As much as I love Flint, I know the city isn’t perfect. We struggle with crime, blight and a shrinking community that leaves no traces of the Flint I grew up with in the 80s or even 90s. But we are working to help build a better Flint.
It’s not easy. That’s why we started working with the Solutions Journalism Network in 2019 to produce stories that focused more on answers to some of our toughest problems. We need your help to continue that work.
In 2024, we would like to expand our solutions journalism to investigate, explain, and offer a critical and clear-eyed view of how people are trying to solve Flint’s biggest problems. These stories feature evidence-based and rigorous reporting that explores what local and national leaders are doing to create better and more equitable communities.
I know you’ve received quite a few emails from me, but we are still working to reach a $20,000 fundraising goal this year and gaining 100 new sustaining members to join other community members in support of our work for Flint. We are nearly halfway there!!!!
Your contribution supports Flint-focused news covering solutions-focused stories, local government, public health, business, education and neighborhoods. If you donate now through Dec. 31, 2023, your donation will be matched, dollar for dollar, thanks to NewsMatch, a national effort to help newsrooms sustain.
Check out the work we’ve produced in 2023 focused on helping solve some of the city’s biggest challenges.
Genesee County’s senior abuse prevention model to be taken statewide
From a small office on the ground floor of the county jail building, the four members of the Genesee County Sheriff’s Office elder abuse taskforce tackle concerns over the treatment of thousands of the community’s older residents.
‘Prisoner on the outside’: Flint considers fair chance housing policy for justice-impacted citizens
Flint resident Howard Sanders was convicted of murder in the second degree at 17 years old. Now, 33 years later, he still faces difficulty finding housing in Flint.
Sanders served a 25-year sentence and was released on his first opportunity for parole in 2015.
A downtown Flint vending machine is helping combat opioid overdose deaths, stigma
Against a beige brick wall on the east side of Flint’s downtown bus station is a single vending machine. It seems unremarkable, but on closer inspection, instead of candy and bags of potato chips, it dispenses boxes of fentanyl testing strips and Narcan, a potentially life-saving medication that reverses opioid overdose.
Looking to cut down 911 response time, UM-Flint police offer the city a data-driven solution
Almost three weeks ago, the University of Michigan-Flint Department of Public Safety launched a new initiative to reduce crime and improve 911 response time in downtown Flint.
From 4 p.m. to midnight, Monday through Saturday, the department is now the first responder to 911 calls in the city’s downtown, an area roughly defined by officers as Grand Traverse Street to Chavez Drive and Fifth Avenue to Court Street.
Check out the solutions-focused work we’ve reported in past years.
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Thank you for your support,
Jiquanda Johnson
Founder and Publisher
Flint Beat