New Detroit is a coalition of leaders working to achieve racial understanding and racial equity in Metropolitan Detroit.
Just Lead: Advancing Racial Equity
A New Detroit Conference
Location: Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center
Renaissance Center, 400 Renaissance Dr. W, Detroit, MI 48243
For more information on Speaker, please visit www.prhspeakers.com.
For more information about Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, please visit https://www.ibramxkendi.com/.
Are you interested in advancing racial equity in your corporation, organization, institution, community, or spheres of influence? New Detroit’s first annual conference, Just Lead: Advancing Racial Equity, is the region’s first conference devoted solely to racial equity that brings together a cross section of leadership and viewpoints.
Created in 1967, New Detroit’s hallmark approach is to bring together diverse voices to seek collaborative solutions to dismantle racism.
The conference includes an opening plenary with Dr. Abdul El-Sayed and Jeffery Robinson; a lunchtime fireside chat with Dr. Ibram X. Kendi; panels on the business case for racial equity, equity in education, health equity, the challenging role of the DEI professional, and more; a closing plenary with a cross-section of the region’s leading racial justice organizations; interactive workshops; and great networking.
For corporate sponsorship packages starting at $5,000, contact jraines@newdetroit.org.
VVK Podcast with Craig Fahle
New Detroit Reinvigorates its Racial Justice Mission
A conversation with New Detroit CEO, Mike Rafferty and Rebecca Irby, New Detroit’s Director of Programs and Services.
Craig’s guests for the latest VVK Podcast are New Detroit CEO Mike Rafferty, and Rebecca Irby, New Detroit’s Director of Programs and Services. New Detroit was formed in response to civil unrest in 1967 that uncovered a host of entrenched social and community ills. At the request of then Michigan Governor George Romney and Detroit Mayor Jerome Cavanagh, business executive Joseph L. Hudson, Jr. convened a unique coalition—the nation’s first—to identify what went wrong in July 1967, what needed to change, and how to make that change happen.
Since then, New Detroit, Inc. has been a unique and valuable arena where leaders of Detroit’s business, civic, grassroots, and religious communities have come together to plan cooperative strategies and to demonstrate their commitment to the city and its environs.
New Detroit will host “Just Lead: A New Detroit Conference to Advance Racial Equity” in October of this year.
Interview with Michael Rafferty, President & CEO, New Detroit
2022 Mackinac Policy Conference
A New Detroit Town Hall: Shifting the Public Narrative with Courageous, Productive Conversations on Difficult Topics Like Replacement Theory
14 words, “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children,” contributed to the senseless murder of ten people in Buffalo last May, the killing of many more before that, and will cause many more murders to come.
Sometimes called the Great Replacement Theory, White Replacement Theory, or simply Replacement Theory, at its core this racist fringe theory holds that nonwhite individuals are being brought into the United States and other Western countries to push out or ‘replace’ white people. Cloaked in other terms, it has become a potent force in conservative media and politics, and beyond that is wittingly and unwittingly creeping further into mainstream beliefs and behavior.
How do we stop the spread of misinformation and corruption of conventional wisdom? Observe a diverse group of New Detroit leaders in a virtual conversation that models how everyday people can have these conversations with friends, families, coworkers, and peers.
Moderator: Dr. Truman Huson, Jr.,
Outreach Coordinator, Instructor of Multiculturalism
Teacher Education Division, College of Education,
Wayne State University
Guest Speakers:
Michael Sosin, Attorney at Law
Denise Brooks-Williams, Sr. Vice President & CEO, North Market – Henry Ford Health System
Dwan Dandridge, CEO, Black Leaders Detroit
Eric Thomas, Chief Storyteller at City of Detroit
Thank you to our 2022 Sponsor:
New Detroit Recognized by Crain’s as one of Metro Detroit’s Best Managed Nonprofits.
December 02, 2021
SHERRI WELCH, Crain’s Detroit Business
New Detroit Inc. was in the midst of developing plans for industry-specific, cultural sensitivity trainings when the pandemic-related disparities and nationally publicized deaths of George Floyd and other Black men and women spurred demand for them last year.
Individuals and organizations alike contacted New Detroit for guidance on how they should respond.
“Big questions were, ‘What can I do?’ ‘How should I be looking at my role in the organization…(and) my organization’s role in the moment?’” said New Detroit’s President and CEO Michael Rafferty.
The organization had just come through cost-cutting and securing $600,000 in new grants to respond to revenue losses that had decreased its budget to just over $1 million for 2020 and left it with a staff of only five employees.
It raised $130,000 or more to increase its staff capacity and launch initial cultural sensitivity training pilots with local health systems and retail and hospitality employees.
Our History
New Detroit was formed in response to civil unrest in 1967 that uncovered a host of entrenched social and community ills. At the request of then Michigan Governor George Romney and Detroit Mayor Jerome Cavanagh, business executive Joseph L. Hudson, Jr. convened a unique coalition—the nation’s first—to identify what went wrong in July 1967, what needed to change, and how to make that change happen.
Since then, New Detroit, Inc. has been a unique and valuable arena where leaders of Detroit’s business, civic, grassroots, and religious communities have come together to plan cooperative strategies and to demonstrate their commitment to the city and its environs.
On July 6, 2020, in response to the dual pandemic of COVID-19 and racial injustice (which had come to a head with the murder of George Floyd on May 25), standing alongside 30 of Detroit’s most prominent business, political and philanthropical leaders in front of the “United We Stand” sculpture at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, New Detroit declared War on Racism.
New Detroit will dismantle racism through systems change and by moving hearts and minds. We do this as an institutional thought leader, an advocate for policy change, and as a catalyst for collective action. Our work is organized around these three strategies, and includes trainings, education, research, advocacy, and partnerships to fight racism at the personal, institutional, and systemic levels.
New Detroit’s work is made possible with the generous support of the following funders:
