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After a brief welcoming by New Detroit President and CEO, Shirley Stancato, and New Detroit Board Chairman, Bill Taubman, the mic was handed over to Stephen Henderson of the Detroit FreePress. Henderson introduced the keynote speaker, Thomas Sugrue, author of The Origins of the Urban Crisis: Race and Inequality in Postwar Detroit. Sugrue started off his presentation with a story familiar to Detroiters, comparing his grandparents’ old neighborhood in Detroit’s west side to how it is today. As Sugrue noted, “to understand Detroit, we need to go back and reconstruct the city’s past. Recognize that nearly all the policies… we’ve made about our city… rests upon how we interpret our past.” Sugrue then went into details on housing policies that resulted in racially segregated neighborhoods; the exodus of Detroit’s manufacturing jobs that began 15 years prior to the ’67 riots; and racist practices in hiring that contributed to the downfall of Detroit.

Following Sugrue’s informative presentation was a panel discussion to debunk common myths about Detroit. The panelists were Robin Boyle of Wayne State University; Malcolm Dade, former chief political strategist to Mayor Coleman A. Young; David Freund of University of Maryland; and Marcella Wilson of Matrix Human Services. Dade clearly pointed out that Mayor Coleman Young valued diversity during his tenure by stating that, “when you look at his administration from the beginning to the end, it was an administration that valued the contributions of whites and blacks as you saw it in the leadership in the directors, deputy directors, in the women that populated all of the departments and leadership roles.” Freund used the phrase “metropolitan fragmentation” as the cause for Detroit’s divisive past, highlighting Sugrue’s presentation in the morning of policies and practices that benefited certain groups of Detroiters while harming others. Wilson highlighted the disparities between being poor in Detroit, a city with limited access to fresh food, social services, and adequate public transportation, and being poor in a suburb of Detroit. Boyle, on a more promising note, discussed the adaptability of people and the potential future of individuals in the Detroit region.

Every human being and every organization is potentially a global publisher

--Kirk Chefitz

Following lunch, Kirk Cheyfitz of Story Worldwide gave a brief presentation on the history of mass communication, such that attendees could better understand the various roles of modern day journalism in telling Detroit’s stories. Cheyfitz made a compelling statement, “Every human being and every organization is potentially a global publisher,” thus indicating the need for collective cooperation by all people to ensure that the story of Detroit is told accurately.

Chefytiz’s presentation was followed by a discussion led by Nichole Christian of TechTown and Bill Mitchell of the Poynter Institute regarding missed opportunities for collaboration in regards to finding, reporting and telling more balanced stories regarding Detroit. Topics for future stories that were identified included alternative social experimentation, watchdog collaborative opportunities with community help, regional thinking and metropolitan fragmentation, immigrants and their impact. After the moderated discussion, attendees scattered into breakout sessions to focus on developing the identified topics such that if reported, would form the basis of new and accurate Detroit stories.

The day ended with breakout groups reporting back on these untold stories, which included stories around community collaborative efforts such as the United States Social Forum and the Restaurant Opportunities Center of Michigan, stories on the inspiring work of youth-based organizations, the true story of food deserts, and the work of block clubs. Event participants also urged that media be fair and balanced and that if a consumer of media saw a story inaccurately reported, to call editors to correct them. On the same token, if stories weren’t being reported that should be, to inform the media of these opportunities. Finally, attendees discussed how media could be used to inspire regional cooperation, to promote urban-suburban collaborations, and to encourage neighbors to work together to strengthen communities.