One Detroit: Michigan’s caregiving crisis, Richard Florida discusses downtown Detroit’s future

This Week on One Detroit:

Michigan caregivers are providing care for their loved ones. Who’s caring for them?

Caregiving: It’s a responsibility that those of us with aging loved ones may inevitably face. And for three Michigan caregivers, the life changes and challenges that come with it have become part of their everyday life. On some days, it can feel as if those responsibilities might push them to the breaking point.

In collaboration with The Detroit News, One Detroit Senior Producer Bill Kubota and reporters Sarah Rahal and Hayley Harding spent time with three metro Detroit caregivers Nakia Gaither, Doria Rainey and Rosa Eileen Hunter, who are looking after aging mothers, to learn more about the life adjustments that come with being primary caregivers and give a realistic look at the challenges—emotional, physical and financial—many caregivers face.

Rahal and Harding also spoke with leading experts in caregiving locally and nationally — Bea Rector with the Washington State Aging and Long-Term Support Administration, Dana Lasenby with Oakland Community Health Network and Rita Choula with AARP’s Public Policy Institute — about ways caregivers can receive support. Plus, One Detroit explores potential solutions other states have adopted that could provide a pathway to easing the financial burdens or discrimination against caregivers.

This collaboration follows up on The Detroit News story published in fall 2022, which was based on a survey, conducted by the New York & Michigan Solutions Journalism Collaborative, showing that often caregivers who need help the most receive the least in terms of support and resources.

Richard Florida shares the two priorities downtown Detroit needs for its post-pandemic recovery

In the past decade, the pulse of downtown Detroit has gone up and down like a rollercoaster. From a steep drop into bankruptcy a decade ago to swift twists and turns to return the city’s vibrancy, all for those efforts to be met with another huge drop— the COVID-19 pandemic. As Detroiters head into year three of the city’s post-pandemic recovery efforts, what plans are ahead? And what do the experts think?  

One of the nation’s leading urbanists Richard Florida, co-founder of the Creative Class Group, sat down with One Detroit contributor, and “American Black Journal” host, Stephen Henderson after his keynote speech at the 2023 Detroit Policy Conference for a discussion about the future of downtown Detroit and how it compares to other urban cities.  

Florida gives an assessment of where Detroit stands in its post-pandemic recovery today, comparing the city to other urban areas, and shares his thoughts about the ongoing shift toward remote and hybrid work models. Plus, he tells Henderson the two priorities downtown Detroit should be thinking about if it wants to recover successfully from the pandemic.