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Detroit Historical Society expands school partnerships and youth programming under new MOU with DPSCD
Summary
Detroit Historical Society leaders described a newly signed memorandum of understanding with the Detroit Public Schools Community District, expanded student-led programming and plans for internships, sensory rooms and community exhibits.
The Detroit Historical Society told the Detroit City Council it has signed an MOU with the Detroit Public Schools Community District and expanded museum programming to place students into research and leadership roles in Detroit-focused projects.
Rodney David Diehl, vice president for education and outreach at the Detroit Historical Society, described the MOU as a free engagement that brings museum programming and research opportunities directly onto high school campuses. "This is the first time in Detroit, at the Detroit Historical Museum that we have partnered with DPSCD to expand our educational programming to include students' research within their respective communities and the city at large," Diehl said.
Diehl summarized school-year activities: student-led Constitution Day events, a student-led Martin Luther King Jr. Day program, expanded Black History Month "On the Shoulders of Giants" programming that ran two weekends, and hands-on engagements for pre-K Head Start students at the Dawson Great Lakes Museum on Belle Isle. He said nearly 800 Hustle nominations last year produced 34 featured stories that are now part of the museum collection and that a second Hustle exhibition will launch later in the year.
Diehl also said the museum is building sensory rooms at both the Detroit Historical Museum and the Dawson Great Lakes Museum after becoming a certified autism center; that initiative was first announced last year and staff training is underway to serve neurodiverse visitors.
On internships and workforce pathways, Diehl and society leadership said the museum operates internships and summer programs that have led to some interns becoming full-time staff. The society said it recently invited a high-school student from Detroit to work at the Collection Resource Center and plans to expand student advisory and apprenticeship-style opportunities with city schools and cultural partners. Roo said the society and the newly formed Detroit Cultural Center Association are discussing shared programming and youth engagement across cultural institutions.
Council members asked about neighborhood access, senior outreach and the society's membership base for Detroit residents. Roo said there are 3,300 Detroiter members and that Detroiter membership is free for city residents. She described small-scale neighborhood and off-site exhibits (for example, an outdoor trail in Lafayette Park with QR codes and oral histories) and said the society is exploring partnerships with libraries and community organizations to loan artifacts and create mini-exhibits in neighborhoods.
Diehl and Roo said the MOU had taken time to finalize because of legal review and that the signed MOU changed some financial responsibilities; Diehl said the MOU is now in place and the society is rolling out school engagement activities. The society offered to provide council members with visitation data broken down by ZIP code and to coordinate student advisory involvement going forward.
The council accepted the presentation and moved discussion of the society's funding requests into executive session later in the meeting.
