Last Thursday, I had the honor of participating in a panel discussion on Career Transitioning for the Future of Detroit during the Payne-Pulliam School’s Door Opener Celebration.  There were a couple hundred people in attendance at this event.  Mayor Dave Bing was there, a couple of Detroit City Council people were there, the chancellor and vice chancellor and the head of workforce development from three of our area’s most prominent community colleges were there, Detroit’s Job Czar was there, the heads of Tech Town, the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy were there…are you getting the picture?  It was an amazing assembly of people who are really interested in seeing our city and our region move through the crisis we find ourselves in by supporting education and developing the careers of our people.

Since last Thursday, I’ve been looking on-line for media coverage of this event.  I wanted to post a story to my LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook pages so that the people in my network can see that there is some positive stuff going on in Detroit.  I wanted them to know that there are people like Freddie Lindsay-Payne and Betty Pulliam who are (and have been for years) making a difference in our community.  These two dyno-women-founders of the school are dedicated to empowering people in the city by offering educational resources that will, as the program stated, allow these folks to “enter our employment society.”  I looked and looked, for some coverage on this event, and I came up with NOTHING.  Why wasn’t anyone from the media at this event?  Are we only interested in what’s wrong in our community?  During crummy times like the one we find ourselves in, we need all the positive news we can get our hands on.  If we are going to shift our mindsets here in Michigan from the victimized “no worker left behind” to the empowered “every worker moving forward,” we need to share stories about events like the Payne-Pulliam event.  We need to show one another that Yes! You Can make a difference if you have a vision, and work hard, and work together.

My hats off to Betty Pulliam and Freddie Lindsay-Payne for their tireless work on behalf of the unemployed and underemployed people in our community.  If the media is not willing to spread the word on what you are accomplishing, then maybe the people in your network and  mine will spread the news that there’s good stuff happening in Detroit.