Detroit’s payroll jobs and the number of employed residents are expected to continue to climb during the next few years along with sustained real wage growth, according to University of Michigan economists. Still, positive trends are tempered by challenges that include more than three-fifths of Detroiters living in lower-income households—more than twice the national average.

Five years ago, Stephanie Steinberg created the ultimate writers group. The University of Michigan alumna, former editor in chief of the Michigan Daily and journalist for US News and World Report, CNN, the Boston Globe, USA Today and The Detroit News, had been writing about entrepreneurs and decided to become one herself. She launched the Detroit Writing Room in 2019.

“Through the Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project’s summer internship program, Impact Studio for Local Business, I am proud to say that I am now working with the small businesses that I used to drive past, helping entrepreneurs like my grandfather to make key changes to their businesses and support Detroit neighborhoods.”

~ Samuel Ibri

Alumna Stephanie Steinberg launched Coaching Detroit Forward, the nonprofit arm of the Detroit Writing Room, to share writing and photography skills with students in Detroit. Professional coaches share tips and student work is published in Perspectives magazine.

a new report led by the University of Michigan School of Public Health details the first-hand experiences of nearly 1,300 parents in rural and urban Michigan; their challenges signing up for food assistance, the stress and shame of having to ask for help with food, and parents’ deep commitment to making sure their children are fed—even if it means that they go without.

As the senior medical producer for WDIV-TV in Detroit, alumna Sarah Mayberry utilizes the latest in medical research and healthcare information to educate and inform her viewers. That is her personally crafted job description.