Quarterly Newsletter | October 2025

October 15, 2025

Detroit Future City Newsletter | October 2025

What’s Inside:

Future City Forum Motivates, Connects
Project Underway to Create Affordable Housing
Opportunities, Challenges Await New Mayor
DFC Joins Community Growth Program

Future City Forum Motivates, Connects

Nearly 250 guests packed The Icon on Detroit’s East Side last month to participate in Detroit Future City’s annual Future City Forum, focused this year on mapping out the next 10 years of Detroit’s growth and change. The event was moderated by Outlier Media’s Orlando Bailey and featured speeches, panel discussions, and a special keynote address from PolicyLink CEO, Michael MacAfee.

“Michael was tremendous,” DFC President and CEO Anika Goss said. “He painted a remarkable vision by challenging us to think like the founders of the nation we want to continue to grow to become – one where we love and serve all citizens.”

The Forum, and a ticketed pre-reception at Puma Detroit the night before, were made possible through the generous support of reception ticket buyers and 20 event sponsors. Sponsors included longtime DFC supporter and platinum sponsor, The Kresge Foundation, as well as gold sponsors JPMorganChase, Rocket Companies, and The Skillman Foundation, among others.

“We are so very grateful to all of our event sponsors and panelists,” noted Goss. “Budgets are tightening for many people and organizations in our community, but the fact that we had so much support this year is a real testament to the strength of support we have from this community. Too, our local panelists shared so much knowledge and innovative work – we couldn’t have done this without them.”

You can re-watch the Forum on PBS Detroit using the link below.

Watch the Replay

Project Underway to Create Affordable Housing

Detroit Future City is leading community outreach and engagement efforts as a consultant on an initiative to bring new, mixed-income housing and investment to Detroit’s East Side. This work is focused on the redevelopment of Forest Park Apartments and Diggs Homes properties, while identifying additional investments to support the broader Forest Park/Eastern Market area.

“We were so excited to become involved with this project” said Anika Goss, President and CEO of Detroit Future City. “The project will absolutely contribute to improved housing and, we believe, economic outcomes for low income residents in and round Forest Park.”

This initiative is supported by a HUD Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grant and brings together the Detroit Housing Commission, City of Detroit, COLLABO, Lord Aeck Sargent, and Detroit Future City.

“Over the last decade, we have always prioritized lifting up community voice through our work,” Goss said. “This project is a way for us to leverage the expertise we’ve built while doing that to further our broader vision of city neighborhoods that are equitable and sustainable for all Detroiters.”

More on Forest Park Diggs Project

Opportunities, Challenges Await New Mayor

With only a couple of weeks until the 2025 Detroit Mayoral election on November 4th, the candidates are sharpening their policy agendas and making their final pitches for office. To help them focus on critical issues affecting the city, Detroit Future City published, “Opportunities for the Next Mayoral Administration to Grow Detroit’s Middle Class,” in April of this year.

The brief highlights priorities for the city which have emerged from years of careful research by Detroit Future City. These priorities are centered around building a strong middle class in Detroit, through stronger neighborhoods, housing, education, and safety.

“Our Center for Equity, Engagement, and Research regularly looks at demographic, economic, and social determinants of health and well-being in Detroit,” said Ashley Williams Clark, Vice President of DFC’s Center for Equity, Engagement, and Research. “What we find time and again is that Detroit has an opportunity to improve quality of life for all residents by strengthening its neighborhoods in ways that foster and grow middle class lifestyles.”

In addition to laying out key policy priorities that would stimulate a stronger middle class in Detroit, the brief also highlights the critical budgetary challenges facing the city’s next mayor.

“The end of federal stimulus funding this year means that the next mayor will need to pay careful attention to the city’s budget and find creative ways to continue investments that we’ve been seeing in city infrastructure and services,” said Williams Clark. “There is hard work ahead for the next mayor, but the opportunities to continue building Detroit’s middle class are spelled out in our brief.”

Click here to read the full mayoral brief:

DFC Joins Community Growth Program

Detroit Future City was recently selected to participate in the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth’s Community Growth Academy program.

The program provides technical assistance, opportunities for peer-to-peer learning, expert consultants, and ongoing support from the State of Michigan to identify, test, and adopt strategies for economic growth and resilience.

Detroit Future City applied for this program with the intention of securing additional support for its Thriving, Resilient Communities program. That program aims to enhance well-being and prosperity in a 3 mile area of Detroit’s near East Side.