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A new University of Michigan-led project, in partnership with four Detroit community-based organizations, will try to lighten that load a bit. Team members will work with residents of 200 low- and moderate-income (LMI) households in three Detroit neighborhoods-Jefferson Chalmers, Southwest Detroit and The Villages at Parkside-to improve home energy efficiency and to lower monthly utility bills.

At the same time, the U-M researchers will explore the possibility of reforming the utility rate structure to provide the basic electricity needs of LMI households for free while ensuring that the utility provider’s costs are covered.

School for Environment and Sustainability Assistant Professor Tony Reames

“Our premise is that energy is a basic human right. With a better understanding of energy consumption, we can determine if there is a free block of ‘essential’ energy that everyone should get-and if not everyone, then those least likely to be able to afford it,” said project leader Tony Reames, an assistant professor of energy justice at the U-M School for Environment and Sustainability.

Read Full Story on Michigan Impact: This is Michigan

It’s the first presidential election since Michigan voters approved a 2018 proposal to vote by absentee ballot without stating a reason. Add in the coronavirus pandemic, and there’s been a huge increase in ballot requests, inundating clerk’s offices as they work long hours to keep up. A lot of their time is spent answering phone calls from voters wanting to know if their ballot has been sent or received by the clerk.

Part of the Citizen Design Interaction program, students worked with the Secretary of State’s office. As the team interviewed some of the 1,500 township and city clerks across Michigan, they kept hearing the resource challenges offices faced with extraordinarily high demand for mail-in ballots.

Using a process pioneered by Nick Sexton and Steve Gerhart from the city of Ann Arbor, the team worked with municipal IT departments to create and pilot an automated email notification system. As clerks update information in the statewide Qualified Voter File about ballot status, emails are automatically sent to voters in those cities and townships.

Read Full Story on Michigan Impact: This is Michigan

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Troy, Alabama. Selma. Nashville. Washington, DC. John Lewis’ journey bore witness to the trials and tribulations of the civil rights movement. Please join us for an important conversation on the biographic documentary about the life of this legendary civil rights pioneer, activist, and congressman, John Lewis: Good Trouble. Moderated by Robert M. Sellers, Vice Provost for Equity and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer, the panel includes Jim Burnstein, Director of of the Screenwriting Program; Sydney Carr, graduate student in Public Policy and Political Science and president of Students of Color of Rackham; Edie Goldenberg, Professor of Public Policy and Political Science and founder of the voting advocacy group Turn Up Turnout; and Riana Anderson, Assistant Professor of Public Health and founder of EMBRace (Engaging, Managing, and Bonding through Race).

Sponsored by: The Democracy & Debate Theme Semester and the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, The University of Michigan.

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