April 8, 2024
By Nikolina Nava
The Detroit Partnership, a student organization sponsored by the Ginsberg Center, is gearing up for its annual DP Day, a single day of service that hosts hundreds of student volunteers across various spaces on campus and allocates them across community partner sites throughout the city of Detroit. Detroit Partnership is approaching almost 25 years of celebrating DP Day and is looking to get more students involved.
Since the first DP day in 2000, Detroit Partnership has now expanded to hosting a variety of weekly volunteer programming that has cultivated an active community of service learning at U-M. As a student-led organization, DP seeks to connect students at the University of Michigan with Detroit-based community partners by facilitating service-learning opportunities and on-campus events through weekly programs and major events.
Detroit Partnership works hard to provide seamless integration of education and service within the volunteering experience. Before and following each DP Day or major service event, the Detroit Partnership team facilitates reflection sessions, offering every volunteer an opportunity to deeply contemplate and discuss their role in community engagement. Prior to their participation, volunteers are briefed about the community partners they will be collaborating with, and are encouraged to reflect on their own privilege as volunteers.
“Volunteering in a way that works well for us may be harmful for our community partners,” said Shichi Dhar, Executive Director of Detroit Partnership. “So we try to combat this by educating and informing our volunteers on how to be mindful and respectful.”
After a full day of helping community partners with their work, Detroit Partnership hosts post-reflection sessions that are designed to be a space for volunteers to connect their own experiences of the day to their personal lives, share with their peers, and leave with a lesson.
“It's almost a shock to everyone how much you can learn in just one experience,” said Finance Director Shereen Shahid. “I think that's also what keeps people coming back and doing these reflections over and over again.”
With the collaborative support from Ginsberg staff advisors, Detroit Partnership leadership has been able to effectively utilize their Ginsberg grant funding to develop impactful weekly programs, including critical reflection and educational sessions and blog posts. In each of the newly added service learning events, it is evident that their number one goal is centering the community's needs before their own.
“We’re going there to help,” said Justine Barnard, Co-Director of the Internal Planning Team. “We’re not going there to do what we want to do—it's about going in and saying, ‘Where do you want me?’”
Students are encouraged to get involved with this year’s DP Day on April 13! Register as a volunteer – bring your friends! They are also always looking for more student volunteers in weekly programming – visit their website for available programs and timings. If you are interested in any of Detroit Partnership’s opportunities or have further questions on how to get involved, please email [email protected].