What Up Doe!
I’m Bryce Huffman, and I’m so happy to be BridgeDetroit’s new Engagement Editor!
If my name and picture seem familiar it’s because I’m one of the original BridgeDetroit reporters. I joined right before we launched in May 2020. Starting out during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic was challenging, but it was also an amazing time to come back home to deliver news and information to my fellow Detroiters. For two and a half years, I covered policing accountability and social justice, public transportation, and some arts and culture stories too.
I spent most of 2023 as a part-time freelance reporter while I began my journey as a filmmaker. These past two years I’ve spent most of my time as a middle school teacher in Detroit, working as a podcast producer and editor, filling various roles on short film sets, and watching more movies than I can count. But now that I’m back at my favorite news outlet full-time, I’ve got big plans for the near and distant future.
First, I want to hear from Detroit’s elders. When I lost my grandad, John Anderson Sr., in 2022, I realized just how important it is to hear from the generations that came before you. Once they are gone, in far too many cases their stories and experiences are gone with them. There are a lot of Detroiters who have experienced the city go through all sorts of changes throughout the decades. I want to hear their stories and make sure we preserve that history, wisdom and perspective. We can all learn a lot from the elders in our community.
Second, I want to help teach Detroit’s Black and brown teens the media skills they would need to work in the various newsrooms this city has to offer. Whether they want to work as a print reporter, content creator, broadcast journalist, or video editor, Detroit’s kids should be able to access those skills. Who better to learn from than the journalists who are getting paid to use those skills? I’m hoping this would also help increase diversity in local newsrooms by introducing students to the news organizations throughout the city.
Third, I want to continue our Summer Conversations that were started by former BridgeDetroit Engagement Director Orlando Bailey. But as Orlando himself was hoping I’d do, I’m gonna put my own spin on it. I want to talk to Detroiters where they are already at, their front porches, their living rooms and their backyards. While we will absolutely still host events and conversations at venues around the city, I want to have neighborhood conversations with you all at your home turf. This way you can tell me exactly what’s going on with you and your neighborhood.
These are just some of the ideas we are currently working on at BridgeDetroit. We will also be bringing you more copies of the quarterly print magazine, we’ll keep bringing you news and information from our reporters and our partner organizations, and, of course, we’ve got big things planned for our fifth birthday next year.
Thanks for all the love and support, Detroit!
Peace,
Bryce Huffman
Detroit: Now Can We Make Our Schools Worthy of the City?
Mayor Duggan’s final State of City Address was a rousing account of Detroit’s rise from bankruptcy and an inspiring message for the future: “Detroit’s best days lie ahead.” Let it be!
Let’s not only “hope for better things,” but come together now to make our schools worthy of the city. As mayoral candidates seek our votes, Detroit residents must define the kind of education we will provide our children. It is time to rise from the competitive morass that has held our children down and limited their future opportunities in order to lead in the reform of the city’s schools – traditional and charters, alike. Incremental, year-by-year gains will not save another generation of students from the bleak outcomes they now experience. Block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood, residents can affect the kind of educational change they have made possible in fighting blight and gun violence. Our schools’ best days must also lie ahead.
Debra Henning
Detroit