Robin Jacob talks about the findings from a survey in the Detroit Public Schools Community District, which showed that a significant number of students in the district had symptoms of anxiety or depression within the past year. She explains that the survey was conducted in collaboration with the TRAILS program at U-M to understand the level of need so they could tailor programming to those needs.

The project focuses on Zone 8, a predominantly Black neighborhood in Detroit, which takes its name from its zip code. Zone 8 experiences many of the inequalities that ravaged all of Detroit in the past decades — unemployment, addiction, persistent poverty, lack of affordable housing — in hyper-focused ways.

“We are very proud of being able to create a space for the community to be welcomed on a day-to-day basis, but also to have their voices heard, whether that’s in local activists or community members having a Q&A and discussion, or just having more representative films. Representation really does matter.”
~ Tim Guthat

The project builds on Tawanna Dillahunt and Julie Hui’s partnership with the Friends of Parkside to pilot a “community tech worker” program to assist seniors requiring technology-related support. Tech workers will be embedded at Jefferson East to develop a sustainable, useful model that will help bridge the digital divide for small businesses. 

The study gives Detroit PAL the expertise needed to assess and improve measurement tools and a research-based confirmation of a statistically significant result from their work.

While there was no evidence of significant gender differences in who was unemployed, the reported reasons for unemployment were different among women and men. Forty percent of unemployed women report they are not working in part due to family obligations, compared to only 12% of unemployed men.

The study finds the average wage rate at jobs located in Detroit last year was around 23% higher than in the state overall. However, high wages at those employers don’t translate into high average wages for city residents. Wage and salary income for an employed resident averaged $36,100 in 2020. 

The discomfort that many adults feel toward vaccinating the children in their household is also evident in their willingness to obtain a COVID-19 vaccine for themselves. Adults living in Detroit households with children are about half as likely (38%) as adults living in Detroit households without children (70%) to report that they have been vaccinated against COVID-19. 

In 2021, the program evolved again with 31 students. They partnered with 19 Detroit-based businesses that wanted insights, information and execution on real projects that could help them not only survive this historical moment but find additional customers, develop new processes and develop long-lasting revenue.