The conversations shaping Detroit’s future don’t always happen in council chambers or corporate boardrooms.
Oftentimes, they take place over breakfast, where the stakes feel just as high and the tone is a little more candid. On Wednesday morning, May 13, Michigan Chronicle will continue to carve out that space with its third 2026 panel series of its Pancakes & Politics speakers’ forum – this time with a focus that lands squarely on the intersection of philanthropy and neighborhood impact.
The third forum in the 2026 series feels both timely and overdue, with a conversation about how philanthropic dollars and leadership are influencing education, the arts, and long-term investment in Detroit neighborhoods. Titled “From Detroit Neighborhoods to Regional Impact,” the discussion is expected to veer in the direction about the tangible ways institutions are shaping daily life across the city.
The panel brings together a group of women whose work sits at the core of that influence. Wendy Lewis Jackson of the Kresge Foundation has spent years directing funding strategies that ripple through community development projects, arts initiatives, and public spaces. Her work often operates behind the scenes, but the results are visible in corridors where investment once felt uncertain.
Angelique Power, leading the Skillman Foundation, comes into the conversation with a focus on children and education, but her reach extends into how systems either support or fail Detroit’s youngest residents. Skillman’s role in shaping educational outcomes, particularly in communities that have faced decades of disinvestment, gives her a vantage point grounded in both urgency and accountability.
From the Knight Foundation, Latrice McClendon adds another layer, representing an organization that has increasingly prioritized Detroit as a key city in its national portfolio. And her role as newly elected president of Detroit Public Schools Consolidated District brings even a different perspective to the conversation. Knight’s investments in journalism, civic engagement, and the arts have played a part in reshaping how Detroit tells its own story and who gets to tell it.
Kylee Mitchell Wells rounds out the panel, bringing perspective from the Ballmer Group’s work across Southeast Michigan. That organization has adopted a data-driven approach to philanthropy, targeting systemic issues tied to economic mobility, education, and family stability. In a region where disparities remain stark, that approach has sparked both optimism and scrutiny about how large-scale giving can move the needle.
Together, the panel reflects a cross-section of influence that extends beyond individual programs. These are leaders who help determine where money goes and how priorities are set.
Moderating the conversation is longtime Chronicle emcee Dennis Archer Jr., a familiar name in Detroit’s business and civic circles. As chairman and CEO of Sixteen42 Ventures, Archer has built a career around connecting opportunity with strategy, and his role as moderator positions him to push beyond surface-level answers.
The timing of this forum is important as Detroit continues to navigate a period of uneven recovery, where downtown development often grabs headlines while neighborhood concerns remain more complex and, at times, less visible. Additionally, Detroit is set to exhaust the $826 million in COVID-relief funding it received from the federal government in 2021 and will likely rely on philanthropic support to sustain some of the initiatives the city has implemented over the past five years.
Philanthropy has stepped in to fill gaps left by shrinking public resources, but that role raises ongoing questions. Who decides what a neighborhood needs? How are residents included in those decisions? And what happens when philanthropic priorities shift?
Those questions show up in classrooms lacking consistent resources, in arts programs fighting for sustainability, and in neighborhoods where investment arrives in the form of one-off donations instead of sustained giving efforts.
The panelists each operate within systems that attempt to address those challenges, but the effectiveness of those systems often depends on collaboration.
Pancakes & Politics has built its reputation on creating space for those kinds of honest conversations, and the format of the forums allow for a level of accessibility that larger conferences sometimes lack.
For people who are interested in participating in this sold-out forum, you can watch live starting at 7:50 a.m. on May 13 by logging on to MichiganChronicle.com/pancakesandpolitics, or by visiting Michigan Chronicle’s YouTube page. Additionally, Michigan Chronicle’s broadcast partner WDIV/Local 4 Plus will stream the event live at ClickOnDetroit.com/pancakesandpolitics.
