The Amplify team's goal is to connect people living in Michigan with the resources and information they need to thrive. Our reporting, how-to guides, and community events will help you become your own best advocate on basic needs like housing, public safety, health and more.
Recent Stories
Here’s a timeline of events from the mid- to late-1980s, when rent control was a hot topic in Michigan.
Designed by Nisa Khan, images from Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan
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Aaron Mondry
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Outlier Media
Helpful Guides
Get resources on a range of topics from housing needs, due process rights, and more.
How to escrow your rent in Michigan
This guide looks at escrow in Michigan, its risks, and what resources may be available in your area. Escrow is one of the tools tenants have to deal with housing problems when landlords are unresponsive.
Detroit renters with building problems do have options. Here's how to protect yourselves.
Michigan Radio consulted residents, lawyers, academics, and activists to round up what renters can do to protect themselves when building problems go unaddressed.
Thousands of Michigan children are eligible for free school meals. Here’s how you can make sure your kid gets theirs.
COVID-era universal school lunches — where all kids were given free meals regardless of income, feeding an additional 10 million students nationwide — has ended.
How you can protect yourself online, post-Roe
Abortion is still legal in Michigan. But many privacy advocates are urging caution about online activity that could be used to prosecute people seeking or assisting with abortion services.
A guide to understanding due process rights in Wayne County jails
A Michigan Radio analysis found that as of January 2022, at least 120 people were being held in pre-trial detention at a Wayne County jail for more than 18 months. We’ve created this guide to help you understand due process rights, and ways you can support a loved one in pre-trial detention.
More from the Amplify Team
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“This is a uniquely American problem that we need to address,” Governor Gretchen Whitmer said after the Oxford High School shooting in 2021. -
Michigan State University, local organizations, and others are offering mental health resources, crisis counseling, and more in the wake of Monday's mass shooting.
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Youth organizers from 482Forward and Congress of Communities came together to give people a snapshot of their school experience in Detroit public and charter schools.
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After a year in the Wayne County Jail, Darrell Ewing filed a lawsuit against the jail administration, claiming the denial of in-person visits is unconstitutional.
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With pandemic-era benefits winding down and the eviction moratorium ended, Detroit tenants are seeing more evictions — and housing activists and residents are demanding a series of policy efforts to better protect tenants.
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About a quarter of Detroit's residential water customers were behind on their bills as of late last year. But Detroit Water and Sewerage Department officials say they won't shut off anyone who enrolls in an assistance program or gets on a payment plan.
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Starting in January, the Ann Arbor-based nonprofit Fresh Start, will open its doors to more people experiencing mental health illnesses in Washtenaw County.
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The ongoing mental health crisis is pushing more and more people to seek mental health support. Finding a culturally responsive therapist can make the search for help even tougher.
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Many renters in Detroit are living in unsafe homes. Moldy walls, water backed up in the basement, broken porch steps and a lack of hot water can make a home unsafe. But renters do have options to get their landlord to fix the issues.
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On Nov. 8, Michigan voters will decide whether to put the right to an abortion in the state constitution by voting on Proposal 3. To better understand what's at stake, Michigan Radio got a rare degree of access to Northland Family Planning. For nine days in August and September, we shadowed a doctor and clinic staff through every step of the process.
Amplify Events
The Amplify Team often holds events related to the stories they report in the communities that are affected by those stories. See photos from some of these events below:
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— Jail's True Cost 1
Community Engagement Reporter Jamie Simmons speaks at the Jail's True Cost event (2022).
Jodi Westrick / Michigan Radio
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— Jail's True Cost 2
Attendees look at art by prisoners at the Jail's True Cost event (2022).
Jodi Westrick / Michigan Radio
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— Jail's True Cost 3
Handouts and informative flyers at the Jail's True Cost event (2022).
Jodi Westrick / Michigan Radio
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— Jail's True Cost 4
Attendees had the opportunity to hear from prisoners in this interactive display at Jail's True Cost (2022).
Jodi Westrick / Michigan Radio
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— Housing Forum 1
Data reporter Nisa Khan at the Housing Forum (2022).
Lindsey Smith / Michigan Radio
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— Housing Forum 2
Kids are welcome at most Enterprise events. Here, reporter Lindsey Smith teaches a young attendee to use a recorder.
Lindsey Smith / Michigan Radio
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— Housing Forum
Community Engagement Reporter Jamie Simmons speaks at the Housing Forum (2022).
Lindsey Smith / Michigan Radio
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— Housing Forum 3
A panel of local experts speaks about the housing crisis in Detroit and give resources for residents.
Lindsey Smith / Michigan Radio
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— Housing Forum 5
Attendees at the Enterprise Housing Forum (2022).
Lindsey Smith / Michigan Radio
Meet Our Team
