Authentically Detroit

Detroit has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. There is an overwhelming amount of loss, trauma and grief that pervades in our city. No matter what your status is in Detroit, you've somehow been affected by this virus. It's a dark time with seemingly no expiration date but in this episode we wanted to provide a glimmer of light, hope and levity in this new reality that we've all...

THIS EPISODE WE ARE HONORING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF OUR DEAR FRIEND AND DETROIT CHAMPION, MARLOWE STOUDAMIRE. MARLOWE APPEARED MANY TIMES ON AUTHENTICALLY DETROIT AND WE HAVE PUT TOGETHER AN EPISODE FULL OF “MARLOWE-ISMS.” THINGS THAT ONLY MARLOWE CAN SAY IN HIS VERY “MARLOWE” WAY. NOTHING ABOUT THIS COVID-19 PANDEMIC IS NORMAL. OUR NORMALCY HAS BEEN STRIPPED FROM US, AS WERE THE TRADITIONAL WAYS...

COVID-19 has made its way to Detroit. What do we do? How do we slow the spread? Is government responding in an equitable way? This episode Donna and Orlando spoke with Kim Trent, Deputy Director of the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity in charge of Prosperity and Ned Stabeler, President/CEO of TechTown Detroit to get their perspectives.  Support the show Follow us on Instagram...

On this special episode, Donna and Orlando speak with former Detroit Director of Health, former Michigan Gubernatorial Candidate, CNN Political Analyst, and Author, Dr. Abdul El-Sayed concerning the COVID-19 pandemic and America's response. Donna and Orlando also spoke to Chief Medical Officer for the Michigan Department of Corrections, Professor and Assistant Dean at Wayne State University M...

This week we were joined by Ederique Goudia, owner of the new Gabriel Hall restaurant coming to West Village, Rafa Wright, serial entrepreneur and the owner of Neighborhood Grocery, and Kwaku Osei-Bonsu, founder of Black Metro Eats and Detroit's Black Restaurant Week. We had a conversation about food equity, food apartheid, public health, and black owned grocery stores and restaurants in Detr...

This week we were joined by Michigan State Representative Sherry Gay-Dagnogo to talk about her visit to the White House to hand deliver a letter requesting President Trump to pardon former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick who is currently serving out a 28-year sentence in federal prison. We even asked her about her plans to "maybe" run for Mayor of Detroit. We were also joined by ECN staff...

This week we sat down with Maggie DeSantis who is the Initiative Manager of Building the Engine of Community Development in Detroit. We talked about the state of community development work in Detroit and learned about the work she has been leading to create a sustainable system for community development work in Detroit.  Support the show Follow us on Instagram , Facebook and Twitter . 

Donna is back! This week we sat down with Kevin Ryan of the Ford Foundation and Meredith Freeman of Fisher Foundation to talk about how philanthropic institutions show up in Black cities like Detroit. Who's at the board table, who is in c-suite, who gets to make the decisions? We asked all of the juicy questions you've always wanted to ask to demystify the philanthropic world.  Support t...

Donna we missed you! This episode Orlando sat down with Kalisha Davis of the Detroit Historical Society and Andrew Colum, filmmaker and principal at Century Partners to talk about how they are collaborating to honor the legacy of Dr. Ossian Sweet this Black History Month!  Support the show Follow us on Instagram , Facebook and Twitter . 

The City of Detroit has a new Chief Storyteller and his name is Eric Thomas!. We spent this episode speaking with our friend Eric talking about his tumultuous journey to finally obtaining his dream job!  Support the show Follow us on Instagram , Facebook and Twitter . 

Authentically Detroit is live at Co. Act Detroit in partnership with Urban Consulate to talk about Orlando's globetrotting experience traveling across the world to Europe as a Marshall Memorial Fellow (MMF) with the German Marshall Fund of the United States. He is joined by Yodit Mesfin Johnson, CEO of Nonprofit Enterprise at Work who was also apart of the Detroit Delegation last Fall. Yodit...

This episode we sat down with Gary Anderson, Founder of Plowshares Theatre who just celebrated their 30th organizational anniversary last year and is the only professional African American Theatre company in Michigan. Michael Rafferty, CEO of New Detroit Inc. and Lauren Hood who is the new Program Director also joined us!  Support the show Follow us on Instagram , Facebook and Twitter . 

This is part two of the special episodes dedicated to the property tax foreclosure crisis in Detroit. This episode we sit down with Christine MacDonald of The Detroit News. Christine co-authored a compelling article entitled " Detroit homeowners overtaxed $600 million" and the report "Pay owners who lost homes to "illegal" Detroit foreclosures." Support the show Follo...

This is part one of two special episodes dedicated to the property tax foreclosure crisis in Detroit. This episode we sit down with the amazing Bernadette Atuahene from the Coalition To End Unconstitutional and Professor of Law at Chicago-Kent College of Law. She shares her research in Detroit and how she used that research as an impetus to do real intervention work in Detroit and the state of Mic...

This episode Donna and Orlando sat down with Candice Fortman of Outlier Media, Kat Stafford and Branden Hunter of the Detroit Free Press to talk shop!  Happy Birthday to Candice!  Support the show Follow us on Instagram , Facebook and Twitter . 

We sat down with Marlowe Stoudamire to talk the newly formed Roster Detroit! Dwan Dandridge also joined us to talk about the Black Leaders Detroit Fund!   Support the show Follow us on Instagram , Facebook and Twitter . 

A Detroit newsroom just got Blacker. Two Detroiters just released a sneaker with Puma. Wayne State Board of Governors gotta get it together. Donna and Orlando are slap happy. Just enjoy the ride.  Support the show Follow us on Instagram , Facebook and Twitter . 

This episode, Donna & Orlando sat down with State Senator Stephanie Chang and Detroit Free Press Investigative Reporter Kat Stafford to unpack the latest in the Blight Bond saga and what should happen next! Support the show Follow us on Instagram , Facebook and Twitter . 

Orlando is back from his trip in Europe!  Support the show Follow us on Instagram , Facebook and Twitter . 

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Eric Thomas from Saga Marketing joins Donna Givens in Orlando's absence in a wide-ranging conversation about race, blame, accountability and forgiveness.  Who gets grace in our culture and why is it so one-sided?  Also Eric shares why he hates Detroit's systems but loves the people.  #authenticallydetroit #forgiveness #amberguyger #whyihatedetroit #racism  Support the show Follow us on I...

We're back! Did you miss us? Well we missed you guys! Catch this week's #FreshOffThePress stories! We also sat down with Joel Howrani Heeres, Director of Sustainability for the city of Detroit in the Mayor's Office and Richard "Ricky" Ackerman, Director of Climate Resilience for Eastside Community Network (ECN) to talk shop about the Detroit Sustainability Action Agenda an...

Donna and Orlando have so many questions and points to make in the episode! They first put Detroit's Group Executive of Planning & Housing Development, Arthur Jemison in the hot seat to talk about his vision for planning in Detroit, single family rehab & development and partnering with community development organizations. Greg Bowens also joins the pair to clarify his words in the Dea...

Donna and Orlando are at it again with their hot take commentary on the news in Detroit with their "Fresh Off The Press" segment! The thematic topic for this episode poses the question of "Who Gets To Represent Detroit?"  Support the show Follow us on Instagram , Facebook and Twitter . 

This episode Donna and Orlando are joined by Jermaine Ruffin from @thestreetsareplanning podcast to weigh in on news items in our 'Fresh Off The Press' segment and talk planning and development in the city of Detroit!  Support the show Follow us on Instagram , Facebook and Twitter .