Future Detroit Report v1 Engineering Society of Detroit Institute

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FUTURE DETROIT Envisioning Tomorrow Together Youth Symposium A Symposium Report Published by The Engineering Society of Detroit Institute Detroit Made T H E E N G I N E E R I N G S O C I E T Y O F D E T R O I T F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 5 and Up ep Up eak Up T H E E N G I N E E R I N G S O C I E T Y O F D Stand Up Step Up Speak Up T H E E N G I N E E R I N G S O C I E T Y O F D E T R O I T F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 5 Detroit Made T H E E N G I N E E R I N G S O C I E T Y O F D E T R O I T F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 5 Stand Step U Speak O F D E T R O I T F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 5 Stand Up Step Up Speak Up T H E E N G I N E E R I N G S O C I E T Y O F D E T R O I T F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 5 Detroit Made T H E E N G I N E E R I N G S O C I E T Y O F D E T R O I T F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 5 Detroit Made T H E E N G I N E E R I N G S O C I E T Y O F D E T R O I T F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 5 Stand Up Step Up Speak Up T H E E N G I N E E R I N G S O C I E T Y O F D E T R O I T F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 5 Detroit Made T H E E N G I N E E R I N G S O C I E T Y O F D E T R O I T F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 5 Detr Mad O F D E T R O I T F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 5 Stand Up Step Up Speak Up T H E E N G I N E E R I N G S O C I E T Y O F D E T R O I T F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 5 Stand Up Step Up Speak Up T H E E N G I N E E R I N G S O C I E T Y O F D E T R O I T F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 5 troit ade T H E E N G I N E E R I N G S O C I E T Y O F D Detroit Made T H E E N G I N E E R I N G S O C I E T Y O F D E T R O I T F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 5 and Up ep Up eak Up T H E E N G I N E E R I N G S O C I E T Y O F D Stand Up Step Up Speak Up T H E E N G I N E E R I N G S O C I E T Y O F D E T R O I T F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 5 Detroit Made T H E E N G I N E E R I N G S O C I E T Y O F D E T R O I T F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 5 Stand Step U Speak O F D E T R O I T F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 5 Stand Up Step Up Speak Up T H E E N G I N E E R I N G S O C I E T Y O F D E T R O I T F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 5 Detroit Made T H E E N G I N E E R I N G S O C I E T Y O F D E T R O I T F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 5 Detroit Made T H E E N G I N E E R I N G S O C I E T Y O F D E T R O I T F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 5 Stand Up Step Up Speak Up T H E E N G I N E E R I N G S O C I E T Y O F D E T R O I T F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 5 Detroit Made T H E E N G I N E E R I N G S O C I E T Y O F D E T R O I T F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 5 Detr Mad O F D E T R O I T F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 5 Stand Up Step Up Speak Up T H E E N G I N E E R I N G S O C I E T Y O F D E T R O I T F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 5 Stand Up Step Up Speak Up T H E E N G I N E E R I N G S O C I E T Y O F D E T R O I T F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 5 troit ade T H E E N G I N E E R I N G S O C I E T Y O F D nd Up ep Up eak Up T H E E N G I N E E R I N G S O C I E T Y O F D Detroit Made T H E E N G I N E E R I N G S O C I E T Y O F D E T R O I T F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 5 Detroit Made T H E E N G I N E E R I N G S O C I E T Y O F D E T R O I T F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 5 Stand Step U Speak O F D E T R O I T F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 5 Stand Up Step Up Speak Up T H E E N G I N E E R I N G S O C I E T Y O F D E T R O I T F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 5 nd Up ep Up eak Up T H E E N G I N E E R I N G S O C I E T Y O F D Stand Step U Speak O F D E T R O I T F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 5 Detroit Made T H E E N G I N E E R I N G S O C I E T Y O F D E T R O I T F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 5 Stand Up Step Up Speak Up T H E E N G I N E E R I N G S O C I E T Y O F D E T R O I T F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 5 Detroit Made T H E E N G I N E E R I N G S O C I E T Y O F D E T R O I T F O U N D E D I N 1 8 9 5

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In 2011, middle school students throughout Detroit and Dearborn contributed their insights to what and how the city of Detroit should exist in 20 years from now. The findings from this symposium, conducted by the Engineering Society of Detroit Institute, were then sent to a handful of decision makers in Detroit city administration including the public school system, city council, and police.I authored the narrative report for work group IV in addition to serving as a group facilitator. The insights from the participating students are valuable and most important, many are just a few steps away from being viable actions. The published report for workgroup IV is an abridged version due to constraints of space, many concerns about environmental justice and ideas for alternatives to participating in the economy were thus cut out but can be requested through the ESDI or I can e-mail the original draft.

Transcript of Future Detroit Report v1 Engineering Society of Detroit Institute

Page 1: Future Detroit Report v1 Engineering Society of Detroit Institute

FUTURE DETROIT Envisioning Tomorrow Together Youth Symposium

A Symposium Report Published by The Engineering Society of Detroit Institute

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Page 2: Future Detroit Report v1 Engineering Society of Detroit Institute

Detroit Made™

01 Acknowledgements

01 About The Engineering Society of Detroit

01 About Your ESD Institute

02 About the Symposium Process and Outcomes

03 Executive Summary

03 Overview

03 Background

04 Recommendations

06 Presentations

06 “Welcome to All,” Darlene Trudell, CAE, Executive Vice President , The Engineering Society of Detroit

06 “The 3 Respects,” Alycia Meriweather, Interim Director, Math & Science Center, Detroit Public Schools

06 “Detroit Made by All of You Here,” Robert Ficano, JD, Wayne County Executive

07 “Born in Detroit , Schooled in Detroit , Working in Detroit ,” Bill Winfrey, Chrysler Corporation, Future City Mentor for Bates Academy, Detroit

07 “Your City and Your Future,” Karla Henderson, Mayor’s Office, City of Detroit

08 “What do you define as a hero?,” Peter Stuart Egeli, Commander, U.S. Navy

08 “An International Symposium of Culture and Diversity,” Dr. Ralph Bland, Superintendant , Detroit Edison Public School Academy

08 “The Importance of STEM—Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics,” Ron Smith, Director of Education and Community Outreach, The Engineering Society of Detroit

09 Presentations by the Winning Regional Teams of the National Future City Competition

09 “The International District of Trinitas Avenir: Detroit , Windsor and Belle Isle,” St . John Lutheran Team, Trinitas Avenir: Students Michelle Abramczyk, Mackenzie Hill and Andrew Abraham. Teacher John Pfund, Engineering Mentor Dr. Linda Gerhart

10 “Detroit : Belle et Puissant ,” Academy of the Sacred Heart : Students, Christine Slavik, Hailey Briscoe, and Avery Guething. Teacher Debbie Peters and Engineering Mentor, Jim Meenahan

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Detroit Made™

01 Acknowledgements

01 About The Engineering Society of Detroit

01 About Your ESD Institute

02 About the Symposium Process and Outcomes

03 Executive Summary

03 Overview

03 Background

04 Recommendations

06 Presentations

06 “Welcome to All,” Darlene Trudell, CAE, Executive Vice President , The Engineering Society of Detroit

06 “The 3 Respects,” Alycia Meriweather, Interim Director, Math & Science Center, Detroit Public Schools

06 “Detroit Made by All of You Here,” Robert Ficano, JD, Wayne County Executive

07 “Born in Detroit , Schooled in Detroit , Working in Detroit ,” Bill Winfrey, Chrysler Corporation, Future City Mentor for Bates Academy, Detroit

07 “Your City and Your Future,” Karla Henderson, Mayor’s Office, City of Detroit

08 “What do you define as a hero?,” Peter Stuart Egeli, Commander, U.S. Navy

08 “An International Symposium of Culture and Diversity,” Dr. Ralph Bland, Superintendant , Detroit Edison Public School Academy

08 “The Importance of STEM—Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics,” Ron Smith, Director of Education and Community Outreach, The Engineering Society of Detroit

09 Presentations by the Winning Regional Teams of the National Future City Competition

09 “The International District of Trinitas Avenir: Detroit , Windsor and Belle Isle,” St . John Lutheran Team, Trinitas Avenir: Students Michelle Abramczyk, Mackenzie Hill and Andrew Abraham. Teacher John Pfund, Engineering Mentor Dr. Linda Gerhart

10 “Detroit : Belle et Puissant ,” Academy of the Sacred Heart : Students, Christine Slavik, Hailey Briscoe, and Avery Guething. Teacher Debbie Peters and Engineering Mentor, Jim Meenahan

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11 Using an Icebreaker Exercise to Brainstorm: “What makes a City cool?,” Christopher J. Webb, J.D., FESD, Co-Director, The ESD Institute

12 Joining a Workgroup: Matching the “What” & “How” Mega Questions

13 The Workgroup Session Narratives

13 Workgroup I

14 Workgroup II

17 Workgroup III

19 Workgroup IV

22 The Workgroup Reports

22 Workgroup I

23 Workgroup II

24 Workgroup III

24 Workgroup IV

25 Closing of the Youth Symposium

26 Appendix A — The Student Signature Declaration

27 Appendix B — The ESD Institute “Future Detroit” Abstract

30 Appendix C — List of Participating Schools and Students

31 Appendix D — Facilitator Biographical Information

34 Appendix E — The Engineering Society of Detroit Board of Directors

35 Appendix F — Letters of Support

35 Detroit Board of Education

37 Detroit Public Schools, Detroit Mathematics and Science Center

38 Detroit Public Schools, Office of Scientific Studies

39 City of Detroit City Council

40 TBD

41 Appendix G — Workgroup IV Supplemental Material

43 Appendix H — Student Janel Dye’s Proposal

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGE ii ESD Institue Future Detroit Symposium www.esdinstitute.net/FutureDetroit

Page 5: Future Detroit Report v1 Engineering Society of Detroit Institute

AcknowledgementsA key priority for The Engineering Society of Detroit (ESD) for almost two decades has been its educational outreach programs. One of its most important and long-standing programs has been the Michigan Regional Future City Competition. In keeping with ESD’s mission of nurturing our next generation of engineers and scientists, we challenged this year’s middle school student teams to build a Future Detroit in the year 2060. On January 31, 2011, an intense regional competition was held with over 50 teams invited to participate. There were winners and losers that day with the winning team representing Michigan in the National Engineers Week Future City finals to be held in Washington, D.C. 1

This year, ESD decided to add a twist to its competition program drawing upon its Institute’s collaborative process model based in part upon the National Academy of Sciences. Under the banner of “Compete, Collaborate & Succeed,” we invited all teams to come together for a one-day Youth Symposium to share their vision of Detroit. Our goal was to have the students learn from each other by interactive, facilitated workgroups based upon collaboration and teamwork. With over 100 middle school students representing almost 20 Detroit-area schools in attendance, students were introduced to our enabling and unifying idea of our student being “Detroit Made”™and members of a critical and knowledgeable stakeholder group that needed to be heard in crafting Detroit’s future as a destination to live and work. 2

With the support of the City of Detroit Mayor’s Office, City Council and Detroit Board of Education, this report represents the hard work of our students: the leaders of our future. It is our distinct privilege to give them a voice: “Stand Up. Speak Up. Step Up, Kids of Detroit.”

1. We are indebted to the many volunteer teachers, facilitators, mentors and parents that contributed to our Future Detroit Youth Symposium. A biographical statement of our Symposium facilitators is contained in Appendix D.

2. “Detroit Made” is a trademark of The Engineering Society of Detroit.

About The Engineering Society of DetroitThe Engineering Society of Detroit (ESD) was founded in 1895. Its membership consists of over 6,500 individuals and 3,000 corporate members. With its 87 affiliated technical societies, 34 construction organizations, 38 educational institutions, and 52 unions, ESD’s reach extends to over 60,000 technical and scientific professionals. ESD’s Board of Directors includes a diversity of leaders in business, government, manufacturing, engineering and design, academia, and healthcare.3

ESD collaborates with nearly 100 nonprofit organizations, including: Detroit Regional Chamber; Detroit Renaissance; Michigan Chamber of Commerce; Michigan Economic Development Corporation; NextEnergy; Oakland County; Oakland County Michigan Works!; Society of Automotive Engineers; City of Southfield; and Wayne County. ESD provides professional training, certification, and accreditation programs in conjunction with the majority of Michigan’s universities and community colleges. Its outreach programs extend to public and private middle and high schools in the Detroit Metropolitan area.4

About Your ESD InstituteThe ESD Institute was formed through unanimous approval of the Board of Directors of The Engineering Society of Detroit based on a “Mega-Question” facilitation in December 2008 asking how ESD could better serve its members and society at large.5 As a part of its formation, the ESD Board of Directors established the Charter of the Institute as follows:

% ESD Institute Vision: Finding a sustainable tomorrow with integrity that serves our members and society.

% ESD Institute Mission: Fostering greater unity, focus, and choice for the implementation of innovation, maintenance, and attraction of investment capital and the betterment of society.

3. Appendix E is a complete listing of The Engineering Society of Detroit and ESD Institute Board of Directors.

4. Additional information regarding The Engineering Society of Detroit is available at www.esd.org.

5. Additional information regarding The ESD Institute is available at www.esdinstitute.net. The Institute is served by volunteer Co-Directors, David A. Skiven, P.E., FESD and Christopher J. Webb, J.D., FESD.

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The charge of the ESD Board for the Institute was to advance, through integrity, excellence, and collaboration, the successful implementation of breakthrough consensus-based ideas by transforming creative and independent thought into concrete and meaningful action. Often, the backdrop for the work of the Institute occurs within the context of conflicting views, gridlock, and distressed societal needs.

The Institute benefits from seed and continuing funding from the Rackham Engineering Foundation. Due to the nature and scope of the Institute’s activities, we are, however, continually seeking additional funding sources that place a premium on our role as a neutral, problem-solving forum for the application of independent critical thinking to solve real-world problems. Our priority is to foster an environment in which differing constituents have a place to reason together free from concern that the Institute has a pre-determined agenda or unstated desired set of outcomes. No funding will be accepted by the Institute that compromises this priority.

About the Symposium Process and OutcomesAs a matter of process, the ESD Institute identifies topics for consideration, called initiative. Individuals are invited to serve as volunteers to examine a selected initiative in the context of a workgroup, referred to as a symposium. Typically, symposium attendees represent a divergent range of stakeholders with various affiliations, expertise, and perspectives, from university professors and subject matter experts to local residents and interested citizens. Attendance at a specific symposium is limited by invitation.

Attendees are asked to take off their official or organizational hats and serve as interested and concerned individuals and not as a spokesperson or representative of a special interest group or organization. Symposium participants are encouraged to be open-minded and use their good judgment, experience, and expertise in a productive, positive manner. Attendees are also expected to disclose any potential for bias or conflict of interest that might prejudice the work of the Institute.

A symposium usually occurs over a two-day period and may be continued for further deliberation if warranted by the Institute. An internal Institute committee frames the

symposium’s initiative; this committee is comprised of Institute directors and assigned staff, a select group of ESD Board members, and, as the symposium venue warrants, representatives from specific local or outside organizations. The Institute also facilitates the work of the symposium and acts as the meeting reporter.

The goal of the Institute is to establish and safeguard a productive problem-solving environment that encourages creativity and open dialogue in workgroups that are tasked to achieve new solutions that can be implemented by policymakers. The Institute’s overall focus is to find socio-economic unifiers and enablers to propel Michigan’s economic and employment turnaround.

Often this focus takes the form of a timeline based upon, what we call at the Institute, “NOW,” “NEW,” and “NEXT.” The NOW is the problem and solutions presently available or within the immediate short term. The NEW looks at a two- to three-year horizon and often flushes out and accomplishes the hard work of implementation started in the NOW phase. Finally, the NEXT is the realization of the vision developed during the symposium. By using this approach, seemingly impossible challenges are broken down and solved while at the same time building an atmosphere of trust that is the “engine” of accomplishment and successful implementation for all difficulties.

While attendees make every attempt to strive for consensus regarding a report, this is not a requirement, nor should attaining consensus be achieved at the cost of weakening the analysis or conclusions reached during the symposium. Accordingly, it may be more valuable to the symposium’s purpose to explain the rationale behind workshop disagreements rather than to issue unanimous conclusions that are so limiting in scope that they fail to contribute to a better understanding of the initiative.

It is important to note that the role of the Institute is to maintain the independence, objectivity, and integrity of the process and not to advance a specific outcome or result. Symposium reports are a collaborative and collective result that represents the end product of all the participating attendees. In a word, attendees are the true owners of their work product. For us at the Institute, it is a privilege to serve as a means for their collective and innovate work and a privilege to work with our co-conveners. The resulting synergies of working together will hopefully be repeated and enhanced over time for other communities and public policy issues to assist in Michigan’s turnaround.

PAGE 2 ESD Institue Future Detroit Symposium www.esdinstitute.net/FutureDetroit

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Executive Summary

OVERVIEWThe ESD Institute has engaged many issues since its beginnings only a few years ago. With a healthy sense of the risks associated with bringing stakeholders in conflict together, we have tackled many important topics ranging from economic development to rightsizing local governments. For our Youth Symposium, however, we decided to take the Institute to another level. As you will soon read, this effort proved to be one of our most exciting and inspiring challenges to date. The Future Detroit Youth Symposium was indeed a breakthrough in reaching voices often not heard. We are honored to have played a salient part in this empowerment of our future leaders.

For the Youth Symposium, we focused on the students learning to link methods to goals. In short, our process asked the students to connect the desired “end” with the best “means” of accomplishing it. Drawing on proven problem-solving methods, the goal of the Institute was to have each student learn by doing. Much like applied engineering tasks, we asked the students to define the problem and then figure out a consensus-based set of solutions that could be implemented in a real world setting. This required giving each student a voice and in return asking each student to assume a responsibility to think, participate and find common ground in a workgroup team environment. Easy to say but difficult to do for anyone, let alone middle school students who had just met each other for the first time!

BACKGROUND As an important observation, we believe that our Youth Symposium builds upon an earlier examination of education in Detroit that we conducted in December, 2009. At the request of a number of interested groups, the Institute convened a symposium relating to the creation of a “green” school entitled The Lean Green School Initiative. Our complete published report is available at our website, www.esdinstitute.net.

In the Lean Green School Initiative, we identified a continuum or process flow relating to education that was driven by internal and external forces — some within the control of the school but many not. What was left unfinished from the Lean Green Symposium was learning how the students

themselves viewed their schools and education. The Youth Symposium became our vehicle to fill this gap.

To draw out our students, we decided to build upon the core of energized student teams from the Detroit area that had competed in the Future City Competition. The result was that over 20 schools came together. Moreover, in our efforts to touch the largest possible audience of Detroit middle school students, we reached out to schools that had not competed or completed the formal Future City Competition who wished to benefit from the opportunity offered by our symposium’s inclusive, collaborative, problem-solving process.

To focus our students, we challenged them with the following Mega Question:

If you were envisioning “Future Detroit,” what would it look like and how would you accomplish it?

To jumpstart thought and creativity, our youth brainstormed around this question first and then voted on their favorite ideas before breaking into workgroups . Better education, less crime, more entertainment/talent were the big winners. The youth were randomly placed into workgroups to continue to discuss and offer ideas on the issues raised in the brainstorming session. Importantly, the workgroups were then asked to deal with perhaps the most difficult question of all:

If you were a future leader of Detroit, how would you accomplish your vision of Detroit?

Each workgroup was asked to complete an action plan on each of their three consensus-based priorities including who would be responsible to make it happen, how would the priority be implemented. At the end of the day, all participants heard presentations by each of the student workgroup teams of their action plans.

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Recommendation #1: Safety & SecurityPerhaps the most common voice heard throughout the Symposium day was that the students put a high priority on safety and security at their schools and communities and importantly wanted to play a role in making their schools and neighborhood safe places now and in the future to live, learn and work. The reality of crime galvanized the student into action steps ranging from mentorships, parent, community, corporate and governmental engagement, volunteerism, and proactive police enforcement to junior peer anti-crime training, and local student groups with high-tech equipment like alarms, jet packs, networking tools and close-net informational sharing. Safety was identified by the students as a key component of what makes a city cool. We were not surprised that it surfaced again in the workgroup reports.

1 It is our recommendation that the DPS Office of Inspector General and the Detroit Police Department consider the establishment of a transparent Schoolplace Security Advisory Council

(SSAC) that focuses on “schoolplace” abuse and crime directly reporting to the DPS Police. Similar to the Board of Police Commissioners at the Detroit Police Department, SSAC would consist of critical stakeholders that care about the reduction and elimination of school-based abuse and crime. Members would include representative school administrators, teachers, students, parents, law enforcement, community and governmental leaders. This Council could serve as a platform to build inclusive and proactive program recommendations to address school security issues on a real-time and sustainable basis, including how to get more youth directly involved in making their schools safer places to learn. To enhance cohesiveness and effectiveness, the SSAC would establish a School Subcommittee made up of those schools that elected to play an active advisory role to benefit the work of SSAC. Members of the Subcommittee would provide their specific needs, experiences and solutions for SSAC’s consideration.

Recommendation #2: Interactive LearningFew are unaware of the daunting challenges we face in attracting and retaining student interest in the field of Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM). A challenge in the promotion of interest and competency in Engineering, for example, lies in its inherent difficulty to be measured especially in the early stages of its introduction to both the teachers and the students. While a student’s success in mastering the textbook can be a measurable outcome that can then be tested and reported as data for educational, performance and financial considerations, this positive attribute may, however, be a negative one when applied to STEM . Specifically, Engineering is largely a creative, applied problem-solving discipline. New and creative outcomes or solutions to problems cannot be identified in advance as either right or wrong and therefore do not lend themselves to an easy measurable assessment.

Interactive teaching as identified by our students as an enabler to accomplish better educational outcomes can be a useful tool in advancing STEM and was identified by our students as a means to better their education and opportunities for advancement.

RECOMMENDATIONSThe following list of recommendations of the ESD Institute is derived from the foundational work of the students who attended the Youth Symposium.

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2 It is our recommendation that the DPS Division of Academic Affairs consider the establishment of a transparent, district-wide Learning Interactive Council (LIK) that would

be led by a school administrator appointed by the DPS Division of Academic Affairs. The membership of the LIK would include a math/science instructional specialist to serve as led coordinator and include representative teachers, students, parents, and other educational stakeholders. Importantly, however, members of LIK would include engineering and scientific professionals to serve as advisors, mentors and other resources for both teachers and students. LIK would also include representatives from our state’s universities and colleges that offer undergraduate degrees in STEM-related fields to serve as an academic resource for transition to higher education. Finally, representatives from the business and labor communities should be encouraged to participate as active members of LIK to provide the cutting-edge reality check on skill level and other requirements for students to compete as adults in today’s global workplace. To enhance cohesiveness and effectiveness, LIK would establish a School Subcommittee made up of those schools that elected to play an active advisory role to benefit the work of LIK. Members of the Subcommittee would provide their specific needs, experiences and solutions for LIK’s consideration.

Recommendation #3: Talent & the Arts Another compelling need generated by many voices in the Youth Symposium was the desire for an outlet to foster student expression in the arts and entertainment fields. This area of focus had been previously identified in our The Lean Green School Initiative Symposium. The “A” in STEAM stood for “ART” and the concept was that in connection with an progressive STEM program, schools should add this component. Art can play a critical role in engaging a wide range of students and take STEM to the next degree in motivating students and broadening the benefits of their educational experience.

For purposes of this Report, we observed that the students looked upon art and entertainment as not only a way to fulfill their interests at school but also a means to build a career path after graduation. Clearly, the students saw the art and entertainment industry as a springboard for future recognition and employment opportunities. The students had no difficulty in identifying potential solutions to the “How” part of the equation as well. Those ideas are described at length in the workgroup reports. To highlight a few, the students wanted to create a forum for the “Stars of Tomorrow” with sponsorships from local celebrities in the Detroit area and to establish a school entitled “Detroit Dance Academy” to provide training in local cultural dance, ballet and cheerleading with support from our local professional sport organizations, businesses and community organizations.

3 It is our recommendation that the City of Detroit, in conjunction with the New Economy Initiative, Kresge Foundation and other interested foundations, establish an “incubator”

for Detroit middle and upper school student talent development and arts-related programs entitled the “Detroit Talent Incubator.” Home grown celebrities and other entities in both in the performance and visual arts should be solicited to act as potential sponsors and mentors that could then provide funding, forums or facilities for practices and performances by the students. To enhance cohesiveness and effectiveness, the Talent Incubator would establish a Student Subcommittee made up of students from those schools that elected to play an active advisory role to benefit the work of Incubator.

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Presentations

“Welcome to All,” Darlene Trudell, CAE, Executive Vice President, The Engineering Society of DetroitWe welcome you and know that your experiences today will be unique and hopefully will be a source of learning in the years to come. First of all, let’s talk about The Engineering Society of Detroit. ESD is over 115 years old. We have over 6,500 engineers that are all located here in the South Eastern Michigan region—so we truly are “Detroit Made”™. Engineers are creators and innovators. They made your cell phones, IPods, IPads, laptop computers and will design and help make the things you will use in the future. I encourage you to remember all that engineers do. While you are here today we ask you, as the young people in our region, to Stand Up, Step Up and Speak Out! You are “Detroit Made.”™ Please take the stickers out of your symposium materials and wear them proudly!

The Engineering Society of Detroit extends a special “thank you” to our sponsors whose generous donations have helped to make today’s Symposium possible: Non-Profit Personnel Network, Rackham Foundation, Citizens Insurance, and Hartland Insurance.

“The 3 Respects,” Alycia Meriweather, Interim Director, Math & Science Center, Detroit Public SchoolsBy the end of today you will know more people than when you arrived this morning. So, right now, please stand up and meet someone new. Here are our “Ground Rules” for today’s Youth Symposium.

% Respect yourself and your ideas and have enough courage to share them.

% Respect others people’s ideas and have the ability to listen and give positive feedback.

% Respect our time by following the agenda and keep on task.

There are leaders and residents all around this city today that are watching what you are doing and counting on your work.

“Detroit Made by All of You Here,” Robert Ficano, JD, Wayne County ExecutiveEngineering is exciting, I know this first hand. My background is as a lawyer—and I know first hand that engineers have more fun! My son is an electrical engineer and I does exciting things. And, keep in mind that today a lot of the good things that are going on in Wayne County are based on the practice and advancement of engineering and technology.

A perfect example is the Lithium Ion Battery manufacturer, A123 who has set up their headquarters in Ann Arbor. They have grown rapidly since their start up. A123 is now going into Phase II of their start up after only 14 months. Another success story of engineering work is General Electric Corporation. General Electric likes what is going on here in our area so they are continuing to expand and hire more engineers.

This area is well known for engineering because of the auto industry. There is more technology on the automobile than any other product with the exception of the computer itself. We have the people that create this technology right here in our area. Engineers are not only important in our County, State, and Country, but also all over the world.

The President of China was just here visiting with us. The current President of China and the last 5 Presidents of China have all been engineers. China realizes how important it is to have engineers to keep their economy growing.

I ask each of you to expand their imagination and don’t hold back! A lot of great technological ideas have come out of Detroit. Help us to define what our next successful technologies will be.

I believe that you students are our future. You are the ones we are depending on to move Michigan forward.

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“Born in Detroit, Schooled in Detroit, Working in Detroit,” Bill Winfrey, Chrysler Corporation, Future City Mentor for Bates Academy, DetroitI have been a part of the City of Detroit for a very long time. I was born in Detroit in 1955, grew up in Detroit, and received my education in Detroit. I am very proud to be a product of Detroit. I went to Williams Elementary, Knudsen Junior High, and graduated from Cass Technical High School with a Degree in Design & Drafting Technology. I attended Wayne State University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. I also attend the Detroit College of Law where I received my Juris Doctor Law Degree (J.D.) I am very proud of today’s youth and the students that are here at the Future Detroit Symposium today. I believe you are our future leaders.

I want to talk a moment about engineers as inventors. How many of you know who created the first combustible engine? Most people think it was Henry Ford—but it was Karl Benz who held the patent for the engine that he designed in 1886. Henry Ford is known for the automobile because he took an existing invention, put it on an assembly line and mass produced it. He made Karl Benz’s invention affordable so everyone could have them. That is what engineers do; they develop technology and then apply it to make our lives better.

Here are a few items that you know today, but weren’t created until 1955: Remote TV Controller, Polio Vaccine, Velcro, and the Microwave. Other inventions and year invented include some incredible things that we take for granted today:

% 1958: Jet Airliners % 1959: Integrated Circuits which has led to the

invention of the computer devices/internet, social media, etc.

% 1964: Music Synthesizer

% 1968: ATM—the Automated Teller Machine % 1969: The Smoke Detector % 1970 Digital Music % 1973: Cell Phone, MRI % 1978: GPS—Global Positioning Satellite % 1979: Sony Walkman % 1984: DNA Fingerprints % 1993: Fuel Cell Vehicles % 1997: Hybrid Electric Cars % 1998: Genetic Sequencing, MP3 Player

Engineers have the ability to create something out of nothing—out of the vision in their mind. You students have the same ability—creating your Future Detroit from your vision. I want you to create a Detroit that you want to live in. You are our leaders that will make this happen. I encourage you and I am proud that you are moving the city of Detroit forward.

“Your City and Your Future,” Karla Henderson, Mayor’s Office, City of DetroitI want to thank everyone here today and The Engineering Society of Detroit for taking on this challenge to create our Future Detroit. If you look at the city of Detroit, we cover 139 square miles. Over the last few years, the City of Detroit has lost half of its population. Over 1/3 of our city is now vacant. You could take the city of San Francisco and fit it in the areas of Detroit that are vacant.

We are heavily dependent on our automobiles in our City. We have miles of roadways and freeway infrastructure which is the primary mode of transportation for people in our region.

The Mayor is committed to tearing down vacant and abandoned buildings in our City. But the big question that is left behind is what are we going to do with all of this vacant land? To help answer this question, Mayor Bing kicked off the Detroit Works Project last summer. The focus of the project is asking our citizens what they want

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the future of Detroit to look like. You students had a lot of great ideas today—many ideas that we have not yet heard from other constituents involved in defining our Future Detroit. Please share your ideas today so that we can learn from your dreams and vision.

The City of Detroit has many assets that we can build upon. One of the things the City is focused on is its youth—28% of the city’s population is under 18. We need to design a city that is cool for you, the youth of our City. We want to know what it will take for you to stay here — to live here and work here once you graduate from high school or college. We need to understand what types of jobs, housing, and transportation you will want.

We know that transportation is an important issue are excited that there has been over 400 million dollars committed to our light rail project. We are also excited that there is a huge demand for lofts and family housing in the City. We are committed to working with developers to encourage further housing development in our City. We also want to work with our existing home—we have many beautiful homes in the city of Detroit and we are working to refurbish them. The Mayor is also working to create a city that is safe and clean.

This project is for you—building the future of Detroit. We hope you stay here and raise your families here. And if you do leave Detroit, we want you to come back to Detroit!

I extend to you our invitation to come down and present your findings to Mayor Bing and my staff. Mr. Webb replied that we would take them up on that offer, but they would need a big room!

“What do you define as a hero?,” Peter Stuart Egeli, Commander, U.S. NavyI want to ask you a question: “What do you define as a hero?” The students suggested heroes were persons such as fire fighters, police men, sailors, etc.

My definition of a hero is someone who gets up and does something that no one else will. I feel I am in the presence of heroes right now. This is very awe inspiring. When I was your age I was not thinking about saving the world. I love this. A Hero does things without expecting something in return.

The U.S. Navy will be offering a raffle prize today to recognize one lucky school: A tour and visit on the USS Greyfox. It is a privilege for the U.S. Navy to be a part of this important event.

“An International Symposium of Culture and Diversity,” Dr. Ralph Bland, Superintendant, Detroit Edison Public School AcademyToday is a moment in history; today we are attending the first international symposium. Why do we say this? We have students here of diverse culture and nationality. We need come together more often and do more of this type of brainstorming. This is a ground breaking moment so remember this, each of you.

“The Importance of STEM—Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics,” Ron Smith, Director of Education and Community Outreach, The Engineering Society of DetroitAs Middle School students, The Engineering Society of Detroit wants to make sure that you stay interested in STEM. The Michigan Regional Future City Competition is an important part in ESD’s initiatives to keep youth interested in STEM.

I am passing around a brochure about the National Engineers Week Future City Competition School entitled “Dreams Need Doing.” This brochure features a young student from our area right on the cover. She was from a team that participated last year and she lives just a few miles from where we are meeting today. The team that she participated on last year was the Michigan Region Competition winner. She and the rest of her team traveled to Washington, D.C. to compete and finished in 5th place nationally. While they were in Washington, they had the opportunity to go to the White House and meet with President Obama in the Oval Office.

Today, we have two presentations from this year’s Michigan Regional Competition. We have our first place winners, St. John Lutheran School, who will be travelling to Washington in a few days. Also with us today, is Academy of The Sacred Heart. Sacred Heart was selected as the winner of the City that best defined what our Future City of Detroit should be.

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Presentations by the Winning Regional Teams of the National Future City Competition

“The International District of Trinitas Avenir: Detroit, Windsor and Belle Isle,” St. John Lutheran Team—Students: Michelle Abramczyk, Mackenzie Hill and Andrew Abraham; Teacher: John Pfund; Engineering Mentor: Dr. Linda Gerhart1

Imagine a Detroit restored to its glory days! In 2176, Detroit has been transformed into a vibrant cultural and medical epicenter with a diverse, robust economy. Like its motto “It will rise from the ashes,” the city has risen from the ruins of its past to become part of the International District of Trinitas Avenir, which means triad of the future. The triad connects the sparkling Detroit River with Detroit, Windsor, and Belle Isle.

7

Belle Isle

Windsor Detroit

Urban architects and civil engineers developed an ambitious master plan anchored by tree-lined canals and wide boulevards, a forested green beltway park, desirable residential communities, and walkable, energetic commercial and entertainment districts. Just over one million fortunate residents enjoy safe and carefree living in energy self-sufficient, hyperbaric accommodations in formerly-abandoned industrial complexes renovated with sustainable materials.

The district is proud host of the Expo 2176 World’s Fair and the LXXI Olympics, the first-ever international games. The district has been reinvented as a result of the infusion of

1. Their actual model was being shipped to the National Future City Competition so they demonstrated their city using a display board along with posters.

revenue for infrastructure projects from the Expo and the games. Thriving medical, energy and transportation industries blossomed and the district is now a tourist destination in the international spotlight.

Domestic automakers that made Detroit the Motor City have combined to become T3: Trinity Transport Technologies, global leaders in transportation systems. T3’s PiezoQuadPods offer four transportation modes: land, sea, air, and elevated perpendicular parking against buildings. The pods provide universal accessibility for handicapped and elderly residents. Cartridge-like PiezoQuadPods lock and load into trackless mass transit and underground railroad systems connecting the city’s nine population nerves centers. Piezoelectric energy harvested throughout the city in roadways, walkways, footwear, and even clothing powers the transportation system.

NeuronStar is part of General Medicines, national medical-technology diagnostics and communications leader. NeuronStar, along with the TriniStar Alzheimer’s Solution, successfully prevents Alzheimer’s and provides real-time remote medical monitoring. TriniStar uses piezo-picogenerators to harvest bloodpower, is controlled by NanoSpecNet spray-on computing systems, and includes medication made from local ginkgo trees and hyperbarically-grown herbal cat’s claw, all grown in our Eastern Market.

The Intelli-Grid controls communication, power-distribution, water-distribution, and waste-management systems. Bionic contact lenses and EduStar provide a virtual learning interface which improves cerebral function, allowing globally-competitive students to retain everything they learn—for life!

The carbon-negative community produces more energy than it consumes. Wind energy is harvested from bladeless air multipliers and engineered-algae towers generate hydrogen. Michigan Basin subterranean salt reserves produce energy from a closed-loop cycle! Blue Energy is created from a salinity gradient from mixing fresh river water with brine. Space-based solar energy is collected 24/7 and beamed to concentrating solar mirrors focused on salt power towers. These molten salt towers convert brackish Blue Energy water into turbine-turning steam. Salt mines also supply molten salt nuclear reactors and are advanced-research sites for solar neutrino energy harvesting.

The district is a recreational paradise. Residents enjoy upscale holographic shopping, hyperbarically-grown Eastern Market produce,

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PiezoGolf, glistening freshwater beaches, lively casinos and nightlife, and world-famous Belle Isle mineral baths. Future Detroit will be a great place to live, work and play.

Experience the jewel of the Great Lakes region. Experience Trinitas Avenir! We are building a future city of Detroit.

Attendees wished this team good luck as they travel to Washington to compete in the National Future City Competition.

“Detroit: Belle et Puissant,” Academy of the Sacred Heart Team—Students: Christine Slavik, Hailey Briscoe, and Avery Guething; Teacher: Debbie Peters; and Engineering Mentor: Jim Meenahan

The scene takes place at a Detroit meeting after the great flood of Detroit.

Detroit: Belle et Puissant! The strong, the mighty, the beautiful, the future! Currently, when we picture Detroit we remember it for being the “motor city,” the city where shining sports vehicles are just around the corner and there’s the familiar sound of engines being revved. It’s what we remember as home. Belle et Puissant, is the perfect example of a city in the future, whose priorities are clear; providing a safe and healthy home for everyone. The disabled and elderly are welcomed with open arms, and are cared for as part of a close family.

Detroit is the leader in the conservation and recycling of the Great Lakes and has become a role model for the rest of the world regarding the safe use of natural resources as a source of power for the city and the entire area. The use of water turbines, wind turbines and other sustainable resources for our energy sources have become a way of life. The improvement and reliability of batteries have changed our way of using power.

Imagine how you feel when you enter a library. A handful of us at Academy of the Sacred Heart are bookworms. None of us could imagine being blind or dyslexic and not being able to read; to feel that pure joy and sheer delight when you open a book and get excited about the characters. We want people who are visually impaired to have that same feeling. So we’ve created a piece of technology PEMS, the Pico Electrical Memory System, that helps all to see and also to read. This technology helps with the hard of hearing and several other disabilities. This chip helps people to stay healthy and remain safe.

Belle et Puissant also focuses on comfort and being green. We make transportation as easy as possible. Using the existing layout of the city, several Maglev tracks were built using the median strips of Gratiot, Woodward, Michigan Avenue, Grand River, and Jefferson Avenue. The Maglev is a type of elevated transport that uses magnets and most importantly, no fossil fuels, it is a greener than the standard system. It features solar paneling and magnetic rails, the stronger magnets allow it to travel quickly and quietly to the destination sooner. The loss of most fossil fuels forced the auto industry to develop new modes of transportation and once again Detroit became the capital for clean air and clean transportation.

As the fossil fuels “ruled” the 20th century, fresh water has become the “gold” of the 22nd century. As one of the cities on the Great Lakes, Detroit has become a center for entrepreneurs, companies, industries and has surpassed Chicago as being the place to live and raise a family. Detroit has now adapted to the modern needs of all members of society. Belle et Puissant, suited for all the disabled, elderly and entire family, is the perfect city. Come and see what Detroit: Belle et Puissant has to offer you and your family.

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Examining the “What” Question through an Icebreaker Exercise: “What makes a City cool?,” Christopher J. Webb, J.D., FESD, Co-Director, The ESD Institute

Student attendees were asked to envision that they were passengers that had just boarded a 747 airplane together. They were headed to another place in another time—Future Detroit. Unlike normal trips, the passenger’s would have the power to create their own destination. The only catch was that they had to work together to make their individual dreams a collective dream of where they wanted to go. The flight would last for only six hours — the time left in our Youth Symposium — so each would have to get acquainted, start sharing with each other, prioritize their ideas and then find the ones that they would pursue together before the plane landed at their destination.

To help the “passengers,” Mr. Webb served as their “pilot” for the flight. He came over the loudspeaker and asked each passenger think carefully about how they would answer this fundamental question: “What makes a city cool?” Then, putting the plane on autopilot, he went back to the passenger cabin and asked each in round robin fashion to introduce themselves and give their response. Below are the thoughtful and inspiring responses of the students:

% Kids Activities % Buildings % Skyscrapers % Colors % More playgrounds and more

cars % People transportation % Engineering % Architecture % Technology % Architecture

% Amusement parks % Educating children % Water parks % Communications % Good economy % Good government % Main Attraction % Mayor % Nice Appearance % Job Opportunities

% People make the city cool % The Diversity of People % Eco friendly materials % History of the city % Events and National

Landmarks % Events for all age groups % Great City Council % Uniqueness % Entertainment % Clean areas

% Designs of the Buildings % Environment around us % Attractions in the City % Environment % Handicapped Access and Help

for the Handicapped % High Speed Internet % Low Unemployment Rates % All the different people that

you meet make the city cool % Recreational Activities % Schools % Education

% Cool Communities % Cleanliness of our river % Culture of the city % Art, murals and paintings % Trees % Science behind city is built—

infrastructure % How many successful people

are in the city % Different service opportunities % Being Green and Better

Healthcare % New Ideas

% Transportation % Having as many people as

possible off of the streets % Less pollution % Gm Building % Jobs % Diversity % Friendship and Equality % Involvement in the

Community % Whatever you think is cool is

cool % Animals

% Nature % Money % Athletes % Lawyers % New technology % New Inventions % People % Workers % Environmental Activity % Good Economy % Clean environment % Good Healthcare

% Medical Advancements % Less Pollution % Lakes and Rivers % Beeches and Hang out Spots % Safeness of the Environment % Schools % Houses % Air Transportation % Walkability % Solar power % Making Equipment

% History and Culture % Global Learning % Diverse Economy and Sparkly

Architecture % Solar Panels % Good Mayor % Jobs % Clean and Safe Area % Advanced, High Tech Schools

and Colleges % Available Medical Treatment

and Affordable/Accessible

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We captured on posters all of these ideas from our passengers and now came the time for them to pick their top ones to begin the hard work of prioritizing the many into the few that would then be the focus of their efforts for the rest of the plane trip.

Prioritizing the “WHAT” Question, Our Youth Symposium Students in ActionCustomary to past symposia process, we gave each student a set of 12 dots. The instructions to each of the students was simple: Get up and go to all of the posters in the room, read what you have listed and then put your dots on the ones you like the most. The students were free to put all of the dots on one item if they wished but they only had 12 dots that represented their “votes” to prioritize the ideas presented. This would be the first of “three” democratic moments of voting in which the students would evaluate their ideas in order to arrive at their final recommended action items to envision their Future Detroit. Before everyone started to vote, we reminded them that the mission was to address the “What” Question that had been in their symposium abstract:

If you were 30 years old working and living in Detroit, what would be your vision to live and work happily there?

It is difficult to capture in words the energy and excitement that everyone experienced as the

students began to the voting process. To convey this in perhaps a manner that is reflective of the impact of today’s world, we have capture in both a short and long version the students on video. Please visit www.esdinstitute.net/FutureDetroit to view this incredible undertaking by the students.

Joining a Workgroup: Matching the “What” & “How” Questions to find Sustainable SolutionsJust before the voting began, we asked our students to count off for purposes of assignment them to our four workgroups. Most of the students had sat together by schools and this method mixed the students so that we could maximize their opportunity to learn from each other and practice the essence of collaborative learning.

We reminded the students that once their voting had been accomplished, they would have a lunch break and then they would go to their workgroup rooms knowing what were the priorities of the entire student body. Armed with this information the students in their respective workgroups would then tackle the hardest part of the symposium by trying to answer following the “How” Question:

If you were a future leader of Detroit, how would you accomplish your vision of Detroit?

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WORKGROUP SESSION NARRATIVES

Workgroup I Session NarrativeSpy students in Detroit. Sound like fantasy? Not to a group of middle schoolers who gathered on a Saturday in the dead of Winter to talk about what they want their future to look like in the City of Detroit. These students made it clear that they have lots of ideas to share and they want to be personally involved in making exciting things happen in their City.

This workgroup focused on entertainment/art and crime. Students shared more of what they envision in these areas and then discussed how they would accomplish it.

BRAINSTORMING On the heels of Eminem’s Chrysler ad, the group’s ideas focused a lot on how to get celebrities to come back and help the City, particularly by discovering and encouraging local talent. The idea getting the most support was to have a group of celebrities sponsor competitions. The focus was not on an American Idol type competition but a much broader vision involving all performance (music, dance, juggling, and acrobatics. They eventually included visual arts, such as painting, graphic design, car model design and architecture in the mix. Such a competition would lead to encouraging more creative people to come to Detroit. Because funding for the competition would come from celebrities, students started to think of other ideas celebrities could fund including high school scholarships for art and performance, track and field competitions funded by star athletes and start-up money to grow a real talent industry in Detroit, this could create new jobs and help the City improve its image.

When the topic moved to crime, the room immediately became even more energized. CRIME was the topic that garnered the most passion/interest. There was a consensus that crime affected everyone in the room and agreement that crime is a key obstacle that needs to be overcome .After one young man told a story about how a group people in a community helped police identify gang members by their tattoos, students started to share more ideas about how they could be

involved in fighting crime. The students were very aware of the crime around them and very anxious to improve it. Many/most were also intrigued by and attracted to the notion of having the opportunity to get involved personally.

Ideas generated during this time included: high tech crime and forensic agencies locating in Detroit, a military base or “weapons ranch” located on vacant land to build and test high tech weapon systems; harsher penalties for drop outs, metal detection systems and camera surveillance in neighborhoods. But when the idea of “Spy Students” was suggested, the group went into a frenzy of ideas around crime fighting technology like robot dogs, jet packs and watches with special communication systems.

Following the brainstorming session, the workgroup voted on their favorite ideas:

% Spy kids/Jetpacks % Talent Competitions % Cheerleading teams % crime/high tech weapons R&D

A decision was made to divide the workgroup into three smaller discussion groups to develop action plans on the Spy Students and Talent Competition ideas and then the students self-selected along gender lines into two different groups, one to deal with cheerleading and the other to discuss high tech weapons.

There was great energy in the smaller groups, made it much easier for students to not just throw out more ideas but to really envision what it would take to make it a reality. Each of the smaller groups presented their top two ideas for implementing Spy Students and the results were amazing.

One group redefined the term SPY to be an acronym standing for Semi-Powerful Youth and the term ‘JETPACS’ as another acronym standing for Just Everyday Technology Protecting All Children! Another group elaborated on special communication systems that would be necessary to make Spy Students work including: phones using blue tooth and GPS technology, a hotline for a network of covert spy students to report crime as they see it happen. The third group focused on a training camp sponsored by the CIA and/or local police for junior spies or crime fighting. They also talked about having real jet packs that use compressed air. The most students were most engaged during the spy students discussion. In all the groups there was a definite indication in the room of faith in technology as a savior/solution to the crime problem.

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Each group was also asked to present their plans to promote talent. One group envisioned a national agency founded in Detroit but having a presence in major cities. Another group discussed an ‘America’s Got Talent’ type approach and yet another group conjured an outdoor car show for specialty vehicles that would be a sort of performance art for cars with hydraulics. Two groups discussed a version of a talent company located downtown and organized like a co-op to share and generate revenue.

The last two subgroup ideas were Cheerleading and High Tech crime fighting ideas.

The contrast was stark. The group looking at high tech crime fighting focused primarily on advanced weaponry for fighting crime. Much of the time was spent on how to build (or attract) such an industry. One thought was to utilize vacant land as an incentive.

Similarly the group discussing cheerleading/dance promotion for Detroit took aim at how to create an entity to train young people to be involved in these activities. This topic morphed to a discussion of a sort of performing arts/dance academy.

Workgroup II Session NarrativeAfter an intense plenary session where 107 students from Detroit and suburban schools were invited to share their ideas of what makes a city “cool”, a smaller group of approximately 30 students with 3 facilitators dove deeper into the ideas that arose from the plenary session.

We started with facilitator introductions: Robert Prud’homme, an architect and community activist with an interest in sustainable development, Shawn Crump, a master electrician with deep roots in Detroit, and Speranta Maior, an architect and immigrant whose lived, learned and worked in metro Detroit since she was about the age of the student participants. After the facilitator introductions the students were invited to stand up, step up and speak up for Detroit.

The dialogue between facilitators and students was fluid, often times one idea merged into another, keeping the focus on one topic difficult to control, at times. All ideas were entertained and there was great respect between the participants; the room had a certain palpable energy of excitement. Hands went up in the air before the facilitator had a chance to finish asking and there was always more to say on any given topic.

A week after the event, the facilitators distilled a plethora of ideas that were brought up during the workgroup session that broke down into four main categories that would, according to this group, transform Detroit into a “cool city”:

% Variety, a break away from monoculture: varied modes of transportation, varied shopping experiences, varied communities, varied foods, varied destinations, variety of services in one area, varied cultural destinations, more local music, Detroit to keep developing artists and what it was once known for: Motown and thus reconstruct a positive image of Detroit, recycle old buildings and build new development around older ones creating a varied urban experience

% Transition, from large to small: smaller cars, smaller distances, smaller shops, smaller classrooms that are more like families, a break away from city sprawl, reliability on local rather than global

% Safer environments: sustainable, healthier foods and modes of life, walkable communities, vertical gardens, smaller controllable communities, interconnected buildings, places to hike

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% Innovation: high tech modes of transportation that include flying personal transportation, sustainable and renewable sources of energy for operating technological equipment, better schools

BRAINSTORMING

1. VarietyThe group was varied. By a show of hands,

five or six of the students were born outside of the United States. They value bringing their own cultures to Detroit and want their ideas heard and applied. The majority of the students, born and raised in Detroit or suburbs also had varied backgrounds, came from different types of schools including public, private and charter schools. What they all seemed to know was that their city can be better if some changes are adopted and they have hope to see these changes in their lifetimes. They desire vibrant areas with a variety of destinations within walking distance. They imagine this can be done by delimitating specific areas, like the Central Business District of Detroit, and within these compact areas create communities with multiple and varied services and a mix of residential and commercial zones. One student who didn’t speak much, after a lot of debate raised his hand and said: “I have an idea for how to fix this city: make a perimeter of an area, bring in business, refurbish that area and fix it first”.

Among the services provided in these compact areas would be nurse stations because, one student said: “doctors are not always necessary for all health problems” as well as community and recreation centers. There would be transportation hubs with an offering of a variety of modes of transportation that include jet paks, flying cars,

use of the waterways, subways, bicycle and pedestrian paths and an expansion of the people mover. They suggested that the waterways are not being used sufficiently and they would like to see more water and air transportation in the future. Walkability was high on the students mind and it was quickly linked to health, safety and community building. The students desire more parks and they suggested eliminating roads to create more places for nature preserves with animals, zoos and green areas. Students expressed that the city requires more plowing of snow on the streets, cleaner streets, safer streets. All these concerns would be alleviated by making communities more compact.

The students suggested that the creation of community groups responsible for trash pick-up and for enforcing safety would greatly improve the current situation. The students were in favor of refurbishing old buildings rather than demolishing them and building new communities that are mixed with the old. The students enjoyed the thought of buildings that are more artful and allowing graffiti in cities. The Heidelberg project was brought up as a successful art project that has helped the city build a better image and one that uses recyclable materials to produce art. In discussing art and culture, the kids thought that there was a need for more agencies that would attract and keep varied local talent. Variety in the school curriculum was also discussed as a step to improving education. Students felt that school hours felt long because academic subjects are not sufficiently interwoven with creative and hands on educational experiences during a school day. Students reported that just academics are boring and listening to rap artists when learning would be a good alternative to learning and that there ought to be more opportunities for the young to learn from older people such as mentoring activities.

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Students said that compact communities would also alleviate the problem that some districts are facing of not having sufficient student age inhabitants, thus resulting in school closings.

2. Large to smallOne student thought that one of the things

that hurts Detroit most is it’s bad image (see Appendix H) and she prepared a written document the night before the symposium where she expressed her thoughtful wishes for a Future Detroit.

The notion of transitioning from large to small was woven in various discussions and it was closely linked to local vs. global. The student entertained the idea of the production of smaller and more simple cars that more people could enjoy. They thought that smaller cars could be parked easier, would produce less pollution and would be cheaper to produce because they require less materials. There were several comments about a desire to have an opportunity to buy in smaller community shops with local products. There was an understanding that smaller classrooms with more teachers that care about teaching would produce better schools. The students enjoy academics and sciences but find that hands-on exercises would keep their interest in academics. They considered the high school drop-out rates a result of school being perceived as boring. A desire for more social interactions in smaller settings was also implicitly expressed. Several comments were made during the break that the symposium was a good opportunity to meet new students from different backgrounds, something that they are currently lacking because of distances between destinations and lack of public transportation or social interaction that would be made possible by more public experiences such as public transportation.

3. SafetySafety was of high priority to the students. They spoke about lack of safety on the streets and lack of safety in their schools. During break, I approached one student who didn’t speak much during the workgroup session and asked him what concerned him most. He told me that being recruited by gangs and the persistent approach used by gangs to recruit and teach kids criminal activities such as selling drugs or breaking into cars was a real an immediate problem he was constantly facing. On another level, the safe path to a good and affordable education

was brought up in the workgroup session. The students considered affordable, high-tech education one significant and transformative step towards improving the city. Ideas for funding safety initiatives included using free labor from inmates. In the discussion about safety, there was recognition that poverty and lack of jobs are the fundamental drivers for criminal activity.

4. InnovationInnovation was discussed on all levels from sci-fi visions of flying modes of personal transportation to rethinking lunch in schools. Students talked about food in schools being unhealthy and not conducive to learning. Students all agreed that if they were involved in the food making process in school during lunch break, that would be a better alternative to the frozen, fast foods that are currently available to them in most school cafeterias. They liked the idea of having community and home gardens where fresh locally grown foods would be produced. They entertained the idea of vertical organic farms. They talked about these options being viable solutions for making food cheaper and healthier. Students saw high-tech solutions as enablers for improving the standard of living for more people. For example they enjoyed the idea of programmable, driver-less cars for blind people. Other innovations such as matter transformation for transport, teleportation, “iron-man like” technologies, water powered cars that pollute less, levitation technology, flying capes, magic carpets, “on-star” technology for the human body, robots to fight wars, robotic suits, time travel.

Many innovations revolved around transportation. It remains clear that rooted deeply in the psyche of these middle schoolers is that Detroit is Motor City!

The results from the voting system are included in The “DO” Action Report for Workgroup 2.

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Workgroup III Session Narrative1

There’s an enthusiasm that comes with the unknown… an undercurrent of excitement springing from this new experience. And that excitement is felt by students and adults alike!

What makes a city cool? The ideas are fun, varied, advanced, green, safe, healthy, and hi-tech. Everyone seems to appreciate the opportunity to voice their opinion in front of their peers.

BRAINSTORMINGOur ideas begin with education, walkability/transportation, and handicap access, but those quickly morph into additional concerns about healthcare, the environment, and the economy. There’s good group participation at the onset of our workgroup, which is a relief. There had been concern that the students might be timid; but they’re getting a lot of additional ideas out and on the boards. Their priorities appear to be education and healthcare.

As more students become willing to share, the discussion transitions into what makes a good doctor. Ideas include the doctor’s interest in kids, and his ability to relate to the patient. When prodded for “how” they will ensure that the Future Detroit has good doctors, a few of the quieter students speak up. These kids are problem solvers. They also have a good analysis of the viability of each option. But it’s very clear from their ideas and opinions that they consider the voice of the general population of utmost importance. Perhaps they’re using this opportunity to be heard to say that they’re tired of being ignored?

Education becomes the next hot topic and the idea floodgates are now opened. Even more students who haven’t previously spoken up raise their hands to share what they want to see changed. Future jobs and job training are important. Ideas continue to range from foreign language exchange opportunities to actual school building logistics, quality of the study materials to quality and passion of the teachers, and the overall learning environment. These kids care about their education. Every kid who hasn’t participated

1. The Institute has abbreviated this narrative for purposes of the presentation of this Report. The entire Narrative is an exciting and comprehensive window into an interactive workgroup in action and is available in its unedited draft form upon written request.

yet has an idea on how to make education better. And they are passionate about how they are going to make this happen. They want live interaction between the students who are learning and the administration making the decisions about education. And these aren’t fantastical ideas either—they realize that education is important; and they believe that the people in charge should care. Student involvement in the decisions that are made is constantly reinforced. They also want to stress a global view of collaboration. These students realize the value of reaching out and sharing ideas globally. They also want to focus on parent accountability.

Environment is now the latest hot topic. Hands are a’ raising for what they want the environment to look like in Future Detroit. There is lots of passion about mandatory recycling and punishment for litterers. There are also lots of ideas on renewable energy. The good ideas get students from different schools interacting as side conversations. There’s a mutual respect for the ideas shared. Excitement is now building over how these environmental goals get implemented. It is suggested to expand the refund policy to include more recyclables—not just pop cans.

Now we focus on the “How” Question. Create a city-wide education. Have volunteers

planting trees! Have community groups planting trees! A community child’s planting brigade. Why don’t we stop these meetings and start planting trees today? We don’t need to buy seeds; they fall from the trees…. (Acorns, maple seeds, pine cones…)

Next, the students want to tackle the economy. Tax credits for living in the city. Need to trust the economy. End tax cuts! The government needs the money! (No Tea Partiers here!) End all wars… (‘nuff said). What does “the economy” mean? What does a middle school student understand about the national or global economy? Yet they make comments about “we need to pay our debt before we invest in any new technology.” Are these their thoughts or the thoughts of others (adults) being used?

How do we get to a better (or balanced) city budget? Have more entrepreneurs. Don’t spend everything in one area. Bring businesses into the city that provide jobs. Have more diverse businesses. Get away from reliance on the auto industry. There are no Wal-Marts or Meijers in the city limits. Why is that? The general feeling is that the City environment needs to be more attractive. That will encourage businesses and people to move into the area.

How do we make Detroit more attractive? Buy local. Build new buildings. Focus on the Great

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Lakes (our assets). Clean up the neighborhoods. Pick up the trash. Build new houses. (If you build it they will come…) Make a community out of the area. Detroit should be making the exports. Have an idea for a store or product. Come up with the money. THIS IS THE NEW DETROIT. It is not what it used to be. Things have changed. Start our own … and have reliance from within. No one suggests that the solution is outside. All suggestions focused on building from within. Detroit City Charity (a Detroit lottery). The City should provide metal detectors in the stores for greater security.

Online learning is of very high interest. The students want to look in on other cultures and share their experiences with the world. Classrooms could be wired so parents can see if their kids are learning! An interest in foreign language learning and seeing what is going on in other countries. The students are very interested in getting an international scope in learning. Pen pals… exchange students… Which of these is the best idea??? Online learning. On Line Learning…how? Teacher sends power points on algebra…. Students study…classrooms are NOT NEEDED. Teacher videos. Parental interface… back to a desire to keep your parents close. There should be an online portal for the class.

The students are very passionate about smaller class sizes. How do they achieve this? Ideas include creating buildings designed to fit. Hire more teachers. Create classes that bring back vocational subjects such as woodwork, metal work, etc. They want options besides readin’, ‘ritin’, ‘rithmatic. More gym and stuff like that. (Sure….) Hey, wait a minute (Jane) this is more “Whats”… we need the HOWS! Classroom sizes… smaller classes mean smaller classrooms. Fund raisers for the schools! Popcorn, candy, pizza kits…

While the facilitators get organized for the final push to the report, the kids are freed to wander about. Will they ever return? We have yet to experience RED DOTS! Will we actually reach a conclusion? Will it be the same conclusion of other groups? At last, there is the distribution of the red dots. Each student only has three to choose from. Our choices are narrowing….just like in real life!

ONE DOT PER AREA. Choices have to be made! Resources (dots, money, ideas) are limited. What a life lesson. How many dots do we get in life? Can we get more if we use them up? Can we change our dots as we change our mind? Grow older, learn more…

RED DOTS: What are do you want our report

to focus upon? Tick tock, vote your dot….. A bulletin form the home office. There will be blue dots in a follow up session. Joy, MORE DOTS!

What have our dots told us? Are dots the way of the future…??? What color are YOUR dots?

HEALTHCARE: It’s all about Doctor Training. Who is responsible? Retired Docs who want to teach. But wait, what do the old guys know? Chris pops in—“Sign your report”. Why does CW talk so fast?

What are the training standards? Rules, curriculum. Answer: Surgeon General (A government answer). Medical colleges might work, national medical associations,

So HOW do we get this going? Answer: A test on patients (Oh yeah, I want to be the test dummy). Or, test on other doctors, now there’s a good idea. Wait a minute, maybe we are talking about peer review. Hospitals rank the doctors. Supervisors elected by medical staff. How much do you think this would cost? A better medical program… How much? (Jane Persists) $320,000… one student ventures, $800,000,, $500,000, $250,000…. $600,000 average…

ENVIRONMENT: Community Involvement! Who is it? Detroit residents! District Residents…. (District?) The Mayor should be responsible… City Council, Government Employees…. OK, HOW are you going to get them involved? Mandatory meetings and involvement. A day of service for all citizens. Send out flyers. Law Enforcement…. The GREEN POLICE! OK, about the cost… $2,000, $500,000, $1k per month per worker, $400,000, $20,000… Where do they get their concepts of money? No one has approached a “million” or “billion” amounts that are in the paper everyday. DO they relate this to themselves, their homes, their household wealth? Not clear… cross talk from the room next door is making it more difficult to work. Environment is getting nosier. Pressure builds to get to the bottom line… $500 per person….. The bidding continues…. $1,500 per person, it’s not real money… final bid $1,300 per person.

EDUCATION: Make it fun and active…WHO is involved… The schools… aren’t they

the problem in the first place? The school board… now there is a productive group, residents, corporations,… we are running out of time…

How do we implement: Principals. Corporations, the city, fund raisers, car washes… meeting totally out of control. Walls are opening, focus lost, moving to large group setting…. last question, how much does this cost? The bids are open again…. Control is lost, the mob wins… to the barricades! Vive la revolution!

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Workgroup IV Session Narrative1

Per the guidance of the ESD Institute, one of our chief intentions was to introduce a socially equitable, free-thinking collaborative learning processes to students.  We also intended to harness their insights to provide an opportunity to translate these ideas and suggestions into meaningful action.

Workgroup #4 was facilitated by four individuals who served in multiple roles in interchanging  roles: Shani Allison, Emile Lauzzana, John Sier , and Ian Tran.  Approximately 32 middle school students participated in our workgroup.  One to three adult chaperons, and occasionally an ESD/ESDI staff member or camera person would join us in the room to observe.

Students introduced themselves, the institutions which they represented, and shared what they appreciated about the places from which they came at the start of the session.  These students hailed from STAR Academy of Dearborn, Academy of the Sacred Heart the Universal Public School Academy of Dearborn, the Detroit Edison Public School Academy, and the Detroit Public School District.

BRAINSTORMINGWorkgroup #4 was to elicit “the how” out of the plenary session’s “what”:  students in workgroup #4 gave ways to achieve the visionary student-driven themes highlighted in the preceding plenary session.  From the plenary session, the following topics seeded the framework for our workgroup’s discussions:

% Entertainment/Attractions % Good Education % Jobs/Good Economy % Eco-Friendly/Low Pollution, Clean and

Neat City % Infrastructure, buildings, and Architecture % Safety, good emergency and health care

services

Threads of these remained throughout the workgroup sessions and were eventually focused

1. The Institute has abbreviated this narrative for purposes of the presentation of this Report. The entire Narrative is an exciting and comprehensive window into an interactive workgroup in action and is available in its unedited draft form upon written request.

and prioritized into four particular areas of insight. Interestingly, students ultimately rejected the latter category, healthcare etc., as a “top three” priority, though themes of it were found throughout discussion in the other topics:1. Education2. Economy/Jobs3. Entertainment and Community Assets4. Health care, safety, and environmental justice

Verbal student involvement was outstanding from the start, there were often more hands in the air or ideas coming forth than the facilitators could capture at once.  The facilitators suggested that the students write all of their ideas down to help stem the flow of input; many of these comments and ideas were later collected and are included in Appendix A.  For the few students who were particularly quiet, several facilitators made sure to invite them to participate or joined them in observing.

Partway through the morning session the group began to lull, and students were also asked to reseat themselves so as to be in the company of new acquaintances.  This change in social dynamics helped to spur a resurgence of student input.  Every idea contributed during our preliminary brainstorm sessions elicited insightful stories, and the workgroup quickly cohered via resonating educational experiences common to all of the students in the room.

As student suggestions accumulated, desires for particular outcomes in education transformed into subtle stepping stones for interdisciplinary implementation in the first half of the group session.  

EducationIt was clear the students had a strong desire to discuss education and the many issues they faced daily in their schools and communities.  Key themes of this discussion included:

% learning options and opportunities for individualized educational advancement

% quality learning resources and opportunities % equitable access to technology and internet

resources % greater standards for educational achievement % peer to peer education   % integration with institutions of higher

education

For example, a recurring discussion concerned a student’s proposal for personalized evaluations for students that would help schools, public

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or private, match the pace and educational standards of each individual student whenever they transferred to a new school.  Another student suggested that students who exceeded the learning standards of particular age-based classes at the new institution to which they are transferred to should be offered opportunities to tutor other students or advance to more appropriate courses - even if with older students.  By show of hands, nearly all of the students had transferred from another school at least once in their educational career.

Over two-thirds of these students could not take textbooks home with them. Some students remarked that they had limited access to the tools necessary for their school assignments which required the use of certain computer programs—they claimed that they often spent more time waiting to use the computer, and would not be able to finish the assignment because they cannot work on the computer at home. By show of hands, most of the students also did not have internet access at home.

Students almost unanimously emphasized the importance of mentorship, educational resources, and stable learning spaces for students to utilize after school. They proposed community homes with committed teachers who would work to help them in their education outside of school. The students distinguished these community teachers from natal and foster parents in that the teachers are selected by their passion and training in helping, student encouragement, and teaching.

There was consensus agreement in integrating higher education institutions like community college and University programs with their schools.  This relationship, as well as additional non-traditional course options (a specific example included more offerings in arts and theatre) would also help expose future students to additional career opportunities. Students expressed a keen desire for more interactive educational processes and better contextualized educational content2.   In discussing education in arts and entertainment, one student asserted that “Detroit is music.  Taking funding and options for art programs away takes from its future talent.”

There was also a strong sense of student interest, engagement, commitment, and service to their immediate communities and region.  This

2. For example, processes in education can be implemented through activities in hands-on, project (e.g. http://www.pltw.org/), service learning (e.g. http://www.rootsandshoots.org/), and place-based education (e.g. http://www.michiganplt.org/ ) that provide relevant and meaningful examples for the application of concept.

was often attributed to their involvement in initiatives coordinated by disparate institutions such as their school, church, and youth programs including the Future City competition.  However, some students did lead projects of their own—in one case a student helped clean up and repaint a room in her own school. Students affirmed that service opportunities for middle school students are valuable yet sparse.  By the second half of the session, this place-based ethos was also reflected in many suggestions for the revitalization of Detroit.

Jobs and EconomyMaking Detroit a positive place to live and the localization of its goods and services were identified as important steps for job creation and economic renewal. Students acknowledged that personal sacrifices would need to be made and pointed out diversification from Detroit’s local industrial manufacturing employment base to increases in information, services, and technological fields as new approaches to Metro-Detroit’s business environment. A business incubator and/or more companies and venture capital groups were recommended to help local and other prospective entrepreneurs create businesses.3

Entertainment and Community AssetsStudents proposed that famous Detroit athletes or musicians should give back by working with

3. The role of education in entrepreneurship was briefly touched upon in the afternoon workgroup session too. Making public buildings available for activities like sports that draw citizens to businesses was another recommendation. Commitment from individual citizens, local and neighboring Detroit communities, entrepreneurs, and government were identified as requisite for the success of these initiatives.

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schools to teach in the city and/or provide funds to boost the recovery of its rich cultural and physical heritage and future.  This was initially addressed as Arts, Culture, and Entertainment, but soon became a conglomerated category of artistic, athletic, cultural, entertainment, and physical environments as students questioned the paradigm and substantiated the definition of entertainment.  Some students introduced contemplative recreation in natural areas or to historical buildings as being equally important aspects of entertainment.  Two students suggested tours for promoting awareness of community assets, one student explained that her interest in places like the Michigan Central Train Station and buildings in Detroit’s downtown arose from her increased awareness of the area as she researched for the Future City competition.4

Detroit’s Vacant SpaceWhile vacant lots and blighted homes were a clear issue of concern, one student proposed that vacant spaces could be converted into “Ecopark” spaces, and others added that vacant lots could also be used for festivals and carnivals once cleaned—possibly as collaborative showcases of service and talents from students of many schools. Students remarked that these community assets could present the face of a Detroit media campaign similar to the “Pure Michigan” or Chrysler “Imported from Detroit” advertisements. Students believed that capturing positive and meaningful events are crucial to spurring sustained attention and interest in Detroit.

4. Several students also relayed their disappointment in the lack of community centers and places for children to play and explore.  “Other than some basketball, there’s nothing to do for kids in Detroit.  They got casinos, and sports stadiums downtown but we can’t do anything at those places.”

Health Care, Safety, and Environmental JusticeThis topic was not identified as a “top three” priority by the students and thus no outline was created, though the discussion merits mention. Several facilitators introduced health care as a topic for focused discussion during the second session; safety and environment were necessarily explored as well. Students expressed consensus on the access and availability of health care and proposed alternatives for funding or mitigating the necessary costs for health care. Students saw additional opportunities conducive to business creation through private fundraising, bolstering business and venture capitalist incubators, and government supported monetary donations and donations for public land.5

Quality fitness and health education for food and healthy living were seen as important to students. Fitness and health education were addressed for schools and on community levels. Prevention through recreational exercise, local growing/gardening6, and increased walkability to community features were mentioned.

Concluding RemarksThe work of the students was inspiring to us and we hope they will be to all generations. The inquiry, innovation, insight, and constructive suggestions provided by these students reveal an up-and-coming “Citizenscape” dedicated to engaging education, economy, and the socio-geographical dimensions of Metro Detroit through open dialogue, consensus building, and solutions-oriented leadership.

These elements of education, economy, and community identity may be seen as a baseline for a brighter future. The qualities necessary to carry them out are alive and well in many of the youth among our communities today.  What remains for current leaders is to take action through the very same processes depicted above to equitably foster a foundation for which these students will work with in their Future Detroit.

The future becomes the present by the moment.

5. Some students suggested that the land be donated through the government, if implemented, community land trusts (CLT) may be a viable means for governance (see www.smallisbeautiful.org/clts.html for details on CLTs)

6. The Greening of Detroit currently has a variety of educational programs which may aid in achieving some of these objectives (see www.greeningofdetroit.com).

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Workgroup I ReportFollowing the brainstorming sessions all group members were asked to prioritize the top ideas. The consensus of the group focused on a total of three ideas, two related to Entertainment and one related to Crime. Action plans were developed for each idea:

ENTERTAINMENT I % WHAT: Identify and grow talent in Detroit

through the creation of a Talent Company called “Stars of Tomorrow” and through competitions like “Detroit’s Got Talent” for both performance and visual arts (architecture, painting, model design).

% WHO: All age groups of Detroit residents; Celebrities from Detroit

% HOW: Detroit residents get to vote on the talent during annual competition with the winners getting to be part of the company;

% COST: Agents are hired for the winning talent and they share a percent of earnings with the building owners to help pay for the company. National celebrities born in Detroit would sponsor the competitions.

ENTERTAINMENT II % WHAT: Create a Detroit Dance Academy

as a training ground for young people as professional and amateur Cheerleaders and dancers.

% WHO: Detroit youth 7–17 (amateurs) and 18 and over (professionals); sports teams; donors

% HOW: Auditions for kids under 17 to learn and perform cultural dancing (salsa, African, other) and cheerleading. Perform at concerts, shows, sporting events. Use vacant building downtown for academy.

% COST: Charge fees for performing at shows, sports events, get famous company (Alvin Ailey) to do fundraiser, charge for tuition and optional living expenses.

CRIME % WHAT: Create a kids crime fighting group

called SPY KIDS: Semi-Powerful Youth and JET PACS: Just Everyday Technology Protecting All Children.

% WHO: Detroit Youth 12-17, Police mentors, Federal Government

% HOW: Kids are trained at special crime fighting and junior CIA camps. Trained kids get mentored by police and a special hotline is set up specifically for Spy Kids to report crime in neighborhoods, schools.

% COST: Fees are charged for camps ($60), with some kids getting scholarships. Federal Government (Homeland Security?) funds this project.

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Workgroup II ReportFollowing the brainstorming sessions all group members were asked to prioritize the top ideas. The consensus of the group focused on a total of four ideas, two related to Transportation and the other 2 on Safety and Education. Action plans were developed for each idea:

SAFETY AND SECURITY % WHAT: Improve Safety and Security in the

City. % WHO: Citizens, neighborhood watch groups,

police, mayoral responsibility, teachers and parents to have more interactions

% HOW: • By installing more alarms• By a no tolerance policy for bullying in

schools• By building up the reputation of the city• By having more police living in various

neighborhoods• By more community involvement• By having more neighborhood watches and

policing• By getting rid of abandoned and derelict

properties• By Re-construct the building “wall” on

streets by building complete and diverse communities

% COST & HOW TO PAY FOR IT:• Raise money through fundraisers• Government grants• Taxes• Pay for this by leveraging taxes, bonds and

loans• Community fund raisers• Grants from charitable philanthropic

individuals and organizations

HIGH TECH TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS

% WHAT: Develop Flying Car Technology and Perfect Electric Vehicles

% WHO: • Inventors• Individuals with great ideas• Corporations that listen to people with

great ideas

% HOW: • Grants• Come up with clear ideas and develop a

marketing and advertising plan• Start with what you already have: retool

existing factories and plants• Use your power for good and not for

personal greed % COST & HOW TO PAY FOR IT:• Taxes• Fundraisers• Money from tourism• Use folks in criminal justice system to

generate revenue stream • Barter and trade• Volunteerism

EDUCATION % WHAT: Improve education and make it more

affordable. % WHO: Robert Bobb, Citizens, School Board,

Teachers that care, Government, Students, Bill Gates

% HOW: • More family support• Hiring teachers that care• Make schools more like families• Changing value system from money to

passions• Students themselves investing in their own

futures % COST & HOW TO PAY FOR IT: • Develop a credit bank where you get paid

in services and goods for what you have provided and get your education paid for this way

• Borrow money from China• No cost, just time and care

ALTERNATIVE TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS % WHAT: Develop more routes, more nodes,

more types of roads, more varied personal transportation systems such as hovercraft or flying jet paks, more varied and sustainable fuels for transportation (wind, hydro-cell), more lanes on highways affordable.

% WHO: • Architects and engineers should be

empowered to develop these alternatives• Mayor Bing

% HOW: through taxes and grants % COST & HOW TO PAY FOR IT: $20-30 million

and Kwame Kilpatrick should pay for it as a fine.

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Workgroup III ReportFollowing the brainstorming sessions all group members were asked to prioritize the top ideas. The consensus of the group focused on a total of three ideas: Healthcare, Education and Environment.

HEALTHCARE % WHAT: Better doctor training % WHO: Retired doctors, Experienced doctors,

Surgeon General, Colleges, National Medical Association

% HOW: Patient feedback, Peer review, Hospitals to rank doctors, Staff elected supervisor

% COST: $600,000.00

Workgroup IV ReportFollowing the brainstorming sessions all group members were asked to prioritize the top ideas. The consensus of the group focused on a total of three ideas: Healthcare, Education and Environment.

EDUCATION % WHAT: Improved education % WHO: Students, Parents, Teaching, Admin,

Government, Mentors, Tutors % HOW: Community homes, committed teachers,

peer to peer education, comprehension not memorization, Cleaner schools, lower student teacher ratio, Lower student/teaching ratio, higher standards for educational performance, Increased after school activities, Field trips and colleges/universities coming to schools earlier (k-12) Resource availability: dictionaries, thesauri, almanacs, etc. and technological learning tools (internet, computers)

% COST: Tech and resources, Field trips, More staff, Transit, Advertising and fundraising

ENTERTAINMENT AND COMMUNITY ASSETS % WHAT: Engage all age group in creative

entertainment pursuits % WHO: All ages (children-seniors), Actors,

Musicians, Authors, writers, athletes,

ENVIRONMENT % WHAT: Community involvement in the

environment % WHO: Detroit residents, Other district leaders,

City Government, Mayor’s Office, Student Council, Government employees

% HOW: Mandatory meetings, Flyers/advertisement, Law enforcement

% COST $750/person

EDUCATION % WHAT: Education fun and active % WHO: Schools, Students, Board of Education,

City Government, Citizens, Community, Mayor’s Office Corporotions

% HOW: Corporate involvement, City sponsored field trips, Educate principals with direction of Board of Education

% COST: $500,000.00/year

producers, managers, magicians, comedians, other entertainers, sports team owners, media, editors, community leaders

% HOW: Write letters to the people listed under the “who” section, Bring more sports to the city, The people identified in the Who group should volunteer their talents to give greater exposure to talented and aspiring individuals, Make art more interactive and visible

% COST: Advertising, art; more media coverage, More resources in the school for arts, Media makes sacrifices, Specifics: Sport, arts, etc. facilities

JOBS AND ECONOMY % WHAT: Attract more jobs and improve the

economy % WHO: Citizens of Detroit, Community,

Entrepreneurs, President, Government % HOW: Create new businesses, More exports,

fewer imports, Make more within Detroit, Govt. supports via donations and loans, real estate, etc., An idea company that takes in all ideas, and puts them to use—supports other businesses (business incubator and venture capitalists), Make public buildings available for sports and other events to draw more people to the area

% COST: Diversify from Manufacturing automotive economy to information center/services and tech; Personal sacrifices

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Closing of the Youth SymposiumThis was a day of accomplishment for the 107 middle school students from around Detroit.

First, let’s start with their passion. Imagine for a moment when we kicked off the symposium by asking each student to stand up, step up, and speak up to answer the question of the day, “What makes a city cool?” If you had any doubt that our future leaders might lack courage or creativity, just look at a short list of some of their answers:

% The People % Good Government % Architecture % Technology % Infrastructure % Safety % Ideas % Jobs % Diversity % Clean Environment % Schools & Education % Healthcare

They certainly set their standards high! Most of us could not have done better in coming up with those answers.

But they didn’t just stop with great ideas! The work of our students went far beyond dreams, goals, or what we called throughout the Symposium, “The What Question.” The student faced head-on the tough realities of realizing those dreams by telling us how they would get their goals done by answering “The How Question,” as we called it.

And they were not bashful. They rolled up their sleeves and did not back away from the challenge. In fact, they embraced a fundamental process tool often left out of public policy debates: inclusive problem solving through teamwork. Regardless of background, grade, or school, they all became citizens working together and learning from each other.

Lastly, let’s take a good look at ourselves!Perhaps, like many of the parents, mentors, teachers, civic, and business leaders and other adults who were privileged to observe the

Symposium first hand, you as a reader of this report may come away nourished by a renewed faith in our coming generation of leaders. But this sense of optimism will likely be tempered by the sobering reflection of what we have yet to accomplish on their behalf: our unfinished mission to give these citizens the opportunity of fulfilling their dreams.

And, so, The Engineering Society of Detroit and its Institute extend our appreciation to everyone who made this special day one that will serve as a lighthouse for those struggling with today’s harsh realities of impasse and intractable conflict in our region. Let this report enable us to set aside our differences, come together, and make the future a better place for those young citizens who have spoken.

We would like to leave you with a true story from one of the many dedicated elementary/middle school principals in Detroit. Early on in her assignment, the principal confronted the grip of two competing gangs at her school. Taking the two gang leaders to an elementary school classroom, she asked them to say hello to the students. After some awkward hellos, she asked each gang leader to shake the individual hand of the students. When they did, the principal put her hand over the two and said, “Protect our little ones.” Those gang members embraced the mission and the school became neutral ground that was off limits to gang colors and harm.

When you put down this report and consider its contribution, we urge you to take the hand of each student and become a part of a turnaround that will make a positive difference in our region and the lives of our little ones.

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Appendix A: Student Declarations

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FUTURE DETROIT: ENVISIONING TOMORROW TOGETHER

A Symposium Abstract1

The City of Detroit has experienced more than four decades of economic, manufacturing, population, education and infrastructure decline. Once again, under a new city administration, the aspirations are high. Everyone is hopeful. At the same time, a few miles away from the city center, the 115-year-old local Engineering Society of Detroit (ESD), is keeping its promise and commitment to raising the future generation of engineers by being the regional sponsor to the Future City® competition. ESD is in its 16th year of sponsorship but 2010 marks the first time that ESD is launching a new and exciting competition called Future Detroit.

While city leaders continue to devise a plan to return Detroit to a globally competitive center for technical innovation, what has never been done in this process is listening to the plans emerging from the minds of those inhabitants with the richest imaginations: Detroit’s children. Right after its launch, 26 Detroit public, private and parochial schools embarked on the challenge to dream up a future Detroit. The opportunity to match Detroit’s need with the creative minds of Detroit’s youth, is what has made launching the local component of this national competition an immediate success.

To envision, “think big” and formalize ideas by producing papers, three dimensional computer renderings and scaled tabletop models is an incredible challenge and learning opportunity for the 6th, 7th and 8th graders embarking on the Future City® competition challenge. According to the International Association for Educational Achievement, the United States is rapidly declining when compared to other countries’ achievement of students in math and science. These skills are critical if our region is to maintain a prominent position in the development of new technology. The Future City® program is a STEAM based initiative, raising student interest in Science, 1 © 2011 The Engineering Society of Detroit. All rights reserved.

Appendix B: Symposium Abstract

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Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics. Michigan’s Future City® a powerful, enriching experience for the children and important to the region.

Following the Future City competition, the Engineering Society of Detroit Institute (ESDI) will conduct the Future Detroit: Envisioning Tomorrow Together Symposium, where Future City® contestants express the ideas and opinions that were generated by their teams while developing their competition entries. Together, the former contestants will create a team that will collaborate in drafting a collective vision for a future Detroit. Following the process established by the National Academy of Science Foundation, symposium facilitators will begin to engage participants with an icebreaker question:

What are the things that make a city cool?

Our facilitators will then ask all the students to engage the following Mega Question:

If you were envisioning “Future Detroit,” what would it look like and how would you accomplish it?

After discussion on the Mega Question, participants are asked two start from scratch questions, which will be debated in self-selected workgroups. Both questions require the students to envision themselves as adults, living in the Future Detroit they created. One is a micro-level question and is about the individual living in the city and the lifestyle the city offers the individual, the second is a macro-level question that asks about larger issues affecting the city: infrastructure, policies, transportation, economies. The workgroup questions are as follows:

1. If you were 30 years old and living in Detroit, what would be your vision in order to live and work happily there?

2. If you were a future leader of Detroit, how would you accomplish your vision of Detroit?

The results of the symposium will then be collected, edited, and shared in the form of white papers with the community, local and state leadership. This symposium interaction is meant to be an enriching personal experience for those involved as well as for the community. Three student presenters from the best five teams, a total

Appendix B: Symposium Abstract

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of 15 students, will be invited to share their vision of Detroit with a larger audience of students from the 21 remaining schools.

The process of the symposium is inclusive and outcome-neutral. The ESD Institute has a proven track record of bringing together leaders from business, labor, government, academic and the professions throughout Michigan to identify consensus-based initiatives to turn Michigan’s economy around. Attendees at past symposia have generated breakthrough ideas such as a new Michigan investment zone that will allow us to compete globally as an exporting state and the Blue Economy that will attract water-focused businesses ranging from the manufacturing of alternative energy products, to growing our food for a healthy tomorrow in an urban setting.

Future Detroit: Envisioning Tomorrow Together, will be ESDI’s first youth-based symposium. We are eager and excited to work with the students of Detroit and the metropolitan area as they envision and draft their vision of a future Detroit. At the end of the one-day symposium, parents, mentors, community members and leaders will be invited to listen to a presentation of the outcome. Following the symposium, the facilitators are asked to write symposium reports and recommendations resulting from the workgroups. The resulting body of knowledge will be published in the ESD Institute series of publications and the results will be shared publicly.

Appendix B: Symposium Abstract

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Appendix C: Participating Schools & Students

Academy of the Sacred Heart—Bloomfield Hills, Michigan

% Hailey Briscoe % Avery Guething % Christine Slavik % Bates Academy—Detroit,

Michigan % Sonja Allen % Alanna Hall % Yolanda Perry

Burton International School—Detroit, Michigan

% Brandon Crosson % Rain Hoskins % Donald McGowan % Christopher Smith % Marcus Wingo % Tierra Robinson % Sheldon Snead % Joshua Williams

Cornerstone—Detroit, Michigan % Jerod Willis

David Ellis Academy West—Redford, Michigan

% Camery Abram % Clarence Cochran % Payton Coleman % Danielle Gaston % Alyson Grigsby % Jala Jackson % Amari Jones % Paul Jones III % Shannon Moore % Mariah Odems % Talynn Williams

Detroit Edison Public School Academy—Detroit, Michigan

% Brittany Andrade % Justin Barry % Kaprice Bates % Maestro Boyd % Marcus Covington % Jazzmin Ford % Madison Hunter % Darian Jackson % Dominic Lane

% Matthew Lenton % Darius Moore % Charliah Morgan % Kia Woods-Wall % Amber Young

Detroit Service Learning Academy—Detroit, Michigan

% Gabrielle Hawkins % Mia Norris % Joshua Watson

O.E. Dunckel Elementary–Middle School—Farmington Hills, Michigan

% Joshua Bocker % Elizabeth Ho % Joshua Kavner

Frank Murphy Elementary/Middle School—Detroit, Michigan

Erma L. Henderson Academy—Detroit, Michigan

O.W.Holmes Elementary/Middle School—Detroit, Michigan

% Fekrah Al-Soufi % Osama Altwil % Al Hasan Alyafai % Yakoob Mana % Saeda Shalhout % Suzan Shalhout % Alicia Shami % Dania Talos

Paul Robeson/Malcolm X Academy—Detroit, Michigan

% Lucas Beal % Andre Carlisle % Rickey Glasper % Catera Green % Alexus Hunt % Franklin Madu % Ijeoma Onyene % Justin Perry % Takia Ruff % Ashley Thomas % Larry Tufts % Khelsi Williams

Phoenix Academy—Detroit, Michigan

% Joseph Curtis % Juan Diaz % Ryan Klecha

Pulaski Elementary/Middle School—Detroit, Michigan

% Autumn Dickson % Chann Neal

Star International Academy—Dearborn Heights, Michigan

% Malak Beydoun % Ali Alardi % Isa Almozrouei % Mariam Almozrouei % Mahmoud Mohammad

St. John Lutheran School—Rochester, Michigan

% Andrew Abraham % Michelle Abramczyk % Mackenzie Hill

Universal Academy—Detroit, Michigan

% Abdulrahman Ahmed % Habeeb Al-Shohatee % Aiya Charara % Niveen Elayan % Joze Garcia % Aiah Khalil % Sarra Metoui % Almotawakil Nassr % Amjed Nassr % Sam Nassr % Sabriyyah Ricketts % Dianna Saleh % Rozan Shohatee % Ali Safawi

Marvin L. Winans Academy of the Performing Arts—Detroit, Michigan

% Erika Pugh

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Appendix D: Facilitator Biographical Information

Shani AllisonShani Allison works as a Program Management Analyst for Ford Motor Company in Dearborn, MI. In this position, she oversees the planning and executing of complex systems and/or projects related to the Escape vehicle line. Her previous position was a Product Development Engineer in the Global Core Cockpit Electronics Department of Ford Motor Company. Prior to joining Ford in July 2001, she interned for two summers at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio as an electrical engineer working on the design of the airplane tire machine.

Shani is committed to giving back to the community, and to the development of future engineering leaders. She has taken an active role in the Jackie Robinson Foundation Alumni Association (JRFAA). Shani serves on the advisory board for the Penn State Engineering Diversity Program, where she helps make decisions about programs that will increase the number of multi-cultural students interested in engineering and increase the retention rate for multi-cultural students in Penn State University (PSU) College of Engineering. She is also career panelist speaker for the PSU Women in Engineering Program Orientation (WEPO), which is a four day program that welcomes first year women engineer students to PSU College of Engineering. Shani is also an active member of The Engineering Society of Detroit (ESD) and the Detroit Alumni Extension of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), of which she was recently President.

Shani holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University (PSU), and a Masters in Engineering Management from The University of Michigan.

Shawn CrumpShawn Crump is a Business Representative for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 58. He is a member of Local 58’s Examining Board and also serves on the Detroit Joint Apprenticeship Training Committee (JATC) and on the National JATC. Shawn has been appointed to the Detroit Workforce Development Board and serves on the D4 collaborative (Doing Development Different in Detroit), where Local 58 maintains a leadership role on behalf of organized labor. Additionally, Local 58 is a major training partner on the US Department of Labor Energy Training Partnership Grant, and Shawn

is Local 58’s representative. This $4.3 million Recovery Act grant provides a training pipeline for potential apprentices and prepares Local 58 journeymen and apprentices for renewable energy certifications. Shawn began his electrical career as an apprentice in 1992 after attending the University of Michigan and went on to earn his journeyman (1996) and master (2005) electrical licenses. He has worked on numerous projects as a journeyman and foreman. He served as the general foreman for Sachs Electric on the Detroit Water and Sewage Department instrumentation retrofit (PC-713) at the Wastewater Treatment Plant 2000-2003.

Victoria KovariVictoria Kovari is a grant writer and development consultant with the Engineering Society of Detroit. Prior to joining ESD, she was the National Field Director and Interim President of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good in Washington DC. She has worked as a community organizer, political consultant and housing developer for numerous non profits over the last nearly 30 years. In October 2002 she was one of 20 community leaders in the U.S. awarded the Ford Foundation’s national Leadership for a Changing World Award. A graduate of the University of Michigan, she has served on the faculty of the Schools of Social Work at both the University of Michigan and Wayne State University.

Emile Lauzzana, AIA, LEED APEmile Lauzzana is the Executive Director of Energy Works Michigan. He has worked in the design and construction industry for over 20 years. A consistent focus of this work has been to develop capacities for implementing energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. He has taught courses at the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University in building science and sustainable design, and continues outreach and advocacy activities in RE/EE through professional organizations. He earned a Masters of Architecture from the University of Michigan College of Architecture and Urban Planning and a BS from the University of Michigan Department of History.

Bob LeonardBob Leonard is President of Metro Stamping and Manufacturing in Redford, MI.

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Gary E. MachGary is best known to Detroit audiences as the host of the WDIV Channel 4 television’s long running children’s science program “Kidbits”, which aired from 1981—1997. Gary is an actor, writer, lawyer, and event host. He is now seen nationwide on public access cable channels (including Detroit Channel 22) appearing and producing a children’s science television show for the Engineering Society of Detroit, called “SciEngiMathePloration.”

Speranta MaiorSperanta Maior is currently Director of Special Projects of the Engineering Society of Detroit and Assistant Director of the Engineering Society of Detroit Institute. Despite her extensive global travels and work/living experiences abroad, she has considered Metro Detroit her home since she and her family immigrated here when she was 13 years old. She was trained as an architect at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor where she earned both a Bachelors of Science in Architecture (1998) as well as a Masters of Architecture (2000).

She has distinguished herself as a designer, both during her academic career and beyond by winning various prestigious design awards including being the first prize recipient of the Willeke Design Competition, an honorable mention for the Wallenberg Competition and second prize winner in the international ideas competition for a Future Communication Booth. She served in the role of lead architectural designer for various high profile projects that include small residential, as well as large scale projects in St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands, New York City, Detroit, Las Vegas, Graz-Austria, and most recently, Granada-Spain. Speranta is passionate about building anything and mostly about building it better.

Siraj MuminSiraj Mumin is a mechanical engineer with Consumers Energy Company. Consumers Energy currently has him involved in a rotational program that promotes rapid growth and development in distribution and customer operations. Throughout his career, he has concentrated on natural gas distribution, transmission and storage. Siraj has served voluntary roles in several different organizations such as the American Association of Blacks in Energy (AABE) and Young Engineer’s

Council with ESD. Siraj holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Oakland University.

Robert Prud’hommeRobert Prud’homme has over 35 years of experience in design, construction, and community advocacy. He is committed to furthering the concept of sustainable development. His focus is infill development using the triple bottom line- Environment, Economy, and Equity- and LEED-Neighborhood Development as filters to inform the design process.

He serves the community as President Emeritus of Transportation Riders United and the Mission & Program Committee of the River Raisin Institute. The work of the RRI is to serve as a transformational learning ecological center.

His work includes educating the public and public officials on the environmental, social, and economic implications of public transit, in terms of air and water quality, sprawl, healthy lifestyles and economic and social equity factors.

In addition to his work at TRU and RRI, he has served on several sustainable design related bodies including LEED- Neighborhood Development committee, Chairman of the Ferndale Board of Zoning Appeals, & Ferndale DDA Design Committee.

Mr. Prud’homme is currently is working with the USGBC - Detroit Regional Chapter on the LEED Neighborhood Development Committee to create viable, exciting, livable neighborhoods around alternative transportation and the subsequent land use and social equity implications.

John M. SierJohn M. Sier concentrates his practice in dispute avoidance and resolution of commercial, health care and construction contract issues as the head of the firm’s construction and commercial litigation group. In the construction industry, Mr. Sier has experience in analyzing legal aspects of various project delivery methods including drafting construction contracts as well as assisting in dispute resolution and project completion. In health care, Mr. Sier has handled matters involving staff privileges, antitrust, Medicare and third-party payer reimbursement issues as well as HIPAA compliance issues. He received his Juris Doctor and Master of Arts in Mass Communication and

Appendix D: Facilitator Biographical Information

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Journalism from Drake University Law School and Graduate School in 1986. He has published articles and presented seminars on construction, health care and commercial issues.

Melissa M. SlottaMelissa M. Slotta is a 3rd year law student at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI. She holds am Masters of Public Health degree from the University of South Florida as well as a Bachelor’s of Science from Central Michigan University.

Jane Tate, J.D.Jane Tate is currently the Assistant Director of The Engineering Society of Detroit Institute (ESDI). Jane received her Juris Doctor from the Detroit College of Law in 1994 and a Bachelor of Applied Arts from Central Michigan University in 1985 with a major in Broadcast and Cinematic Arts and a minor in Journalism. Jane is trained as a mediator and owns her own mediation practice, Mediate Michigan LLC.

Ian TranIan Tran is a senior pursuing his B.S. in Environmental Science at the University of Michigan-Dearborn (UM-D). Tran was an invitee and contributor to the Engineering Society of Detroit’s (ESD) 2009 Lean Green School Symposium education working group; he later served on the DEPSA Steering Committee and championed concepts of place-based education and triple bottom line sustainability. He was awarded a UM-D Department of Natural Sciences Scholarship Seat in 2009 to contribute to the Paragon Leadership International/ NextEnergy Epprentice Challenge alternative energy economic and education working group; its project outcomes shall be utilized by the Michigan Wind Institute. Tran contributed comprehensive solutions in waste reduction, energy sourcing, green infrastructure, education, community and ecological economic

development for the City of Dearborn’s Sustainability Master Plan and for the 2009 102nd Air Waste Management Association conference’s Environmental Challenge International as UM-D’s team lead. Tran is President of the Student Environmental Association at UM-D and served throughout 2010 as a spokesperson, moderator, and environmental interpreter for the Dearborn Sierra Club Cool Cities group to foster comprehensive sustainability efforts among community leaders in the Dearborn area. He was awarded as a UM-D Difference Maker and has since been appointed to the Mayor’s Environmental Commission for the City of Dearborn in 2010.

Tran has also worked in numerous educational capacities either directly with hundreds of 3rd grade-College students as an orientation leader, writing consultant, student naturalist, or tutor at UM-D or through contributions to nationally recognized educational programs for K-12: the 2011 Future City Competition learning blocks via the ESD and The Henry Ford Museum’s Rouge Truck Plant as a representative of the U.S. Green Building Council-Detroit Regional Chapter in his role as a member of the project’s advisory committee.

Lynley M. Weston, PE, LEED APLynley M. Weston is an Engineer and Sustainable Construction Manager for Turner Construction Company, a Detroit-based commercial builder in Michigan since 1913. She has helped provide LEED AP staff training, consult on LEED Certification-seeking projects, and create construction waste diversion and indoor air quality management implementation plans. Born and raised in the Great Lakes State, she graduated from the University of Michigan with a BS in Civil Engineering and has recently become a licensed profession engineer. She also plays an active role in the Young Engineers Council—a professional development and volunteer group facilitated by the Engineering Society of Detroit.

Appendix D: Facilitator Biographical Information

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Appendix E: The Engineering Society of Detroit Board of Directors

William P. RussoESD PresidentDirector, Global Powertrain—Manufacturing EngineeringFord Motor Company

Terry J. WoychowskiESD Vice PresidentVice President Global Vehicle Program ManagementGeneral Motors Corp.

Steven E. Kurmas, PEESD TreasurerPresident & COODetroit Edison Co./DTE Energy

Darlene J. Trudell, CAEESD SecretaryExecutive Vice PresidentThe Engineering Society of Detroit

Richard J. HallerESD Immediate Past PresidentPresident & COOWalbridge

Katherine M. BanickiPresident & CEOTesting Engineers & Consultants

Michael D. BolonSenior Vice President of Enterprise Strategy & Chief Technical OfficerGeneral Dynamics Land Systems

Keith W. CooleyCEOPrincipia, LLC

Michael F. Cooper, PE, FESDManaging PrincipalHarley Ellis Devereaux

Patrick J. Devlin

Chief Elected OfficerMichigan Building Trades Council

Thomas M. Doran, PEPrincipal/Vice President Hubbel, Roth & Clark, Inc.

Robert A. Ficano, JDWayne County ExecutiveWayne County

Subhendu Guha, PhDExecutive Vice President–PV Technology, Energy Conversion DevicesChairman, United Solar Ovonic

Kouhaila Hammer, CPAPresident & CEOGHAFARI Associates, LLC

Susan S. HawkinsVP, Planning & Performance ImprovementHenry Ford Health System

Byron A. KearneyVP Scientific Labs & Proving GroundsChrysler, LLC

Mary L. KramerPublisherCrain’s Detroit Business

Gail Mee, PhDPresidentHenry Ford Community College

David C. Munson, Jr., PhDRobert J. Vlasic Dean of EngineeringUniversity of Michigan

Douglas E. PattonSenior Vice President,

EngineeringDENSO International America, Inc.

Yogendra N. RahangdalePresident & CEO, Whitehall Industries

James M. Safran, PEPresident & CEOBeaumont Services Company, LLC

Kirk T. Steudle, PEDirectorMichigan Dept. of Transportation

Satish S. Udpa, PhDDean, College of EngineeringMichigan State University

Mumtaz A. Usmen, PhD, PE, FESDRetired/Interim Dean, College of EngineeringWayne State University

William J. Vander Roest, PEEngineering DirectorTRW Automotive

Lewis N. Walker, PhD, PEPresident & CEOLawrence Technological University

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Appendix F: Letters of Support

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Appendix F: Letters of Support

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Appendix F: Letters of Support

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Appendix F: Letters of Support

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Appendix F: Letters of Support

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Appendix F: Letters of Support

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Appendix G: Workgroup IV Supplemental Material

Many students had more ideas than they had opportunities to verbally express. We encouraged them to write their comments down and collected their comments. The following are suggestions compiled from students, some anonymously submitted.

Student #1• Morecommunitycentersfillingthespotsof

vacant lots so that kids can get tutored if they need it

• Moreprogramstocleanupthecommunity• Weshouldtakedownthoseburnedand

abandoned houses because if you went to Detroit for the 1st time, they are the first thing you see

Student #2• Thecityshouldcleanthestreetsmorefrom

snow because many vehicles are getting stuck and a lot of accidents are occurring

Student #3• HealthCare• Lesspollution• Hospitalsgivingmoneydonationstothose

who need it• fundraiserstoearnmoneyforpeopleinneed• universalcoverage• morehealtheducation• notobacco• healthdiscussiongroups• encouragegood,healthybehavior• Asthmaawareness• Discouragebadhealthbehavior• Putup“nosmoking”posters• Nursesinallschools• Morehospitals• Wecouldmakecarsthatrunonotherfuels

Student #4• Teachersshouldenhancetheirteachingskills,

they shouldn’t teach something and once kids comprehend it, leave it behind in that lesson. Whatever was learned in previous lessons should also be carried on in future lessons, things are obviously learned for you to carry on into the future, but if it is never brought up the knowledge on those specific things will be left behind and forgotten as if never learned. When a teacher teaches something they should bring

it up in at least one future lesson. In doing that, it will result in kids achieving at a higher level!

Student #5, Academy of the Sacred Heart• Environment

o Encourage:• People• Fundraisers• Donations• Nosmoking• Tree/otherplantplantings• Alternativerenewableenergy:

geothermal, wind, solar, watero Create events for:

• Planting• Cleaningupschoolgrounds,parks,other

places• Fundraisers• Generalandmainideas

o Export moreo Zones for industry outside city

• lesspollution,lawsforindustryaboutsafety and pollution limit

o Diversified economyo More theaterso Healthcare: more clinicso Education:

• moreclasses• quizzesatendofeachsemestertokeep

schools at the same pace• thesearedistinguishedbyprivate,

public, etc.

Student #6• Smallerclassesforstudentswholearnatslower

paces and put faster learners in different classes• Morecomputerstostudyfortestsandquizzes

in school• Morehands-oncurriculumtobetter

understand the substance, learning methods that encourages all styles and senses

• Weneedtolearnmoreabouthistorysowecan actually tell someone about the new experiences

• Moreinteractivegamesthatstimulateyourmind into learning how to interact with people

• Morematerialsneedtobeprovidedtostudents that focus on successful life-skills and preparedness

• Moreencouragementforstudentstodobetterand to achieve their future life goals

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• Entertainmentandinteractivecommunityfeatures should be kept

• Moremuralsandwallsforstudentstopaintand be creative to express how they feel through art

• Filmtheimportantthingsinlifelikekidsdoingecofriendly things to help the environment

• moresportstostayphysicallyactiveandhealthy, also education for personal hygiene

• Weneedaccesstonewthingsliketicketsto concerts or entertainment and historical buildings

• Higherexpectationssothatstudentswhoexcelfaster than others can go into another grade level instead of staying there

• LessviolenceonTVbecauseitencouragespeople to do what they see and hear on TV: be violent

• Thinkpositiveabouttheoutcomeandfutureprovided for you and look back on how far you’ve come

• Haveschoolsincorporatemoreresourcebookslike history books, thesauri, dictionaries, and almanacs

• Schoolsshouldhostfestivalsanddonatethemoney to charity

• Fewertoxicspraystopreventasthmao Because people might not know what to do

when someone has an asthma attack

• Theworldisreliantonmoney,weshouldgoback to bartering and trading

• Remindstudentsofabiggerrewardsinlife• Testsshouldn’tbewritten,theyshouldbeoral

and you should be judged on how well you understand the information

• Morelittleshopsandstallsrightoffofthestreets and people having fun instead of studios in the middle of boring buildings where people are driving by and cannot enjoy them

• Severalschoolscouldcometogetherandputona carnival in a park to showcase various talents obtained by students

• togetpeopletonotrememberDetroitforthevacant buildings and lots, construction workers should wait until they are able to put up a new building right after tearing one down to downsize the number of vacant lots

Student #7• Thecityshouldbuildorre-openschoolsinthe

Metro Detroit area• Detroitshouldstartperformingserviceslike

plowing the snow and ticketing those who don’t clean their property

• PeopleareleavingDetroitbecauseofthepullfacto from other cities, they clean streets and get rid of destroyed homes

Appendix G: Workgroup IV Supplemental Material

PAGE 42 ESD Institue Future Detroit Symposium www.esdinstitute.net/FutureDetroit

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Appendix H: Student Janel Dye’s Proposal

Stand Up. Step Up. Speak Up. Detroit Made. PAGE 43

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Appendix H: Student Janel Dye’s Proposal

PAGE 44 ESD Institue Future Detroit Symposium www.esdinstitute.net/FutureDetroit

Page 49: Future Detroit Report v1 Engineering Society of Detroit Institute

Stand UpStep Up

Speak Up

Page 50: Future Detroit Report v1 Engineering Society of Detroit Institute

©2011 The Engineering Society of Detroit. All Rights Reserved. This Report may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the express written permission of The Engineering Society of Detroit.

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