Detroit resident Clara Hardie, BA ’06, co-founded Detroit Youth Volume in 2010 to offer free and reduced-rate classical music training utilizing the Suzuki method. About 70 percent of her students are youth of color. The scholarships fund instruments and recitals, as well as music, materials, transportation support for parents, and tickets to local classical performances. Students also collaborate with Detroit musicians. Read more.

Established in 1984, U-M’s Cochlear Implant Program is one of the oldest in the country and has restored hearing to more than 3,500 children and adults. Sound Support started as an outreach program in 2004. It is funded by a matching grant between the U-M Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery and Michigan Medicaid. The goal is to improve the quality and timeliness of care for children who are deaf and hard of hearing; and to reduce costs of care and management as they grow into adults.

The lack of representation — and voices to engage people often impacted by environmental problems — can be problematic for communities across the state. It’s the reason Earth Camp took off in 2015. That year, about 20 rising high school sophomores across Michigan embarked on the first of three annual summer field trips and other activities throughout their high school years. More than 95 percent of campers since the program started have gone on to major in earth and environmental sciences in college. Read more.

Every month, students from Detroit’s Cass Tech High School visit U-M to be mentored by medical students. Established in 2012, the Doctors of Tomorrow program focuses on diversifying the future of health care by exposing underrepresented minority students to careers in medicine, as well as providing them with foundational skills to pursue a career in the health sciences. Read more.

Samantha Farrugia, MUP ’15, founded the Detroit nonprofit Women Who Weld in 2014 to offer a partially subsidized welding training program for unemployed and underemployed women. Training is augmented with apprenticeships and job placement support. A majority of graduates receive multiple job offers before completing their six-week training. Read more.

90,000 Michigan soccer players went back to playing the sport they love, thanks to a collaboration between U-M and the state’s youth soccer association. A group of faculty, staff and students from the School of Public Health came together in summer 2020 to assist with the development of a reopening plan to get teams back on the field with pandemic precautions. Read more.

U-M’s Museum of Natural History (UMMNH) provided a bit of relief for teachers working during the global pandemic. Jeanna Fox, UMMNH’s outreach manager, worked with creative teachers at Garden City Middle School, Washtenaw International Middle Academy in Ypsilanti, and Cesar Chavez Middle Academy in Detroit to identify hands-on experiments that would be most useful for their curriculum. Read more.

Green Industries is a minibusiness that produces coasters from repurposed materials. The operation grew from a collaboration among U-M students of business, engineering, and art and design. Students worked closely with Detroit-based nonprofit Cass Community Social Services (CCSS) to brainstorm and set up the business. CCSS provides its clients food, housing, health services, and job programs. Read more.

U-M’s Seven Mile is a student-run registered nonprofit founded in 2013 by alumnus Sam Saunders, BA ’09, of the School of Music, Theatre & Dance. The organization offers after-school programs and summer camps for youths in Detroit. Mission: City, a community center in the city’s historic Brightmoor neighborhood, hosts the free after-school music, art, and coding lessons. Seven Mile recently expanded its offerings to literary and visual arts, as well as coding. Read more.

The U-M Department of Mathematics recently reimagined its master’s degree program as a stepping stone to the PhD when it received funding from a 2010 National Science Foundation grant called Building Bridges. The Marjorie Lee Browne Scholars Program, named for the first African American woman to earn a doctorate in mathematics at U-M in 1949, pairs faculty mentors with diverse students interested in STEM fields. Thirty-eight students have completed the program since 2011. Read more.