David Merritt, a U-M alum is the co-founder of Give Merit. It invests in the youth to help them excel in their schools and bring the dream of college into reality. He started this work 12 years ago and has supported nearly 200 students through Merit’s FATE Program. It promises each qualifying FATE student up to $8,000 in college scholarships.

In partnership with University of Michigan and the Detroit Public Schools Community District, the city of Detroit is bringing back Saturdays in the D. It’s a free program that provides fun, enriching activities for 75-100 Detroit youth (middle and high school) and 100 adults.

How do you make sure that growth is good? This was the overarching question students at The School at Marygrove explored for their final projects about creating equitable growth in their hometown of Detroit. It was the culminating assignment for the economics class taught by lead teacher Brandon Moss and student teacher Hunter Janness.

Led by Victoria Shaw, “Making Change through Making Art” will bring together Detroit-based visual artists with students from Detroit Public Schools Community District in a new art-making elective class to explore how engaging with visual arts can promote social justice activism.

Alumnus Leon Pryor excelled in careers at Microsoft, Amazon, and now Meta. The he renowned video game engineer co-founded The Motor City Alliance to make Detroit a powerhouse for FIRST Robotics teams. And it’s working.

The Bell Family Scholarship Fund is intended to assist students who hail from Detroit and who plan to pursue the Detroit teaching school pathway. It was started by Stacy and Joseph Giles to honor Stacy’s parents and sister, who were educators.

“One thing I found very beneficial was the exposure our young people received in the communications training and the opportunity for them to have something they crafted come to life. With the young people we serve, many of them have said they don’t feel that their voices are heard. Being able to have a platform to elevate their voices and their brilliance has been immeasurable.”
~ Courtney Smith, founder and CEO of the Detroit Phoenix Center

After a year-long pause due to Covid-19 precautions, the 21 students in this year’s “Children in Peril” class undertook a semester-long project collaborating with School of Music, Theatre & Dance graduate music composition students, Alfredo Cabrera and Nicholas Felder.

Cadillac Urban Gardens doesn’t just grow produce. It grow leaders and environmental stewards, says U-M alumna Sarah Clark, who founded the garden. Clark started working with Dolores Perales in 2013 when she was a sophomore at Detroit Cristo Rey High School. Perales went on to earn dual master’s degrees from U-M.