Declare Detroit seeks your input on electing progressive, community-based leadership this year. We’re hungry for leaders who will put problem-solving above rhetoric and hold themselves accountable to residents first.

Part of our leadership ethos is to be transparent with our endorsement process. Below, you can see the objectives and criteria we have set to support a city-wide slate of council district seats, at large candidates and Mayoral endorsements.

Please read the criteria and then fill out this Declare Detroit Endorsement Form to help us know who you’re supporting in this years primary elections.

NOTE: All Endorsements are DUE BY MIDNIGHT, MONDAY, MAY 27.

Together, we can make a decisive difference in the 2013 Detroit Primary.

Thank you!

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CANDIDATE PROCESS & CRITERIA

OBJECTIVE
Declare Detroit wants to identify, encourage and support the best leaders possible for the city council by district races. While Declare Detroit will endorse in every race this year, and offer a full slate of candidates, we are most eager to support candidates in the council by district races.

To be effective, our candidates should bridge the values and principles of the Detroit Declaration, carry the confidence of other community-based leaders in their districts, and demonstrate the competence, disposition and grit required to execute a viable campaign and steward complex decision making and collaboration skills once in office.

Finally, candidates must be accountable on behalf of their districts, and able to integrate city-wide challenges and long-term solutions into their district agenda.

CRITERIA

• Alignment with and support of Detroit Declaration Principles
• Prior leadership experience
• Local support — who else has endorsed/supports candidate
• Professional support — how community based groups and organizations have evaluated the candidate
• Soft Skills — How the candidate would work with the council, the district (residents, businesses and organizations), the Mayor, Detroit Future City, the Emergency Manager, among others
• Candidate’s overall understanding of the job and the ability to link district needs with city-wide progress
• Ability to win — campaign fundraising, competency, energy, determination, competition

“It strikes me that the best way to protest the state’s intervention (and to make a strong point about city government’s dysfunction, to boot) is to do things that make the need for state help less dire. Show how dedicated Detroiters, working together, can actually make things better. Take control of the city’s trajectory. Make a difference.” -Stephen Henderson, Detroit Free Press

On Thursday, March 14, 2013, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder introduced Kevyn Orr as Detroit’s new Emergency Financial Manager. For the next 18 months, he is charged with getting Detroit’s finances in order.

During this time, it is vital that Detroit citizens remain engaged to move Detroit forward. It’s an election year, and we have a great responsibility and opportunity to ensure our future leaders have the vision and will to forge a brighter future.

If you care about defending democracy, here are 5 proactive things you can do:

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1. Register to Vote in Detroit: If you live in the city, we need you to vote in the city. If you live here but have been voting elsewhere, today is a good day to make the switch. Click here to learn how.

2. Get Out the Vote in Detroit: As Rochelle Riley reminded us in her March 15 Free Press column, we can preach and protest about democracy, but when it comes time to vote in Detroit, only one out of four of us actually does. We need YOU and all your friends & neighbors to be at the polls on August 6 & November 5. Go ahead and mark those dates on your calendar now.

3. Help Us Identify Candidates: Showing up on Election Day is only half the battle; we need to make sure we have strong leaders on the ballot from which to choose. If you know someone running for City Council in your district who supports the principles of the Detroit Declaration and needs support, let us know.

4. Volunteer for Candidates: Getting good leaders elected doesn’t happen magically. Candidates need our help to knock doors, make calls and raise dollars to win. Commit to offering your time to a promising City Council candidate in your district.

5. Donate to our PAC: We’re raising funds to support promising, solution-oriented future leaders who will represent the best interests of the people of Detroit. Whether you can give $13 or $313, we need your help. Donate today.

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“Detroit is struggling, but what are we doing? Fighting about a democracy that some of us care about only when it’s convenient — or when the cameras are rolling. Oh, we can make speeches about it. We can preach about it. But when it’s time to vote, one out of four people actually does. And when an entire city is in dire straits, do you pull out civics guides and a history of American democracy? Or do you solve the problem?” -Rochelle Riley, Detroit Free Press

Now more than ever, you can help us solve the problem by declaring Detroit through continued civic engagement and political action. Together, we can make a difference.

Stay connected by following us on Facebook for news & updates.

Declare Detroit leader Bradford Frost calls us to action — not just on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, but every day — in today’s Model D:

Lots of us now call MLK Day “a day on” instead of “a day off.” We volunteer. We dialogue together. We celebrate our progress towards justice, equality and equal opportunity. It’s a day when we put our best civic muscles to work.

But, in a way, I fear we have lost some of the potency behind Dr. King’s example. In the feel good hangover from doing civic deeds this past weekend far too many of us will fade into civic atrophy. (Not you of course, but everyone else!)

My pitch to you is this: make 2013 a year on in Detroit’s public square.

Click here for the full article.

Read, share & join us in declaring Detroit’s future!

Sandra with the framed copy hanging in the Mayor’s Office

To download a PDF of the Declaration, click here.

On October 29, Declare Detroit teamed with Model D, Detroit Free Press, Urban Innovation Exchange, Publius, D:hive and friends to present a two-part public forum at the U-M Detroit Center with voter information & a panel discussion about civic engagement & innovation. Enjoy this recap from Model D.

Spirit of Detroit statue at Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, Detroit

Join Declare Detroit & partners on Mon, Oct. 29, 2012 for a conversation about civic engagement and innovation in Detroit before the Nov. 6 election. The program begins at 6 p.m. at the University of Michigan Detroit Center. For information & registration, click here.

Are you registered to vote? The deadline is Oct. 9. Visit Publius.org for info.

To that end, we encourage all signers to not just VOTE in the primary on August 7, but to support candidates in your community who share these values by volunteering and donating to their campaigns.

In Detroit, we encourage you to support two people who have demonstrated their commitment to our principles:

• Adam Hollier (4th District)
• Scott Benson (1st District)

We ask all signers to commit a minimum of 3 volunteer hours and $10 contribution to each campaign. Follow our Facebook page for events and opportunities to meet the candidates and get involved.

Adam Hollier, Candidate for State Rep in the 4th District (www.adamhollier.com)

Steve Tobocman, Kirsten Ussery & Scott Benson (www.scottbenson4rep.com)

We also encourage you to support ballot initiatives aligned with the Declaration:

• Vote YES for your county’s Arts Authority to keep the Detroit Institute of Arts open. For more information, visit their website, “Art is for Everyone.”

(www.artisforeveryone.org)

On behalf of the over 15,000 signers and fans of the Declaration, thank you for declaring Detroit on August 7 and November 6. Change begins with YOU.

-Declare Detroit

Are you an official “signer” of the Detroit Declaration? If not, click here to add your name to the thousands of people who have committed to be stewards of the twelve principles in their communities.

How will you Declare Detroit in 2012?

In times like these, that question can breed phony optimism for some and suggest downright naiveté for others. But, for the nearly 15,000 advocates, signers and followers of the Declare Detroit movement, it is in fact, always a relevant question.

Why?

The reason is because our city needs civic mobilization and leadership accountability more than ever. Remember, this movement began in the wake of one of the most uncertain times in Detroit’s storied history: an upstart Mayor disgraced and betrayed our trust; our auto-heritage looked on the precipice of total collapse, and the leadership gap across the civic landscape was palpable.

Declare Detroit was built in that environment. Together, we confronted the perilous moment at hand in order to build momentum towards a Detroit future suited for the needs of all its residents and the demands of being a great place to live — a city we all can be proud of.

Detroit has never wavered in its civic pride. But, against the odds, unfortunately, it appears the “brink of collapse” discourse will dominate Detroit for yet another season in 2012. We get it. The financial crisis. Emergency Financial Manager. Regional transit collapse. Homicide up 12% in 2011. The headlines demand our attention.

So we stand by the 12 principles of the Detroit Declaration and the people near and far who embraced them as a platform for civic renewal in Detroit.  And we begin 2012 the same way we began the movement and ask you for your answer:

How will you Declare Detroit?

Join us on Martin Luther King Jr. Day — the 2nd anniversary of our launch in 2010 — by posting your answer on Facebook or Twitter with the hashtag #declaredetroit.

Let’s show our region, our state, and the world our commitment to creating a better future for our city.

(Photo by Marvin Shaouni for Model D)