Growing up about an hour away from Detroit, one of my goals in joining DCERP was to learn more about the city and the people who live there. I hesitate to make a broad generalization about Detroit based on my limited knowledge of less than three weeks working with Great Lakes Now. But through my work, conversations with the other DCERP fellows, and the guest speakers, something has really stood out to me. All of the the organizations have an incredible passion for making Detroit a better place and sharing it with the world, and from my perspective, this shared passion has created a unique collaborative environment. At my organization, Great Lakes Now, we partner with everybody from other news organizations to the Belle Isle Conservancy to the Detroit Historical Museum. Organizations that have similar missions seem to have meaningful partnerships with each other; all the organizations know that they will accomplish more working together than they will separately. It seems that Detroit’s community organizations are not only passionate about their respective issues, but also incredibly collaborative in finding a solution to them.
The pandemic has definitely changed how Great Lakes Now operates, but not necessarily in a bad way. Everyone is still working remotely, and no one will be back in the offices until July. Yet when I attend meetings with other Great Lakes Now employees, I hear them talk about how our coverage has actually improved during the pandemic. Readers of our coverage have specifically remarked that they like our pandemic coverage better than our pre-pandemic coverage! I obviously haven’t been at Great Lakes Now long enough to observe this change myself, but it is interesting nonetheless.
Finally, I am super excited that I will have opportunities to speak to members of the community in the future. As a reporter covering the Great Lakes, I will get to interview people from all around the Great Lakes Region, from the US and from Canada, but I know that I will get to speak to community members for some of my stories. It’s still early, but I’m looking forward to doing just that!
I love how you mention the collaborative aspect of Detroit organizations. I am working in Hamtramck and have found the same thing that everyone at the local organizations all work together and help one another out to have the best impact on the community.
Also, the opportunity you have to speak with community members sounds like an amazing opportunity. Nothing is more important than the perspective and opinion of those in the community.