The citywide coalition MoveDetroit is announcing the first 13 winners of a grant aimed at increasing and stabilizing the city’s population. 

The initial Make Detroit Home awards are worth $15,000 each.

One of the recipients is local entrepreneur Karissma Yve. She says she will use the money to invest in scaling her business. 

“We hire from the city right in our community. We are excited to grow both our factory and the work that we’re doing here…I’m really excited and honored to be able to…invest (it) back into the company, but ultimately (it’s) the investment into the people in the community that we’re hiring from.” 

The coalition will offer another 300 grants of $1,000 each to assist current and future Detroiters with business projects, down payments, home renovations, rent and relocation assistance. 

Additional Headlines for Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026

Free speech survey says Michigan universities don’t make the mark

Multiple Michigan universities got failing grades in a college free speech survey. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) conducted the study for the seventh year.

It found students felt like they can’t speak on controversial topics openly on campus. 
Data analyst Chapin Lundthal Cleary says university policies, behaviors and student responses were evaluated. 

“Our goal is to protect free speech rights, both on and off campus, for all Americans…for instance, (with) the college free speech rankings…students can have a more informed idea of what the speech climate is at schools they’re considering attending.”

The University of Michigan and Central Michigan University got “F” grades for free speech and Wayne State University got a “D.” 

Detroit city council member Gabriela Santiago-Romero asks for data center moratorium

A Detroit city councilmember wants an 18-month moratorium on Al data centers while the city figures out how to regulate the facilities. 

Council Member Gabriela Santiago-Romero has asked council attorneys to draft an interim zoning measure that would pause permitting through March 2028.

Detroit city planners are separately developing zoning rules addressing data center infrastructure and environmental impacts. 

Mayor Mary Sheffield’s administration says it has effectively paused permits for new principal-use data centers while those regulations are being considered but her office has not formally adopted the moratorium previously requested by council. 

20,000 mail-in ballots received by the city less than a month before election

Detroit election officials say about 20,000 absentee ballots have been returned with less than a month remaining before the November election.

The city mailed roughly 100,000 absentee ballots between Sept. 19 and Sept. 24. 

Detroit has 38 absentee ballot drop boxes across the city. Election officials say the early return rate is encouraging as they prepare for the Nov. 3 election. 

Hamtramck’s last mayoral election is still disputed.

A judge has ordered that the 37 absentee ballots found in the former city clerk’s office must be counted, despite a year-long legal battle. The candidates are former Hamtramck city council member Muhith Mahmood and current Hamtramck Mayor Adam Alharbi.

The Wayne County Board of Canvassers originally decided not to count the 37 ballots, which were turned in days after the election.

Alharbi’s attorney says they are ready to challenge the ballots, even if they end up being counted, according to WXYZ.

They also plan to continue challenging Mahmood’s residency, despite a Wayne County judge dismissing a lawsuit over his residency last December.

Additional Headlines for Monday, Oct. 5, 2026

Forgotten Harvest hopes for 1 million pounds of food before year’s end

Forgotten Harvest is hoping to harvest 1 million lbs of food by the end of the year to feed people in need.

Lori Setera is the assistant farm manager at the Forgotten Harvest Farms in Fenton, Michigan. She says a pound of food is equal to a meal.  

“Our food here goes farmers market style, just how you see it here in these crates. A lot of our brick-and-mortar pantry partners don’t have the equipment or the space to store these giant crates. Because of that, a lot of it ends up in mobile pantries.”  

The farm supplements nutritious foods the organization distributes. They grow about 20 different crops such as cabbage, corn, broccoli, and peppers.

Around 3,000 volunteers are needed annually to help plant, weed and harvest food. Forgotten Harvest Farms still needs more volunteers to meet their goal this year. 

Virtual summit addresses race-based medicine

The Collaborative to End Race-Based Medicine-Detroit and Wayne State University’s Office of Inclusive Excellence are hosting a virtual summit about race-based medicine.  

The National Institutes of Health defines race-based medicine as “treating race as a biological or genetic trait rather than a social construct.” This leads to misdiagnoses and poor health care outcomes for minority patients—especially for those in the Black community.  

The collaborative is made up of international clinicians, legislators,  industry leaders and community members working toward ending race-based medicine through education, research and advocacy. 

Panelists at the virtual summit will discuss how bias shapes health care and public health in an age of artificial intelligence.

They will talk about how technology can help identify bias and potentially prevent harm.  

The “Held to the Light: Race, Code & Consequence in the Age of AI” event takes place Oct. 29 from 3 – 5 p.m. Register for the event here.

InterFaith Council 

The InterFaith Council of Metropolitan Detroit is hosting a program highlighting coming-of-age traditions.

The Rites of Passage Coming of Age Across Religions event will feature a bar/bat mitzvah, a confirmation, a Hindu tradition and a Muslim rite of passage.

The program will talk about what it means for family, faith, identity and belonging.

It will be held Thursday, Oct. 8 from 7-8:30 p.m. at the North Congregation Church in Farmington Hills, Michigan. The event is free with registration.

In this episode: 

• What are some of the key races to watch during the midterms?
• Which politicians might face a tough race?
• MichMash bids farewell to our most featured guest.

Subscribe to MichMash on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Control of the Michigan Legislature is on the line in this year’s midterm elections. As part of WDET’s weekly series, Gongwer News Service’s Zach Gorchow and Alethia Kasben discuss 10 races they believe could flip from one party to another. They are joined by Gongwer Assistant Editor Elena Durnbaugh, who covers the state House.

One of the topics heading into this election is whether the national political environment will affect local results. Durnbaugh says that if it does, local politicians will need to respond accordingly.

“…the national environment, where we have a situation where we have a Republican president who is deeply unpopular. It’s a midterm. People are looking for change that means that if you’re a Republican in a seat, you’re going to have to work harder to keep it.”

Durnbaugh said politicians’ voting records and what they have done while in control of the Legislature could also push voters one way or another.

The November general election is Nov. 3, 2026.

More from WDET:

• How voters view vaccines could influence midterm elections
• Detroit Evening Report: Trump wants federal oversight of midterm elections, continues to deny 2020 results
• MI GOP Chair: Democrats’ ‘woke’ policies are good for Republicans in 2026 election

In this episode 

• What makes this gubernatorial race different from previous ones?
• Which candidates are drawing the most attention to their campaigns, and what could they do to win?
• How do sports and politics reflect each other?

Subscribe to MichMash on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

With only a couple of months left until the midterms, Michigan’s gubernatorial candidates are trying to build support in their bids to become the state’s next governor. This week on WDET’s MichMash, Gongwer News Service’s Zach Gorchow and Alethia Kasben discuss how this race for governor differs from previous ones.

They are joined by Andrea Bitely, founder of the public relations firm Bitely Communications.

The race drawing the most attention in Michigan so far is the U.S. Senate race between Dr. Abdul El-Sayed and Mike Rogers. As for the gubernatorial race between Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and U.S. Rep. John James, Bitely says it isn’t garnering the same level of attention.

“The gubernatorial race is potentially the most boring gubernatorial race in the history of gubernatorial races.”

Bitely continued by saying that after Mayor Mike Duggan dropped out, the race lost some of its interest for her.

“I think it got a lot more boring on May 21st [2026]. But maybe that’s just the the Duggan campaign staffer in me coming out.”

May 21 was the day Duggan dropped out of the race for governor.

Bitely concluded that to draw more attention to the gubernatorial race and their respective campaigns, the candidates need more rallies and events, along with a resounding message that sticks with voters.

The midterm elections are Nov. 3.

More from WDET:

• MichMash: Abdul El-Sayed makes his case for the Michigan US Senate seat
• MichMash: Live from Lansing
• MichMash: Why Mike Duggan dropped out, plus court ruling could affect funding

In 2011, Highland Park couldn’t pay its electric bill. So DTE took the streetlights off the poles, about 1,400 of them.

When the lights left, residents put some back. On Avalon Street, that was Shamayim Harris. She’d bought a house there for $3,000. It was months after a hit-and-run driver killed her 2-year-old son. 

She kept building. A park in his name. A garden. A house where kids do homework.

The block became Avalon Village. She became a CNN Hero and a USA Today Woman of the Year. But in Highland Park, she’s Mama Shu.

She’s held office here before, but never the one that runs the city. Last week, she asked her neighbors to change that. She finished second, enough to put her on the November ballot, against incumbent Glenda McDonald.

Mama Shu joined Robyn Vincent on The Metro to answer a question Highland Park has been living with for a generation: What can neighbors fix, and what needs a government? 

Hear the full conversation using the media player above.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand. Never miss an episode — subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or NPR, or wherever you get your podcasts. Have thoughts? Email the show at metro@wdet.org.

More stories from The Metro

In this episode

• Key to some of the progressive wins in the most recent Michigan primaries
• What does it mean to be a democratic socialist?
• What chances do some progressive democrats have in the November election?

Subscribe to MichMash on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

The progressive wing of the Democratic party made some noise in the recent primaries. What has been the key to their success so far? This week on MichMash, WDET’s Cheyna Roth and Gongwer News Service’s Zach Gorchow chat with Chris Gilmer-Hill, one of the progressives who won his race.

Gilmer-Hill shares why he feels like he was able to win.

Gilmer-Hill attributes his win against incumbent Democratic state Rep. Helena Scott greatly to the Democratic Socialist of America and the engine they put behind his campaign. Especially being that without them he lost by a large margin two years ago. 

“DSA is the biggest difference. Two years ago I filed because I disagreed with a lot of what our incumbent was doing and I didn’t think it was right for her to run unopposed but I didn’t have DSA or a whole movement of folks behind me. I wasn’t expecting to win. Actually at the time 27% was a lot more than what I was expecting so I saw an opening for the future. But that opening wouldn’t have been something we could’ve use to win without an army of DSA members”

Gilmer-Hill is running for the 8th state House District.

More from WDET:

• The Metro: What Abdul El-Sayed learned from being outspent 11-1
• The Metro: What Republican candidates need to do to win Michigan
• Jerome Vaughn retires from WDET