Lauren Abdel-Razzaq

Detroit

Executive director @bridgedet313 | Ex- @detroitnews, @crainsdetroit | @Waynestate grad x2 | @AAJAMichigan secretary | Reach me at [email protected]

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Articles

Michigan’s bottle return rates keep falling. Is it time for change?

2 days ago | bridgedetroit.com | Emilio Perez Ibarguen |Lauren Abdel-Razzaq

Michigan beer and pop buyers increasingly aren’t bothering to return their bottles and cans to get their deposit back, and in the process left more than $116 million dollars on the table last year. Records released this month indicate that 70.4% of 10-cent deposits put down at grocery store checkout lines were refunded in 2024. That’s the lowest percentage since the Department of Treasury started tracking deposits in 1990.
Yusef Bunchy Shakur to lead social justice nonprofit

1 week ago | bridgedetroit.com | Micah Walker |Lauren Abdel-Razzaq

For Yusef Bunchy Shakur, the Mama Akua Community House is an extension of the life he has rebuilt for himself over the past 24 years. Within a two-story, mint green house in Detroit’s Northwest Goldberg neighborhood, the community center is unapologetically Black. Civil rights activists like Harriet Tubman, Ella Baker and Assata Shakur dominate the black and white wallpaper near the front entrance.
Medicaid, SNAP cuts would be devastating for Detroiters

2 weeks ago | bridgedetroit.com | Lauren Abdel-Razzaq

The House budget advanced on May 22 proposes cuts of $1.1 trillion out of Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) over the next 10 years; $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid and $230 billion in cuts to the SNAP program. The impact of the extreme cuts to Medicaid proposed by the House budget would devastate families and communities, rural and urban, across this country.
Celebrating 5 Years of Community Journalism in Detroit

1 month ago | bridgedetroit.com | Lauren Abdel-Razzaq

Five years ago, in May 2020, BridgeDetroit was born with a singular mission: to create journalism that truly reflects and serves Detroit’s communities. Today, as we launch our spring fundraising campaign, we’re not just looking ahead to a new season—we’re celebrating five years of connecting Detroiters with vital information and with each other.
Michigan's aging crisis leaves seniors without support, services

1 month ago | bridgedetroit.com | Robin Erb |Lauren Abdel-Razzaq

The state of Michigan has a senior-care crisis that is worsening by the day. The state spends billions of dollars a year for a “dysfunctional assembly of programs where frustration, failure, and poor outcomes are far too common,” according to a 2022 report by the Michigan Elder Justice InitiativeMichigan spends $4.4 billion in state and federal funds for seniors, providing everything from home-delivered meals to round-the-clock nursing care.
Exploring stories of health care and access for Bangladeshi women

2 months ago | bridgedetroit.com | Nargis Rahman |Lauren Abdel-Razzaq

Michigan is home to the third largest population of Bangladeshis in the U.S., with a significant number living in the Metro Detroit area. Bangladeshi immigrants struggle with several challenges when trying to access health care. Among them are language, cultural competency and adequate insurance. As part of a new four-part series called, “Shustho: Mind, Body, and Spirit,” WDET’s Nargis Rahman reports on how Bangladeshi women in Southeast Michigan are overcoming cultural barriers.
15 alleged non-citizen voters referred to Michigan attorney general

2 months ago | bridgedetroit.com | Hayley Harding |Lauren Abdel-Razzaq

Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for Votebeat Michigan’s free newsletter here. A review by the Michigan Secretary of State’s Office found 15 additional people who may have voted in the 2024 general election despite not being U.S. citizens — a significant increase from previous reports.
Parents’ inflexible work schedules impact student attendance

2 months ago | bridgedetroit.com | Lori Higgins |Lauren Abdel-Razzaq

Sign up for Chalkbeat Detroit’s free newsletter to keep up with the city’s public school system and Michigan education policy. Challenges faced by working parents can contribute to chronic absenteeism, according to a new book. “The shift is like a twelve-hour shift,” said one parent whose experience was recounted in “Rethinking Chronic Absenteeism: Why Schools Can’t Solve It Alone,” which was written by two Wayne State University education researchers.
Detroit’s lessons learned after 5 years of COVID

2 months ago | bridgedetroit.com | Eleanore Catolico |Lauren Abdel-Razzaq

Denise Fair Razo, Detroit’s chief public health officer, said she remembers the thousands of residents who died from COVID-19—and the pain that followed. “We weren’t able to save them, and that’s what hurts,” Fair Razo said. This is what happened to the survivors: In 2020, the pandemic stunned Detroit, a majority-Black city grappling with poverty, chronic illnesses and crowded housing. Stay-at-home orders disrupted learning for thousands of students, and earnings for thousands of businesses.
Tribute to Detroit’s Black Matriarchs planned for Sunday

2 months ago | bridgedetroit.com | Micah Walker |Lauren Abdel-Razzaq

Marcia Black can trace her family’s migration to Detroit back to her great-grandmother Sarah Johnson. During the 1940s, Johnson made the trek from Mississippi to the Motor City, settling on Ferry Park Street in the Northwest Goldberg neighborhood. “She had six girls and one boy,” Black said.