A local nonprofit is working to transform a former school property in Corktown into a community hub that will house an early childhood education program, host artist residencies and more.

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

Co-founded by Paul Spiegelman and Hamsa Daher, Kintsugi Village aims to offer a “unique blend” of educational opportunities for Detroit families, from arts and culinary experiences and a community garden to events and programming promoting wellness and personal growth.

The initiative will be located in the former St. Vincent Middle School in Corktown, with plans to open the early childhood center by September 2025. 

Spiegelman and Daher joined The Metro on Wednesday to discuss the project and what inspired it. 

“After going through a really tough personal time about a year and a half ago, we sat around at the DIA one day and talked about maybe doing something new, and Hamsa was ready to take on a new challenge as well,” Spiegelman said. “We thought maybe there’s a way we could help in Detroit and help in a local neighborhood, bring the community together. And that’s where the inspiration started to pull all these initiatives together.”

The pair will hold a community meeting at 6 p.m. Dec. 2 at McShane’s in Corktown to discuss their plans for the community hub and share additional details about the early education program and tuition costs. 

For more information about Kintsugi Village, visit kintsugivillage.org.

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation with Spiegelman and Daher.

More stories from The Metro on Nov. 27, 2024:

• State Rep. Dylan Wegela and Downtown Detroit Partnership CEO Eric Larson joined the show to discuss GM and Bedrock’s redevelopment plan for the Renaissance Center and its $1.6 billion price tag.
• Filmmaker Tom Brown was diagnosed with HIV when he was just 18 years old. His 2016 feature film “Pushing Dead” — a dark comedy about an HIV-positive struggling writer — is inspired by his own personal journey coping with the disease for decades. Brown, who recently moved to Detroit, joined The Metro to talk about a screening of the film he’s organizing for World AIDS Day at the Senate Theater this Sunday.
• The way we string our sentences together with the metaphors or similes that we use to enrich a conversation can often change an individual or move a nation for better or for worse. Detroit’s poet laureate, jessica Care moore, joined the show to talk about reaching people where they are in the community or with their personal growth.

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

When you don’t have hair that is seen as beautiful by the mainstream, it’s often hard to see the beauty in yourself. That’s exactly what inspired Detroiter Yelitsa Jean-Charles to create a brand of dolls with kinky, coily, curly hair for children of color.

The Healthy Roots Dolls CEO joined The Metro on Monday to talk about her inspiration behind the brand.

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

Jean-Charles said that growing up, she never had a doll with features that resembled her own. Healthy Roots Dolls represent a blend of Jean-Charles’ creative aspirations and entrepreneur spirit, and aim to promote self love among young people.

According to the Children’s Defense Fund, roughly 50% of young people in the U.S. are children of color, but Jean-Charles says those demographics are not reflected in most toy aisles. 

“(T)he industry only knows what the industry already does. And so I’m forcing them to learn how to mimic something different, something that hasn’t been represented,” Jean-Charles said. “And I spent a lot of time watching little wigs dry, like washing them with shampoo, using the conditioner, doing box braids, Bantu knots. So I spent a lot of time manually working with the hair myself, until I found the fiber that mimicked the experience I wanted kids to have the best.”

For more information about Healthy Roots Dolls, visit healthyrootsdolls.com.

Listen to the full conversation with Jean-Charles below, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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

Nearly three years after a teenager killed four of his classmates in a shooting at Oxford High School, victims’ families are still looking for answers.

They want a review of how school officials acted leading up to the shooting, calling on Michigan’s Attorney General, Dana Nessel, to do so this week.

Steve St. Juliana’s daughter, Hana, was among those killed in the Oxford High School attack. He says further action is needed to prevent future school shootings.

“This is about getting the truth out there,” says St. Juliana, “to create the counter measures to save our kids. This is not about identifying people to prosecute.”

The families are frustrated that a state review of procedures around the 2021 shooting has not taken place. They say they’ve had a hard time getting answers from the Oakland County prosecutor and state attorney general — accusing Nessel of retracting an offer to investigate over lack of probable cause.

Speaking to the media, Nessel countered that her offer to review has always been on the table.

“Now these offers were made to the school board and to the criminal investigation and prosecutions being handled by the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office and prosecutor. Our involvement on both fronts was soundly rejected,” she said.

While Nessel says she remains willing to help, she isn’t sure why Oakland County officials are now pointing the case at her.

“My authorities are not expansive beyond those that are already held by the county prosecutor and sheriff, who currently have the investigation, and have investigated this matter thoroughly for years and years now,” she said.

Nessel says her office can’t investigate without a referral from local authorities. She says she’s confused by Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard appearing in support of the Oxford family’s call to action, arguing that she’d need information from him to move forward.

In a statement, Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said she’s unaware of any action needed by her office to involve the attorney general.

Oxford families say they’re tired of the finger pointing.

Several organizations will come together next week to celebrate more than 300 schools that have taken steps to prepare for sudden cardiac emergencies by earning a MI HEARTSafe designation.

Subscribe to the Detroit Evening Report on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Nearly 1,000 schools have earned the recognition since the inception of the program in 2013. This year, a record-breaking 312 schools are being recognized for their work during the 2023-2024 school year, with 158 schools receiving the award for the first time — marking the most designations in the program’s history.

The recognition is awarded by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), Michigan Department of Education (MDE), American Heart Association, Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) and Michigan Alliance for Prevention of Sudden Cardiac Death of the Young (MAP-SCDY).  

This year, House Bills 5527 and 5528 were passed to create comprehensive emergency response requirements for schools. That includes a written cardiac emergency response plan for the school day, afterschool activities and sports, accessible inspected automated external defibrillators or AEDs, cardiac response drills, and pre-participation screenings.  

A virtual training in January will teach schools how to get MI HEARTSafe recognition. Find out more information at Migrc.org/miheartsafe.  

Other headlines for Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024:

• The Michigan chapter of the Arab American Civil Rights League and the INSAF Project is hosting a virtual training at 1 p.m. Nov. 8 for attorneys and law students who assist Lebanese-American families trying to leave Lebanon.
• Friends for Animals of Metro Detroit is collecting donations for its Community Friends Day to support homeless animals. The organization says it needs to raise about $900 per animal for the almost 2500 dogs and cats they care for each year.
• Votes are still being counted in races for Michigan’s statewide education boards. View the latest election results at wdet.org/electionresults.
• A new report from the University of Michigan’s Youth Policy Lab shows rates of depression and anxiety among 8th to 12th graders in Detroit dropped below pre-pandemic levels.

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

There will be two education-related millage proposals on the ballot next week for Detroit residents that, if passed, would have a significant impact on students.

Voters in Wayne County will decide Tuesday whether or not to renew the Wayne County Regional Enhancement Millage, which provides supplemental funding to 33 school districts and over 90 public school academies in the county. If approved, the six-year 1.9812-mill property tax — first approved in 2016 then renewed by voters in 2022 — would be extended another six years, beginning in 2028. 

In addition to the Regional Enhancement Millage, Detroiters will see Proposal S — an operating millage renewal for the Detroit Public Schools Community District — on their ballots.

The millage is a property tax for businesses and non-homestead owners only, meaning voters who own or rent their homes would see no increase in their property taxes. If approved, it would help pay off the district’s debt by increasing the millage rate that supports public schools in the city.

In Detroit, that millage rate sits at 16.6 mills (or $16.60 for every $1,000 of taxable value), which is below the standard 18 mills that other districts collect. Under state law, when property values do not keep pace with inflation, the millage rate is rolled back.

Now, voters in Detroit are being asked to increase the rate back to 18 mills. If they do, it would mean roughly $10 million annually for the Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) that would help the district pay off its legacy debt faster.

Related: Meet the candidates running for 3 seats on the Detroit school board

That debt stems from the school district’s split from Detroit Public Schools in 2016, when the Michigan Legislature created DPSCD to run the city’s public schools. At the time, the district was on the verge of bankruptcy from years of economic peril in the city. Mayoral control and emergency state management deepened the district’s financial hardships.

After that legacy debt is paid off, the district could use the funds to go toward teacher salaries, building and classroom improvements, and other operating costs, according to DPSCD Superintendent Nikolai Vitti.

I sat down with Vitti ahead of the November election to get more insight into Proposal S and the current funding challenges facing the district.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Listen: Nikolai Vitti talks Proposal S, funding challenges in Detroit school district

Nikolai Vitti, superintendent, DPSCD: I think most Detroiters feel that as the city is just starting to see an improvement economically, and, you know, with that improvement in city services and an improvement in a school district, there’s still this underlying feeling that businesses should contribute more with their improvement in the city and their profits in the city to the city’s overall improvement, accelerate that improvement, and I think Proposal S is certainly a way to do that. So in the state of Michigan, every school district is required to tax at 18 mills. That tax is mainly a business tax, but because the city economics has improved over the past couple of years, more revenue is being generated. With that revenue, there’s been a roll back on the mills from 18 mills to 16.6 mills, because essentially, you’re generating more revenue because property values have increased. On the surface, that sounds harmless, but to the district, it’s a loss of revenue of about $10 million a year. So by reestablishing the mills at 18 mills, it ensures businesses pay their fair share in the city’s overall improvement. In the district’s improvement, the district will generate $10 million more in revenue each year. That money is completely flexible and fungible, and it will mainly go to continue to increase teacher salaries and improved facilities, because general fund dollars, through this proposal in particular, is the only way you can pay teachers. You can’t use federal funds to do that.

Robin Vincent, WDET:  But first, the money will be going toward the legacy debt. Correct?

NV: Correct. Detroit is still paying two sets of debt, if you will. There’s an 18 mill debt, and then there’s a 13 mill debt, which homeowners are paying based on a construction bond in the early 2000. So we’re just about done paying off the 18 mill debt. That’ll be done by March of 2025, but we still have quite a bit to pay off on the 13 mill debt, but we’re able to accelerate that payment by passing this proposal.

RV: Now something I’ve heard you talk about a lot during school board and committee meetings is the fact that Detroit public schools are not equitably funded in comparison to other districts. How inequitably funded are they?

NV: In Michigan, every school district is required to tax at 18 Mills, and so back about two decades ago, something called Proposition A was passed by the legislature, and the positive part of Prop A was it created a floor in per pupil funding, so it guaranteed that in Michigan, regardless of where your child grows up and where they attend school, that at minimum, they will be provided a certain amount of dollars for their public education. That minimum amount this year is about $9,608 and so every district taxes at 18 mills. Once they collect that tax, if they’re below $9,608 then the state makes up the difference in state aid, so that it ensures a floor that’s positive.

The negative of this formula is that if you generate more than $9,608, you keep those dollars. So districts like Ann Arbor, Birmingham, Farmington, Romulus, River Rouge, Troy, West Bloomfield, are examples of districts that generate more than $9,608. Specifically Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills and Southfield, if you average those three, they actually generate $3,464 more per student than Detroit does. And as we all know, those districts border Detroit. So this creates great inequity in that those districts not only have more per pupil than DPSC does, but those dollars are completely fungible flexible, so you can apply them to anything, from teacher salaries to facilities to sport programs to after school programming. And so this creates a big issue for us when we’re trying to recruit and retain mainly teachers, special ed, special education teachers specifically, but it’s also about programming for students.

RV: I’d like to shift our focus before I let you go and discuss one of the most pressing issues that’s facing Detroit students and many children nationwide. I’m sure you know what I’m about to say, it’s chronic absenteeism. Roughly 65% of Detroit public school students missed more than 10% of school days last school year. Tell me about the ways the district is trying to address this problem, and what more you think needs to happen, more broadly?

NV: It’s one of our greatest challenges, and I name it as one of our greatest challenges, because what we’re definitely seeing in DPSCD is an improvement in student achievement. When you look at state test scores, we’re improving, especially since the pandemic, at a faster rate than the state on average, even suburban school districts. And when you look at our performance versus larger urban school districts throughout the country, we’re improving more in that above grade level performance since the pandemic than those districts as well. Our challenge is chronic absenteeism. When DPSCD students miss 18 or fewer days, they’re actually three to five times more likely to be at and above grade level in reading and math and to be college ready, defined by the SAT in 11th grade. So attendance matters because it is directly impacting student achievement. So we’re improving, but we need to accelerate that improvement with even higher numbers, and I think the best way to do that is by improving attendance. As you mentioned last year, 65% of our students missed 18 or more days of school. That’s actually an improvement since the pandemic, but we’re still not at levels even where we were before the pandemic, and that’s a challenge across the nation, not only in DPSCD, but our way of working on this is one, creating more awareness about attendance. I think a lot of our families, especially those with younger children, still think it’s okay to miss, let’s say a day of school once a week, or once every two weeks. So just trying to change the level of awareness and understanding of how absenteeism affects achievement. But beyond that, the greatest challenge that we have in DPSCD is concentrated poverty, and what that means is that we have families that are working multiple jobs. They’re trying to just get through life, and life issues are getting in the way of coming to school every day. We’re prioritizing attendance every day. So DPSCD, through philanthropic funds, excited that we have already started to implement our health hubs throughout the city. We provide free medical, dental, vision, mental health support. We also have family resource centers where we’re providing canned goods through pantries, getting uniform help, help with evictions, help with immigration services. These are all ways to address the concentration of poverty issues that our families are facing that leads to high levels of absenteeism.

RV: You’d like to see fundamental change to the way Detroit schools are funded on multiple levels. Is there any other way you see to address this big disparity?

NV: One is greater flexibility with federal money and state grants. The state did — for the first time after heavy lobbying — create some flexibility with what’s called 31a money, which is given for at-risk concentrated poverty, and so we are now putting some of the flexibility into teacher salaries with our most recent agreement. So that’s a sign of progress and one step in the right direction. But more than that, we got to get to a point where we’re not talking about a floor with per pupil funding, but a ceiling. You know, what is the right ceiling? I believe the right ceiling is placing it on the wealthiest school district, which probably would be Bloomfield Hills, that $13,443 per student, and so that all districts are minimally funded at that level, which would be the new floor. That would be one way to solve this. The other way to solve this is to move to a weighted student formula, where students in concentrated poverty, English language learners, special needs students, receive more per student than the average student.

Tonight on the Detroit Evening Report, we cover a Boston-based education nonprofit’s expansion to Detroit; family-friendly Halloween activities that won’t break the bank and more.

Subscribe to the Detroit Evening Report on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Education nonprofit Bottom Line coming to Detroit

Boston-based education nonprofit Bottom Line is expanding to Detroit, thanks to a $600,000 multi-year investment from Greenlight Fund Detroit. The organization focuses on getting kids to and through college, providing post-secondary advising to high school seniors and continuing support until students enter “economically mobilizing” first careers. Detroit is the fifth city in Bottom Line’s portfolio, with the organization planning to serve 725 local students per year beginning this summer. It already operates in Boston, New York, Chicago and Dayton, Ohio. 

Free Halloween fun at the library

Halloween is upon us, and there are lots of fun free offerings for the whole family:

• The Elmwood Park Branch of the Detroit Public Library invites kids to “A Not So Spooky Halloween Painting Party” from 4-5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 30.
• The Hubbard Branch hosts a Halloween Edition of Story Squad from 6-7 p.m. Wednesday.
• The Duffield Branch’s “Dare to Trick or Treat” is from 10 a.m.-noon. on Thursday, Oct. 31, Halloween day.
• Halloween treats and crafts are on offer at the Chandler Park Branch from 3-6 p.m. on Halloween.
• The Edison Branch has a costume party contest at 3 p.m. and trick or treating at 4 p.m. on Halloween.
• The Lincoln Branch has tricks, treats and games from 4-5:30 p.m.
• The Main Branch’s Children’s library will host its book-themed Halloween party from 4-5:30 p.m. 
• The Bryant Branch of Dearborn Public Libraries is hosting a Halloween tunes-themed Family Dance Party from 4-4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 30. 

Halloween in the D

Halloween in the D’s Trunk or Treat events invite the community into local police stations, fire houses and recreation centers Thursday, Oct. 31. Visit halloweeninthed.org for a list of the 19 locations and event times. 

Our Inner Circle hosting Harvest Festival

For those looking for a different vibe for their Oct. 31 celebrations, the organization Our Inner Circle and Detroit Councilmember Mary Waters are hosting a Harvest Festival in Eastern Market’s Shed 3 from 5-8 p.m.. The event will feature hay and train rides, refreshments, arcade games, crafts and entertainment. Costumes are allowed but organizers request attendees not wear scary costumes. The family-friendly event is free but requires registration. To register, call 313-728-9677. 

Detroit Reparations Task Force hosting public session

Detroit’s Reparations Task Force will have a public session from 2-4 p.m. this Saturday, Nov. 2, at Butzel Family Recreation Center, 7737 Kercheval Ave., Detroit. Attendees can join in person or virtually. To join online go to cityofdetroit.zoom.us/j/87510091466. 

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

Teachers in classrooms are dealing with an especially tough set of circumstances. Many are dealing with the after effects of the pandemic on student mental health and taking responsibility for keeping kids safe from violence.

A panel of educational professionals joined Created Equal on Wednesday to discuss the teacher shortage in Michigan, its effect on students, and some possible solutions.

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

Amber Arellano, the executive director of Education Trust-Midwest, explained that many Michigan K-12 schools, especially in rural, urban, and working-class districts, are reporting difficulty in filling teaching vacancies as well as teaching staff leaving and retiring early.

Madeline Mavrogordato, an associate professor of K-12 educational administration, explained that Michigan is on the extreme low end of starting teacher salaries. This results in new teachers having to pay a wage penalty to pursue a teaching career.

In addition to legislation to increase teacher salaries, the panel emphasized the importance of guaranteeing teachers’ access to appropriate resources to support the populations represented in their classrooms and offering professional development opportunities to early-career teachers.

Armen Hratchian, the executive director at Teach for America Detroit, discussed how the shortage could be mitigated by investing in school and district leadership.

“It’s not just about the educator, it’s those leaders who are creating conditions for educators to thrive,” Hratchian said.

Guests:  

• Madeline Mavrogordato is an associate professor of K-12 educational administration at Michigan State University.
• Armen Hratchian is the executive director at Teach for America Detroit.
• Amber Arellano is the executive director of the Education Trust-Midwest, a nonpartisan education research and policy nonprofit.

Editor’s note: This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters.

Nearly two dozen people are running for three seats on the Detroit school board during a pivotal time for the school district.

The Detroit Public Schools Community District is struggling with high rates of chronic absenteeism among students, low academic achievement, enrollment declines, and issues of climate and culture within school buildings.

The 16 candidates who answered questions for Chalkbeat Detroit’s voter guide have plenty of ideas for addressing these issues and more.

There will be 22 candidates on the ballot. One of the candidates, Jason Malone, said he is not running due to an injury. Only one of the three incumbents, Sherry Gay-Dagnogo, is seeking re-election. That means there will be two new faces on the board, as members Misha Stallworth and Sonya Mays have opted not to seek re-election.

The new faces could change the makeup of the board, particularly if they are candidates who are at odds with the priorities of current board members and Superintendent Nikolai Vitti, who received a contract extension earlier this year.

Below, you’ll find candidate bios and their answers to some critical questions about the district. For information about voting, including early voting and absentee voting, go here.

Lori Higgins is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at lhiggins@chalkbeat.org. Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

The cost of child care is an enormous financial burden for parents and guardians of young children in the United States — especially low-income households.

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

According to reporting from Outlier Media’s Laura Herberg, the cost of child care in Detroit is much higher than the federal government’s definition of affordable care, 7% of median income. In Detroit, the average cost of care is closer to 20-30% of median household income. 

Paradoxically, that high price tag doesn’t translate to high wages for early child care education workers. In fact, child care workers are in the bottom percentiles of salaries for careers in the U.S., according to a report from Berkeley’s Center for the Study of Child Care Employment. 

That same report finds that the younger the children an educator is responsible for, the lower the pay. There are also racial pay gaps, with Black and Latina early educators making less than their counterparts as well. 

The child care worker crisis came into sharp focus during the pandemic, exposing a problem that was temporarily assuaged thanks to the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. That windfall, however, is drying up, leaving parents, legislators and educators wondering what’s next for the unaffordable child care system in the U.S. 

Herberg joined Created Equal on Wednesday along with Wanzi Muruvi of Berkeley’s Center for the Study of Child Care Employment to discuss these issues.

Guests: 

• Wanzi Muruvi is a Senior Research and Policy Associate at Berkeley’s Center for the Study of Child Care Employment. 
• Laura Herberg is a civic life reporter for Outlier Media. 

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

Comedian and actor Marc Evan Jackson joined The Metro in studio on Tuesday to talk about how his nonprofit is using improv to help metro Detroit youth, as well as to encourage listeners to support WDET during our 2024 Fall Fundraiser.

Read more: Freshen up your WDET swag, become a sustaining member today

The former Michigander — known by many for his comedic roles on NBC’s The Good Place and Brooklyn Nine-Nine — founded The Detroit Creativity Project in 2011, along with several other Los Angeles-based performers whose careers started out in Detroit, to help bring free improv lessons to Detroit students.

But the goal of the program isn’t simply to teach students improv comedy, he says. Rather, improv can help young people build confidence and step outside their comfort zone.

“The overarching point of what we’re trying to do [with The Detroit Creativity Project] is not create the next generation of comedians and actors and directors and musicians necessarily, but to create the next generation of problem solvers and good humans,” said Jackson.

Jackson also reflected on his past career in public radio — formerly working at WGVU-FM in Grand Rapids in various roles — and why he believes it is vital to support public media.

“It’s programming and music by people, for people,” said Jackson. “It’s different than corporate media…you’re going to hear music on WDET that you would never come into contact with anywhere else in the world. You’re going to find stories like that of The Detroit Creativity Project.”

If you would like to support 75 years of quality, culturally-rich local programming at WDET, make a gift today at wdet.org/give. And don’t forget to check out the many awesome incentives being offered for those who donate during our Fall Fundraiser, running through Tuesday, Sept. 24.

Use the video player below to watch the full interview with actor Marc Evan Jackson.

Over the last 20 years, education experts have increasingly questioned whether standardized tests are the best way to measure how students perform.

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

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of institutions let high school students decide whether to submit their standardized test scores with their admission applications, and many colleges and universities continue to have “test-optional policies” today.

So how much weight do these tests actually carry, and what do they fail to tell us about student achievement? This week on Created Equal, we were joined by Elaine Allensworth — a researcher who has studied testing and other measures of achievement for 20 years — to discuss America’s affinity for test culture and the shortcomings that come with it.

Allensworth says standardized tests can often be overused and over interpreted to the point of causing adverse effects on students and classroom instruction.

“There’s so much in school that is not captured on standardized tests and can’t be captured on standardized tests,” she said. “…beyond that, how students perform in the test is also affected by a lot of factors other than those specific academic skills that we intend to test.”

Guests:

• Elaine Allensworth, Lewis-Sebring Executive Director of the University of Chicago Consortium

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

On the latest episode of the Detroit Evening Report Weekends, Sascha Raiyn spends some time with Garrett Dempsey of Detroit Outdoors.

Detroit Outdoors is a collaboration between the Sierra Club, the city of Detroit and the YMCA, focused on exposing Detroit youth to the outdoors.

This summer, the organization took a group of students to Yosemite National Park to camp, hike and rock climb. But the trip was centered around the history of the Buffalo Soldiers in the National Parks, and the Detroit native who is the park service’s foremost expert on that history, Shelton Johnson.

Garrett Dempsey is the program director for Detroit Outdoors. He spoke to WDET’s Sascha Raiyn about the trip and the organization’s work to get Black and brown youth into the great outdoors.

Listen to the episode using the media player above.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Michigan public school reading scores have been taking a hit. MichMash host, Cheyna Roth, and Gongwer News Service’s Zach Gorchow find out why with Peter Spadafore who’s with the Michigan Alliance for Student Opportunity. 

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

In this episode:

• The latest Michigan public school reading scores and why they are are so low
• The lasting effects of the pandemic on students
• Policy interventions to help students improve their education

Results from this year’s Michigan Student Test of Educational Progress (M-STEP) were released this week, showing that 39.6% of third graders across Michigan passed the state’s English language arts (ELA) test, compared to 40.9% in 2023.

Spadafore, who serves as executive director for the Michigan Alliance for Student Opportunity, said the results were concerning but not surprising.  

“I think like every observer around Lansing and across the state, we were disappointed in the numbers, but also not entirely surprised to see the lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Spadafore. “The state superintendent talks a lot about the impact of virtual instruction. When we were not able to be in classrooms having an impact on those early learners when we’re trying to get at them, soon and quickly to grasp those early reading skills.”

Lansing is hard at work to pass laws to remedy this issue. But Spadafore said they need to make sure they pass the correct laws to intervene with the reading levels.   

“It’s important that they move the bills when they’re right now. They’re overly prescriptive and change a whole lot of state law when really what we’re seeing is if we would have a better screening tool to identify students reading disabilities and characteristics of dyslexia, I think that’s when, we could be supportive of legislation.” 

Spadafore says it will take collaboration between educators, lawmakers, the union, parents and more to help reading levels improve.

More from WDET:

• Rep. James tries to drum support for federal education tax credit legislation
• Detroit Evening Report: Detroit Education Narrative Collective offering up to $5,000 in grants to craft education stories
• Detroit Evening Report: Gov. Whitmer launches new education-focused department MiLEAP

More from Gongwer News Service:

• M-STEP Scores Show Student Economic Advantage Gap Still Prevalent

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.

It’s called Hood Camp: Urban Survival for Today’s Youth.

“We call it Hood Camp because it is a camp that’s in the hood,” said Mama Shu, CEO and founder of Avalon Village — the sustainable eco-village on Avalon Street in Highland Park that hosts the camp. “And we do it because there are a lot of children who are not able to afford camp.”

The program, for only $50 per child, offers local youth a chance to have an outdoor camping experience in the comfort of their own neighborhood.

Shu says she started the camp because as a young girl she always wanted to camp in her backyard, but her mom wouldn’t let her. But now as an adult, she can share that dream with others.

“I was like ‘You know what? I’m doing this! Let me see if I can get some children and parents who would let their children come and start this Hood Camp.'”

The first camp, in 2011, was just one night with 17 kids — and later up to 40. That lasted for the first 10 years. Eventually, by popular demand from the kids, Shu extended the camp to an entire weekend.

“Because the kids used to always say, ‘Mama Shu we want to spend another night.’ Because they loved spending the night outside,” she said.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, the camp reduced its attendance down to 25 -30 children.

At the camp, children learn all about emergency preparedness and surviving outside. They learn how to cook outside, how to garden and purify water. They even learn about different plants that most typically would classify as weeds, and how they can be used for medicinal purposes.

Shu also recruits the Highland Park Fire and Police Departments to teach fire and gun safety and general community safety.

Each camper gets a survival kit with items like batteries, matches, candles, a first aid kit, and a solar backpack. And at the end of the weekend, they go home with a certificate that reads: “I survived in the hood.”

“We are showing them basically how you can fit in and how you can utilize these things first and how to survive in your own neighborhood,” Shu said.

Shu gave the example of a blackout in the neighborhood as an opportunity for the children to use their skills.

“We had out light go out for days in Highland Park,” Shu said “They still have to go to school. Well, they have the solar backpacks so they can charge their phones and their computers. And hopefully not miss a beat with their studies.”

Shu said she always receives positive feedback from the children and their parents about the Hood Camp program. Some former students return each year to participate again, while some who have grown up and graduated return as volunteers.

“It’s just wonderful seeing them still be interested in helping out in the community. And being able to volunteer and support something that when they were kids, they were involved in,” Shu said.

Hood Camp runs Aug. 30 through Sept. 1, 2024. For more information or to register a camper, visit www.theavalonvilllage.org.

Community stakeholders, dignitaries and residents held a ribbon cutting ceremony this week to celebrate the opening of the new McClellan Early Childhood Center on Detroit’s east side.

Located on the site where Detroit Public Schools’ Pingree Elementary once operated, the 15,000-square-foot facility features eight classrooms that are providing 96 new seats for early learners in the community, helping to close a 521-seat gap in the surrounding neighborhoods, according to the city.

The Center, which will welcome its first students in October 2024, will also offer Head Start and Early Head Start programs and feature a community room and meeting spaces for use by local organizations and residents.

Funding for the project came from a variety of public and private entities, according to lender and developer IFF, which was tasked with sourcing the capital to make the Center possible.

The nonprofit early childhood educator and social services organization Matrix Human Services will operate the McClellan ECC.

“The McClellan Early Childhood Center is a milestone in our mission to transform Head Start early childhood education in Detroit,” said Matrix CEO Brad Coulter in a statement. “By providing a new state of the art facility right in the heart of Gratiot Woods, we are setting a foundation for our children’s future success. This facility is not just a school; it’s a commitment to our community.”

For more information about the McClellan Early Childhood Center, visit iff.org/mcclellan.

Other headlines for Friday, Aug. 23, 2024:

• A new report from the Citizens Research Council of Michigan examines the value in using public policy to drive economic innovation in Michigan.
• The Detroit Lions will play against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, Aug. 25, in their last pre-season game before the start of the 2024 2025 NFL season.
• The Detroit Bourbon & Blues festival is taking place from 12 to 6:30 p.m. on Sunday in Eastern Market’s Shed 5.

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