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National Voices, Local Urgency: Pancakes & Politics Forum 2 Confronts Federal Cuts, Chaos in Washington, and Detroit’s Path Forward

Ebony JJ Curry, Senior Reporter | April 17, 2025

The view from the 16th floor of One Campus Martius says a lot about Detroit—its grit, its progress, and its unfinished business. But on this morning, the skyline was met with something even more powerful: an unfiltered conversation that stretched far beyond Michigan. The Michigan Chronicle’s Pancakes & Politics Forum 2 wasn’t business as usual. It was national in scale, local in impact, and deeply personal for the communities caught in the crossfire of political chaos and federal disinvestment.

For the first time in the forum’s 20-year history, national voices were flown in to sit beside Michigan’s most respected local leaders. The panel consisted of Nicole Sherard-Freeman, President of Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, Don Graves, former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce, David Egner, President and CEO of Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation, Kelly Kuhn, President and CEO Michigan Nonprofit Association, and Michael T. Pugh, national CEO Local Initiatives Support Corporation. Their charge: confront the consequences of vanishing federal support, dissect the urgency of the current political climate, and offer strategy that bridges national discourse with community needs.

This second installment of the season carried a different kind of weight. Not only because of the long-term significance of the series, but because the financial and institutional systems that hold communities together are shifting—and not for the better. Nonprofits, local governments, and working-class families are bracing for more disruption. The panelists understood this wasn’t just a dialogue—it was a directive.

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Original Article: https://michiganchronicle.com/national-voices-local-urgency-pancakes-politics-forum-2-confronts-fede