Reinvigorating Detroit: a new collaboration aims to serve and preserve a community

Once among the five largest cities in America, Detroit—the former center of the nation’s automotive industry—has dwindled in number since the Michigan city’s peak of 1.8 million in 1950.1,2 The 2010 United States Census puts the current population at just under 714,000, a 25% drop from the 950,000-plus counted in the year 2000.3 Mayor Dave Bing, who believes the 2010 census finding is inaccurate, says the City of Detroit will challenge that number, stressing its importance both to federal and state funding and to community services. “We are in a fiscal crisis,” Bing admits, “and we have to fight for every dollar.”