Earlier this week, my colleague Dustin Dwyer brought you Pushed Out: A documentary on housing in Grand Rapids, our final State of Opportunity documentary.
While our five-year project is coming to an end, the issues facing low-income kids and families in Michigan aren't. If you want a deep dive into the challenges facing families in poverty, listen to a few of our past documentaries.
Infant health is impacted by so many different factors from the health of the mother to access to healthy foods and safe environments. In our first State of Opportunity documentary, Jennifer Guerra dug into Michigan’s infant mortality problem and what was being done to improve the health of all babies in the state.
We’ve talked a lot over the last five years about how a child’s experiences in their first five years affect their development well into adulthood. In The Value of Early Education, Dustin Dwyer explored why so much depends on good preschools—especially for kids in poverty.
3. Foster care
In Finding Home, a documentary about foster care in Michigan, we showed you what life was like for Audrey, Brady and Andrew—a set of siblings who were removed from their biological parents’ home. The trio became wards of the state before being adopted together.
In a 2015 documentary, The Hidden Epidemic, State of Opportunity took a look at the opiate drug epidemic in Michigan and the people impacted.
Behind the headlines, the talking points and the campaign rhetoric, what is life really like for a family living without papers in America? Listen to Out From the Shadows to hear from people experiencing it firsthand.
6. Neighborhood school closures
Since 2000, the city of Detroit has seen nearly 200 school buildings shuttered. But what happens to a neighborhood—and the kids who live there—when a school closes? Find out in We Live Here, a documentary about the history and future of neighborhood schools in Detroit.
Listen to our final State of Opportunity special Wednesday, May 3 at 3 p.m. on Stateside with Cynthia Canty as we wrap up our project and hear reflections from the project's reporters.
