August 16, 2023
482Forward has been busy this summer! We had an amazing Solutions Summit in June, which led us into an important win–The State of Michigan is finally giving DPSCD the $94.4 million owed from the Literacy Lawsuit!
Check out this newsletter to see how 482Forward is involved in fighting for how the money is spent, and how you can get involved! You’ll also see what we’ve been up to the past few months, and what we have coming up.
Youth Organizing Department
Our Youth Organizing Department was busy in June! We showed up in large numbers for the 482 solutions summit, co-hosted a virtual Pride Month celebration, and supported the Congress of Communities Queer Prom! Check out some photos from our June events! Now we’re kicking off summer youth employment with 40 youth in partnership with Urban Neighborhood Initiatives and Congress of Communities.
Several members of the 482Forward Youth Organizing team met with human rights delegates from India’s Tamil Nadu state. They discussed youth organizing, women’s rights, and how to increase political engagement and participation for traditionally marginalized groups.
Solutions Summit
We also hosted a very successful Solutions Summit, and here are the next steps you can take if you missed out on the conference but want to be involved in our fight for community voice to be incorporated in how the $94 million coming to DPSCD for literacy will be spent!
1) If you haven’t already, click here to sign up for a committee! We spent time in four breakout groups forming committees to focus on what priorities should be for spending this money, and solving other issues we discussed. The four committees include: Parents & Guardians, Students, Educators, and Charter Parents/folks interested in having conversations about charter school accountability. If you’ve already signed up, keep an eye out on your email for our next steps to prepare for our first convening.
2) There will be four community meetings hosted by the Detroit Literacy Task Force to help hear from the community about what would improve the overall literacy rates in DPSCD. If you would like to attend those, keep an eye on your email for dates, times and locations.
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Board Member Highlight
A Native of Alabama, Wytrice moved to Detroit as a little girl and attended various Detroit public elementary and middle schools graduating from Cass Technical High School. Wytrice is a non-traditional college student who went back to college in her 30’s and subsequently completed an associate degree, two bachelors and two masters. Wytrice has worked in various aspects of the education arena in the past including tutoring non-traditional students in mathematics, teaching alternative high school students, working as a program advisor at Wayne State University for Math Corps and as the program director of the Osborn College Access Network for Osborn Neighborhood Alliance. She also was a parent organizer and communications lead for 482Forward. Wytrice also has served in ministry with her husband as pastor of Total Life Christian Ministries since 1995.
Wytrice Harris is currently the Senior Director of College Success and Partnerships for the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Detroit Promise scholarship. She began as a Campus Coach in the program in 2016, and uses her coaching knowledge, and passion for students, to help inform her current work.
Before joining the Chamber, Wytrice worked as a College Access Network Coordinator for 5 years at a Detroit High School and a College Success Coach for seven years at Wayne State University. She is also currently an author, and published her first book, “You Can Still Walk This,” two years ago.
Wytrice has a passion both for education and for Detroit students. She is committed to helping anyone and everyone with their educational needs. She has a wealth of knowledge on education matters in general and a heart to share it with anyone and everyone. She is an excellent example of persistence and lives by the motto “if better is possible, good is never enough”. Her life’s commitment is to help others reach their better.
Upcoming Events
- Our next orientation will be September 16th from 11am-12pm, at TechTown, Detroit, 440 Burroughs. If you are a new member interested in going through orientation, please click here for more information.
- We will be hosting our Team Huddle September 30th, and invite all core members to save the date in their calendars. There will be information coming soon regarding the time, location, and discussion topic.
- We also want you to save the date for our annual Fall Conference, which will be November 4th. You can register here, and the save the date is below
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