Dear community, you are the compass. You show us what’s possible when we listen closely, when we stand together, and when we refuse to settle for anything less than a future worthy of our young people.
We trust families, students, and educators because they have always carried the wisdom, courage, and imagination needed to guide us all forward.
As we move into 2026, let’s move education forward. Let’s do it with the people. If we stay rooted in each other, there is no limit to the future we can shape.
Read @skillmanpower ’s full letter at the link in our bio.
Fears are real, pressing, and often go unheard. But in the horror genre, fear becomes a tool. And in the Black horror genre, fear transforms into a battleground where we don’t just survive — we win.
Darkness in Detroit, a scary story competition and podcast series by Detroit Education Narrative Collective member Patrick Harris II, puts a spotlight on the rising literary talent of Detroit’s youth. The project began with a citywide writing contest for Detroit K-12 students, inviting them to write original horror stories rooted in their personal fears and how they dream of overcoming them. Winning stories were produced into audio pieces and included interviews with the young writers to explore their creative processes.
This is an audio excerpt from the interview with high school contest winner, Heaven, and pictured is a guest listening to the students' horror stories at the Detroit Education Narrative Collective exhibit. Showcasing the creative narratives of Detroit students is a way to highlight their genius in ways standardized tests cannot. It offers a gateway to educators, parents, and policymakers to consider alternative (and perhaps more culturally relevant) methods to assess children’s genius.
Listen to each of the winning stories and the student interviews through the link in our bio 🎧
Meet Patrick Harris II 🌟 Patrick is an award-winning educator, writer, and researcher on a mission to help people face their fears. He is a PhD Student in the Department of English and Film Studies at Michigan State University, focusing on Black horror film and literature. He founded The Black Paranormal Project, an audio-archive of paranormal stories told by Black Detroiters. Patrick is a career teacher with over 10 years of experience teaching. He was awarded the 2016 Early Career Educator of Color Leadership Award from the National Council of Teachers of English and was named a 2020 ‘30 Under 30 Honoree’ from the International Literacy Association. He is also an award-winning storyteller. His book The First Five: A Love Letter to Teachers was named as a finalist for the Best Professional Audiobook by the Audio Publishers Association. His writings and works can also be found in Education Week, EdSurge, and GQ Magazine.
See our next post to preview Patrick's Detroit Education Narrative Collective story "Darkness in Detroit" 🌃
Learn more about the DEN Collective at the link in our bio!
Youth should be everyone’s priority. Jerjuan Howard, director of Youth Affairs, shares how Detroit is embedding young people into the work of every city department, an initiative that may be the first of its kind in the country. Listen now in Episode 12 of Our State of Education! Available on your favorite podcast platforms.
“Detroit is Genius: A Day in the Life” is a project by Detroit Education Narrative Collective member, Esther Guerrero, that invites two Cass Technical High School students, Anaya and Brizait, to become filmmakers of their own stories. Each participant documents their daily reality, from morning routines to afterschool pursuits, while exploring what genius means in their own lives.
As the daughter of Mexican immigrants who grew up in Southwest Detroit, Esther understands how students navigating cultural and linguistic identities often remain invisible to systems that claim to serve them. This project trusts students as the experts of their own experiences. By giving them cameras and asking reflective questions – What shows your genius in action? How does your community support or challenge it? – their films become evidence of what’s already present: creativity, resilience, and brilliance that exists regardless of institutional recognition. The 30-minute documentary will be accompanied by a social media campaign that amplifies their voices and extends their stories beyond a single screening.
The education system must shift from asking “how do we fix students?” to “how do we honor the genius already here?” When we truly believe genius comes from Detroit, we must build schools and structures that protect and amplify it, not ones that require students to prove their worth.
Learn more about Detroit is Genius: A Day in the Life here: skillman.org/den-collective/esther-guerrero/
Meet Esther Guerrero 🌟 Raised by immigrant parents from Mexico in Southwest Detroit, Esther is a first-generation Detroiter who has explored her identity through the arts, community engagement, and education. During high school, she joined Congress of Communities’ Latine Youth Council, where she helped develop Nuestro Futuro, a youth-led program aimed at increasing access to higher education for students in Detroit. Esther played a key role in the program’s development, implementation, and continuation.
She received her Bachelor of Science in Public Health with minors in Biological Sciences and Latino/a/x Studies at Wayne State University. After graduating, Esther continued her work with Congress of Communities, leading the Latine Youth Council and their various youth programs. Currently, Esther is at the University of Michigan working towards her Master of Public Health with a concentration in Health Behavior and Health Equity.
See our next post to preview Esther's Detroit Education Narrative Collective story "Detroit is Genius: A Day in the Life" 🎥
Learn more about the DEN Collective at the link in our bio!
When teens gathered in mass downtown, the City of Detroit saw it as an opportunity to co-create safe, welcoming, and productive spaces with them. In Episode 12 of Our State of Education, Dr. Chanel Hampton, senior director of Youth and Education and special liaison to the mayor, shares how a conversation with young residents led to Detroit's first Teen Kickback. Listen to the full episode on your favorite podcast platforms!
Project GYNS, a graphic novel written by Detroit Education Narrative Collective member Torie Anderson-Lloyd and illustrated by Victor Green, is a future story set in the year 2075. After decades of systemic change, the city of Detroit is now at the center of education, innovation, and community. The city has transformed into a learning ecosystem where GYNS Hubs are everywhere. Schools are no longer just in buildings, the GYNS Hubs are embedded within the streets, neighborhoods, and parks. The city’s youth are the stewards of the future, and they must use real-world problem-solving skills to address the needs of their community in order to graduate.
The story begins when students start to notice gaps in the city’s Memory Archives, a collective of the wisdom of past and present Detroiters. The students then realize these gaps are intentional and a result of cyber attacks by a group who have infiltrated the city with the goal to erase the city’s history and progress, forcing Detroit to place the power of its education into the hands of corporations.
In this story, students must fight for their right to an education, each using their unique genius to do so. It illustrates a future youth, educators, and education activists are working toward, not only for Detroit but for the future of schools everywhere.
Read all of Project GYNS at the link in our bio!
Meet Torie J. Anderson-Lloyd, M.A.Ed, M.Ed 🌟 Torie is a Detroit-based educator, curriculum designer, and cultural organizer committed to transforming education through joy, justice, and culturally responsive teaching. As the founder of Teaching It Trill and Executive Director of BLK GRL Conglomerate, Torie blends storytelling, strategic design, and social justice into powerful learning experiences. Her leadership includes curriculum authorship for Detroit Public Schools, literacy workshops, antiracist training, and pioneering initiatives like Black Readers Matter and the Freedom Dreaming Curriculum for The Institute for Anti-Racist Education. With over a decade of classroom experience and a visionary approach to community engagement, Torie builds spaces where Black folx can bloom. Whether facilitating at national conferences or writing from the heart of Detroit, she turns lived experience into legacy work—centered on healing, equity, and creative liberation.
See our next post to preview Tories's Detroit Education Narrative Collective story "Project GYNS" 🌆
Learn more about the DEN Collective at the link in our bio!
Detroit's future needs to center its youngest residents. In Episode 12 of Our State of Education, Imani Foster, Communications Lead at 482Forward, shares why a citywide commitment to youth and education through the Mayor's office is what community members have been advocating for. Catch the full episode at skillman.org/stateofed and on your favorite podcast platforms!
Mayor Mary Sheffield joined Our State of Education to share how the city is stepping up as a partner for Detroit students and families. From transportation, to housing, to afterschool programs the City of Detroit is working to improve the systems outside of the classroom that shape how students show up to school every day. Hear the full episode with the Mayor and her team on your favorite podcast platforms!
Rooted in Rhythm is a series of mini documentaries from Detroit Education Narrative Collective member and Southwest Detroit’s own, Xavier Cuevas. The series tells the story of local arts organization Motor City Street Dance Academy, which has served the Southwest Detroit area for the better part of the past decade. Using the elements of Hip Hop as a tool to empower youth with social-emotional development, professional skills, career paths, and healthy living, MCSDA works to enhance the lives of Detroiters through Hip Hop, physical activity, and healthy living. Rooted in Rhythm tells the story of MCSDA through a series of vignettes from the different artists who have built the space from the ground up. With Detroit’s rich history in the elements of Hip Hop, few people are as equipped to speak to the inherent genius of Detroit’s youth and their efforts to empower and uplift the next generation of Detroit geniuses.
Watch the full Rooted in Rhythm series at the link in our bio!
