How Detroit Plans to Add (and Keep) More People

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Hello friends, and welcome to your Daily Detroit sharing what to know, and where to go in

Southeast Michigan.

I am Jare Stays, and this is your show from Tech Town for Friday, April 3rd, 2026, joining

me at the table is a newsmaker of the week, I guess, but also a repeat daily Detroit

guest.

We're here to talk about growing and retaining Detroit's population, Hillary Doe, welcome

back to Daily Detroit.

Thanks so much for having me, excited to be here.

So you have a new title, since we last talked.

You are now the president and CEO of Move Detroit.

I'm assuming this is not an athletic gym.

It's not.

It's not.

It's a move to Detroit coalition, actually, and we just have the chance to, you know, have

our press conference today kind of celebrating the launch, but the mayor actually sort of soft

launched us at the state of the city earlier this week, and the intention is that this

coalition of folks now 50 organizations strong across, you know, our corporate partners,

foundations, lots of community organizations and universities are partnering with Mary

Mary Sheffield to make sure that we're doing what it takes to retain talent already here

in the city, as well as inviting former Detroiters and new folks, you know, back to Detroit

to join us.

So what is the impetus behind this for you, the mayor and the partners to say, this

is the time that we're going to lean into this, because, you know, the previous mayor

administration to a lot of people, it was like kind of like dealing with emergency, right?

Coming out of bankruptcy, those kind of things.

Mayor Mary Sheffield has much more of a look up vision, I think, for the city.

And like as a destination city, as a world class city, how does this move to Detroit project

fit in with that about keeping and retaining people as well as attracting folks, because

I'll be honest, I've heard things like this, you know, over the years, what sets apart

move to Troy?

Yeah.

You know, I think, first and foremost, I mentioned the coalition already, but I think that

really matters.

Growth is definitely a group project.

You can't get it done by yourself, actually, you know, in the role I was in prior to

this, and I was chief growth officer for the state, I always joked that that was a bit

of a misnomer, right?

Because the implication was that you could do it by yourself, and you certainly can't.

And in past sort of versions that we've seen in Michigan's history over the last handful

of decades, right?

Sometimes they've just been, you know, a marketing initiative or one talent program or

something like that.

Or talking about here is really a big vision, sort of holistic effort with, I think, the

right folks at the table, including Detroiters, right?

This should be driven by Detroiters with their feedback in our strategy, our programming,

our messaging, with them at the table in order to, you know, help drive the content that

we're sharing.

Otherwise, frankly, it just won't work.

And I think we have the right folks at the table in this instance to be able to get

this done.

And to your point about it being sort of a, you know, more positive vision, we do have

momentum.

We have the wind in our back right now.

We're coming off of, you know, two years of growth.

We have net positive migration where folks choosing to move in and then moved out.

And it's absolutely the time to keep your foot on the accelerator.

It's not a given that you continue to go in that direction or that you'll continue to

pick a pace, right?

We have to make sure that we're listening and still making the investments we need to

make to do well.

Hmm.

So when you talk about those investments, how does the rubber meet the road with some

of these programs?

So when we talk about them?

Yeah.

You know, the first one that we were able to launch earlier this week is kind of our

flagship talent retention and attraction program.

And the place we're starting is being able to offer $500,000 in financial incentives

to folks who are already here or who are coming back to join us.

You can get access to up to $15,000.

You can use for a down payment or to invest in your business.

And if you're relocating up to $1,000 in relocation benefits.

But beyond that, actually, there's a lot more elements, you know, programmatic elements

being able to, you know, get access to cool, unique, Detroit experiences, things like

that things that are intended to help you get routes, frankly, in the city and get connected

to community right here to help it be easier for you to choose to stay.

And programs like that, you know, are data backed, right?

We've looked at lots of them across the country.

Some don't work.

And others are very, very effective.

We've tried to make sure we're pointing this one at things that do work, like, for example,

housing incentives, because we know there's a really motivating and very high impact.

Hmm.

So how did move Detroit come together?

Well, you know, I think it was a combination of things.

There are a number of folks across sectors here in the city who really wanted to lean

into this kind of like population growth effort, probably in part, because there we've been

to seeing, you know, Michigan as a first mover, doing population growth work successfully

across the state.

But also, as you saw at the mayor's state of the city, she's been leaning in on this kind

of stay-return move concept to really ensure that folks across the country see Detroit

as this, you know, great place to live, work, and play, and she's backing it up with the

policies that we need to invest in in order to make sure that's the case, right?

You saw her talk about housing and transit, those among other things, median income growth,

are the kinds of things we know are required to kickstart population growth.

And so the combination of those things, having, you know, a mayor that, you know, cares about

this work and wants to see it grow and a coalition of folks who think this is the right metric

to use, I think that's a powerful, you know, combination for us to be successful at driving

forward, you know, Detroit's, Detroit's growth.

And so when we talk about this program, there's kind of the stay portion in incentivizing

people to stay here and the attraction portion.

I do want to get into the attraction portion, but as far as the stay portion, the, I remember

from covering the state of the city, it was very important to mayor, Sheffield.

What are the nuts and bolts of that?

What does that look like?

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Well, as it relates to the sort of move Detroit version of it, because of course, on

the mayor's side, they're leaning into, as I was mentioning, lots of, you know, different

policy elements that I think continue to improve quality of life and help make, you know,

Detroit a place, a great place to live.

But for move Detroit specifically, we're really focusing to start on Detroiters who have

really outsized impact on the city's growth.

So the make Detroit home program, for example, is targeting entrepreneurs, small business

owners, folks who are working creatives as, you know, the folks that we're trying to make

sure get access to these resources in this first tranche.

The reason why is because those folks are job creators, they're place makers, and making

sure that they can stay here and build their businesses and their futures here is really

critical to Detroit's long-term growth.

We don't want them not only to stay, but by virtue of them staying, others will, right?

Their communities improved.

They're, they're really critically important.

So that's, that's a really key element of that stay, stay effort.

Well, that's very important to me, because I can think about the numbers of people, even

on this very daily Detroit team over the years, we've got more people in Chicago than we

have anywhere else in our alumni base, right?

And I don't want to keep seeing that.

I've watched that happen over and over again, over the last quarter century, where people

get to a certain talent level, and they feel like they've topped out, or their monetary

opportunities have tapped out, or the career opportunities.

And so anything to help open the doors for them where they can stay rooted in Detroit,

I think is a very positive thing.

Yeah, and you know, even beyond that, you know, kind of direct program benefit style program

that I was just mentioning, we announced today this neighborhood ambassador program.

I think it's really critical for what you're getting at as well.

Because the idea there is that we're ensuring Detroiters will be the ones that give us feedback

about what's between them and building their future here, what they love about their

life in Detroit, and that those insights and feedback will be the things that shape

our strategy, decide where we place our investments, shape our programs, right?

Because when we get feedback about what the challenges are that they might be bumping

into or what the real opportunities are that they see, then we know how to point our resources

to make sure that we're doing the best job that we can, you know, to keep them right here.

So we announced a couple of programs, but there'll be a lot more to come once we get all

that feedback from those neighborhood masters.

Well, and I know that surveys are something that are passion, that is something that's

a passion of yours.

And we'll get into that in a little bit.

Why don't we touch on the attraction piece because I think that's really frustrating

for some folks about like how do we make it work in Detroit?

How do we get more people to be here?

Because I mean, candidly, and this is only my opinion speaking, like I think it's going

to be hard to make the math work for the city of Detroit unless we start putting people

back on these streets.

I remember a city, I was part of a city in my lifetime that was a million people.

And that has monumental impacts at 300,000 person dealt to let alone the historical high

of, you know, closer to two million.

That has real world impacts on infrastructure, on the money you have for schools, on,

for everything is tied into that.

So yeah, absolutely.

And I mean, you just got, got added a little bit, right?

But I think sometimes we don't sort of recognize that having more neighbors also means, you

know, more tax base to invest in our quality of life.

Also, frankly, more customers, right, for our small businesses, so many Detroiters, you

know, a larger percentage than in a lot of cities have started businesses are entrepreneurial.

We have so many makers, you know, in Detroit, and we want them to have plenty of folks walking

around, walking by, you know, being their customers, lots of foot traffic.

That makes for a vibrant, you know, community.

And Michigan, not just Detroit, but Michigan for a long time, it hasn't just struggled with

retention.

In fact, relative to other places, it's not always been retention.

That's the problem, right?

It's actually, this quote unquote replacement effect, wanting folks who picked their head

up off their pillow and Nashville to say, hey, I'm going to try on Detroit or somewhere

else.

And so the way that we're approaching that actually is by starting with, you know, those

Detroiters or folks who have connections to Detroit ancestral connections, you know,

once removed, or who went to school here, for example, and maybe left us for places

like Atlanta and Houston, your listeners will, you know, know those folks, right?

And some of our listeners are in those cities.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Exactly.

And who are still big fans or remember maybe a version of Detroit that is different than

the one that we have been able to create together here in the city and encourage them

to think about coming back home and joining us and helping continue to build this together.

And if we can, you know, build a program that helps make that a little bit easier.

They're transition a little bit easier so they can get connected to the community, take

advantage of some of these program benefits.

Great.

I'm happy to invite them home.

Now what's kind of the scope of these programs, how many people might be impacted in this early

round?

Yeah.

Well, the first tranche of Make Detroit home is intended to engage 313 Detroiters.

You might guess why.

But I feel like we're a podcast who may have had a 313 trivia day.

I don't know.

But, you know, that's not because that's exactly the number of folks we're hoping to serve,

right?

I think the real question is, is how many people actually remember the phone numbers in

their phone that have the 313 area?

Yeah.

I'm jealous.

I really want one.

You know, I was joking about going on Craigslist, if anyone's, you know, I got one.

I actually have my uncle's number.

Yeah.

It's been around since the 60s.

Yeah.

Oh my God.

From the East Side of Detroit.

Yes.

That's amazing.

But all to say, you know, it's not because we think 300 folks is not afraid.

It's just the first tranche.

But our intention is to start there and make sure that we're, like I was mentioning before,

using data-backed strategies to assess, is this exactly right?

Or this is a package of benefits and offerings, exactly right?

Get feedback from the folks that are participating and then keep going from there.

But the intention is to eventually get us to a place where, you know, we are in the

tier of, you know, fastest growing cities.

First of all, you know, the places in the Midwest that are experiencing really healthy

retention and, you know, returning folks and then eventually, you know, in the country.

What would you say to somebody who might be listening to this going, I don't know if

I want change.

What would you say to them?

First of all, I'm really sympathetic.

I mean, I've been doing this work across the state for the last few years.

And for example, in places like, you know, the UP or Northern Michigan, I understand completely

beautiful, beautiful places, right?

Who, it's reasonable to say, I don't want to disrupt any of that.

Same thing here, I think, we have an incredible culture, something really unique.

But what I would say is that, you know, we're doing this in a way that's driven by Detroiters,

you know, first and foremost.

And we're also doing it in combination with a mayor and administration that's really

focused on thinking about things holistically.

So for example, if you're doing this work at the same time as you're really committed

to building housing and having, you know, affordable, accessible housing options, it's

a way that means it won't be as, right, disruptive where you're kind of ensuring that the Detroit

we have on the other side is the Detroit that we love today.

As opposed to one that's, you know, not being planned holistically and with Detroiters

at the center.

How is all of this going to be funded?

Yeah, but in this case, the partnership with the city is, you know, programmatic, but

we aren't publicly funded.

It's actually been those member organizations, those 50 folks now who've come on board that

are investing in these programs and helping us get this done.

Like I mentioned, we've got a number of sort of corporate supporters across the city,

as well as a couple foundations, a good number of community organizations that we want a lot

more.

So open invitation for all those folks who want to join us.

And a number of universities as well.

And today at the press conference that we had to announce this Dan Gilbert mentioned that

in this first year, he's actually going to match also all the dollars that we're able

to raise, which hopefully, you know, will help us get a good, good head start here.

When we last talked, I remember conversations at Mac and all you were the chief growth officer

for the city for the state of Michigan.

Why change gears?

Like how did, how did you go from there to this and why focus, why be a part of focusing

on the, on the city for those who might not know the story, right?

Because there was a lot of talk about the statewide population push and to see you focus

on the city.

Of course, I'm glad to see it, but what were your thoughts behind it?

Yeah, for sure.

Well, I mean, that work has been such an incredible foundation.

I'm so proud of what we accomplished there and learned.

And it's, you know, continuing, we're seeing communities across the state continue to

do that work, incorporate that thinking they're still rolling out growth office programs.

I'm really, really proud of all the work that we did there, but as the governor has been

going into her last year before, you know, we, we elect a new governor.

We actually, I decided in the fall to pick up a lot of that work and set it down in

a piece of long term infrastructure, just to make sure that we could continue work that

was working.

You know, we're seeing, again, mentioned before that migration be positive for the first

time in a long time.

My favorite stat is, you know, our young and dull population is now accelerating fifth

fastest in the country.

Those are the kinds of trends you want to continue, right?

I didn't want to take our foot off the accelerator.

So in the fall, we put that work into my go, the Michigan Institute for Growth and Opportunity

to continue that statewide work.

I'm still definitely tending to that.

But to get this opportunity to do this work in the city that I live in and love, where

I firmly believe that as goes Detroit, so goes the state, this is an incredible opportunity.

And to lean in with sharp elbows as well, you know, the way, the challenges and opportunities

that, you know, Grand Rapids have are so different than Trevor City are so different

than Saginaw or Detroit, right?

And so to get to focus in one place means you get to do it with sharp elbows and really

be specific and responsive to the community, make programs that are really tailored.

I'm thrilled.

I think we'll be able to have even greater impact, even more, you know, impressive results

if it's driven by Detroiters.

So I think this is going to be a really, really incredible, incredible opportunity.

What's the biggest thing that you learned in that work?

Something maybe you were surprised to know or what, what did you grow around yourself

around that work?

Yeah.

I mean, if I'm being honest with you, I think that one of the things, the, the sort of,

sounds a little bit cheesy, but the, the sort of joy of my career really was getting the

chance to talk to as many Michiganers as I got the chance to talk to over the last few

years and realize, you know, that even though it can be kind of a scary conversation sometimes

as we were just talking about, right, like inherently change can be a little bit scary.

When we really sat down with folks and we did with about 20,000 Michiganers over that

time in long form conversations about what they loved about their place and what they

wanted to build, you know, we came out the other side almost to a person with folks really

supportive of the idea that we could lock arms and accomplish really big things together.

And that was so, you know, life giving.

And if that's possible across the state, I know it's possible in Detroit, Detroiters

have no quit and, you know, endless, boundless creativity and vision.

I can't wait to do an equivalent, you know, amount of work in our neighborhoods alongside

Detroiters to build similar, you know, distinctive visions for each of the neighborhoods across

the city and really, you know, work with folks to get them done.

If people want to get involved, how can they, whether they're interested in learning

more about the programs and being a part of it or say funding?

Yeah.

Well, anyone can let us know that they're interested in either, yeah, join a program

or partnering with Move Detroit at MoveDotrate.com.

There's actually a partner with us for him.

You can let us know how you'd like to participate and come on board.

We'd love to have you.

It really is a group project.

So we need everybody we can and I think we'll get this done.

Hillary Doe, the CEO of MoveDotroid.

Thank you so much for joining us on Daily Detroit.

And I must say, you've got, it's all one word.

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