State of the City: Are Duggan’s Bold Proposals for Detroit Students Realistic?
Duggan proposed a school bus and after-school bus pilot program that could help many families out.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan laid out some fairly bold plans during his State of the City speech Tuesday night. It was his first major address since being re-elected in a landslide last year.
Duggan spent much of the speech talking about education, something the mayor of Detroit has little control over. And yet it’s a moral imperative for anyone running the city to tackle the issue of how to best support the next generation of Detroiters.
Probably the most significant proposal in Duggan’s speech is a pilot program to better connect students to schools and after-school programs.
Duggan’s plan would create a new bus “loop” connecting public schools, charter schools, licensed day cares, and after school programs across the city.
City Councilwoman Raquel Castañeda-López joins Detroit Today with Stephen Henderson to recap and react to the speech. She says she is excited about the possibilities of the bus pilot program.
“It was definitely exciting to hear the partnerships between charter schools and public schools,” says Castañeda-López. “I think the challenge still is… how will we make sure [kids in less-dense parts of the city are] brought into the fold as well?”
David McGhee is program director leading the youth development and youth employment programs at Skillman Foundation. He tells Detroit Today there is a common cause between the mayor’s office and several organizations that want to make Detroit better for children and youth.
“What makes this exciting [is] the partners [are]… focused on making Detroit a place where children can thrive,” says McGhee.
To hear more from McGhee and Castañeda-López on Detroit Today, click on the audio player above.
