Detroit

Detroit now joins 14 other cities and three states that offer legal representation for tenants in eviction proceedings. Cleveland’s right to counsel program provided lawyers to about 60% of eligible households, compared with 1% or 2% prior to the law passing.

Throughout the summer, the City of Detroit will host vaccination clinics for children ages 5 to 17, on select Saturdays at various recreation centers across the city. Vaccinations include the COVID-19 vaccine and lead testing. […] To find out more about the immunizations and testing clinics, go to detroitmi.gov.

Two popular Detroit trees, Norway maple and Gingko, were predicted to have high adaptive capacity and low to low-moderate climate vulnerability in both emission scenarios. Natives like hackberry, Kentucky coffeetree, swamp white oak and burr oak were also projected to be highly adaptive and minimally vulnerable.

Detroit rapper and superstar Eminem will be inducted into to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this fall. […] MC5, the revered rock band formed in 1963 in Lincoln Park and best known for its hit song ”Kick Out the Jams,” failed for the sixth time to gain induction in the performer category.

[Full story: 12ft Ladder]

The lawsuit alleged Redfin’s minimum home price policy violated the Fair Housing Act by discriminating against sellers and buyers of homes in communities of color. Plaintiffs alleged that policies that limit or deny services for homes priced under certain values can perpetuate racial segregation and contribute to the racial wealth gap. Redfin said in a statement that the settlement was not an admission of liability.

[Full article: 12ft Ladder]

The city ID program seeks to provide equitable access to the basic city services. “Whether it’s getting a library card, going for a medical exam, enrolling your kids into school, starting a bank account, those are things you need an ID for,” Yolanda Hill-Ashford said. […] Detroit ID cards are free for the first 5,000 who apply. […] To sign up or view required documents, go to the city’s ID program website.

Questionnaires recently completed by patients of the Detroit clinic shed light on the travel burden a ban could impose. Some already come from outstate, where clinics are sparse, or Ohio, where a restrictive law prevents abortions for women more than 20 weeks into pregnancy. […] Below a prompt asking how hard it had been to gather the money, both women circled “extremely.”

Dr. Shakara Tyler: “The sugarbush process is a sacred ritual where we commune with our trees as ancestors, as the kin that they are, as they gift the sap to us. […] Sap is not just something we consume because it tastes good. This is a very spiritual process where we can honor our sacred histories and honor the ancestral energy that’s present.”

This year's festival is scheduled for Aug. 11-14, organizers said on Monday. It's expected to feature more than 100 local artists, performing in about 20 music venues across Hamtramck. No acts have been announced yet, but artists can apply to perform at the Hamtramck Music Festival through May 15.

The transportation service has been in the works for a few years and it’s “finally coming to fruition.” It would initially run Thursdays through Sundays from noon to 8 p.m. […] The service is expected to start in early July after the Grand Prix wraps up on the island. Scott Pratt says the original vision was that the shuttle would be a trolley but it might end up being a bus.

“If we’re thinking about equity – these were thriving Black neighborhoods that were demolished,” Chase Cantrell said. “It only makes sense that we’re being very thoughtful about how Black people are involved in the regeneration of this area.”

“The idea here is we want our utility companies to hire more utility workers to fix the issues as they happen,” Abraham Aiyash told the crowd. “We want them to actually invest in retrofitting and upgrading and making sure that our grid is climate resilient, so [the utility company] can’t blame a little bit of wind and a little bit of rain which shouldn’t be taking out people’s power in the first place.”

Anika Goss says Black Detroiters are denied mortgages at rates that are much higher than their white peers. “For the upper income [bracket], African Americans were still denied at a rate of 23 percent as opposed to white borrowers that were being denied at a rate of 10 percent. And so, there is something in the system that is pushing African Americans, even upper income African Americans, at a higher denial rate.”

Ted Tansley said Detroit should fit low-income residents more broadly into the program so that “more people can qualify and get reduced-rate fare access to transportation.” “It would certainly expand opportunities for people who cannot get transportation access affordably,” Tansley said.

A group called Reproductive Freedom for All is circulating petitions to put the issue of protecting the right to an abortion in Michigan on the ballot in November. The group needs to gather 425,059 signatures to qualify for the ballot.

Zora Bowens: “It’s going to affect everyone in the nation, but I don’t think people understand that it’s going to affect their sisters, their mothers, their grandmothers, their cousins, their family. Everyone around them, you know? People don’t think about it until it’s potentially going to hurt them.”

“[Vincent Chin’s death] can’t be the end of the narrative. I need it to be more. I need to know that we have a pulse. This can’t be just where it ends,” Anthony Lee says. “There’s lots of things in the work and a lot of people with a sense of urgency, now more than ever.”

In 1997, Victor Villalobos was inspired after meeting a group of teens from the Royalty Car & Bicycle Club. He shared their concern that the community viewed them as a gang and not as a group of enthusiasts passionate about bikes and cars. Villalobos, a youth minister at the time, and still very involved in the festivities brought the club to a Catholic mass to receive a blessing, allowing other community members to meet them. A neighborhood tradition was born.

In April 2021, the leaders of three dozen major Michigan-based companies denounced a package of Republican-sponsored bills that would curb voting access in Michigan and other states. But since then, some of the companies have resumed funding the campaigns of Republicans responsible for bills that would make it more difficult to vote.

The reversal to phase out enrollment at Sampson-Webber Leadership Academy was one of four changes district officials say they are making to the district’s $700 million plan to renovate, rebuild, or demolish school buildings across the city. The changes come partly in response to community feedback shared during seven meetings in March and April.

Angel Squalls said, “Trees help mitigate storm water runoff and reduce flooding in the city. They help cool our streets and our neighborhoods.” Residents can request a free tree on Detroit’s city website, or reach out to Squalls directly at 313-224-6391.

Focus your inventory. Offer reasons to gather. All of which Janet Webster Jones has done since she opened Source Booksellers in 2013 with a tilt toward Afro-centric subjects and authors and a near-total emphasis on nonfiction that she explains in seven words: “I did it because I like it.”

An analysis of right to counsel ordinances in other states by Stout Risius Ross found dollars invested in the programs bring cost savings to cities that implemented them. Stout has estimated Detroit lost 24,000 residents after an eviction filing in the last decade. In total, Stout estimated the city of Detroit lost $28.7 million in economic value due to out-migration from evictions.

That local residents have come up with the “Remix of the Six” saying on their own is important to Dr. Geneva J. Williams, and demonstrates a buy-in of the corridor’s redevelopment plans. Even the word “remix” is important, its connotations suggesting that what’s happening on 6 Mile is adding to what’s already there, not reinventing it or making it unrecognizable. […] “Six Mile splits Bagley and Fitzgerald, which are overwhelmingly Black neighborhoods. We really wanted this project [7400 W. McNichols] to reflect the neighborhood,” Chase Cantrell says.

Detroiters can expect to see the council deliberate and take action on the creation of the Reparations Task Force by Juneteenth […] Lauren Hood encouraged Detroiters who feel passionate about the issue to get involved in grassroot organizing, community service, and city meetings now.