Back to school. Back to the community.
BridgeDetroit is heading back into classrooms and neighborhoods across Detroit with a simple goal: to listen.
Engagement Editor Bryce Huffman is returning to Detroit classrooms, where he once worked, to help young people better understand journalism, local government and how to find trustworthy information about their city. Through Porchside, we’re also meeting Detroiters in their neighborhoods — on porches, in parks and in other community spaces — to hear what’s happening where they live and what questions they want answered. The settings may be different, but the purpose is the same.
Before there’s a story, there’s a conversation.
A student might ask how decisions get made in their city. A resident might tell us about something changing in their neighborhood. A conversation on a porch might raise a question our journalists decide deserves a closer look. We listen. Then we get to work.
BridgeDetroit journalists talk with residents, contact public officials, examine records and data, verify facts and ask the follow-up questions needed to understand what’s happening. What we hear from Detroiters can become a story, an investigation, an explainer or simply a question we know our journalism needs to answer. That’s why community engagement isn’t separate from BridgeDetroit’s journalism. It’s part of how we make our journalism better.
This fall, we’re raising $7,500 to help BridgeDetroit keep showing up in the community.
Reader contributions support the time and resources it takes to hold Porchside gatherings, visit classrooms, build relationships in Detroit neighborhoods and do the reporting that follows. And when we find answers, we make them available to everyone.
BridgeDetroit doesn’t put its journalism behind a paywall. A Detroiter doesn’t need a subscription to learn what’s happening at City Hall. A parent doesn’t have to pay to read about Detroit schools. A resident shouldn’t need a credit card to understand what’s changing in their neighborhood.
BridgeDetroit is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce. It’s only possible because of generous readers and supporters who choose to support this work.
Will you contribute to our campaign and help BridgeDetroit keep listening, asking questions and finding answers for Detroit?
Because when Detroiters talk, we want to be there to listen.
