Mayor's Initiatives and Programs
Mayoral Fellowship Program
The Mayoral Fellowship Program is a premier opportunity for engaged, motivated, and civic-minded graduate/undergraduate students from all disciplines to apply their coursework to one of the greatest municipalities in the world: the City of Detroit.
Interns will serve the people of Detroit by supporting policy, communications, and public engagement initiatives within the city government. By working hand-in-hand with senior staff across many different City of Detroit departments and sister agencies throughout the city, interns will offer recommendations and possibly implement programs that improve the lives of Detroit's 673,000 residents. This unique opportunity to work with current decision makers and assist in the implementation of strategy will distinguish you and your skillset to any future employer.
Strong community response to ShotStoppers Community Violence reduction plan lets City expand strategy to 6 areas
Mayor Mike Duggan announced that six community-based organizations have been selected through a competitive bid process to conduct community violence intervention (CVI) through the new ShotStoppers program. That number is twice what the mayor said he originally expected, but proposals came in so strong he has decided to expand the original scope of the program.
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Affordable Housing for Detroiters
Mayor Mike Duggan and Detroit City Council Members Mary Waters, Latisha Johnson, and Angela Calloway have developed a 7-point, $203 million plan to develop affordable housing options for Detroiters to be funded in 2022.
The plan includes converting long-vacant apartment buildings and Land Bank homes into affordable rental housing, additional housing support resources, getting faster City approval for deeply affordable housing projects, down payment assistance to increase home ownership, help for landlords to bring their rental properties into compliance, rapid-placement for good-paying jobs and more.
Read more about the 7-point plan and other affordable housing efforts here
Bridging Neighborhoods Program
The Bridging Neighborhoods Program administers the Home Swap and I-75 Environmental Mitigation community benefits programs for residents impacted by the Gordie Howe International Bridge in Southwest Detroit and community benefits funded home repair programs including the Ford Home Repair program and Phase II of the FCA Home Repair program.
Read more about the Bridging Neighborhoods Program
Roosevelt Park
When completed in spring 2023, the currently 9.5-acre park will grow to 13 acres after the road removal and reconfiguration. It also will include a promenade connecting Michigan Avenue to The Station, a new pedestrian gateway entrance at Michigan Avenue, key neighborhood entryways and walkways, plaza spaces, event lawns, benches and tables for seating and landscaping. The newly-unified park will serve as an amenity, not only for southwest Detroit residents but also for the 5,000 workers who will be employed at Michigan Central.
“One of the biggest things driving our city’s revitalization is what we’ve done to create more and better parks and green space in our neighborhoods,” said Mayor Duggan. “In this area of Southwest Detroit alone, we just broke ground on the Southwest Greenway portion of the Joe Louis Greenway and the incredible Ralph C. Wilson Centennial Park along the west Riverfront. This transformation of Roosevelt Park will be another major benefit to residents and visitors of this area of southwest Detroit.”
Read more about the renovation of Roosevelt Park
Grow Detroit's Young Talent 2022
The Grow Detroit’s Young Talent (GDYT) program is in its eighth year and has now surpassed the milestone of over 60,000 summer job experiences created for Detroit youth.
“After two years of having to launch the GDYT program at smaller events due to COVID-19, it’s great to be able to hold our launch announcement back in the neighborhoods again this year,” said Mayor Duggan. “The launch of GDYT is one of my favorite events of the year, as the program showcases and grows the talents of youth who will be our leaders 10, 20, 30 years from now. With over 8,000 summer job experiences this year, we are making our 60,000th GDYT summer job available in 2022.”
Read more about Grow Detroit's Young Talent
Neighborhood Beautification Fund
The NBP grants provide funding for Detroit-based neighborhood associations, block clubs, faith-based organizations, and nonprofits that currently own the property where they want to carry out a project in the community. The Neighborhood Beautification Program was created to support three types of projects:
- Clean-up activities
- Community gardens
- Public spaces/activities
For those hoping to beautify their community but do not own the land, the NBP will assist organizations with purchasing or leasing vacant lots owned by the Detroit Land Bank Authority. Up to 50 projects a year will receive funding.
“Detroiters are proud of their communities and want to roll up their sleeves and beautify the streets they call home, they just need financial help to do so,” said Mayor Duggan. “These grants are a great example of how the City of Detroit is partnering with residents to help beautify their neighborhoods.”