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.

U-M’s economic forecasters analyzed Detroit’s living wage in comparison with “peer” cities. They found only 36% of Detroit residents earn a living wage, compared with 45% in Milwaukee, 48% in Cleveland and 60% in Chicago. Minneapolis has the highest share among cities, though still less than two-thirds of its primary earners make a living wage.  

ArcPrep runs five days a week at the Michigan Research Studio in downtown Detroit, a block away from the U-M Detroit Center. The program takes DPSCD students through five modules a semester. Each module—tool box; food, culture and access; institutions and civil liberties; technology and the city; final project—is meant to show students opportunities of the practice.

Back to school brings several challenges, from student learning, expectations of academic success and mental health concerns among children to questioning technology replacing educators and AI and the ongoing shortage of teachers, school staff and supplies. University of Michigan experts can address these and other issues as students return to school.

Quan Neloms, a veteran Detroit educator who’s been a lecturer at UM-Dearborn since 2021, likes to joke that his early studio experience made him the first member of Lyricist Society, the after-school group he started in 2009.

A team of doctoral students working to improve home energy efficiency and to lower monthly utility bills for low- and moderate-income households in Detroit have been recognized with a Michigan Difference Student Leadership Award.

Community Action to Promote Healthy Environments at the University of Michigan School of Public Health is a research partnership that includes community-based and health organizations, representatives from governmental organizations along with academic partners working to develop and implement components of a public health action plan to improve air quality and health in Detroit.

The Detroit Food Commons, located at the corner of Woodward and Euclid, is scheduled to open in February 2024. The 31,000-square-foot facility is built in partnership by the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network and Develop Detroit. The co-op is committed to offering as much locally grown produce as possible – and particularly produce that is grown within the city of Detroit.