Community Corner

Detroit Leader to Ask: What Can Suburbs do for Detroit?

Detroit City Council President Charles Pugh will be at The Community House in Birmingham on Thursday for one of two public forums to kick off a volunteer initiative led by WDET's Craig Fahle.

What can residents of Detroit's suburbs do for the city, and how do they think the city can improve?

That's the question Detroit City Council President Charles Pugh will be asking Thursday at a at , hosted by WDET-FM's radio talk show host Craig Fahle.

Thursday's session is a "listening session," allowing Oakland County residents to answer the question: "Even if you'd never move to Detroit, is there a way to get you involved in the city?"

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"If you don't live in Detroit, you can't have a literal voice in Council chambers," Fahle writes on his the WDET website. "But that doesn't mean your opinion is irrelevant and that you cannot be heard."

In a blog post published on the Huffington Post on Monday, Fahle said Thursday's forum in Birmingham is ambitious and "potentially game changing."

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"We know one night won't wipe away decades of of city-suburb discord and distrust, but now is the time to be bold and find ways to carry new ideas into the Detroit Council chambers," Fahle writes.

Meanwhile, Pugh will be at the Wayne State Community Arts Auditorium in Detroit on Friday afternoon, asking Detroiters not only how the city can improve, but to volunteer as well.

Fahle told the Detroit Free Press last week that he and his staff already volunteer every Thursday at the Frederick Douglass Academy in Detroit mentoring high school seniors.

"We want people to know they can have a measureable, practical impact (as volunteers)," Fahle said.

The program actually is part of Fahle's "Call to Action" series, in which he asks how his listeners can help transform Detroit — and then asks them to step up and get their hands dirty.

In his Huffington Post blog post, Fahle said he and his staff aim to kick off a 30-day drive that he hopes will generate 10,000 new volunteer hours for neighborhood-based nonprofits. Launching concurrently with the first public forum Wednesday will be the online tool, Why Don't We Own This, which seeks to match volunteers with nonprofits that need help.

"The site will be the region' largest, web-based collection of volunteer opportunities — and it'll be a work in progress," Fahle writes.

If you go

  • When: 5-8 p.m. Thursday
  • Where: , Birmingham
  • Cost: Free
  • RVSP: Visit www.wdet.org


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