Leadership that doesn’t bend to pressure but moves toward possibility is coming to the forefront at a critical time. On May 22, 2025, three mayors who are confronting the consequences of policy failure and making deliberate choices to rebuild their cities will be in Detroit for Forum III of the Michigan Chronicle’s Pancakes & Politics series. The forum, themed Cities of Tomorrow: A Blueprint for Progress, brings together Mayor LaToya Cantrell of New Orleans, Mayor Andre Dickens of Atlanta, and Mayor Steven L. Reed of Montgomery to join local leaders in a national conversation about what it will take to govern urban communities in real-time.
The gathering is part of the 20th anniversary of Pancakes & Politics, a civic platform that started in 2005 and has grown into one of the most credible spaces in Michigan for straight policy dialogue and community engagement. As Detroit moves through a moment of population growth, redevelopment momentum, and persistent inequity, the forum’s subject matter holds weight. This isn’t just a panel. It’s a space where decisions, missteps, lessons, and examples will be laid bare by people who are doing the work.
Mayor Cantrell has been navigating housing affordability and environmental justice in a city still weathering the long-term impact of Hurricane Katrina and subsequent displacement. Her policies have drawn both criticism and cautious optimism. Mayor Dickens has introduced neighborhood-focused infrastructure projects and workforce programs in a city facing rapid gentrification, Black middle-class displacement, and affordability gaps. Mayor Reed has addressed criminal justice reform, voter access, and public trust in a southern city with a complex civil rights history and a renewed civic push for equity.
The conversation will take place at Elevate @ One Campus Martius at 7:50 a.m., and for the first time, the forum will explicitly place Detroit’s challenges beside those of other Black-led cities that have long had to build with limited resources and historic disinvestment.
This isn’t a coincidence. Detroit has reached a point where national frameworks must be brought in—not to dictate the path—but to offer strategy, solidarity, and perspective. While much of the local conversation has focused on investment and opportunity zones, housing redevelopment, and tech corridors, this forum asks a different set of questions. What does it take to lead when the stakes are not just political, but generational? What systems have to be dismantled before meaningful infrastructure can be rebuilt? What does honest progress look like in cities where economic data may improve while racial inequality deepens?
Those are not abstract questions. They are grounded in the realities of people who have lived through failed transit expansions, flooded basements in underfunded neighborhoods, rising rent in once-affordable corridors, and policy pilots that benefit newcomers more than legacy residents.
Pancakes & Politics Forum III builds on this year’s earlier sessions, which have focused on health access, automotive innovation, and state economic shifts. But the Cities of Tomorrow panel moves past sector conversations and instead examines the leadership models shaping the direction of entire communities. This is about governance—not in theory—but in the lived balance of budget constraints, community pressure, federal funding allocations, and the demand for measurable outcomes.
Dennis Archer Jr., who will again moderate the panel, emphasized the weight of this moment for Detroit. As Chairman & CEO of sixteen42ventures and someone who has long held space in both business and civic circles, Archer understands how governance, business investment, and public accountability intersect. “This panel brings extraordinary perspective to the challenges and opportunities facing our cities,” he said. “We are in a moment that demands transformational leadership.”
The inclusion of mayors from Montgomery, Atlanta, and New Orleans isn’t for show. These are cities where Black political leadership is matched with the burden of rebuilding trust and delivering real returns to communities that have heard too many promises. Their stories reflect both the power and the constraint of the mayoral office, especially in cities where state-level hostility, preemption laws, and budget limitations can derail progress. Each panelist brings not only policy wins but the complex realities of compromise, coalition building, and political pushback.
Hiram E. Jackson, Publisher of the Michigan Chronicle and CEO of Real Times Media, made it clear that this forum is an intentional expansion of the platform’s reach. “As we celebrate the 20th year of Pancakes & Politics, we’re expanding the conversation to include national thought leaders whose cities are at the forefront of innovation and progress,” Jackson said. “These mayors are making tough decisions and bold moves to improve life in their cities. Their insight will help us all think bigger about the future of Detroit and urban centers across the nation.”
The conversations happening across the nation about equity, public safety reform, climate infrastructure, and transit equity cannot be viewed as external to Detroit. These issues are showing up in school board meetings, city council hearings, tenant associations, and grassroots coalitions throughout the city. Forum III offers an opportunity for Detroiters to see how other cities are navigating these conversations and where shared solutions might be possible.
Rather than simply comparing models, the forum creates space for alignment. Detroit’s role in this dialogue is not passive. As a city that has pioneered neighborhood-led planning, community land trusts, and historic preservation as resistance, Detroit has also become a national case study for how cities recover without erasing the communities that shaped them. But there is still a long road ahead. The presence of national mayors affirms that Detroit is not isolated in its work—and that collaboration between cities is a necessary step toward sustainable progress.
As Pancakes & Politics enters its third forum this year, the focus is clear. The future of cities will not be determined by tech investments alone, nor by ribbon cuttings or press releases. It will be defined by who leads, how decisions are made, and whether policy outcomes reflect the needs of the people most impacted by them.
This week’s conversation doesn’t promise consensus. It invites accountability. And in a year when public leadership is under increased scrutiny across the country, that accountability is not optional—it’s urgent.