“…bringing “American Rhapsody” home both geographically and artistically is something that I’m really looking forward to. And I think that the Detroit audience is really going to enjoy the piece because so many of the issues are very germane to Detroit and to our community,”
~ Aaron Dworkin

Can grocery delivery improve the health of pregnant women? Are neighborhood entrepreneurship programs increasing economic mobility for low-income Detroiters? What role could a modern greenhouse play in expanding the ancient African art of bead-making in Detroit? These are research questions three teams of community and academic partners will tackle this year with support from the Detroit Urban Research Center and Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan.

At the end of 50 years, Anika Goss sees a city with productive, intentional green spaces, a Detroit with economic clusters with great jobs, and neighborhoods that have diverse housing choices and transportation options and family-friendly services. 

The Detroit Partnership facilitates weekly volunteering programs within the city throughout the academic year. Approximately 60 volunteers drive weekly to the city and support Detroit-based youth organizations such as Alternatives for Girls and Racquet Up Detroit.

To commemorate the legacy of civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., the University of Michigan’s 2020 MLK Symposium will focus on the complexities associated with diversity and highlighting the diversity within marginalized communities.

Woodworking equipment whirs as teens turn out the latest in creations and consumer products that have come from years of making things at the Brightmoor Maker Space in Detroit.

Since the September 2018 launch, the P-20 partners – including The Kresge Foundation and the University of Michigan School of Education – have opened the School at Marygrove to its inaugural class and broken ground on a $15 million Early Childhood Education center to open in fall 2021.

Funding for the Detroit program expansion is supported by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services through the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, the Ethel and James Flinn Foundation, the Michigan Health Endowment Fund, the Prosper Road Foundation, and several other generous sponsors. 

A working paper by University of Michigan-Dearborn Assistant Professor Joshua Akers and Rutgers University Assistant Professor Eric Seymour outlines the housing policies and other factors that have allowed speculative buyers to contribute to neighborhood instability and blight in Detroit.