Current status and lessons from Europe

Things are bad in the city. According to the News, about half of Detroit is unemployed (http://detnews.com/article/20091216/METRO01/912160374/Nearly-half-of-Detroit-s-workers-are-unemployed), though the official rate is only 27%. The official rate for Michigan is 14%, but including the discouraged and underemployed, it is 24%. Quite the disaster.

On a more positive note, Robert Bobb has rallied 900 volunteers to help students in Detroit with reading. I wouldn't mind helping coordinate that effort - this article speaks to the need for effective organization and management of the initiative: http://freep.com/article/20091216/OPINION01/912160318/1322/How-will-Bobb-lead-his-volunteer-army? - basically, clear goals, training for the volunteers and staff, and metrics for success are needed to ensure this isn't a wasted effort.

An interesting piece from the New Repbulic that I learned from the Free Press (http://freep.com/article/20091216/BLOG2505/91216012/1322/Why-Detroit-must-not-die) about lessons from Europe and how a failure for Detroit would be a failure for America: http://www.tnr.com/article/metro-policy/the-detroit-project?page=0,2

I would recommend everyone read it and take heart - if Belfast, Turin, and Bilbao can recover, so can Detroit! We just have to get our act together...