In this episode of The Minutes, the Center for Local Governance explores what it means to seize opportunity in a city with many economic challenges.
The State Policy Network recently invited the Center for Local Governance to Detroit, Michigan. The unemployment rate in Detroit is 14.5%. Its population declined 25% in the first decade of the 21st century. Abandoned houses line the crumbling streets.
But some refuse to give in to their difficult circumstances.
Detroit’s decades-long decline has left many of its residents without economic opportunity. Miiha, a school bus driver currently without employment, was struggling to make ends meet as her bank account began to dry up.
While she could have turned to the government for help, she instead decided to take matters into her own hands and become a micro-entrepreneur by becoming a driver for a ridesharing service now operating in Detroit. Through ridesharing, she has been able to become her own boss, instead of having to rely upon government assistance.
If Detroit is to find economic success again, people like Miiha will be the driving force behind it.