciences Scholars Program while earning her undergraduate degree. The program is a learning community that helps students explore various health science careers. A first-generation college student, Sandoval studied evolutionary anthropology and conducted lab research in that field while also shadowing various professional units on campus, including the dental school, medical school and social work, among others.