United Way Virtual Town Halls

Join us for a series of community conversations around topics that impact your life.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak began in Southeastern Michigan, United Way has worked to connect the families in our region to reliable information and helpful resources.

Now, we’re partnering with leading experts from our government, education and nonprofit partners to present a series of virtual town halls. These 30-minute virtual meetings will focus on a variety of topics, including water and utility assistance, unemployment, mental health, food access, education resources and more.

Check back on this page for updates on our virtual town halls, or sign up below to receive notifications via email.

Upcoming Town Halls

Oct. 14 at 10 am. – Helping Children Cope with Stress: Join Dr. Christopher Trentacosta, associate professor in psychology at Wayne State University, for this important discussion.
Join via Zoom
Join via Facebook Live

Oct. 21 at 10 a.m. – Futures for Frontliners: We’ll be joined by Avazeh Attari, data & policy fellow for the University of Michigan’s Youth Policy Lab, placed with Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity; and Erica Luce, manager, Office of Adult Education, Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity – Workforce Development.
Join via Zoom

Past Town Halls

Watch recordings and find resource lists from past Virtual Town Halls.

Oct. 7: – Equity in Education Funding: Mary Grech, senior data and policy analyst with Education Trust Midwest, joins us for this continuation in our series of discussions around equity and inclusion.

Sept. 30: A Conversation with the Michigan Women’s Commission: Shannon Garrett, chief strategy officer for the Michigan Women’s Commission, discusses gender equity, child care and more.

Sept. 23: Be Counted Michigan – A Virtual Town Hall Census 2020: Joan Gustafson, external affairs officer with the Michigan Nonprofit Association, discusses the importance of being counted in the 2020 census.

Sept. 16: Michigan Coronavirus Task Force on Racial Disparities with Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II
As part of United Way for Southeastern Michigan’s increased focus on issues of diversity, equity and inclusion, we were proud to welcome Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist to our Sept. 16virtual town hall. This was the first in a series of equity-focused town halls to take place once a month as a part of the weekly virtual town hall schedule. The lieutenant governor discussed the work of the Coronavirus Task Force on Racial Disparities, which he chairs.

Sept. 9: Resources for Parents and Students with Disabilities – A Back to School Virtual Town Hall with Michelle Driscoll, policy coordinator for Michigan Alliance for Families

Aug. 26: Connect4Care Kids – A new resource for families in Detroit seeking child care, featuring United Way staff Jeff Miles, senior director, Center for Early Childhood Excellence, and Delonda McCullum, Virtual Children’s Health Program/Connect4Care specialist, Social Innovation Fund

Aug. 19: Closing the Digital Divide – A Virtual Town Hall with Connect 313 featuring Joshua Edmonds, Director of Digital Inclusion for the City of Detroit

July 31: Discover Your Spark – a Virtual Town Hall on Out-of-School Programs for Youth with Sara Plachta Elliott, executive director of the Youth Development Resource Center