The 2025 Engage Detroit Workshops grant program, now in its fourth year, has chosen seven new projects for funding.
The program supports small teams of U-M faculty, staff, students and community partners in organizing workshops to strengthen partnerships between U-M and the city of Detroit.
The grant provides up to $15,000 for workshops or speaker series that foster meaningful relationships and connections between U-M faculty and staff and Detroit communities.
Past examples of successful projects include financial coaching for small businesses, a website dedicated to navigating Detroit’s educational landscape, and a project aimed at beautifying, reclaiming, and transforming vacant land in Detroit.
“This year, the unique proposals we’ve awarded will continue to cultivate a positive impact between the university and those in Detroit and surrounding communities,” said Valeria Bertacco, vice provost for engaged learning. “We typically award five projects, but this year’s applicants were so strong, we’ve awarded seven.”
The Provosts’ Offices at the Ann Arbor and Dearborn campuses have come together to provide joint support for the program. This year’s projects include:
AI for Small Business & Nonprofits
Description: This three-hour workshop, offered in four locations, will teach resource-constrained organizations how to use artificial intelligence in their daily work to save time and money. Entrepreneurs will also practice with bilingual AI prompt guides, supported by local community tech consultants, and how-to guides will be shared with 60 business service organizations and posted online.
Project Leads: Jerry Davis, Gilbert and Ruth Whitaker Professor of Business Administration, professor of management and organizations, Stephen M. Ross School of Business; Julie Hui, assistant professor of information, School of Information; Christie Baer, managing director, Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project, Stephen M. Ross School of Business
Community Partners: Live6 and Jefferson East
Alternative Fall Break: Solving Information Problems Collaboratively with Detroit Partners
Description: Building on the School of Information’s 25 years of Alternative Spring Break programs, the new Alternative Fall Break program will bring a group of students to Detroit to learn about and serve the community, as well as partner with small business owners and nonprofit representatives to help bolster their organizations. Students will also learn about the Detroit community through a guided walking tour and by completing direct community service with a local organization.
Project Leads: Angie Zill, community and innovation programs manager and adjunct lecturer in information, School of Information; Kelly Kowatch, director, Engaged Learning Office, and adjunct lecturer in information, School of Information; Alissa Talley-Pixley, senior associate director, Student Engagement, and adjunct lecturer in information, School of Information
Community Partners: Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project
Colorism: Our Stories on Stage
Description: Stories will be scripted around myriad themes concerning colorism and racism across and within racial/ethnic groups. These stories, some of which will be performed live, will be inspired by interviews collected from 10 individuals who shared their experience of colorism. The contour of these interviews followed the key themes used to develop Colorism, a multimedia art installation focused on the genesis of and persistent consequences of colorism. All elements of the installation will serve as inspiration for the development of stories by the storytellers.
Project Lead: Rogerio M. Pinto, University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor, Berit Ingersoll-Dayton Collegiate Professor of Social Work, professor of social work, School of Social Work, professor of theatre and drama, School of Music, Theatre & Dance, and professor of art and design, Penny W Stamps School of Art and Design
Community Partners: The Secret Society of Twisted Storytellers, The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, and Alliance for the Arts in Research Universities
Innovate and Integrate: Transformative Health Workshops for Professionals and Patients
Description: This workshop will offer a mix of large group presentations and smaller, interest-driven sessions. Topics will include telemedicine best practices, advanced communication skills, patient safety, and interprofessional collaboration — all to empower participants with knowledge and skills to innovate their healthcare practices.
Project Leads: Caitlin Ferguson, assistant director of community health and engagement, and adjunct lecturer in pharmacy, College of Pharmacy; Tracy Wilson, HUDA Clinic; Maya Mortada, director of health services, Zaman International
Community Partners: HUDA Clinic and Zaman International
Semester in Detroit: Detroiters Speak Transit Justice Edition
Description: A special transit justice edition of Detroiters Speak during the 2026 winter semester.
Project Leads: Stephen Ward, Arthur F Thurnau Professor, associate professor of Afroamerican and African studies, director of the Semester in Detroit Program in the Residential College, and associate professor in the Residential College, LSA; Craig Regester, student affairs program manager and Lecturer II in the Residential College, LSA; Rose Gorman, academic program specialist, Residential College and Semester in Detroit Program Manager, LSA
Community Partners: Transportation Riders United, Detroit Disability Power, ATU Local 26, and Detroit Department of Transportation
Engaging Community Wellbeing in SW Detroit and E Dearborn
Description: These workshops will target young people with mental health services, creative writing opportunities, and exposure to community-led neighborhood development efforts along the border of SW Detroit, E Dearborn and Warrendale. It will promote the sharing of best practices between mosque communities, their neighbors, and faculty from both Ann Arbor and Dearborn campuses and city staff.
Project Leads: Sally Howell, professor of history, Department of Social Sciences, College of Arts, Sciences and Letters, UM-Dearborn; Sufian Nabhan, executive director, Islamic Center of Detroit; Kamelya Youssef, poet, writer and teacher
Community Partners: Our Community Reads
Telling Place! Markers, Signs and Echoes to Share Our Stories
Description: Through ongoing work led by its neighborhood association, this project seeks support to collaboratively and collectively: 1. collect community visual stories and create a living archive; 2. codesign a network of markers, signs and echoes across the neighborhood that incorporates community’s memories and existing needs; and 3. co-produce a community research process committed to community capacity building, mutual learning, and sustaining collaborations to improve the quality of life for all residents.
Project Leads: María Arquero de Alarcón, associate professor of architecture and urban and regional planning, Taubman College; Andrew Lapetina, board member, Grixdale Farms Neighborhood Association; Paul Draus, professor of sociology, director, Master of Science in Criminology and Criminal Justice, College of Arts, Sciences and Letters, UM-Dearborn; Lisa DuRussel, clinical assistant professor of practice, School for Environment and Sustainability
Community Partners: Grixdale Farms Neighborhood Association
More Information
Learn more about past awarded projects here.
