Catastrophic flooding in the Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood in summer 2021.
The Clinic’s inaugural master’s project team worked with Jefferson East, Inc. (JEI) to increase community flood resilience, after catastrophic flooding of the Detroit River in summer 2021 caused widespread devastation. Photo credit: B. Allnut, Curbed Detroit.

Project Dates: Fall 2021–Spring 2023

Client: Jefferson East, Inc. (JEI)

SEAS Faculty Advisor: Samuel Stolper, Assistant Professor of Environmental Policy & Planning

SEAS Students: Erin East, Moksha Menghaney, Maaike Wielenga, & Rachel Woodcock

The JEI project team poses next to a monitor displaying their project slides.
U-M SEAS graduate students Rachel Woodcock, Maaike Welenga, Erin East and Moksha Menghaney pose after completing their Master's Project capstone presentation in April 2024. Photo credit: D. Brenner, SEAS.

About the Client

Jefferson East, Inc. (JEI) is a Detroit-based nonprofit organization focused on community development across five historic Detroit neighborhoods, including Jefferson-Chalmers - an area of the city hit hardest by catastrophic Detroit River flooding in 2021. JEI helps secure state emergency funding for flood-impacted residents, particularly underserved and/or historically marginalized residents - and serves as a remediation facilitator between homeowners and city, state, and utility companies. The organization provides case management, home assessments, and tactical emergency aid, having deployed $500K+ in recovery funding to support Detroit households in extreme need. JEI also connects residents with resources to repair, replace and/or elevate damaged furnaces and hot water tanks, and assists in basement bailouts, weatherization, and advocacy work for homeowners and elders.

About the Project

This inaugural Clinic master’s project supported JEI’s efforts to document, analyze and assist communities in adapting to severe flooding in Jefferson-Chalmers. The project aimed to identify solutions JEI could implement to help increase local flood resilience. JEI sought to develop a flood response plan that would be supported by both the City of Detroit and residents, having observed that a lack of trust between residents, the city, and the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) remained a barrier to progress. The project team provided a list of disaster preparedness recommendations, including the creation of a physical (and virtual) “communication hub” and neighborhood center to facilitate sharing information between government officials and residents. The hub would allow residents to ask questions of policymakers, and provide municipalities with valuable community feedback.

The team evaluated a range of options, including potentially contentious adaptation strategies like basement fill-ins and voluntary home buybacks. The team recommended that JEI 1) develop an internal disaster response plan to enable greater organizational responsiveness during floods; 2) hire dedicated personnel to manage emergency response programs, provide community advocacy and education; and 3) collaborate with the City of Detroit to improve its rating in FEMA’s Community Rating System (CRS).

Read the final report here.