The Wayne State College of Nursing has trained about 600 individuals in Mental Health First Aid protocols through a $1.5 million grant.

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The trainees took classes from 2022-2024. College of Nursing Professor Dr. Cynthera McNeill says the courses were part of a larger effort to break the stigma around mental health, including in communities where there’s a shortage of mental health professionals.

“Rather than just show up and collect research data, we were given the opportunity to provide education and skills that enable community members to take action and serve as a bridge between those dealing with mental health troubles and the services they need,” McNeill said.

The trainees work with community-based organizations to educate others. In August, the college won another $600,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health to focus on reducing barriers to colorectal cancer screening and opioid drug overdose prevention — which McNeil says will also include mental health first aid courses.  

The trainings are being held in collaboration with African American and Middle Eastern North African (MENA) community organizations to provide culturally competent care. 

Other headlines for Monday, Dec. 2, 2024:

• A bill introduced in the Michigan House of Representatives would require commercial health insurance plans to cover long-term treatment for brain injuries from diseases, strokes, and falls.
• Several community health centers in Detroit will be open from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. this week to assist with Medicare enrollment before the enrollment period ends Dec. 7.
• The city of Detroit’s District 4 will host a charter-mandated community meeting on from 7-8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 3, to share updates and resources from city departments. The meeting will take place both on Zoom and in person at the Detroit Burns Seventh-Day Adventist Church, 10125 E Warren Ave., Detroit.
• It’s National Influenza Vaccination Week, and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) is urging people to get the flu vaccine before the holiday season.
• It’s also Older Driver Safety Awareness week. The Michigan Department of State provides resources to keep drivers educated and safe, regardless of their age.

Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.

Maternal mortality is high in the U.S. compared with other wealthy countries, and particularly high in Michigan.

Detroit had the highest preterm birth rate of any U.S. city in 2023 at over 15%, according to a new report from the advocacy organization March of Dimes. There are also glaring racial differences in the maternal mortality rate nationally. The number of Black or American Indian women who die as a result of giving birth is over 50 per 100,000 people, while the rates for white, Hispanic, and Asian women are all below 20 per 100,000 people. Several health care and childcare professionals joined The Metro to discuss the risks facing expectant mothers and what can be done to alleviate them.

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

Dr. Kara Patek, Clinical Assistant Professor in the WSU School of Medicine and a Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist, said that data has shown that racial trends in maternal mortality persist even when comorbidities and existing risk factors are accounted for. 

“That data has really forced medical educators, as well as physicians already in practice, to really look at what are we doing differently between these patient groups,” Patek said. “There’s been a lot of efforts to address that concept of implicit bias.”

Khadijah Bansfield, home-birth midwife and the owner of the Heart and Soul Midwifery, discussed why mothers may choose to give birth at home rather than at a hospital.

“A lot of times that when moms come to me, it’s because they have had a family member who’s had a home birth, or a family member who’s had a traumatic hospital birth, and it’s kind of like, they want to have a more positive birth experience on their own terms,” Banfield said.

Miriam Shumulinskiy, the clinical director at motherhood development center Honey For Moms, explained how new motherhood can affect a person’s mental well-being.

“Motherhood completely changes the way a person sees themself and the world around them,” Shumulinskiy said. “It’s like a part of your body is now disconnected and walking around in the world that we can no longer protect in the way that we would want.”

Carolyn Dayton, director of Wayne State University’s Social Work Early Childhood Support Clinic, stressed the importance of incorporating mental health care for new parents into pediatric care, as new parents are at risk of several postpartum mood disorders.

“Moms, given a shortage of time or a shortage of insurance, will take their baby for care and sort of forgo their own medical care after birth,” Dayton said. “So OB-GYN clinics would be ideal, but moms aren’t always necessarily going back for their six week checkup, so pediatrics is the ideal place to be really screening and delivering services to families with new babies.”

The Metro hosts Tia Graham and Robyn Vincent asked listeners:

“Do you trust the hospital and health care system to deliver your baby? Or does your distrust of the medical system make you not want to have kids altogether?”

Caller Jamila shared her experience having a home birth attended by a midwife:

“With my son, it had to be about 11 or so at night when I was having my contractions,” she said. “We called her, she lives about an hour from me. By the time she got to my house, it was maybe midnight, and she was here, she was coaching my husband and I, and she let everything be as comfortable as possible.”

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.

More stories from The Metro on Nov. 25, 2024:

• Pingree Detroit is a worker-owned company that reclaims discarded leather from the automotive industry and fashions it into wearable leather, home goods, footwear and accessories. Founder and CEO Jarret Schlaff and VP of Footwear Operations Nathaniel Crawford joined the show to talk about all that goes into the business.
• Last week, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes. Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud joined the show to talk about the ICC’s ruling and how Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon are affecting Arab American residents in Dearborn.
• General Motors and Bedrock on Monday announced a $1.6 billion redevelopment plan for the Renaissance Center that calls for demolition of two of the iconic building’s towers. Stephen Henderson sat down with urban consultant Harriet Sapperstein earlier this year to discuss what would become of the RenCen after GM left the site.
• Producer Sam Corey spoke with Jeff Patrick, president and CEO of HardRock HDD, an underground utilities company that’s frequently contracted by Detroit, about the process of removing lead lines in the city.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

Michigan set a record in the 2024 election. Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson announced that 79% of eligible voters in the state cast their ballots — the highest turnout in the state’s history. However, turnout in Detroit decreased — and nationwide, nearly 13 million voters stayed home.

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

The efforts to expand voter rolls are working, but why aren’t they connecting in places like Detroit? Mario Marrow, political consultant and president of Mario Marrow and Associates, and Brady Baybeck, professor of political science at Wayne State University, joined Created Equal on Wednesday to unpack the story of turnout on Election Day and what it means for our elections going forward. 

Baybeck pointed out that although many people feel compelled to vote because of a sense of civic duty, voting still comes with personal cost for many people. He stressed the importance of candidates inspiring voters to participate and explained that Trump was very effective at inspiring his base to vote, noting that Democratic messaging to voters could have been more widespread. 

Marrow suggested that Harris had difficulty gaining momentum among voters because Biden dropped out late in the campaign, resulting in low turnout in some areas. He also explained that Trump was more successful connecting with his base through his use of TV and social media advertising, whereas the Harris campaign’s focus on knocking on doors and in-person organizing was inefficient at reaching out to an already fatigued voter base. 

“It doesn’t work, you have to move into an area of technology, you have to move into getting to your constituents with an emotional affect,” Marrow said. 

Use the media player above to listen to the full interview.

Guests:

• Mario Marrow is the president of Mario Marrow and Associates.
• Brady Baybeck is a professor of political science at Wayne State University

Listen to Created Equal with host Stephen Henderson weekdays from 9-10 a.m. ET on 101.9 WDET and streaming on-demand.

Voters will decide who will serve on the next Wayne State University Board of Governors on Tuesday, Nov. 5. There are nine people running for two seats that expire in January.

WDET is committed to bringing you accurate, up-to-date election results from each state representative race in the metro Detroit area. Results from uncontested races are not included.

Be sure to bookmark this page or tune in to WDET 101.9 FM for live updates on election results.

This election season, voters across the state will fill two seats on the leadership boards of Michigan’s three largest universities, the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne State University.

The state constitution gives statewide elected boards general supervision over each institution’s finances, as well as over the hiring of top university positions — including its president. Each board’s eight members serve staggered eight-year terms, with candidates nominated at party conventions.

Wayne State University Board of Governors

Incumbents Mark Gaffney and Michael Busuito are running to keep seats that expire in January.

Gaffney is a Democratic nominee. He’s a retired Teamster and former president of the Michigan AFL-CIO. He teaches in Wayne State’s labor program.

He says he’s proud of the work the board has done during his tenure and wants to continue that work.

“We want to continue to raise the graduation rates,” Gaffney said. “We want to increase the diversity. We want to be more welcoming to all kinds of students, and we want to better market the wonderful news about Wayne State University.”

Gaffney points to Wayne State’s status among research universities and says he wants to make sure it’s accessible to students who face both economic and academic challenges.

He says all students should feel they have a place and a voice at the university, adding that recent student protests around the conflict in Gaza and university investments have challenged the university to strike a balance between sometimes competing viewpoints.

Suzanne Roehrig, the Working Class Party nominee, says she visited the pro-Palestinian student encampment on campus in the spring and feels the university should work harder to protect student rights.

Roehrig says she was eight months pregnant when she started at Wayne State, making it difficult to juggle the responsibilities of single parenting and school work. Roehrig studied education and library science and has worked as a teacher and librarian in Detroit and Ferndale.

She says her education came at a financial cost, and believes college should be free.

“In the wealthiest country in the world, there is more than enough money to make this a reality,” Roehrig said. “The working class produces what is needed to run our society. They have a right to a free education.”

Rasha Demshkieh, the other Democratic candidate in the race, came to the U.S. from Syria when she was 19 years old. She is an alumna of Wayne State’s pharmacy school; served on the Port Huron Area School District board for 13 years; and served for eight years on the Michigan Civil Rights Commission.

Demashkieh says she’d like to see the diversity of Wayne State’s student body and faculty reflected on the board, and wants the university be a bigger part of the cultural and economic development in Detroit.

“I wanted to be a part of being able to push in that direction where we provide different opportunities to our students,” Demashkieh said. “When you provide them with a good job that helps the economy of Michigan… we want our students to stay in the area.”

Republican businessman and Wayne State Alumnus Sunny Reddy is also on the ballot, along with Farid Ishac from the Libertarian Party, William Mohr from the U.S. Taxpayers Party, Sami Makhoul from the Green Party, and Kathleen Oakford from the Natural Law Party.

Voter Guide: Learn more about the candidates running for WSU Board of Governors.

Michigan State University Board of Trustees

There are no incumbents running to keep their seats on the Michigan State University Board of Trustees this election cycle. Eight candidates are vying for the two spots left vacant by outgoing board members Democrat Dianne Byrum and Republican Dan Kelly, whose terms expire in January.

Rebecca Bahar Cook, a 1992 MSU graduate and parent of two Spartans, is the Democratic Party nominee. She’s worked for several political campaigns and served on the Ingham County Commission and on nonprofit and public boards. She says one of her big concerns is the cost of tuition.

“Michigan State was founded to be the university for ordinary, everyday Michiganders who want a higher education,” Bahar Cook told WDET. “I think there has to be sort of a recommitment to keeping college affordable.”

Mike Balow says he has probably been to every board meeting for the past four years. The Republican candidate jokes some people call him the “ninth trustee.”

“Michigan State’s had its own very public and particular set of challenges over the last decade,” Balow said. “I became very dissatisfied that the administration there and the board was dealing with the problems in an open, honest, transparent and forthright way.”

Balow says the university’s handling of the Larry Nassar sexual abuse scandal and its survivors was “abhorrent.” And he also says tuition is too high.

Green Party candidate John Anthony La Pietra says the party believes college should be free.

Though not a former Spartan himself, he took a training there when he was preparing to teach English as a second language in Japan decades ago — and he says he later joined protests on campus against the war in Iraq. He wants to make the university a place he would be happy to send his own young daughters one day.

La Pietra suspects he’s pretty different from current and typical board members.

“I am someone who is independent of the big money or big influence that seems to be prevalent on University Board,” he said. “It’s almost like legacy positions in some ways.”

La Pietra says the university has handled recent student protests poorly and that he opposes the way students were “punished.”

Democrat Thomas Stallworth III says he was politically active when he was a student at MSU and thinks it’s important to provide students space for that.

Stallworth served two terms in the state House. He says MSU helped him find his talents and led him to a successful life and career.

He says he’s concerned that recent crises have caused conflict among board members. He hopes to bring some stability to the body.

“We’re at a point in time where we really need to learn from the experiences that we’ve had,” Stallworth said. “The Nassar incident, the shooting on campus, the firing of the football coach… These are all occurrences that have resulted in significant, traumatizing experiences for students, staff and the state. We need to be focused on understanding how we can perform better.”

Julie Maday is also on the ballot for the Republican Party, along with third-party candidates Janet Sanger and John Paul Sanger of the U.S. Taxpayers Party, and Grant T Baker, representing the Libertarian Party.

Voter Guide: Learn more about the candidates running for MSU Board of Trustees

University of Michigan Board of Regents

Republican candidate Carl Meyers has run for the U-M Board of Regents several times before. He says with six of the eight current members being Democrats, it’s hard for Republicans to win a space on the board.

Meyers says one of his concerns is how expensive a U-M education is, and how much debt students and families take on to fund it.

“My mission is to increase access to the university system by controlling costs, which will increase diversity,” Meyers told WDET. “If the University of Michigan is something made up of the Uber wealthy, it’s a bad thing.”

Democrat Denise Ilitch is the only incumbent running for reelection. Ilitch has held her seat since 2008, and says she has been “laser focused” on affordability. The program that makes tuition free to most families in the state was created while she served on the board.

She says her work on the board has also included advocating for an independent office to report sexual misconduct.

Ilitch says when students complained that it was hard to get mental health services on campus she advocated for the expansion of Counseling and Psychological Services.

“I have advocated for putting more resources towards that so that students can see therapists and counselors much quicker, particularly if they have an emergency or crisis on hand,” Ilitch said.

Republican Sevag Vartanian graduated from Michigan in 1991. His son graduated from the school last year. He says to lower tuition, the university will have to have different priorities.

“It’s got a huge budget, especially with the medical system,” Vartanian said. “We really need to look at what is essential to the student experience and what is not. And you have to make hard decisions, and you have to cut programs that don’t have a positive net present value return on them.”

Vartanian also says the university has too few spots for Michigan residents, relying on higher out-of-state tuitions to fund its projects. He points to the Ross School of Business expansion planned for California.

There are six candidates running for two Regent spots that expire in January.

Other candidates in the race include Democrat Shauna Ryder Diggs, Libertarian Andrew Chadderdon and Donna Oetman of the U.S. Taxpayers Party.

Voter Guide: Learn more about the candidates running for U-M Board of Regents.

The general election is taking place on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. For the latest election information, visit WDET’s Voter Guide at wdet.org/voterguide.

The general election is on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024.

In addition to the presidential, Congressional, and state House races, voters across the state will be casting their votes for who they’d like to serve on the boards of Michigan’s three largest universities.

There are two seats up for reelection on the Wayne State University Board of Governors in November. University board members oversee financial operations at the institution, and are responsible for the hiring of the university’s president and other key responsibilities — per the state constitution. Board members serve staggered eight-year terms, and serve without compensation.

Incumbents Mark Gaffney (Democratic Party) and Michael Busuito (Republican Party) face seven other candidates in the race, including Democrat Rasha Demashkieh, Republican Sunny Reddy, and third-party candidates Farid Ishac (Libertarian Party), William Mohr II (U.S. Taxpayers Party), Sami Makhoul (Green Party), Suzanne Roehrig (Working Class Party) and Kathleen Oakford (Natural Law Party).

WDET distributed surveys to university board candidates on the Michigan ballot in November to gain a deeper understanding of what’s motivating them to run. Below, you’ll find candidate bios and their answers to WDET’s questions about their platform and political priorities.

For more information about the November election, visit WDET’s election guide at wdet.org/voterguide.

Responses have been edited for clarity and length.

Read more:

• Michigan State Board of Education candidates highlight their priorities 
• Why university boards are key to accountability in higher education
• Pro-Palestinian students, faculty share concerns at virtual WSU Board of Governors meeting

The next polo champion or Olympian could be a Detroiter. 

Historically, horseback riding isn’t an activity you see often in urban settings like Detroit, but the local nonprofit Detroit Horse Power is trying to change that. They are working to make events like dressage and horseback riding more accessible to all people, especially young Detroiters. 

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

On Monday, Detroit Horse Power broke ground on a state-of-the-art facility in the Fenkell-Linwood community on the city’s Westside. The 14-acre site will serve as a training center and offer a summer school program. 

Founder and executive director of Detroit Horse Power David Silver and Executive Director of Hope Village Revitalization and Detroit Horse Power Board Member Jeff Jones joined The Metro on Wednesday to discuss what the new facility could mean for Detroiters. 

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation with Silver and Jones.

More headlines from The Metro on Oct. 23, 2024:

• Echoes from the Rust is a new art exhibit at the Elaine L. Jacob Gallery at Wayne State University. It’s taking a closer look at cities in the rust belt and the people who call them home. Curator Kemuel Benyehudah and artist Halima Afi Cassells joined The Metro to discuss.
• In Detroit’s 36th District Court, the largest district court in Michigan, three candidates are running for two open seats during a time when the court has seen major changes. The court entered into a bail reform agreement with the ACLU of Michigan that prohibits imposing high cash bail under most circumstances. This week, we’re speaking with the candidates to see where they stand on this agreement and how they would make Detroit’s justice system more equitable. In this episode, co-host Robyn Vincent spoke with Malaika Ramsey-Heath.
• Election Day is almost here and Michigan has become ground zero for the Harris and Trump campaigns. One Tuesday, former President Barack Obama came to Detroit to rally for Vice President Harris along with Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Eminem and Calvin Johnson. WDET Senior News Editor Quinn Klinefelter joins the show to recap the rally and talk about the election that’s 12 days away.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

It’s the last day of Hispanic Heritage Month, and to celebrate, The Metro was joined by a Detroit musician, activist, historian, and educator who has dedicated his career to improving the lives of Latino residents in southeast Michigan. 

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

Osvaldo “Ozzie” Rivera currently teaches at Wayne State and the University of Michigan. He also writes for “El Central” newspaper, serves on Detroit’s Historic Designation Advisory Board and is the former director of Southwest Solutions. He was instrumental in the creation of the Wayne State Center for Latino/a American Studies, established 1971. 

Rivera was born on the island of Puerto Rico but is a lifelong Detroiter. His father was a musician and early in life, Rivera became interested in both music and activism. If you attended this year’s Concert of Colors, you might’ve seen Rivera perform with his band Rican Struction, a Bomba music ensemble. 

Rivera joined the show to discuss the importance of Latino culture in southeast Michigan and work done to support the community. One of the issues in the Detroit Latino community that Rivera fought against was systemic racism in public schools.

“There’s some broad brushes to discuss in terms of just acknowledgement and civil rights, but specifically as it related to the Latino community in Detroit, there were issues with the lack of bilingual education,” Rivera said. “Actually, many students were funneled into special-ed classes only because they spoke Spanish. So La Sed … also put in a successful lawsuit against the Detroit Public School system for funneling, directing Spanish speaking students and some who weren’t even Spanish speaking, they were put in special rooms and some would say some closets. And so you have to fight for bilingual education and against standardization or delegitimizing Latin students.”

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation with Rivera.

More headlines from The Metro on Oct. 15, 2024: 

• A new early childhood educator workforce index shows that child care wages remain low in Michigan and across the United States. Director of Multi-State and International Programs at Berkeley’s Center for the Study of Child Care Employment Caitlin McLean joined the show to discuss the new report.
• There are a lot of issues voters care about, but depending on your party, voter priorities are very different. We’re less than a month away from the presidential election, and that leaves us wondering what might turn out the vote most for either party. Joining us to discuss the upcoming election and what’s on voters’ minds, The Atlantic staff writer Tim Alberta joined The Metro. He’s covered politics with a close eye on both the white, evangelical christian movement in this country and the shifts happening in the Republican Party. He will also be speaking at an event called “Democracy at a Crossroads” at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday on Michigan State University’s campus.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

Womxnhouse Detroit offers a residency for women creatives who aim to spread their knowledge and crafts while also bringing new lovers to the arts. The home acts as a rotating exhibit with 10 women showing their art in the space. 

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

These interactive exhibitions are personal reflections of what the artists create in the home, with this season at Womenxhouse bringing a new set of local artists, workshops and events. 

To discuss Womxnhouse Detroit, Co-founder Asia Hamilton, ceramics artist Michaela Ayers and fiber artist Cat Washington joined The Metro.

“The first two iterations of Womxnhouse was at my childhood home, so we are still in the neighborhood that I grew up in. We’re on Grandmont, right off Grand River, and the neighborhood has really received us so well,” Hamilton said. “Two people came down to the house last week, and they were like, ‘We’ll be right back’ and then they came with like eight people to come and see the space. So it’s just been an honor to be in the neighborhood that I grew up in, and it’s just an opportunity to provide art and culture in a space where, you know, art can be desolate in a neighborhood.”

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation with Asia Hamilton, Michaela Ayers and Cat Washington about Womxnhouse Detroit.

More headlines from The Metro on Oct. 9, 2024: 

• A new Detroit ordinance is being discussed to lower rents in the city. The Fast Track PILOT would offer property tax cuts to developers that would then get passed on as cheaper rental units. The cheaper the rent, the deeper the tax cut. Council Member Fred Durhall III joined the show to discuss the ordinance and how it would create more affordable rent.
• Planet Ant in Hamtramck is a neighborhood theater, specializing in improv, plays and musicals. It gives people the opportunity to get on stage and stretch themselves artistically. Planet Ant begins its theater season this weekend and we were joined by Program Director Mike McGettigan to hear more about what’s in store. 
• It is Hispanic Heritage Month and as we get closer to its end on Oct. 15, we want to discuss the community that has been extremely important to the growth of Detroit — especially in the last 200 years. Wayne State University history professor and Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies Dr. Reyna Esquivel King joined the show to discuss the history of the Detroit Latino community.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

In August, Eva Goodman was placed in handcuffs and a jail uniform for sleeping in a courtroom during a field trip. Goodman, 15, was visiting with a group organized by the nonprofit the Greening of Detroit. During the visit, Judge Kenneth King of the 36th District court scolded the teen for her “attitude” and behavior.

Goodman’s mother told the Free Press after the incident that their family did not have permanent housing and got in late the night before. Judge King was temporarily removed from the court docket, and his classes at Wayne State University were reassigned due to his suspension.

Since the incident, the Created Equal team has been examining through conversations how society responds to people who live in poverty.

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

Dr. Rema-Vassar, a professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Wayne State University, spent 20 years working in education and studies race, gender and class implications in schools. She says King’s response to the incident in court was inappropriate.

“My adviser at UCLA used to say, ‘all behavior is functional.’ There’s a reason for all behavior. So if the baby is sleeping in the court, the human response is to figure out why,” Vassar said. “Teachers get to come in and say, ‘I haven’t had my coffee. Don’t bother me for five minutes,’ right? A judge can say, ‘I have to take a recess, I need to compose myself and come back.’ Why aren’t children allowed to do that? Why can’t children say, ‘hey, I’m tired.'”

Vassar joined the show on Tuesday to talk more about how a student’s behavior in school can be a reflection of their circumstances at home.

Guest: 

• Dr. Rema-Vassar is a professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies.

Listen to Created Equal with host Stephen Henderson weekdays from 9-10 a.m. ET on 101.9 WDET and streaming on-demand.