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When Cyekeia Lee was invited last fall by then Mayor-elect Mary Sheffield’s transition team to advise the incoming administration on youth and education affairs in the city, she could hardly believe the moment was real.
The executive director of Detroit College Access Network said she was honored to share her experience leading a nonprofit dedicated to helping Detroit students prepare for college.
“This is a historic time for the city of Detroit, with Mary Sheffield being the first Black woman mayor in its history,” Lee said. “Mayor [Mike] Duggan led really well, but it feels like a return of self for Detroit.”
Lee was among the residents, professionals, scholars, creatives, and others seated on 18 transition committees helping to guide Sheffield’s early days in office, which range from health and human services and housing development, to education and arts and culture. The committees, which met in November and December, were responsible for developing policy recommendations and identifying priorities.
As Sheffield enters her second month as Detroit mayor, she has already filled key cabinet positions and kicked off a series of new initiatives. Sheffield announced plans last month to launch the popular Rx Kids program in Detroit, which opened applications this week. The mayor unveiled a plan to reshuffle city departments focused on health and human services and a crackdown on senior housing conditions. She also launched a citywide survey seeking feedback from residents on six priority topics that will be used to inform her governing agenda. The survey is open through March 6.
An action plan is set to be released publicly on April 11 — Sheffield’s 100th day in office — Melvin Butch Hollowell, co-chair of Sheffield’s Rise Higher Detroit transition team, told BridgeDetroit. It will include recommendations from the committees for actions to take in her first year and before the four-year term ends. Hollowell didn’t share details of the plan, but noted that transportation, housing, education, and safety are key priorities.
Lee served on the education committee, which met a couple of times in November and December. The group was co-chaired by five people: Ralph Bland, CEO at New Paradigm for Education; Alycia Meriweather, deputy superintendent in Detroit Public Schools Community District; Damon Pitt, an education achievement expert; Angelique Power, CEO at Skillman Foundation; and Shawn Wilson, CEO at the Boys and Girls Club of Southeastern Michigan.
Lee said the group was packed with members deeply rooted in Detroit.
“For people to just be able to put thought to how things were when they were growing up, or streets that they know, or areas of the schools, it feels very home-grown,” she said. “We did a lot of small group work, and, as we rotated groups, I got to know a lot of people that I didn’t know before or that I only knew by name.”
Creating a better future for the youth of Detroit
During her campaign, Sheffield said that she wants to prioritize initiatives that will improve the lives of young people, including ensuring the city’s children receive a quality education.
While the mayor does not have control over schools, Sheffield has shown interest in forming a partnership with DPSCD and the city’s many charter schools. After her public swearing-in ceremony on Jan. 10, Sheffield visited Pershing High School and talked with nearly 90 students in the school’s library.
Suma Rosen, another education committee member and the executive director of InsideOut Literary Arts, said the committee had to take Sheffield’s 15 priorities in the education and youth space and narrow them down to five on the citywide survey. Members also had a say in what the survey looked like, she said.
“Watching the conversations happen — we had full group conversations and breakout conversations — it was structured in such a way that everyone’s voice was heard,” Rosen said. “It was so rewarding to listen to what my co-committee members were saying.”
The group discussed a variety of topics, but among the top five priorities was combating chronic absenteeism, including figuring out solutions for some of the factors that lead to students being absent from school. During the 2024-25 school year, more than 60% of DPSCD students were considered chronically absent. About 84% of the district’s students come from low-income families and have experienced high rates of chronic absenteeism due to systemic barriers, such as housing instability, a lack of accessible transportation, and health concerns.
When it comes to transportation, Lee said one possible way to decrease absenteeism is to have the district provide more yellow school buses for students. DPSCD offers buses for students in grades K–8 who reside more than three-quarters of a mile from their neighborhood school. The district does not provide yellow bus service to most high school students. Exceptions are made in some cases, including for students with disabilities and those experiencing homelessness. City buses are the main mode of transportation for most Detroit high schoolers.
“Even though there’s a relationship with DDOT [the Detroit Department of Transportation], trying to get to your bus stop when it’s eight degrees, that’s tough, right?” Lee said. “And then, the thing that I don’t love for students is you may be in middle school and you got to ride the bus with a bunch of adults. There’s a whole different level of safety measures for young men and young women that we have to wrap our heads around.”
Lee and Rosen said the committee did not have a list of solutions ready in efforts to combat chronic absenteeism, but it’s something they want to tackle in the long term alongside Sheffield’s administration.
“We want to be really clear on what the household determinants are first before we try to put [recommendations] out,” Rosen said. “You can’t put all your eggs in one basket if it’s the wrong basket.”
Every transition committee included a youth representative, and the education group wants to see young people continue to have a seat at the table during Sheffield’s term, Lee said. Having a youth task force in the mayor’s office was another priority that was discussed, Rosen said.
“We want a longer-term committee, and we want that to also include youth voices,” Lee said. “It’s one thing for us to say all the things we want for young people; it’s another thing for young people to say, ‘This is how this is showing up in my life, in my building, in my neighborhood, in my home.’ Whatever it is that we do moving forward, we have really got to look at incorporating the voices of 14-to-24-year-olds.”
One way Lee wants Sheffield’s administration and the Detroit College Access Network to stay connected is through Decision Day, a day on or around May 1 when high school seniors decide which college they’re attending in the fall. Lee said Sheffield participated in the nonprofit’s College Decision Day in 2022 when she was serving as City Council President and hopes to see Sheffield return this year.
“Our hope is that we can communicate with her [Sheffield] and her office to have a citywide Decision Day where every student knows that May 1 is Decision Day and celebrated in all middle and high schools,” she said.
Committee members want to stay engaged on education issues
Hollowell was in charge of finding and selecting individuals to join 18 committees for the transition team, ranging from health and human services and housing development, to education and arts and culture. The committees had a total of 50 co-chairs and 284 members. Some co-chairs included The Right Productions President Shahida Mausi, Detroit NAACP President Rev. Wendell Anthony, Black Tech Saturdays CEO Johnnie Turnage, and Transportation Riders United Executive Director Megan Owens.
Hollowell, who formerly served as corporation counsel under Duggan, said it was the largest group ever assembled for a mayoral transition in Detroit.
“It was easy and hard,” Hollowell told BridgeDetroit about the selection process. “It was easy in the sense that no one said ‘No.’
“The process was the hard part. At some point, you got to draw a line on how many co-chairs you have,” he added. “Everybody wanted to be a coach. We had some people from corporate, some people from the neighborhoods, from the education community.”
While work for the committees officially ended Dec. 31, some committees continue to meet informally and members remain in communication, he said. Hollowell hopes members will continue to serve as advisors throughout Sheffield’s term.
“The mayor has said ‘I don’t want this group to go anywhere,’” Hollowell has said. “They want to be kept engaged and we’re going to do that.”
Building an artist economy is also a Sheffield priority
On the arts front, members of Sheffield’s arts, culture, and entertainment committee honed in on the need for more support for Detroit creatives.
The committee, led by Mausi of The Right Productions, also included Detroit Institute of Arts Chairman Lane Coleman and Detroit Entertainment Commission Chairman John Collins. Like the education committee, the group met a couple of times in November and December, said Adrian Tonon, business advisor of digital marketing agency Menace Media and the city’s former 24-hour economy ambassador.
Tonon said a healthy creative economy — one of his responsibilities as an ambassador — was discussed during the committee meetings. He said the city must provide resources for creatives, including enough independent venues across the city to perform in. Tonon added the city is beginning to plug in more to the arts and culture scene with the creation of its Film Detroit office last year.
“Our report was really about how do we infuse support in every vertical of government, from BSEED [Buildings, Safety Engineering, and Environmental Department] to law to health to housing, every sector of government in order to support people that are creatives,” Tonon said.
Detroit Poet Laureate jessica Care moore was also on the committee and said that she wants to see an artist infrastructure similar to New York, where people can make a living making their art. Moore lived in New York and Atlanta for several years before moving back to Detroit 18 years ago.
“Working as a full-time artist for the last 30 years, I wish I could make a living here,” she said. “I’ve made my money traveling, going to other cities and other countries. It’d be nice for the world-renowned artists that we have in the music industry, the writers, the painters, the dancers … that they could be sustained. And if we have a system, a way to help fund people who are here, then we build the culture. We create an ecosystem that has people saying, ‘Well, yeah, I live in Detroit because nobody’s taking care of me better than Detroit.’”
The committee doesn’t have a plan yet of what an artist infrastructure would look like, but moore wants to help make it happen. She added she represents the D wherever she goes, whether that’s New York, Baltimore, or London. She wants that same love and respect in the city for herself and other artists.
“We have to understand that our artists are globally connected and are some of the best in the world, and we need to take care of them and respect them in that way,” moore said.
Tonon said he believes that Sheffield and her team will prioritize the city’s vibrant arts and culture scene and help creatives thrive. While serving on the City Council, he said, Sheffield was one of the few people who saw his vision of having a 24-hour economy.
“She really got it before anybody else got it,” Tonon said. “She’s the right candidate, the right mayor for the right time.”
BridgeDetroit reporter Malachi Barrett contributed to this report.
Micah Walker is a reporter for BridgeDetroit. You can reach her at mwalker@bridgedetroit.com.
