Detroit fellowship seeks next cohort of racial equity leaders
DETROIT — The Detroit Equity Action Lab (DEAL) is seeking emerging and experienced leaders with a deep commitment to racial equity to join its 2025 cohort.
![](https://news.wayne.edu/storage/files/1-66abf09c66427.png)
The ninth cohort of DEAL’s Racial Equity Fellowship will take part in a year-long program beginning in January, focused on training and supporting those working to end structural racism in Detroit.
“Our program focuses on racial equity from a personal to structural lens. We believe that the transformation of movements is dependent on the transformation of the people in them,” said Asandi Conner, DEAL’s Director.
DEAL’s fellows build a shared understanding of racial equity with other Detroit-area leaders, develop skills and tools needed to disrupt racism and create equitable alternatives, and co-create a space to deepen relationships within a multiracial and multigenerational network of racial equity leaders.
Each year, DEAL recruits racial equity leaders working or volunteering with groups/organizations or as individuals in Detroit or the metropolitan area. Since its first cohort in 2014, DEAL’s Racial Equity Fellowship has brought together over 200 leaders working in the many dimensions of racial equity – including arts and media, community development, education, environment, food security, health care, housing, and beyond.
“Our fellows are people who are on the ground, who have been working on the issues, and who have creative solutions. The intention is that fellows can rely on each other as co-liberators in the work that they’re doing,” said Rhiannon Chester-Bey, DEAL Fellowship Manager and Racial Equity Fellowship alum.
![](https://news.wayne.edu/storage/files/2-66abf0d26f2a2.png)
The application for the 2025 cohort, which opened on Aug. 1., closes at midnight on Monday, Sept. 30. A virtual information session is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 14. Interested applicants can visit DEAL’s website (detroitequity.org) to learn more about the information session and to access the application.
###
About the Detroit Equity Action Lab (DEAL)
Founded in 2014, DEAL is an initiative of the Damon J. Keith Center for Civil Rights at Wayne State University Law School. Powered by more than $5 million in grants from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the Ford Foundation, DEAL is developing a national blueprint in Detroit designed to empower local communities to fight structural racism from the ground up.
Contact: Jennifer Kennedy
Phone: 313-577-4629
Email: Jennifer.kennedy2@wayne.edu