Consultations are free to Detroit small business owners through a Community Tech Consultants program run by the University of Michigan in partnership with Jefferson East Inc and Live6 Alliance. The program equips local residents to provide tech support and digital skill development for small business owners, while strengthening community ties. 

Founded in 1995, the Detroit URC envisions a future that involves addressing the root causes of inequity, building bridges, fostering new partnerships, and investing in a new era of scholars, practitioners, and community-based leaders who are deeply committed to or passionate in advancing health equity.

Alumna Madeline Walker Miller was recently named a Notable Leader in Sustainability by Crain’s Detroit Business and is a researcher in U-M’s Urban Energy Justice Lab. And she’s also the founder of NexTiles, a textile waste recycling company, which is diverting hundreds of tons of textile waste from landfills.

Every great river also needs its story keepers. For the past five years, the University of Michigan’s Detroit River Story Lab has been supporting local efforts to lift up river stories and amplify the voices of their tellers. 

U-M student Yumna Dagher has been named a 2025 Rhodes Scholar, one of 32 Americans chosen to win scholarships to Oxford University. Her experience during a visit to Oakland Avenue Urban Farm in Detroit, a Black-led collective, taught her that agriculture is not just about growing food, but about creating a viable future, reinforcing her belief in environmental stewardship as a means of community resilience.

The Eliza Howell Park project, completed in partnership with Sidewalk Detroit, the city of Detroit and SEAS students Emily Brent (MLA/MS’25), Grace Carbeck (MLA’/MS’25), Myles Markey (MLA/MS’25) and Kammer Offenhauser (MLA/MS’25), developed adaptive ecological management and planting strategies for one of Detroit’s largest and most beloved parks.

Since joining U-M in 2002, Stephen Ward has served as faculty director of Semester in Detroit and has mentored countless students as they partner with Detroit organizations, demonstrating that academic and community rigor are inseparable.

SEAS Associate Professor of Practice and Engagement Lisa Du Russel is part of a design team that received honors from the American Society of Landscape Architects for work on Shepherd Art Park in Detroit.

Nearly 11 years after the City of Detroit exited bankruptcy, the presiding judge, the Hon. Steven Rhodes, ’73, recently spoke to a class of Michigan Law students about the complexities of the case and its continued implications for the city’s future.