As the Trump administration enacts rapidly changing policies across the country, a new initiative seeks to map the local impacts in Detroit and Baltimore.
The Beacon Project is a joint effort between the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights at Wayne State University and the political science department at Johns Hopkins University. The institutions want to fill the information gap in how communities are experiencing the changes and challenges.
“One of the things that distinguishes this administration from previous administrations is its vindictiveness,” said Dr. Lester Spence, a professor of Political Science and Africana Studies at Johns Hopkins University and co-founder of the Beacon Project. “It’s showing a hostility toward a range of initiatives including those tagged under DEI.”
With Angel McKissic, director of the Damon J. Keith Center in Detroit, the two are working to document in real time the challenges residents of the two cities face during this period of what Spence calls “democratic backsliding or autocratization.”
“We wanted to be able to track these things materially,” he said. “We can talk about it politically. We can talk about it theoretically. It’s different to actually examine how these things are impacting people’s lives.”
Detroiters and Baltimoreans are being asked to fill out a survey that documents their personal experiences with changes in key areas such as healthcare, education, immigration and economic opportunity. The data will be used to create toolkits for resistance, says McKissic.
“Understanding these effects is not just about documenting harm—it’s about building tools for resistance. The insights we gather will help create effective organizing strategies to defend against harmful policies and empower communities to fight back,” McKissic said. “This project is rooted in the belief that knowing how policies play out on the ground is key to building stronger, more united movements for justice.”
How it works
The Beacon Project is focusing on Detroit and Baltimore because the two cities have similar histories and demographics and a Black working-class population that is used to fighting for itself.
“Both cities have been shaped by industrial growth, urban decline, and systemic inequities, making them important sites for examining the impact of federal policies,” McKissic said.
The plan has four parts, beginning with analyzing and sharing the findings to spot trends and specific impacts of policies in the two cities. This will identify where resistance is most needed.
The second step will create organizing tools for community activists, leaders and organizers. This could include guides to challenge specific policies, templates for advocacy campaigns and mobilization strategies.
The third step will be fostering collaboration and strengthening movements for justice and democracy in Detroit and Baltimore and between the two cities.
Resources generated by the project will be made available for free to the public in collaboration with local organizations to ensure they are actionable and accessible.
One of the challenges for the program will be verification of the reports while respecting the privacy and anonymity of those impacted.
“Since submitters can remain anonymous and decline to name specific organizations or agencies, we will use a combination of cross-referencing patterns in the data, verifying details with publicly available information, and, where possible, following up with submitters for clarification or additional context,” McKissic said in an email to BridgeDetroit. “Our goal is to balance the need for accurate, reliable information with the protection of those who may face risks for speaking out.”
Funding for the initiative is coming entirely from the Keith Center and Johns Hopkins for the time being, McKissic said. Both institutions have been impacted by the current administration.
In November 2024, the Keith Center launched the Detroit Democracy Project. The goal of the project is to spark meaningful conversations about democracy, power, and solidarity in Detroit as part of a long-term process of empowering the majority Black city to choose leaders that best serve its needs, even if that may not be reflective of those in power nationally.
Johns Hopkins is a research university and regularly gets the most funding of all universities from the federal government through the National Institutes of Health. As that body plans for $4 billion-per-year cost-cutting thanks to the Trump administration, Johns Hopkins is facing a loss of $200 million in annual research grants.
“We all recognize, no matter what your politics are, how groundbreaking this administration is,” said Spence, who grew up in Inkster and Redford before he left the state in 2000. “This isn’t a spectator sport. This is something you can actually do something about.”
How to participate
If you have observed changes in your workplace, local government, school or community resulting from the federal administration’s executive orders or policies, please share your experiences through a brief online survey.
To take the survey, visit bit.ly/beaconproj.
Submitters can choose to provide their email address. Otherwise, the survey does not collect names, emails, or other identifying information.