Michigan Radio is launching an innovative local project to give voice to residents of Detroit’s MorningSide neighborhood, as part of the station’s continued participation in the Detroit Journalism Cooperative. MorningSide is a neighborhood on the east side of Detroit, bounded by Harper Avenue and I-94 on the north, Mack Avenue to the south, East Outer Drive and Whittier on the east and Alter Road and East Outer Drive to the west. For the past year, Michigan Radio and the Detroit Journalism Cooperative have been concentrating on the Morningside neighborhood, looking at the challenges, successes, and hopes of people in that neighborhood.
The MorningSide Podcast project will recruit residents from the neighborhood to produce regular podcasts of local interest and news for their fellow MorningSide neighbors. Michigan Radio will assist with the production and distribution of the podcast, which residents will be able to listen to or download on computers, tablets or their smart phones.
Detroit-based writer Imani Mixon is spearheading the project. Upon graduating from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, she returned to her hometown of Detroit to document its history and resurgence, with a particular focus on neighborhood change. Last year, she reported weekly articles in Detroit's North End neighborhood as an On The Ground project editor with Model D Media.
The first MorningSide Podcast episode will be distributed by the end of February, with many more coming throughout 2018. Funding for the project is provided by the James L. Knight Foundation.
