The youth of Wayne County didn’t wait to be told their voices matter—they walked straight into the policymaking process and showed what leadership looks like. On May 22, the members of the Wayne County Commission Youth Council gathered at the Detroit/Wayne County Port Authority building to close out their 2024-2025 term. Instead of celebration alone, they left behind legislation—an urgent, deeply researched resolution that targets one of the county’s most pressing and often overlooked public health crises: food deserts.
This year, the council turned its attention to the daily reality faced by thousands of households in Wayne County who lack reliable access to fresh, affordable, and nutritious food. The result was a resolution titled No Man Hungry, a document grounded in public health data and community testimony. It calls for comprehensive solutions to eliminate food deserts and outlines a path for state and county policymakers to follow.
Nida Kumar, a junior at Northville High School and the Youth Council president, formally presented the resolution to the Wayne County Commission. It was adopted with clear support and is now being forwarded to local state legislators. The resolution names food insecurity not as a fringe concern but as a crisis connected to transportation access, structural racism, economic inequality, and urban disinvestment.
“The youth commission has again taken on an important issue in a meaningful way,” said Wayne County Commission Chair Alisha Bell of Detroit. “Its members are to be commended.”
The data speaks directly to the stakes. Gleaners Community Food Bank reported in a 2020 study that roughly 304,020 Wayne County residents—17.3% of the population—experience food insecurity. Nearly 40% of children in the county fall into the overweight category. More than 70% of adults struggle with obesity. Communities with predominantly Black and low-income households are especially vulnerable, often surrounded by fast food establishments and convenience stores while lacking full-service grocery stores within reach.
The resolution defines food deserts as areas with limited or no access to affordable, fresh food. For households without reliable transportation, especially those without a car, distance becomes an insurmountable barrier. Many are forced to rely on options that are neither nutritious nor sustainable. According to the resolution, Wayne County contains a major imbalance—over 3,100 fast food establishments compared to only 1,700 grocery stores.
Commissioner Monique Baker McCormick, the Youth Council’s founder and current liaison, has guided the group since its establishment in 2020. She emphasized the importance of elevating youth voices in policy discussions and decision-making.
“I am thrilled to witness the remarkable impact that our youth council members continue to make as the voice of young people in government creating better conditions for their peers,” she said. “Our youth council empowers them for greater leadership roles in Wayne County and throughout the United States.”
The Youth Council met monthly throughout the school year. They participated in a legislative advocacy workshop hosted at Wayne State University. Members also traveled to Lansing for an Advocacy Day at the State Capitol. Two representatives attended a National Association of Counties event in Washington, D.C., positioning themselves among national youth leaders shaping local policy.
Since its inception, the Youth Council has addressed gun safety, student mental health, substance abuse, and economic oppression. Their gun safety resolution, introduced in a previous session, directly informed state legislation signed into law by Governor Gretchen Whitmer. This year’s resolution continues that tradition of addressing immediate needs through tangible policy proposals.
The No Man Hungry resolution offers concrete solutions. It calls for a county-wide ordinance permitting residents to keep chickens, ducks, and bees, a step aimed at increasing self-sufficient food production in neighborhoods underserved by grocery infrastructure. It advocates for the expansion of food banks and soup kitchens in school zones and near community landmarks. It demands support for community gardens in low-income areas to ensure regular access to fresh produce. It proposes food voucher and prescription programs that lower the cost of nutrient-rich meals. It urges public and family-based agencies across the county to formally endorse food access as a basic right for all residents.
The language of the resolution outlines both the urgency and the opportunity: “Wayne County being the number one ‘least healthy county’ in 2024” is not just a statistic—it is a direct result of systemic neglect. The resolution connects public health outcomes to zoning policies, access to transportation, and patterns of commercial development that leave Black and poor communities behind.
This is not the kind of policy that stays on paper. The Youth Council structured it to serve as a foundation for future ordinances, partnerships, and agency-level shifts. It’s a document with reach and teeth, built to survive political change and push past red tape.
At the year-end celebration, speakers including Mark Lee and 36th District Court Judge Kenneth King reinforced the importance of community leadership grounded in service. Certificates of recognition from Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib’s office were presented to council members, affirming the national resonance of their work.
Each Youth Council member is appointed by a Wayne County Commissioner, ensuring geographic and cultural representation across all 15 districts. This structure brings students from a variety of economic backgrounds, racial identities, and neighborhoods together to build a shared civic vision.
Applications for the 2025-2026 Youth Council session are now open. Interested students can contact their respective Wayne County Commissioner for an application or call Commissioner Monique Baker McCormick’s office directly at (313) 224-0884 for guidance.
The resolution concludes with a strong set of directives. It encourages collaboration between local agencies, educational institutions, and families. It calls on all county public facilities and schools to recognize food security as a requirement for youth success—not a luxury. It positions the Youth Council not as symbolic participants but as legislative influencers equipped to write, present, and move policy forward.
The young people behind No Man Hungry did not write from abstraction. They wrote from the knowledge that food deserts have long been a structural failure of public will. They wrote from the urgency that comes from watching classmates rely on gas station snacks for dinner. They wrote from neighborhoods where grocery stores are a bus ride away, but dollar menus are around every corner.
The work these young leaders put forward is not symbolic—it’s structural. It’s the kind of blueprint elected officials claim to champion but rarely have the courage to build. This council didn’t wait on permission. They did the research. They brought the receipts. They moved a resolution through government with precision and clarity, calling out what too many have chosen to ignore: hunger is a policy failure, not a personal one.
Their vision doesn’t live in theory—it lives in real neighborhoods, where the nearest full-service grocery store might be two bus rides away and dinner comes from a gas station shelf. Their policy push is a reminder that community transformation doesn’t start at the top—it starts wherever truth meets action.
This is the next generation of leadership in Wayne County. Not someday. Right now. And they’ve already set the expectation: if decision-makers won’t fight for the people, these young voices will draft the roadmap—and hold every seat at the table accountable.
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