A new University of Michigan-led project, in partnership with four Detroit community-based organizations, will work with residents of 200 low- and moderate-income households in three Detroit neighborhoods to improve home energy efficiency and to lower monthly utility bills.

Tune in Thursday from 2 p.m.-5 p.m. to hear Riana Elyse Anderson, assistant professor of health behavior and health education at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, talk about the National Urban League’s State of Black America report.

“We have all these strategies that black families are already engaging in. And then we also know from a clinical psychology perspective all of these tips and tricks and ways to discuss things better. So why not meld the two?”
~ Riana Anderson

The classes are offered by the Silver Center, a virtual senior center that offers enrichment and educational programs via phone to help adults 60 years old or older stay connected. While the program started before the pandemic, organizers hope it will mitigate some of the negative health and social impacts caused by social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic. 

The Detroit School was created in 2012 by University of Michigan Professor Margaret Dewar and three PhD students in the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, who wanted to view urban planning through the lens of shrinking populations. 

While further research is needed, the U-M experts believe their findings—published in Science of The Total Environment—could provide evidence for the Environmental Protection Agency to ease some of the costly abatement burden for demolitions for cities around the country.

“Perhaps more importantly, health and housing work in Detroit is ultimately racial justice work. I grew up in the suburbs of Detroit, and what I do is motivated by the overt and disturbing inequities that exist in the Detroit metropolitan region… I hope that my work can bring some material benefit to the people of Detroit.”
~ Alexa Eisenberg

“A number of people in the area are also reporting that the shaking from rumbling trucks is cracking foundations and plaster. They are literally watching their homes fall apart as a result of the construction where they live,” said Amy Schulz, a professor of health behavior and health education at U-M School of Public Health.

A new University of Michigan and Harvard University study shows an 11% drop in homicides and serious injuries caused by firearms in the areas where more than a few demolitions took place. The study does not find that such incidents went up in nearby neighborhoods.