Ann Arbor AF

Check out the week of events and updates at www.dogoodwork.org/houseparty

Registration for Jess' panel: History to Present Day: Race and Housing in Ann Arbor

Come check out our episodes and transcripts at our website, annarboraf.com. Keep the conversation going with fellow Ann Arbor AFers on Twitter and Facebook. And hey, if you wanted to ko-fi us a few dollars to help us with hosting, we wouldn't say no.

Support the show

Come check out our episodes and transcripts at our website, annarboraf.com. Keep the conversation going with fellow Ann Arbor AFers on Blue Sky and Facebook. And hey, if you wanted to ko-fi us a few dollars to help us with hosting, we wouldn't say no.

Today we talk to Yodit Mesfin Johnson about the problematic promises of community “engagement,” and what it could look like to pivot more towards community-driven planning.  Yodit is presently co-leading (with Jess and developer partners Avalon Housing and the Ann Arbor Housing Commission) a community-driven planning effort for the mixed-use affordable housing project at Fourth and Catherine, a historically Black business and residential area in downtown Ann Arbor. 

Some programs we mentioned:

• The affordable housing development at 121 E. Catherine, including the first and second public sessions
• NEW’s Champions for Change program

Come check out our episodes and transcripts at our website, annarboraf.com. Keep the conversation going with fellow Ann Arbor AFers on Twitter and Facebook. And hey, if you wanted to ko-fi us a few dollars to help us with hosting, we wouldn't say no.

Support the show

Come check out our episodes and transcripts at our website, annarboraf.com. Keep the conversation going with fellow Ann Arbor AFers on Blue Sky and Facebook. And hey, if you wanted to ko-fi us a few dollars to help us with hosting, we wouldn't say no.

We continue our Civic Therapy miniseries talking to Ann Arbor Public Schools parent Liz Lin about WTF Schools: amygdala parenting, Zoom kindergarten, why she almost ran for school board, and why she didn’t.

Links we referenced:

• The Free Press article that broke the story of the lawsuit
• The original lawsuit filing itself
• The form to sign up to make a comment to the Ann Arbor School Board. Next meeting is August 23rd.
• And you can email thoughts (and big feelings) to the Ann Arbor school board any time at [email protected].

Come check out our episodes and transcripts at our website, annarboraf.com. Keep the conversation going with fellow Ann Arbor AFers on Twitter and Facebook. And hey, if you wanted to ko-fi us a few dollars to help us with hosting, we wouldn't say no.

Support the show

Come check out our episodes and transcripts at our website, annarboraf.com. Keep the conversation going with fellow Ann Arbor AFers on Blue Sky and Facebook. And hey, if you wanted to ko-fi us a few dollars to help us with hosting, we wouldn't say no.

Our Civic Therapy miniseries continues with Reverend Donnell Wyche about WTF Transportation. We embrace our collective Big Feelings about kids being able to bike to school, e-bikes as a vector of radicalization, the just-proposed Driving Equality Ordinance, and the cost of not taking Vision Zero literally.

Links we referenced:

• Transportation Alternatives Resource Hub
• TransitCenter

Come check out our episodes and transcripts at our website, annarboraf.com. Keep the conversation going with fellow Ann Arbor AFers on Twitter and Facebook. And hey, if you wanted to ko-fi us a few dollars to help us with hosting, we wouldn't say no.

Support the show

Come check out our episodes and transcripts at our website, annarboraf.com. Keep the conversation going with fellow Ann Arbor AFers on Blue Sky and Facebook. And hey, if you wanted to ko-fi us a few dollars to help us with hosting, we wouldn't say no.

In a continuation of our new miniseries, Civic Therapy, we are talking with Dan Adams about WTF, Library Lot.

Dan is a corporate attorney, local housing activist, and long-time bike person. He has lived in Ann Arbor since 2008 and grew up down the road in Dexter. In November 2022 he published a long piece in Damn Arbor about the current status of the Library Lot, how we got to this place, and what we should do to get out of it. He’s here today to talk about that piece and about the Library Lot, Prop A, and all the big mad feelings.

Referenced Articles

• Damn Arbor: Guest Opinion: Desolate and Uninviting—The Failure of 2018’s Proposal A and the Future of the Library Lot – Dan Adams
• Damn Arbor: Guest article: New Council, Who Dis? A Policy Wishlist – Jessica Letaw

Come check out our episodes and transcripts at our website, annarboraf.com. Keep the conversation going with fellow Ann Arbor AFers on Twitter and Facebook. And hey, if you wanted to ko-fi us a few dollars to help us with hosting, we wouldn't say no.

Support the show

Come check out our episodes and transcripts at our website, annarboraf.com. Keep the conversation going with fellow Ann Arbor AFers on Blue Sky and Facebook. And hey, if you wanted to ko-fi us a few dollars to help us with hosting, we wouldn't say no.

A proposed development with robust sustainability and affordability components, considered by many in our community to be a slam dunk for approval, hit a surprising road block this week. Join Jess and Molly for our first Civic Therapy session with Lisa Sauvé and Scott Trudeau: what happened to SouthTown, and why what happened points to some larger problems.

And hey, wanna check out HouseParty? Here's how you can.

Come check out our episodes and transcripts at our website, annarboraf.com. Keep the conversation going with fellow Ann Arbor AFers on Twitter and Facebook. And hey, if you wanted to ko-fi us a few dollars to help us with hosting, we wouldn't say no.

(And y'all, yes, we did mark this explicit twice...there are a few more swears than usual in this conversation.)

Support the show

Come check out our episodes and transcripts at our website, annarboraf.com. Keep the conversation going with fellow Ann Arbor AFers on Blue Sky and Facebook. And hey, if you wanted to ko-fi us a few dollars to help us with hosting, we wouldn't say no.

We’re back! Ann Arbor AF is…the same but different. Molly and Jess catch you up on the haps and where the pod will be going this summer.

Come check out our episodes and transcripts at our website, annarboraf.com. Keep the conversation going with fellow Ann Arbor AFers on Twitter and Facebook. And hey, if you wanted to ko-fi us a few dollars to help us with hosting, we wouldn't say no.

Support the show

Come check out our episodes and transcripts at our website, annarboraf.com. Keep the conversation going with fellow Ann Arbor AFers on Blue Sky and Facebook. And hey, if you wanted to ko-fi us a few dollars to help us with hosting, we wouldn't say no.

Today we are talking with Ben Connor Barrie about yet another blue-language civic engagement media project: Damn Arbor! We cover a lot of ground, including why it's important to say nice things about where you live.

Come check out our episodes and transcripts at our website, annarboraf.com. Keep the conversation going with fellow Ann Arbor AFers on Twitter and Facebook. And hey, if you wanted to ko-fi us a few dollars to help us with hosting, we wouldn't say no.

Support the show

Come check out our episodes and transcripts at our website, annarboraf.com. Keep the conversation going with fellow Ann Arbor AFers on Blue Sky and Facebook. And hey, if you wanted to ko-fi us a few dollars to help us with hosting, we wouldn't say no.

Today we are talking with Jerome Horne about radically abundant transit. We also took deep detours into being vulnerable, what our kid selves would think of us today, and navigating advocacy as and with humans.

Links we mentioned:

• TransitCenter's website and podcast, High Frequency
• Jerome on socials: Twitter and LinkedIn
• Jerome as t-shirt influencer: Fund Public Transit and Build Housing/Ban Cars/Be Queer (need link)

Come check out our episodes and transcripts at our website, annarboraf.com. Keep the conversation going with fellow Ann Arbor AFers on Twitter and Facebook. And hey, if you wanted to ko-fi us a few dollars to help us with hosting, we wouldn't say no.

Support the show

Come check out our episodes and transcripts at our website, annarboraf.com. Keep the conversation going with fellow Ann Arbor AFers on Blue Sky and Facebook. And hey, if you wanted to ko-fi us a few dollars to help us with hosting, we wouldn't say no.

Today we talk (and dream a little) with members of the Coalition for Reenvisioning Our Safety.

Paul is an Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and helps to organize the Michigan Chapter of Public Health Awakened. He spends his time thinking about, researching, teaching, and organizing around root causes of health inequities, including policing and immigration policies. You can find him on Twitter.

Ryan is an educator, activist, DEI consultant, artist, and community catalyst. He is a trustee for Avalon Housing, an alum of the Nonprofit Enterprise at Work's Champions for Change leadership program, and a founding member of CROS. You can find him on Twitter, Instagram, and his website.

For more learning:

• CROS: click Sign the Petition for email updates and action alerts
• MI chapter of Public Health Awakened
• Police Brutality in the U.S. A free online course by Ryan Henyard
• Why is there more funding for police instead of public health? a talk by Paul Fleming
• Policing is a public health issue, by Paul Fleming
• Nonprofit Enterprise at Work's Champions for Change leadership program
• Structural Racism: Causes of Health Inequities in the U.S. A free online course by Melissa Creary, William Lopez, and Paul Fleming
• Avalon Housing
• Derecka Purnell On Living (and Loving) Outside the Police State
• In a post-Roe world, we need a new emergency number by Lisa Jackson, Molly Kleinman, and William Lopez
• We Do This Til We Free Us

Come check out our episodes and transcripts at our website, annarboraf.com, and keep the conversation going on Twitter and Facebook.

Support the show

Come check out our episodes and transcripts at our website, annarboraf.com. Keep the conversation going with fellow Ann Arbor AFers on Blue Sky and Facebook. And hey, if you wanted to ko-fi us a few dollars to help us with hosting, we wouldn't say no.