Simone Sagovac is Organizing for Community Benefits

Simone Sagovac is Organizing for Community Benefits

When a $6 billion bridge comes to your neighborhood, who decides what the residents get in return? Simone Sagovac and the community-elected Southwest Detroit Community Benefits Coalition have spent nearly 20 years ensuring that the answer is written by residents, not imposed by developers or government.  Southwest Detroit sits at one of the busiest freight crossings in North America. The Ambassador Bridge — currently the only U.S.-Canada crossing that allows large commercial trucks — funnels tens of thousands of semi-trucks through the area every day. But those trucks don't stay on the highway. For decades, drivers have cut through residential streets to reach intermodal facilities, using neighborhood roads as shortcuts. And the impacts to the neighborhood are tremendous. Residents can't sleep because of the noise. House foundations crack from the constant vibration. Kids aren't allowed to play outside because of traffic and pollution. Asthma rates are double elsewhere in the city. When a federal environmental impact study concluded in 2008 that a second bridge could be built nearby (doubling truck traffic from 10,000 to 20,000 trucks per day) the Coalition was formed to challenge that finding and force a reckoning.  In this episode, co-hosts Tracey Pearson and Jamie Bennett speak to Simone at a pivotal moment – just as the  new Gordie Howe International Bridge is soon set to open, and enforcement of newly secured trucking and pollution regulations will be put to the test.  In this episode they discuss: * The industrial history and vibrant social culture of the Delray neighborhood  * The organizing and advocacy that secured $48 million in community benefits addressing environmental health, housing stability, job access, and quality of life.  * The extensive data sets collected over time by teams of trained neighborhood volunteers that helped them make their case * The parallel city-wide Trucks Off Our Streets initiative that is reducing freight trucks on neighborhood streets across Detroit Learn more: About Kresge: https://kresge.org/pathbreakers-podcast/ [https://kresge.org/pathbreakers-podcast/] About the coalition: https://swdetroitcbc.org/ [https://swdetroitcbc.org/] About Trucks Off Our Streets: https://www.trucksoffourstreets.org/ [https://www.trucksoffourstreets.org/] Stay tuned for our Memphis city series launching this July. In Memphis, we will talk to Mayor Paul Young and three pathbreaking Memphians about what it takes to create a city where families can thrive for generations.

Caitlin Murphy is Leading Neighborhood Development without Displacement

A commercial corridor in Detroit went from 10% occupancy to a thriving neighborhood hub–and they’re just getting started. In this episode, co-hosts Tracey Pearson and Jamie Bennett talk to Caitlin Murphy about how one Northwest Detroit alliance is building opportunity block by block. Our Detroit arc continues with the long-term work of corridor revitalization. Murphy and Live6's work demonstrates that building neighborhood opportunity requires coordinated action across multiple fronts simultaneously — and that the work moves "at the speed of trust" with residents leading the way. This episode reveals that neighborhood revitalization isn't about attracting outsiders; it's about creating conditions where current residents can stay, thrive, and build wealth. They discuss: *Ways they are lowering barriers to business ownership and incubating new neighborhood businesses  *How they help residents living in homes with “tangled titles” sort out the paperwork and start receiving the benefits of home ownership *What their recent Michigan Main Street designation means for the corridor  *And why Live6 intentionally staffs its organization with longtime neighborhood residents Learn more: About Kresge: https://kresge.org/pathbreakers-podcast/ [https://kresge.org/pathbreakers-podcast/] About Live6 Alliance: https://www.live6detroit.org/ [https://www.live6detroit.org/] This episode is part of the Detroit arc of PathBreakers Season 2, “Building Neighborhoods of Opportunity.” The arc explores how Detroit neighborhoods are forging their own pathways to opportunity — through information access, place-based economic revitalization and community organizing.  Stay tuned for our finale episode of the Detroit city series featuring Simone Sagovac of the Southwest Detroit Community Benefits Coalition. In that episode Tracey,Jamie , and Simone discuss how the Coalition secured community benefits from a $6 billion international bridge that opens in the neighborhood this year. And then in July we launch our second city series all about Memphis, Tennessee, and what it takes to build a city where families can thrive for generations. CREDITS: Hosts: Tracey Pearson and Jamie Bennett Producer: Juliet Hinely Managing Editor: Krista Jahnke Show Art: Alejandro Herrera PathBreakers is produced by the Kresge Foundation, founded in 1924 with a mission to promote human progress.

Orlando Bailey's Newsroom is Accountable to its Readers

You can’t shape your neighborhood if you don’t know what’s happening to it.  In this episode, co-hosts Tracey Pearson and Jamie Bennett talk to Orlando Bailey about how he runs a newsroom to build infrastructure for neighborhood power. They discuss: *Outlier Media’s innovative reader engagement and lead generating strategies like TXT OUTLIER and Detroit Documenters. *How Outlier has created an information ecosystem where residents can access the facts they need to navigate complex systems — from property tax appeals to housing assistance to understanding what decisions are being made at City Council.  *How information becomes infrastructure, and that journalism designed to serve (rather than extract from) communities becomes a tool for neighborhood self-determination. Orlando Bailey is an Emmy Award-winning journalist and lifelong Detroiter raised on the city’s east side. Before joining Outlier, he served as Engagement Director at BridgeDetroit and as Chief Development Officer for the Eastside Community Network.  Learn more: About Kresge: https://kresge.org/pathbreakers-podcast/ [https://kresge.org/pathbreakers-podcast/] About Outlier: https://outliermedia.org/ [https://outliermedia.org/] Detroit Documentors: https://outliermedia.org/detroit-documenters/ [https://outliermedia.org/detroit-documenters/] TXT Outlier: https://outliermedia.org/txt-outlier/ [https://outliermedia.org/txt-outlier/] The Speculators of Detroit: https://outliermedia.org/detroit-speculators-property-speculation/ [https://outliermedia.org/detroit-speculators-property-speculation/] This episode is part of the Detroit arc of PathBreakers Season 2, “Building Neighborhoods of Opportunity.” The arc explores how Detroit neighborhoods are forging their own pathways to opportunity — through information access, place-based economic revitalization and community organizing.  Stay tuned for conversations with: * Caitlin Murphy, Live6 Alliance — place-based commercial corridor revitalization in Northwest Detroit * Simone Sagovac, Southwest Detroit Community Benefits Coalition — securing community benefits from a $6 billion international bridge CREDITS: Hosts: Tracey Pearson and Jamie Bennett Producer: Juliet Hinely Managing Editor: Krista Jahnke Show Art: Alejandro Herrera PathBreakers is produced by the Kresge Foundation, founded in 1924 with a mission to promote human progress.

Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield is Tending to Every Neighborhood

Season 2 of PathBreakers opens in Detroit — Kresge's hometown and a city whose comeback story has been told for a decade. But as hosts Tracey Pearson and Jamie Bennett note, that story has largely been written through the lens of downtown. The real test of Detroit's revival is whether neighborhoods share in it. In November 2025, Detroit voters made a decisive choice: by the widest margin in the city's history, they elected Mary Sheffield mayor. The daughter of a civil rights leader, the youngest city council member in Detroit history at 26, and now the first woman to serve as Detroit's mayor, Sheffield didn't run on a downtown comeback story. She ran on neighborhoods first. In this episode, Kresge President & CEO Rip Rapson sits down with Mayor Sheffield on the Marygrove Conservancy campus — where Sheffield anchored her transition — for a wide-ranging conversation about what governing for neighborhoods actually looks like. They discuss: * Her "stabilize, support, grow" framework for neighborhood investment * Centering children and families — from Rx Kids cash prescriptions to bus passes for every Detroit public school student * The new Office of Poverty Elimination and the appointment of Dr. Luke Shaefer of U-M Poverty Solutions * Detroit's property tax burden — among the highest in the country — and what reform could mean for residents and development * How the city is navigating the loss of $800M+ in federal funds * What she'd ask of Detroit's philanthropic and corporate community Next week: we leave City Hall and head into the neighborhoods. Meet Orlando Bailey, Executive Director of Outlier Media — the newsroom built on the premise that journalism should serve the people who need information most. Learn more about Mayor Sheffield [https://detroitmi.gov/government/mayors-office/mayor]: Preview all of Season 2 [https://pathbreakers.kresge.org] *CREDITS* Host: Rip Rapson, President & CEO, Kresge Foundation Producer: Juliet Hinely Managing Editor: Krista Jahnke Production support: Jennifer Kulczycki and Tracey Pearson Video interview produced by Mark Marx Director of Photography: Rodney Johnson Audio Technician: Keith Schembri Associate Producer: Bria Brown Video Editor: Carmel Flanagan Logo animation: Collin Leix Special thanks: Wendy Lewis Jackson and Jonathan Hui (Kresge Detroit program)

Trailer: PathBreakers Season 2 Premieres May 13th!

Four American cities. Sixteen people working to improve where they live. One central question: Who has power to shape what happens in their city? In Detroit, New Orleans, Memphis, and Fresno, we talk with community leaders building neighborhoods of opportunity, reclaiming narrative power, and creating the conditions for families to thrive. And we sit down with city leaders to ask what it looks like from City Hall. Hosted by Tracey Pearson and Jamie Bennett, with mayoral episodes hosted by Kresge President & CEO Rip Rapson. Our first city series on Detroit premieres May 13th 2026. New episodes drop on Wednesdays.  Preview our whole season at pathbreakers.kresge.org [http://pathbreakers.kresge.org]