Although my interest in the different topics and presentations have varied, I have always left the seminar feeling as though I learned more than I anticipated and I was glad to have learned the information. All of the information has also been really relevant to our work here in Detroit and it has been interesting to see how the concepts and skills learned during the seminars have been useful for the work I have done at Food & Water Watch.
The speakers have all been very engaging and clearly passionate about the content presented. The seminars that have stuck with me the most are the ones that reflect issues of blight or water within Detroit. The presentation on Community Benefit Agreements demonstrated clear cut examples of disenfranchisement. The corporations and political figures involved essential overlooked the perspectives and needs of community members, both politically and economically, essentially leaving them with no voice, while bearing the full negative consequences of the decisions. Obviously, I was really interested in presentation on Water Affordability and the water shut-offs. I was surprised to know that I wasn’t aware of all of the things presented in the video and it was really cool to see how other students in the program engaged and responded to these issues.
