My community placement for this summer is the City of Detroit’s Office of Disability Affairs. This organization was founded by Christopher Samp, to help improve accessibility and quality of life for Detroit’s disabled residents. The core of their mission is the 3-year strategic plan they have created which you can read here. This summer follows phase 3 of the plan, with which the office will identify community partners focused on racial justice and equity to collaborate. The project mainly focuses on racial inequities in the disability community and what can be done to improve health, housing, employment, transportation, and income. Collaboration with different stakeholders will support the organization’s goals of improving accessibility as well as other racial inequities the disability community faces in the city. Additionally, community members will be surveyed and interviewed, to collect insight and wisdom on what further steps the city should take to fix these inequities they face.
