Coming Together for a Better Detroit

Coming Together for a Better Detroit is a broad coalition of youth, parents, educators, faith leaders, and community agencies.  The coalition is working to create a Detroit where every child has access to safe neighborhoods, quality schools, and good jobs. 

Coalition Members

On March 22, 2011, Coming Together For A Better Detroit held its first rally.  The coalition brought 900 people together in Southwest Detroit to discuss abandoned houses, quality schools, youth violence, and the civil rights of immigrants.  At the event, coalition leaders asked key policy and decision makers to make commitments regarding these issues. The following commitments were made:

Safe Neighborhoods

Kim James, the Director of Building & Safety Engineering at the City of Detroit, agreed to demolish the "Filthy Fifty", fifty dangerous and abandoned houses near local schools, by March 2012.

Quality Schools

Robert Bobb, the Emergency Financial Manager of Detroit Public Schools, agreed to the following:

• Teachers assigned to classrooms before day 1.
• The formation of a parent/student/educator design and leadership team in the new Munger (Logan/O.W.Holmes)
• Let Our Kids Come First sit on a review committee to select of any charter school operator that comes into Southwest Detroit.
• Schools with more than 20 bilingual students will provide access to resources to engage with monolingual parents, and to reproduce written communication from the school in that secondary language.

Importantly, Robert Bobb did not agree to pilot a college readiness tracker, but he did commit to meeting with the coalition to further discuss the issue.

Youth Violence

Saul Green, the Deputy Mayor of the City of Detroit, committed to include crime and data analysis and street outreach workers in the City of Detroit’s Youth Violence Reduction Plan.  He also agreed to continue work with YOUTH VOICE on cease fire plan components that have yet to be included.

Chief Grimes, Detroit Public Schools Police Chief, agreed to continue to work with YOUTH VOICE on their youth violence reduction initiatives.

Civil Rights of Immigrants

Barb McQuade, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan, agreed to investigate evidence of racial profiling by law enforcement collected by the Alliance for Immigrant Rights & Reform Michigan.