WSU Awarded $1.3M Grant To Launch Detroit Equity Action Lab

DETROIT (WWJ) - The W.K. Kellogg Foundation awarded a $1.3 million grant to Wayne State University to launch the Detroit Equity Action Lab (DEAL), a groundbreaking new initiative through which nonprofit organizations working in the areas of racial equity, health care, education, food security, safety and housing will address issues of structural racism in Detroit.

Housed within the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights at Wayne Law, the new initiative will be led by the center's director, Peter Hammer.

The project will begin in the summer of 2014 and is funded for three years.

"There is great need for a resource of this nature in our city," said Wayne State University President M. Roy Wilson.

"The Keith Center is committed to promoting equality and justice. Local nonprofit organizations can be key drivers in the discussion and mitigation of civil rights challenges, and we are fortunate to have found an ally in this project with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation."