Features

Amber Desgranges and Rachel Ruddock of the Michigan Primary Care Association.

Second Wave - MichiganHealthy Communities

New initiative offers Michigan nursing students opportunity to build careers in underserved areas

Estelle SlootmakerMonday, March 25, 2024

The Michigan Primary Care Association is collaborating with nine of Michigan’s state universities to provide nursing students with opportunities to train in Federally Qualified Health Centers and Rural Health Clinics.

Second Wave - MichiganHealthy Communities

How local healthcare systems leverage local farms for healthy food options

Kelsey SandersMonday, March 25, 2024

Medical institutions around Michigan are using their local resources to bring real food to their staff and patients.

Arts and Culture

After winning 3 Grammys by age 24, jazz vocalist Samara Joy comes to Ann Arbor

Natalia HoltzmanThursday, March 21, 2024

"As wonderful as it is, it didn't change me," Samara Joy says of her sudden rise to fame. "It only reaffirmed the fact that I can be myself."

Second Wave - MichiganHealthy Communities

New state law will help ensure health care access for non-English-speaking Michiganders

Estelle SlootmakerThursday, March 21, 2024

Michigan's new Statewide Meaningful Language Access Coordination Act will require public services to be more accessible to non-English speakers.

Community Development

'60s and '70s protest movements on EMU campus chronicled in new oral history projects

Sarah RiggWednesday, March 20, 2024

Two new oral history projects cover the Black Student Association's activities in 1969 and protests in Ypsilanti after the 1970 Kent State shootings.

Washtenaw County Advisory Council on Reparations chair Andre Watson at the James L. Crawford Elks Lodge.

Community Development

Ann Arbor's Black Elks lodge launches fundraiser to renovate building after a century of service

Jaishree DrepaulWednesday, March 20, 2024

A new campaign associated with Ann Arbor's bicentennial seeks to raise $370,000 for the organization, which has long served Ann Arbor's Black community and many others.

"A Dreaming Angel" will screen at this year's Ann Arbor Film Festival.

Arts and Culture

5 Southeast Michigan-made films to check out at this year's Ann Arbor Film Festival

Natalia HoltzmanWednesday, March 20, 2024

The festival received nearly 3,000 submissions this year from a total of 92 different countries, but a few of this year's selections are from filmmakers closer to home, in Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, Dearborn, and Detroit.

EMU historic preservation student Akaiia Ridley at "Hamburgers for Breakfast," the current student-created exhibit at McKenny Gallery.

Kids and Education

Student-created exhibit on access to sports set to open at EMU next month

Sarah RiggWednesday, March 20, 2024

A new exhibit created by students in Eastern Michigan University's Historic Preservation Program will focus on who has access to university sports opportunities and who doesn't.

A college of photos from the "Family Foundations" exhibit.

Diversity

New exhibit features histories of notable Black families in Washtenaw County

Rylee BarnsdaleWednesday, March 20, 2024

A new interactive exhibit at Washtenaw Community College tells the "origin stories" of four notable Black families from Ann Arbor, Pittsfield Township, and Ypsilanti.

Second Wave - MichiganHealthy Communities

Podcast a "not-so-clinical approach to conversations surrounding all things mental health."

Jaishree DrepaulTuesday, March 19, 2024

Podcast hosted by three friends covers a range of topics like finding a therapist, tips for loved ones, and misconceptions and stigmas surrounding medications.

Robert Sheehan, executive director of the Community Mental Health Association of Michigan

Second Wave - MichiganHealthy Communities

Proposed licensure changes aim to ease Michigan's social worker shortage

Estelle SlootmakerMonday, March 18, 2024

Mental health and social work advocates are pushing for legislative change to shift Michigan's social worker licensing process from a test-based approach to a practice-driven alternative that has proven successful in other states.

Staff and clients at Hope Clinic in Ypsilanti.

Healthy Communities

Ypsi-area organizations find new ways to eliminate barriers to mental health care

Rylee BarnsdaleWednesday, March 13, 2024

Innovative new approaches include integrating behavioral health care into other health services and a collaboration to address Black and brown men's mental health challenges.

The Grove at Veridian near County Farm Park in Ann Arbor.

Community Development

What does affordable housing mean in Washtenaw County?

Ben Connor BarrieWednesday, March 13, 2024

With several affordable housing developments on the way in our community, it's important to look at what this term can mean, barriers to housing affordability, and what's being done about it.

Dani Darling will perform at the Funky Rivertown Fest.

Arts and Culture

Funky Rivertown Fest brings numerous Michigan bands to Ypsi for five days of music

Natalia HoltzmanWednesday, March 13, 2024

Bands from across southeast Michigan will take the stage March 19-23 at Riverside Arts Center for the second annual Funky Rivertown Fest.

Community Development

Michigan Works! Southeast offers workforce services at satellite location in Ypsi

Rylee BarnsdaleWednesday, March 13, 2024

After relocating its main office from Ypsilanti to Ann Arbor, Michigan Works! Southeast is working to make its workforce development services more accessible in Ypsilanti through a bimonthly satellite location at Eastern Michigan University.

Mohammed Islam, U-M professor of electrical and computer engineering, holds technology used to detect driver impairment.

Technology and Innovation

Cars could detect drunk and impaired drivers using technology developed by U-M engineers

Jaishree DrepaulWednesday, March 13, 2024

In an effort to lower the high rates of drunk-driving-related deaths, University of Michigan engineers have developed new technology that could recognize impaired drivers before they get on the road.

Rogen poses for a picture at Garden of Dreams Preschool in Battle Creek

Second Wave - MichiganKids and Education

PreK for All a good way to disrupt the preschool-to-prison pipeline

Jaishree DrepaulTuesday, March 12, 2024

Good preschool programs yield tremendous social and economic advantages such as higher high school graduation rates and reduced chances of criminal behavior.

Head Start students at St. John's Universal Church of Christ in Jackson learn about cucumbers and dragonfruit in a lesson on mindful eating.

Second Wave - MichiganHealthy Communities

Pilot program in Jackson County aims to support preschoolers' mental health through mindfulness

Estelle SlootmakerThursday, March 7, 2024

A new study will test whether and how mindfulness-based food-body-mind interventions can optimize young children's cognitive function and behavioral health.

Stamps School students helping YIES students work on artwork for their capstone projects.

Kids and Education

Ypsi fifth graders work with U-M students to develop art projects on mental health, gender, and more

Sarah RiggWednesday, March 6, 2024

Each year, fifth grade students at Ypsilanti International Elementary School present a capstone project encapsulating the "central ideas" they've been exploring all year. This year, they've had help from U-M art students.