

Congratulations to University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS) Assistant Professor of Practice Lisa DuRussel, a lead on a project selected for a 2025 Engage Detroit Workshops grant. The program supports U-M faculty, staff, students and community partners in organizing workshops to strengthen partnerships between U-M and the city of Detroit.
The project, Telling Place! Markers, Signs and Echoes to Share Our Stories, will be led in collaboration with the Grixdale Farms Neighborhood Association to collect community visual stories and create a living archive; codesign a network of markers, signs and echoes across the neighborhood that incorporates community’s memories and existing needs; and co-produce a community research process committed to community capacity building, mutual learning, and sustaining collaborations to improve the quality of life for all residents.
The other project leads are: María Arquero de Alarcón, associate professor of architecture and urban and regional planning, Taubman College; Andrew Lapetina, board member, Grixdale Farms Neighborhood Association; Paul Draus, professor of sociology, director, Master of Science in Criminology and Criminal Justice, College of Arts, Sciences and Letters, UM-Dearborn
Learn more about the awarded projects in The Record.