Research projects

During the Winter semester, students partnering with Detroit Public Schools Community District devised a list of best practices from nationwide districts on fostering gender inclusivity in schools. The recommendations include policy guidelines, student support, and resources for policy implementation. The policy draft includes student and staff rights, provides definitions for important, relevant terms, applies to staff members, and has a legal basis. It also recommends respecting name and pronoun changes, defines discrimination, harassment, and bullying, and outlines locker room and restroom...

Sanctuary Farms is an urban farm and nature sanctuary in Detroit, with a mission to connect the local community with the environment and food through active participation in closing the food loop. As part of their operations, Sanctuary Farms aims to engage in industrial-scale composting, and this research project involved conducting extensive research to understand the policy and permit requirements for composting in the City of Detroit, as well as at the state and federal levels. The research process involved gathering information from various resources, including the client and the UM...

Councilmember Tonya Burns partnered with a Ford School MPP student to research municipal home rehabilitation programs and considerations for the City of Flint. The impact of the water crisis, paired with the already existing economic decline the City of Flint has experienced due to the shift in manufacturing from America’s Midwestern cities and towns to overseas manufacturers, has left Flint with a population half of what it was in 1960.  This decline has led to an increase in abandoned commercial and residential structures, as well as a dwindling tax base to provide services to residents....

In support of the city of Ann Arbor's A2Zero initiative to "achieve a just, community-wide transition to carbon neutrality by 2030,” - Ford School MPA and MPP students provided a presentation and research report with potential policy solutions to combat green gentrification displacement (GGD) that could threaten the Bryant neighborhood. A2 selected the Bryant neighborhood–a historically marginalized and lower-income community–with equity and climate action top of mind. The city wants to funnel millions of investment dollars in renewable energy and residential upgrades, transforming Bryant...

Planet Detroit is a weekly online newsletter whose mission is to raise awareness about Metro Detroit’s environmental and public health challenges and potential solutions, hold powerful entities accountable, and empower readers to take action in their communities. Planet Detroit is working to build a resource hub for Detroit residents and relevant stakeholders to be able to understand the assets, gaps, and needs in the local information on public health and environmental data. To assist with this project, the students worked to identify and collect relevant local data relating to risk and...

Two students provided Flint Councilwoman Tonya Burns with data and information on housing incentive programs and mortgage down payment assistance. The Flint housing market has some of the most affordable housing in the country, however, despite this, housing insecurity in Flint continues to be a pressing issue. There are multiple causes of this issue ranging from low incomes and job security, to thousands of blighted houses in the community, and the effects of redlining are still being felt to this day. Many residents of Flint cannot afford to buy houses, yet Flint has ample housing stock. To...

Two students partnered with District 6 City Council Member Gabriela Santiago-Romero to provide policy recommendations regarding the processes for dealing with dangerous buildings within Detroit. The students gathered and synthesized information about local demolition practices in Detroit. Through research and engagement meetings, they collected information about the dangerous building notification processes, resident rights throughout the process, city processes from determination to completion, and data regarding demolition processes in similarly-sized midwestern cities. Given the lack of...

Students collaborated with the City of Flint’s Economic Development Department and UM-Flint Office of Economic Development staff to develop a guide for new and existing businesses to understand, act on, and sustainably operate in Flint. Students engaged with key city of Flint and UM-Flint Office of Economic Development staff to understand existing resources and resource gaps for businesses and commercial property owners. A list of resources and appropriate steps were assembled to guide entrepreneurs when locating a business in an existing neighborhood context, along with business-related...

Blight is a serious issue in the city of Detroit; in dealing with this issue, the mechanism of demolition poses a variety of issues relating to safety, sustainability, and funding due to the financial costs associated with demolition. To deal with blight more sustainably, deconstruction prior to complete demolition was proposed. In response, the PCLP Spring 2022 fellows crafted several recommendations, divided by immediate, intermediate, and future actions. The recommendations included: (1) addressing current demolition practices, (2) increasing accountability for residents from city...

Friends of Parkside (FOP) is a not-for-profit, community-based organization located on Detroit’s east side in the Villages at Parkside, a public housing complex. FOP has a 15-member board of directors consisting of Parkside residents and representatives from community-based organizations.This project focused on digital access in the Parkside community, specifically identifying residents’ ability to access resources and participate in programs that will enhance their ability to use less energy and save money. The deliverable was a participant pre-survey of the residents in the housing complex....

The Homeless Action Network of Detroit (HAND)’s core mission is to provide leadership to address homelessness in Detroit. One part of executing this mission involves advocacy to promote policies that increase affordable housing stock. For their deliverable, the team created a memo presenting an analysis of federal, state and local legislation relevant to HAND’s interest in the creation and maintenance of affordable housing stock in Detroit. The memo offers a variety of advocacy options at the federal, state and local level. Options include advocating for federal legislation to create...

The Michigan Action Plan for Fatherhood Involvement was created to explore ways of expanding support for the involvement of fathers in parenting/custody arrangements and to guide the establishment of permanent structures for improving policies and programs that benefit fathers and their families. The project sought to understand 50/50 shared parenting legislation on the state level and ways the organization could advocate and support such initiatives. During the project, the student researcher considered questions such as: how do states define 50/50 shared parenting, are these pieces of...

State Representative Padma Kuppa has been working to pass H.R. 248 – a policy resolution in the state of Michigan that calls for the federal government to quickly enact legislation addressing the backlog in employment–based (EB) green cards, including, but not limited to, H.R. 3648 (the EAGLE Act). The goals of the project were: to research the landscape of EB green cards, including the national backlog and economic impact of the immigrant workforce; to document previous and proposed legislation on the national backlog at the state and federal levels; and to identify and engage with...

This team of students partnered with the American Heart Association Department of Health Strategies to help develop recommendations for schools to use in developing tobacco policies. The team researched current school policies throughout Michigan and the U.S. to identify best practices of reducing tobacco usage among student populations. The students were encouraged to identify policies that use a lesser or non-punitive approach in terms of punishing offenders within a student body. In addition, the team used their findings to craft policy recommendations for revising current...

The Hamtramck Practical Community Learning Project (PCLP) team had three specific objectives: design a one-page resource guide informed by research and merchant focus groups; develop a database of small business resources from local, state, and federal partners; and assist the Hamtramck Community and Economic Department (CED) team in facilitating a city-wide merchant meeting. These objectives were successfully completed by the student team over a three-step effort involving analysis, resource development and design, and resource implementation. The team assisted in the planning and execution...

The Homeless Action Network of Detroit (HAND) is developing a coordinated approach to engage with landlords to rent to people experiencing homelessness in Detroit to ease coordination and communication by consolidating housing resources into one system-wide database. The researchers’ role focused on investigating housing databases and best practices, compiling contacts and resources for use in the database, conducting case studies of successful landlord engagement in comparable cities, and compiling a report of the findings. Their report provides HAND with the necessary information to...

The University of Michigan-Flint Office of Economic Development received a Cybersecurity Training Center designation and is interested in pursuing and implementing cybersecurity training in North Flint. The team recommended a cybersecurity training program, CyberStart America, and identified a community center, Berston Field House, to gauge community interest and discuss implementing this program. They also worked with Berston Field House to create a survey to be used to understand community interest, which can also be used as supporting documentation for future grant proposals by...

Two fellows were charged with researching current school policies throughout Michigan and the U.S. to identify best practices of reducing tobacco usage among student populations. The fellows were encouraged to identify policies that use a lesser or non-punitive approach in punishing offenders within a student body. Fellows used their findings to craft policy recommendations for current policies that could be adapted and provided research for the development of non-smoking/vaping social...

The fellows provided technical assistance to design the survey methodology for the State of the Court Administrative Office Friend of the Court Bureau’s Guideline revision project. Separate surveys were created for two distinct audiences of the Guideline users:  parents who have an existing custody, parenting time, and child support case; and legal/court professionals who work with parents to determine a parenting time schedule. The parents survey, in particular, explored the impact of a change in parenting time on payment of a child support...

A PCLP fellow studied both the local cybersecurity training ecosystem and best practices in communities with demographics similar to Flint. Topics of interest included available types of training, cost, and delivery methods for high school students. Through virtual interviews with local stakeholders, the fellow learned if there was a demand for this type of training, and documented challenges and opportunities in communities that have been able to implement cybersecurity training programs. The research findings will be used to help inform UM-Flint’s Office of Economic Development, as well as...

The students developed a water infrastructure asset map that identifies stakeholders, agencies, and updates at every level of government that impact the area. Final deliverables also included information about funding opportunities for infrastructure repair from philanthropy and federal...

This project involved an examination of diversity, equity, and inclusion policing issues in the city of Livonia, Michigan.  The student team examined the correlation between race and interactions with police in Livonia using criminal justice data, census information, and other available...

COVID-19 has highlighted issues across Michigan’s food assistance programs. In order to better understand and rectify these inequalities, the Michigan Food Security Council’s Food Security Policy Workgroup and the Ford School conducted an environmental scan of food assistance and food security policies, and also completed a literature review that describes the effectiveness and requirements of various food...

The project involved research and writing policy recommendations related to Michigan’s Task Force on Jail and Pretrial Incarceration to build the power of individuals and families to challenge the root causes of poverty, advance justice, and promote human development through neighborhood-driven community organizing and civic...

Five students partnered with Peace and Justice in Detroit to support the organization’s grassroots efforts to improve police and community relations in the City of Detroit.  The students reviewed the Detroit Police Department’s policies and provided recommendations that included  the use of more intensive de-escalation and trauma training for both police officers and...

This project examined the connection between schools and the juvenile justice system that creates barriers to diversity, equity, and...

Summer fellows evaluated and challenged the barriers to equity faced by students in the Oakland County School District. Using data primarily from government and research institutions, the fellows analyzed discrepancies in schools based on factors such as race, income, and school budget, and made policy recommendations to the...

Students partnered with the Michigan Urban Farming Initiative to create a toolkit to assist with grant applications, brought together knowledge on “agrihoods,” and collected information to improve property maintenance code...

The research fellow worked with the office of State Representative Kevin Coleman and conducted a 50 state feasibility study of nursing home responses to the COVID-19...

The students worked with PACENation on policy research and recommendations regarding a potential residential PACE program in...