In this episode of Caregiver Conversations, Detroit City Councilman Scott Benson joins us to share his personal journey as a caregiver, from supporting his father through Alzheimer’s to helping his mother age in place. Councilman Benson opens up about the emotional realities of caregiving, the decisions families face, and how his experiences inform his advocacy work in Detroit. He also highlights community resources, the importance of respite, and what’s ahead in supporting caregivers through policy and partnerships.
Guest: Councilman Scott Benson, Detroit City Council – District 3
Hosts: Kristie King & Antonia Harbin Lamb
Topics Covered:
Resources Mentioned:
Senior Regional Collaborative
Neighborhood Legal Services – Elder Law and Advocacy Center
Caregiver Conversations Podcast
Kristie: [00:00:00] Welcome back to Caregiver Conversations where we explore the real stories, challenges, and solutions that matter most to caregivers. I'm your host, Kristie King, executive director of the Southeast Michigan Senior Regional Collaborative,
Antonia: and I'm your co-host Antonia Harbin Lamb staff attorney at the Elder Law and Advocacy Center, a division of Neighborhood Legal Services, Michigan, and Program Manager of Great Lakes Legal Mediation Division.
Today we're here with a special guest, Detroit City Council member Scott Benson, representing District three. With a strong background in urban planning and community development, member Benson is committed to improving infrastructure, promoting economic growth, and ensuring a high, a higher quality of life for Detroit residents.
His passion for service and deep connection to the community make him a driving force for positive change in the city. He is the creator of the city of [00:01:00] Detroit's Senior Task Force, a committee with the mission of creating safe and friendly communities for seniors and the creator of the Wealth Generation task force.
The task force works to advocate for the creation of policies that increase wealth, move families out of poverty, and increase the number of middle class Detroiters, welcome to the show.
Councilman: Oh, thank you. How's everybody today?
Kristie: We are great. Yes. This is gonna be a little different today. Yes. 'cause I am gonna be interviewing Antonia again and Councilman Benson, so it'll be a little bit different.
So Antonia won't be rapid firing with me today, but never. Doesn't matter. We're gonna make it. Yes. Make it happen and have a great time. Legibility. Yes. Alright. Absolutely. Yes. So we are definitely fortunate today to have both of you all to talk a little bit more about the Heirs Property program. That's also called the City of Detroit Life and Legacy Planning Program.
So. We'll go ahead and get started. Councilman Benson, [00:02:00] why did you first wanna create the wealth generation task force? You know, what was the passion behind creating that wealth generation idea?
Councilman: Oh, great question. So during my time at the City council, we fluctuated when it comes to the number of residents who were in poverty.
So when I started the job, they were using the number, about 40% of Detroit residents were in. At or below poverty, which is a huge number, right? If you think about it. Um, since that timeframe, we've been able to get that number down to around 30. Um, and we were able to get it down lower prior to the, um, type to covid.
I. But once Covid hit, a lot of people lost their jobs. Mm-hmm. Versus a huge, um, unfortunately we went back up in those numbers, but we're down back down around 30 again. And so for me is what can we do to actually start the conversation around wealth building and around generational wealth and as the blackest city.
In the country, it's really important that we help move our people out of poverty. So for me, [00:03:00] it's how do I get people out of poverty? How do I retain my existing middle class? Mm-hmm. And when I get people outta poverty, I want them just above poverty. I want them solidly in the middle class. Mm-hmm. And then how do we make Detroit a space where middle class families want to return, who may have departed?
And when you think about it, in the year 2000, we saw a huge drop in the population in the city of Detroit from about a million down to about 750,000 people. And that was a direct result of black flight, black middle class flight to the suburbs. And so when you think about that, what do we need to do to make Detroit a space?
Where our black middle of class families want to come back. And so the Wealth Generation task force is all about putting money in people's pocket. Mm-hmm. To quote one of our members, Huel Perkins, who coined that term. So we wanna put money in people's pockets. And so this is, that's what it was about for me.
And so we brought together a number of professionals, um, in that space. So we had, um, the carpenter's union, we had attorneys, we had [00:04:00] bankers, we had housing professionals, all thinking about what it takes to help generate wealth in this for families in the city of Detroit.
Kristie: Want them to thrive. That's kind of what I heard you say.
You really want the community to thrive. Mm-hmm. You want that middle class to thrive. You want them to feel like they're thriving as well as they're part of the community itself. And so with that task force, it seems the first program launch was the heirs property program. Mm-hmm. Um, and so that seems like to be a really powerful initiative focused on helping Detroit families.
Thrive Exactly. That. Preserve their homes and build that generational wealth. So kinda walk us through that process behind creating the program and just share a bit about its mission and what that looks like and feels like for you.
Councilman: So this was great. So this came as a direct result of some of our early conversations, and this came from our attorneys, um, who are in the, the space around family law and estate planning and estate law.
So they indicated how many people lose their property as a direct result [00:05:00] of not having proper estate planning, not having a will, um, not having power of attorney and the loss of equity within our community is huge. And if you've had a chance to read the Detroit Future City report, where it estimates about 5,500, um, heirs properties, which means they don't have clear title to their home are in the city of Detroit, which means they're either going to lose.
They are in danger of losing their equity, and we see about $62,000 of equity saved when these families properly plan and have an estate plan for their homes. And so if you're the granddaughter or the son who's living in big mama's house and you're paying the taxes or not, and you're paying the mortgage.
Or not because you haven't done the proper paperwork and no one's really said, ah, big mama's no longer here, and you, you don't have clear title. So all that equity that you built up, your family's generational wealth can [00:06:00] be lost. And it often is. And even if it's not, if you have to go to probate, you gotta pay attorneys.
Often the money that you don't have and attorneys are not cheap. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So for $2,000 of what it typically cost to have a proper estate plan, the City of Detroit will do that for free Now. And, uh, it's also time consuming. Yeah. And it's boring and it's not sexy. Yeah. Yeah. And so people don't want to do it.
Yeah. And so we make it easy for you. We pay for it. And we're seeing, we had 1400, excuse me, 1500 people go through the process and when you see someone complete the process, that's about $62,000 in equity saved. That can go to your church, it can go to your family, it can go to your school, it can go to whomever.
Hopefully keep it in the family. But that's just how we're looking at savings. So we've got over, we got close to $300 million of equity at risk in the city of Detroit. We're trying to prevent that.
Kristie: That's amazing. That's a big thought. I'm just thinking like, that's a big thought. That's a, that's a lot of work.
Yeah. That's a lot of community [00:07:00] engagement. That's a lot of trusting the system. And we know a lot of times, sometimes people don't trust the system. We get our, you know, something happens to Big Mama. Mm-hmm. And we just say, go ahead and let Donald move in. It's no problem. He can stay here and he stays there.
But we don't think about the long term and how that could impact the family. So that's definitely something to think about. It sounds great. So Antonia. Mm-hmm. My friend. How did you all Elder Law and advocacy center, neighborhood legal services, how did you all become involved in this program?
Antonia: So we actually became involved in the program through the process of getting the City of Detroit contract.
Uh, we are the legal partners that assist with the education as well as creating those very important documents like, uh, Councilman Vincent mentioned. The documents, the power of attorney documents for healthcare finance, as well as the last will and testament lady bird deed. And we're doing some [00:08:00] trust in some instances where there are minor children.
Or special needs children or you know, situations that would be a issue. But yeah, that's how we're involved. We're out in the community every week. Every week, multiple times a week. We have presentations probably two to three times a week. At this point, we actually will be doing a presentation tomorrow, and that's with the Detroit Housing Network.
Mm-hmm. They're also a partner in this as well, so we've been collaborating with them. They've been assisting us with setting up workshops in the community. I. Then now this week we just are starting our partnership with the Detroit Public Libraries. It's exciting. So we'll be exciting. We will be at about 20 locations in Detroit with the Detroit Public Libraries.
We're starting at the main branch this Saturday, 17. Nice, nice. Yeah, so we're excited about [00:09:00] that and it's just been an, a great opportunity and a, just a really great experience to talk about. What this means in our community and try to get people on board to understand what it means and how important it is.
Kristie: I don't think we've talked about it enough. And even with those workshops. So in that partnership, those workshops are primarily, um, conducted by your group, elder Law and Advocacy Center? Yes,
Antonia: we do, uh, the legal education, so it's just legal education. We will do about an hour and a half presentation with q and a.
And it's three of us that do the actual presentation. But yeah, we're just out there on the circuit, just on the circuit spreading the word. And um, that's making sure that, you know, people really get the knowledge We're. Experimenting with some different things, trying to make sure that we have emphasis on the importance of, uh, scenarios and bringing people [00:10:00] in, drawing people into these important situations.
'cause a lot of people think this can't happen to me. Mm-hmm. Um, especially with the life planning documents, uh, with power of attorney for healthcare and finance. They just don't see themselves in these situations. And our organization deals with 60 and older population and they get it. Mm-hmm. They get it.
Yeah. But this is for younger people too. This is for really, uh, we didn't mention though that the city of Detroit is paying for these. Estate plans, but it's for City of Detroit residents, homeowners, and those who, um, earn up to 300% of the federal poverty level. So it can be anyone 18 and up. These documents are for those 18 and up that's,
Councilman: can I just add
Antonia: Uhhuh to that one?
Sorry. So took over there.
Councilman: Well, no, this is great. I said I gave a shout out today, um, during the city council meeting about the work that you all are doing in the 20 different, um, [00:11:00] workshops that you have between May 17th and then August 27th. Mm-hmm. But we also have free probate services Yeah. As well.
That's being funded through. The Gilbert Family Foundation. Yeah. And so the City of Detroit's APA funds, and Thank you President Joe Biden, are paying for the estate planning. The Gilbert Family Foundation is paying for the actual probate, and they've prioritized homes that are in jeopardy of foreclosure.
Mm-hmm. And probate is very expensive. Yeah. And we also have the Wayne County Treasurer. Eric Sabri who was partnered with us as well. So this is a huge collaboration. Right. I just gave a text when I saw the article in the Free Press. Yeah. With the elder care law centers. Mm-hmm. Different public library workshops.
I said, well thank you very much. And I, so I sent off a text to the, uh, the head librarian say, this is a great partnership. Thank you for supporting. 'cause it goes into the neighborhoods. This is at the main library for the first one. Yes. And it just really gets into our neighborhoods. Mm-hmm. And gives a great opportunity.
And then I've recently had a loss in our family without my wife's father. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. He passed and we were lacking in some of [00:12:00] the critical, um, paperwork and planning. Mm-hmm. And so now we have to go through probate as well. And so people will say, oh, this is only a situation if you're low income. No, no, no.
This hits everybody. Right. And everybody, no matter what education level procrastinates. Mm-hmm. And if you don't do it, and. No one knows when you're going to That's right. Take that, make that transition. Right. You can be the one who's at the court or paying an attorney and not have information. So having all this information, and I tell young people as well, absolutely, this is critical.
If you got kids, make it happen. Right? Yeah. Right. And people don't, so yeah,
Kristie: we don't have to think about, you know, we have heirs. What is a heirs property? Mm-hmm. Or we don't think about life plan and what does that mean? I'm young or whatever. And we don't really think about those things long term. And it's funny because my next.
Question was to talk more about the partnerships, but you guys have really highlighted the impact of partnerships, which really looks at the fact that none of us can do this work on our own. So it wasn't just the city of Detroit, it wasn't just the city council, it wasn't just neighborhood legal services.
[00:13:00] It's really about the community and understanding the impact. That all of these organizations really play in the community to really help the community thrive. I'm gonna go back to that to make sure that we're all thriving itself. So I definitely see where partnership is key. Um, and it's been a great thing.
There's no big T's or small T's, but everyone is really here on the same, on the same level. There's I
and team. There's no I in team. That is it. Exactly. That
Kristie: is it. Yep. So, you know, Antonia, you, you talked a lot about the different documents mm-hmm. That, that you guys kind of focus on. And you know, one word that I often hear out here in these caregiving streets and in this elder work I do, is we often, especially working with Antonia and the other elder law attorneys, is that Lady Bird D.
So we've talked about it. It kind of sounds like this wonderful, wonderful thing. Can you explain what a lady bird deed is and how it helps families keep their homes?
Antonia: Basically, a lady bird deed is like putting [00:14:00] a beneficiary on your home. So if you were to go to a bank and you know your accounts that are available through your bank, you put beneficiaries on your accounts because you wanna make sure that, um, upon your death.
That account can instantly go to whoever you would like to do. And if you don't do that, you should do it because mm-hmm. It avoids probate. Yeah. That is taken out of probate. Mm-hmm. And with the same, the same premise with the lady bird deed is. When you put a beneficiary on your home, that's going to stay out of the probate process.
It's an automatic transfer. If you have an interest in the home at the time of death, that interest will transfer to who you've listed to be your beneficiary, and you can list more than one person. Oh, wow. Now. You know, gotta think about how that works, because if you're going to list five people, then they're all gonna own it.
And [00:15:00] then what are they all gonna do with it? Yeah. You know, you have to look at that conflict situation, know who works well together. Mm-hmm. There's a lot of decision making in this, honestly, but you can do that and that will. Make sure your home goes to that person that you want or those people that you want.
Councilman: Question. Yeah. And this is something that comes up as well. When you see a transfer of property, does a lady Bird D trigger an uncapping of the property taxes?
Antonia: So in certain circumstances it does, but in those close familial relationships, it does not. Um, there is not going to be. Any uncapping or any change in the taxes.
Mm-hmm. So that's what a lot of people don't know. Yeah. That's very important. And
Councilman: that to me was an aha moment. That is a critical document to have. Mm-hmm. Yeah. If you can avoid uncapping of the property taxes, especially if you have a property that's appreciated significantly, right. Over the years.
Mm-hmm. And then that's often the problem as well, is when people do inherit a property, they just can't afford to manage. Right. [00:16:00] And maintain it because they, wow, I can now pay $10,000 a year. Mm-hmm. On top of everything else. Right.
Kristie: Absolute. I know, I just, we just had the conversation. My dad and I met with the attorney, uh, a couple weeks ago, and that was one of the questions.
Mm-hmm. Um, you know, it's like kind of understanding what if, and then what if, you know, being on the other side, because that is an important thing to consider as you move forward. So as we. Continue to talk about property. What is heirs property? Because we, we keep saying it, but what does that actually mean as we're in the community and beginning to explain and talk about the importance of heirs property, what does that actually mean?
Antonia: Well, heirs property, we, we kind of mentioned it going into the segment. It's like if you were living in your grandmother's home. And you're just living there. You may be living there for a number of years, but your grandmother passed away several years ago, maybe 20, 30 years ago. We've seen a lot of these situations.
Mm-hmm. And now you don't have [00:17:00] really the proper legal authority to live there and manage the property. You don't have the deed, um, in your name, or you don't have the deed deeded to the proper person, so it's still in your grandmother's name. That means that. If the property needs certain resources, that there's deferred maintenance always going to happen in terms of property and you need to qualify for a certain program to receive repairs or something like that, that's going to prevent you from being able to do that.
Um, also there's some tax programs, tax benefit programs in terms of, uh, exemption programs. You can't qualify for those programs if you don't have the property deeded to you. Um, so it is, the owner is the one who reigns and that person it needs to be properly deeded.
Councilman: Kinda just add to that one. And so, for the City of Detroit, for our purposes, we have so many programs.
We have a lot of low income families mm-hmm. That live in [00:18:00] the city of Detroit. And so we have programs where you home, um, pro the Hope program mm-hmm. Where you can have your property taxes exempted. Mm-hmm. You can reduce the amount that you owe on your property taxes. Um. Any type of other programs where you need to prove ownership.
Mm-hmm. Um, if you're talking about trying to get a bank loan or home equity, I mean, you just can't, you can't open any of that because it's an heirs property. And so there's also the, the lack of legal standing. Right. Which is huge. You have the house, you're in it. It may be up to date with taxes and everything or not, but you just can't.
Access that equity, you can't do anything with it. And so it just continues to deteriorate until maybe many people just kind of give up and walk away. Mm-hmm. Right? Mm-hmm. So trying to prevent that as well.
Kristie: It's a huge impact on the community itself. Mm-hmm. It's a huge thought process as we think forward on how long, you know, how long families have to go, you know, how long families really look at this.
Um, I'm just kind of thinking the broad terms of it, really thinking about, um, when you think about 'em signing these [00:19:00] documents, when are they gonna take effect, you know? Mm-hmm. How does it impact my family? Holistically, not just Big Mama right now, but how it's gonna affect my brother, my cousin, and things like that.
How do we think about the future of this program? What does that look like for the city of Detroit or ELAC itself?
Councilman: Well, on the City of Detroit side, this program is going to run from the estate planning purposes. Through December 31st, 2026.
Mm.
Councilman: My goal is to identify future funding for this program, and so I've got a year and a half to do that, and so we're working on it right now.
Um, it, it's a challenge just because of the restrictions with using Detroit General Fund dollars. Mm. But what it means is let's continue to have the conversations with the philanthropic community, uh, with the state, uh, with others working with the county. Are there other dollars that are out there?
Unfortunately, in our current political situation, I have no. Mm-hmm. I'm pessimistic that there will be any support from the federal government. Yeah. The way we've seen in the past, but. [00:20:00] Times change and we also have to be resilient.
Kristie: Mm-hmm.
Councilman: And so part of that is looking at other options and how we can continue to fund this program.
Kristie: What do you guys think as far as how has this impacted Elder Law Advocacy Center and the work that you guys do?
Antonia: Yeah, it's opened up a lot of different things for us because we've been, we've always been in the space where we've provided free estate planning, but it. It has only been to those who are 60 and older, and we've had a limited segment into Wayne County.
Um, so we've always serviced Detroit, obviously, but like I said, it has been restricted to that senior population, so now we are able to extend those services to those younger mm-hmm. Individuals, families, as well as. Even do the trust that would help with minor children and guardianships avoiding those as well as special needs.
So there's been a lot of avenues that we've been able to go into, [00:21:00] and I think just advocating on behalf of this important initiative has been really something that has. Become a part of our whole office mm-hmm. Is involved in this. Yeah. And so I think that it's just such a worthy cause and just getting people to understand we're, like I said, we're out there trying to like, okay, let's try to say, you know, tell them about this story.
Mm-hmm. Or communicate in this way, just to see how that touches people because. We really don't wanna deal with these issues. Yeah. Yeah. You know, that's something that we found too, is that our community as well as, I mean, I, I'm sure in most instances, people don't want to talk about death or planning or you know, what you can do Yeah.
To, to get that stuff done, but. It's necessary. It is. And it's not sexy, right? It's not, [00:22:00] it's not comfortable.
Kristie: It's not sexy. And I think, you know, we're talking about property, but we're really talking about life planning. Yeah. That's what we're really talking about. We're talking about the future and it's not comfortable.
I can remember as a social worker having those conversations with families and it's never comfortable. It's never something, but it's something that we have to do. And so, you know, people might overlook the importance of connecting all of these pieces together. And you know, I'm sitting here thinking, connecting home ownership to estate planning and life planning and generational wealth.
So why is that important to communities of color? You talked about it, you just hit on it a little bit. Mm-hmm. Antonia. But if either of you wanna talk a little bit more about that.
Antonia: I mean, I think one of the things is, is that property. Is your home is one of the most significant assets that you have.
Mm-hmm. So that in itself, being able to choose who you pass on your home to or your assets to, that's so important to stay in that decision making [00:23:00] mode. Also, when you think about the life planning aspect of it, that's also about decision. It's about staying in the driver's seat, being able to make those financial decisions so that you will have a home, so that your home is taken care of, so that if something does happen to you, then your wishes can be carried out.
And obviously staying in good health, someone to assist you with your healthcare. And even as a caregiver, I mean, a lot of times mm-hmm. We're talking about, you know, caregivers, caregiver conversations here. You need that proper legal authority to act on behalf of your care recipient, on behalf of your spouse.
Yeah, on behalf of your son or daughter, which people don't realize that legal authority is necessary. You can't just necessarily act on their behalf without it. And sometimes you see it happening, but. It really needs to be put in writing and, and set. So, you know, everybody [00:24:00] knows the clarity is there.
Who's in charge? Who's gonna move forward with my decision making and with your legacy planning, who's gonna get my assets? Mm-hmm. You know, otherwise it's going to be. The state's decision. You know, it goes under in intestate succession, which is a process as to how your property is divided in the state of Michigan, and it may not necessarily be the way that you want.
And you may not be able to preserve that home. You may not be able to preserve that wealth like Councilman Benson was saying. That's significant equity. Yeah. That can
Kristie: be lost.
Antonia: So
Kristie: yeah, the importance of that power of attorney Yes. To help you make those decisions. Mm-hmm. Have it written out beforehand. Yes.
Councilman: And the other part is these are just typically not kitchen table conversations. Mm-hmm. That we have in our community. And, and another thing I believe that we do is we diminish our own value and our own financial assets. And so when you talk to someone and say, Hey, have you done an estate planning? What, what is this?
Is your estate an [00:25:00] estate? I I don't have wealth. Mm-hmm. I don't have generational wealth. Mm-hmm. $60,000 is nothing to sneeze at a home is nothing to sneeze at. And oftentimes people may have more, they're just not thinking of it. No, you may not be Shaquille O'Neal with a nine digit balance sheet. Yeah.
But your six digit balance sheet, or maybe even your seven digit balance sheet is still very important and something that needs to be transferred. And when you look at the average wealth of a black family versus that of a white family, a large portion of that is we just have not had the benefit of transferring wealth.
Mm-hmm. Via generations. And so we're always starting from behind. Yeah. If we let another generation go past that, doesn't start that and hasn't started planning, and yes, it takes work. It's not sexy. But this is what it means to properly prepare. Mm-hmm. And ensure the security of your family. And as a parent, and as just somebody who cares about your own community, you need to do that.
And so if you don't have family, what about your church? Are you active with your church? Are you [00:26:00] active with your alma mater or your high school? Mm-hmm. Or your college. Do you want them to have your wealth or would you like the state to get it right? And I'm not sure, I've never met somebody that says, you know what?
I really would like Michigan,
really want the government get this, get this house. Well, I want that
Councilman: attorney who I don't know. Mm-hmm. And their family mm-hmm. To benefit from this nice house mm-hmm. In my family's, um, wealth. I've just never heard that. Yeah. So we, we all, we talk about that as well. We, these are conversations we don't have, and those planning workshops are huge.
Because now people are having the the conversations. And another aha moment for me was recently we had during public comment, and for every city council meeting, the public is entitled to come and talk to us. One of the public commenters said, Councilman Benson, I'm so happy to have this program, and I didn't know that you were leading this.
And she is one of the. Great stories for the city when it comes to someone who's taken the prop mm-hmm. Who's taken the, the workshop and has gone through the process and now has her estate plan and the level of [00:27:00] security for her family. Right. And so these are beautiful stories. It is hugely important and we are the only city that I know of that is paying for these services for their residents in the entire country.
Kristie: Yeah. Proves what matters. It's amazing. Yeah. Proves what matters. Yeah. It, it, it definitely matters. I was just thinking with the workshops themselves, do you guys max out, like how many people can come to the workshops or is it, you know, how does that usually work? And do you do 'em, you do 'em virtual too, right?
Antonia: Yes. We have done virtual, we do 'em in person. We're, we're really getting out into the community now that the weather is nice. Yeah. But we have been virtual as well of it. It just really depends on the situation, but we're. Open to having as many sign up. I know that with this, uh, uh, week's Detroit Public Library series starting, they listed it on Eventbrite and it's on the Detroit Public Library website, and I believe that the first one has [00:28:00] sold out, but wow.
Yeah, so there's, you know, but they're trying to make room so. We're really open to having as many as we can. And I think over the last year we've done close to 60 workshops. Wow. The momentum. Yeah, the momentum is building and we have another, at least 40 to go through the summer. Wonderful. And the ongoing, yeah.
Councilman: Through April, 1500 people who attended the workshop. Wow.
Kristie: Yeah. Wow. So we, yeah, we're very popular. The power. Yeah. It's the power. It's definitely something that can be replicated. Mm-hmm. Should be replicated. Yeah. Oh yeah. A different way. Alright. You know, we've talked about so much, um, we've covered a lot of ground today and just wanna kind of reiterate and kind of, kind of go back a little bit.
Councilman Benson really, where's your passion at from this? Where's this really, really, I take it you're, you're a lifelong city of Detroiter, I'm sure went to DPS schools maybe.
Councilman: So my bio is just a little bit different from that. I'm, I'm really from Los Angeles, California. All right. I went to school at Hampton [00:29:00] University.
Okay, great. On the East Coast, and mil and military brought me here. All right. Okay. So my, my life's passion is serving others, and so my. Military service I joined was the US Coast Guard, and one of our, um, unofficial motto is so that others may live, we jump in the sea to go save you so others may live. So for me, it's so that others can thrive.
I like your adjective, but this is also just one of the reasons that I'm running for reelection is that I want to ensure that I'm able to help black people and black families. Mm-hmm. And this is the way. Mm-hmm. I, I serve all Detroiters no matter who they are, where they're from, or what they look like.
But my bread and butter. Serving my bosses, which are black families, and part of that is helping us, and part of that is understanding of where our challenges lie, and assets and family wealth are one of the challenges. I wanna help that. Mm-hmm. In addition, I wanna ensure that we're moving black people out of poverty.
Yes. I wanna make sure we're moving Detroit families out of poverty. We're building on our middle class, retaining the middle class [00:30:00] and bringing more middle class families back to the city of Detroit because the other part is, as a city, we are not going to be able to thrive and survive. If we don't start reducing poverty, we have way too much poverty, and if we think that we're going to grow ourselves and be a successful city and stay outta bankruptcy, we won't.
Mm-hmm. If we don't get a larger middle class population, and a city cannot thrive with 30% of its residents living at or below poverty, and black people cannot thrive. Mm-hmm. If the vast majority of us live at or below poverty, we have to move our people out of poverty. And this is one of the ways that we've seen that we can do that successfully.
And the education and the partnerships that we have now. And I gotta give a shout out once again to the Elder Care Law Center. I gotta give a shout out. To community legal services, to the Gilbert Family Foundation to President Joe Biden ARPA funds. Mm-hmm. Uh, to Wayne County Treasurer Eric Sabri. To Mayor Duggan.
'cause we pitched this idea to him and he was on board right away and said, I'm gonna commit some of these ARPA funds to that [00:31:00] program council member. This is a fantastic way to help move people out of poverty and to improve the city of Detroit. And so for me, I know we really focus on helping people who are low income.
I wanna make sure we get people. Into middle income. Mm-hmm. I wanna make you wealthy. That's where we're going to be able to thrive. It's really hard to thrive when you add or below poverty, and in fact, it's probably impossible.
Kristie: Yeah.
Councilman: Yeah. But this, this is why I'm doing it. I want people to thrive. I want us to do better
Kristie: commitment to community.
Right. You know, that's always, we often talk about the grassroots approach to the work that we do, and I think it doesn't matter, um, a lot of times what level you're at. So you don't have to be that grassroots community organizer, but you're always community organizing. Mm-hmm. When you're connecting to the community and thinking about the best ways the community can thrive and how you can make sure that you're involved in that and that work to feel good about it.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. To feel good about and be able to see the impact that you create along the way. So, Antonia, did you wanna add anything else to that? I just wanna
Antonia: add whether or not you're [00:32:00] interested in this topic or not, you need to know about it. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You need to know about what estate planning documents are for you, for your family, and we are out here doing the workshops.
So come and get educated on this subject and get your documents done, pull the trigger, go ahead and get these things done, and then once you get it done, I. It's over you're, it's over. You can reevaluate later, but you don't have to really think about it. You have done it, you've checked that box, and you know you're better for it.
Your family's better for it. So yeah, sleep easy. Yes.
Kristie: And you might, and some people might have to hear this multiple times. Yeah. Yes. You know, multiple times. But that's okay. So I wanna thank both of you. I wanna thank you for joining us in the studio today, Councilman Benson, and to all of our listeners. If you found this episode helpful, please subscribe.
Leave us a review and share with a friend or a fellow caregiver. For more resources and [00:33:00] updates, follow us the SRC on social media, or you can visit us@www.se mi src.org. You can also reach us at info@miseniors.org or hey, give us a call at (888) 341-8593
Antonia: and to learn more about Neighborhood Legal Services, Michigan Elder Law and Advocacy Center.
Please visit ww dot NLS michigan.org or call 3 1 3 9 3 7 8 2 9 1. Thank you again for tuning in and remember, you're not alone on this journey. Until next time, take care and keep
Kristie: caring.