- [Will] Coming up on "One Detroit," a future of work report on prison programs that are preparing returning citizens for the workforce.

Plus the latest on concerns over dollar stores and the blight in Detroit neighborhoods.

Also ahead, Detroit-born screenwriter Rob Edwards talks about his latest project, a graphic novel titled "Defiant."

And we'll tell you about some of the holiday themed events taking place in metro Detroit this weekend.

It's all coming up next on "One Detroit."

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(upbeat music) - Just ahead on this week's "One Detroit," we'll check in with Bridge Detroit reporter Jena Brooker on how Detroit officials are dealing with a blight issue surrounding dollar stores in the city.

Plus the story of Robert Smalls, a little known figure in black history, is told that a new graphic novel by Detroit native Rob Edwards.

And Cecelia Sharpe and Dave Wagner of 90.9 WRCJ have some great ideas on how you and your family can spend the holidays.

But first up, our Future of Work series examines opportunities for higher education among the state's prison population.

Many inmates will eventually become returning citizens looking for jobs and a college degree will improve their chances of entering the workforce.

"One Detroit" contributor Mario Bueno, who was formerly incarcerated himself, and senior producer Bill Kubota teamed up to explore two college and prison programs helping the incarcerated prepare for jobs when they're released.

(gentle music) - Muskegon, west Michigan.

I'm catching up with Richard Rodriguez, convicted of second degree murder.

We were in prison together a few decades ago.

71 years old.

You did 39 years in prison.

What year was it when you went to prison?

- 1982.

- You've been now experiencing prison reentry for a year and a half.

How do you feel?

- Well it's different being out, modern technology has changed for me.

I'm just blending in right now, trying to make ends meet.

I'm going to school right now.

I'm in college.

I'm taking up nursing.

I've just been certified by the Red Cross to assist the elderly and handicapped.

I'm taking it little by little because I can't jump into a lot of things because a lot of things do surface up.

- Rodriguez wasn't much into education until he went to prison.

He took as many classes as he could.

Then came President Clinton's war on crime.

Harsher sentences grew prison populations and killed federal Pell grants for the incarcerated.

What were your thoughts when they took the Pell Grant back in 94?

- There's nothing I can say.

I couldn't whine and complain about it, they do what they do, you know.

- [Mario] Professor Richard Rays at Hope College in Holland, he knows about that.

He's working with prisoners trying to get college degrees.

- That redlined incarcerated students out of Pell eligibility and the number of college and prison programs in the United States of America dropped to eight after that.

- Dropped to eight?

The number of-- - Yes, eight.

- In the 90s, hundreds of programs simply vanished.

Imagine all the prisoners who lost that opportunity, but still, some are getting that chance.

We're at Fresh Coast Alliance in Muskegon, a training center for people in recovery.

Michael Duthler leads a class called Managing Relapse.

He came out of prison five years ago after 26 years.

A drug addict who committed second degree murder.

Could you have ever imagined doing what you're doing now?

- No way, 19-year-old me had no self-esteem, had no self-worth.

- At the Handlon Correctional Facility in Ionia, Duthler began college through Calvin University in Grand Rapids.

The Calvin Prison Initiative started in 2015.

You were educated and received, what'd you receive?

- Before I left In 2018, I was able to complete an Associate's degree, and then I completed a social work degree at the main campus in 2020.

- [Mario] Calvin relies on donors, a theological approach inspired by a prison program in Louisiana.

Duthler brings his study of faith and leadership along with his life experience to his work.

- Let's go out for dinner, absolutely.

But because I'm in recovery, I need to go a place that does not serve alcohol and just kind of create a boundary around that.

- What would you tell those who oppose such programming for, with all due respect, for murder?

- Sure.

Absolutely.

So one argument I would make is simply that from an economic standpoint, there's been studies that have shown that for every dollar you spend on education in prison, you're saving five for the cost of incarceration.

As they're continuing education, once they're in, recidivism rates drop.

- [Mario] Recidivism, re-offending, returning to prison, Michigan reports a recidivism rate at 22%.

But education can reduce that number.

One study shows that recidivism rate drops to less than 14% with an Associate's degree down to 5.6 with a Bachelor's degree, hitting zero with a Master's degree.

- I think a lot of that has to do with upward mobility, the opportunities that are available through an education.

But I'm also gonna make a case that it's that formative effective education so that you're able to see yourself through more than just the worsening that you've done in life.

You're able to see hope.

You're able to understand possibility, you're able to understand life differently for sure.

- [Mario] A few minutes away, you'll find another college and prison program at the Muskegon Correctional Facility.

- It's a journey, but every day, I'm improving myself in the best way I can.

- [Mario] Rene Rodriguez, a first degree murder lifer.

I knew him too back in my prison days.

He's also a Calvin University graduate.

Statistically, there's little chance he'll ever get out.

But now he's a tutor with the Hope Western Prison Education Program.

- I'm a first generation college graduate, and considering when I first entered the prison system, I could barely read and write, obtaining my college degree gave me a sense of achievement.

And at the same time, it built my level of confidence.

I would say that my college degree is an indication of my transformation.

- [Mario] Hope College and Western Theological Seminary started the program in 2019.

The Hope and Calvin programs believe educating prisoners like Rene is worth it.

- He is a servant leader and he has now been trained with our BA program to serve in the area of academics, peer mentoring, and ministry.

- Thank you Dr. Ray.

- [Mario] Hope's Richard Ray.

He's making the rounds.

It's an informal session.

Students at work like a college classroom you might find anywhere.

- The average Hope College student at Muskegon Correctional Facility is 47 years old.

We enroll and are interested in admitting into our program men with long sentences.

How about orientation?

How's that going?

We want and believe and think that there's good evidence for our students as they become sort of transformed by their own education, serving as exemplars for the rest of their peers.

- As it relates to behavior, do you see a difference?

- Yes, and I see a difference, oftentimes when people think about that question, they only think about the difference when somebody gets out of prison.

And we do see that difference.

But there's also a community that exists in facilities like this, and we see the impact here as well.

- This is a community of 1,294 prisoners with 250 staff.

This is a community.

We want the same thing in here that you want in society.

And the education program most definitely assists with that.

- We think when you educate even a small portion of a prison population, violence in the prison goes down.

- [Mario] Now there's news.

This past July, Federal Pell Grants are available again for the incarcerated.

- This is a game changer.

Across the country, we could see three quarters of a million people go back to college who were incarcerated, and those people are very unlikely to return to prison once they're released.

- To the average person who has no direct contact with the prison system, who's struggling to pay for college, what would you tell them?

- If you're in prison, it's very likely, almost overwhelmingly true, that you're a member of a marginalized or minority group.

And so if we want a more equitable society, you've gotta be concerned about raising all those boats.

- What the Pell Grants are gonna do for other universities and colleges is gonna allow them to start.

Maybe they don't have the kind of donor base we have.

That's gonna allow then a lot of colleges and universities to really imagine that this is possible.

- [Mario] Meanwhile, for Calvin and Hope, the Pell Grants will help, but the fundraising continues.

Professor Richard Ray talks about his list of benefactors.

- You'd run your finger down the page and you'd say, oh, that person's pretty liberal, holds liberal views and so forth.

And then you'd run your finger down the page a little further.

You'd say, wow, this person is like the most conservative person I've ever met.

And they all see the value in this.

- 95% plus the people who are in prison are gonna return to the community someday.

So we wanna make that investment in them.

And so it's not diminishing what they did, but it's helping to ensure they don't do it again.

- Incarceration alone is not enough to uproot criminal behavior.

People need education.

I would say that my college degree is an indication of my transformation, a sort of a renewal of my mind in the way I think, the way I carry myself.

I would say that it shaped who I am now as the person that I'd like to be.

- [Will] Turning now to a report on the large number of dollar stores in Detroit.

In fact, there are more dollar stores than grocery stores in the city.

Although discount stores fill a gap by providing residents with a place to buy food and other necessities, it comes at a cost.

Many of the dollar stores have been associated with blight in the city's neighborhoods.

I spoke with Bridge Detroit reporter Jena Brooker about the blight issue, the steps the city officials are taking, and the conversations that still need to happen.

(upbeat music) Overgrown weeds, empty bottles, and discarded bags littered property around a Detroit Family Dollar.

Bridge Detroit, One Detroit's content partner, found this type of blight has impacted dollar stores across the city.

Jena Brooker has the story.

- I found more than 2,400 blight tickets in a three year period going back to 2020 just to Family Dollar and Dollar Tree, which are owned by the same company.

- One of the things that your article highlights is the fact that there was a recent settlement with the City of Detroit, tell me a little bit about that.

- Sure, so in response to all of these blight tickets that Family Dollar and Dollar Tree have accrued over the last few years, the city negotiated a settlement with them.

They accrued more than $740,000 in unpaid fines to date.

The city settled with them for 150,000, and once they pay that and a small fine for their unpaid inspection fees, they will receive a blight clearance for all of their properties in the city.

- What was the reaction from city officials with this settlement?

- So the city's law department and the building's Safety, Engineering, and Environmental Department negotiated this settlement with Dollar Tree and Family Dollar, and they said that they negotiated 150,000 because it allowed the city to get some money from the company, but not have to go through this arduous process of litigating all of these 2,400 blight violations.

- [Will] In a statement to Bridge Detroit, a Dollar Tree spokesperson said Detroit shoppers rely on their stores and it's committed to offering a clean and safe environment.

Brooker's report said Dollar Tree disputes some of the unpaid inspection fees, fines, invoices, violations, and judgments.

Dollar Tree declined to comment on the specifics of the settlement to Bridge Detroit.

Not all elected officials in the city were okay with the settlement.

One is calling for a halt on opening new dollar stores.

- Council member Angela Whitfield-Calloway has requested a temporary moratorium on building new dollar stores while City Council figures out what needs to be in place to lessen the harm that they're causing on the community.

- [Will] Whitfield-Calloway also wants to see more fresh food in these stores.

- One of the things that she's thinking about is requiring all dollar stores to dedicate 10% of their retail space to fresh produce.

And so that's something that other cities as well have done 10 to 15% of their retail space for food.

- [Will] Other cities around the country have these requirements because of what's known as the Dollar Store Effect.

- Nationally, dollar stores have been linked to increased crime, blight, and worsened food access.

So there's research that when a dollar store goes into a neighborhood, there's a decline in independently-owned grocery stores nearby.

And then there's also research that specifically low income people, which we know there are a lot of in Detroit, spend less on fresh produce when there's a dollar store nearby.

If there's one dollar store nearby, low income people will spend 14% less on fresh produce.

And if there's three dollar stores, that number goes up to 30% less.

So no one actually knows the exact number of dollar stores in Detroit, the three biggest chains, Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, and Dollar General own approximately 80.

And then there's all these other independently-owned ones.

- [Will] While dollar stores help fill gaps left by traditional grocery stores, they're not a replacement.

- They do provide access to some foods like packaged foods, canned goods.

But there is evidence that it's actually more expensive in the long run to shop at a dollar store than Walmart or Meyer.

Dollar General has approximately 20 stores in the city of Detroit.

Just four of those carry fresh produce, and Dollar Tree and Family Dollar declined to comment on how many of their stores stock fresh produce and if they're willing in the future to stock more.

- [Will] Moving forward, Brooker says there are things to watch.

- I think we need to see if the dollar stores are going to uphold the agreement that they signed with the city and take care of their blight.

I think we need to start having more conversations about how we can support more grocery stores to set up in the city.

The majority of people do find dollar stores helpful to the community.

They just wish that they stocked more fresh produce.

A question that kept coming up in reporting this is we don't have a lot of grocery stores.

There are more dollar stores in Detroit than grocery stores.

How do we get more grocery stores here?

What can the city do to support those people?

- [Will] Detroit-born screenwriter Rob Edwards, best known for Disney's "The Princess and the Frog" and "Treasure Planet," has a graphic novel coming soon called "Defiant."

It tells the story of Robert Smalls, a little known figure in black history.

One Detroit's Chris Jordan caught up with Edwards at Comics and More in Madison Heights during his recent trip back to Michigan.

They talked about "Defiant" and how the comic book is a perfect if unorthodox way to teach African American history to kids.

(upbeat music) (customers chatting) - How's it going?

- Great.

- Nice to see you.

Rob Edwards, a lot of viewers will know your work as a screenwriter from stuff like "Princess and the Frog," "Treasure Planet," "In living Color," "Fresh Prince."

A very storied career in TV and film.

But now your latest project is a graphic novel about the life of the fascinating and way too little known still historical figure Robert Smalls.

- Exactly, and that's the tragedy is that this guy lived this extraordinary life and just nobody knows about him.

You tell people, and the first question, they don't say like, "Wait, and then what did he do?"

They say, "Why don't I know about this guy?"

- For those who are watching who don't know anything about Robert Smalls, tell us the short version of his story.

- He was born a slave, when he was about 23 years old, during the Civil War, he was basically signed to work on this ship, the Planter, which ferried munitions back and forth.

And one night, when the white crew took off, they commandeered the boat.

All their families got onto the boat and they took off.

They went through five checkpoints disguised as the captain, and then surrendered the ship to the Union army that was just outside of Charleston Harbor.

He then became rich because it was loaded with weapons.

And so it was the biggest haul in the Civil War.

He was famous for pulling this thing off.

He then ran for Congress five times, won, he started a printing press, he started a railroad.

He's the reason why we have black people in the military because they showed courage, intelligence, and strength.

He's the reason why we have public schools because he really, really wanted to be able to read all of his life.

So that is the shortest version possible of the extraordinary life of Robert Smalls.

- How did you decide that you were gonna tell this story and that this was how you were gonna tell it?

- Actually the story starts here in Bloomfield Hills where a classmate of mine, a guy named David Baxter I'd gone to Cranbrook with, he calls me up and he says, "Hey, we got this script."

And he gave it to me and said, "What do you think?"

And basically the story was well written, but it it focused on the heist itself.

Just the taking of the Planter.

And as I was reading it and then went down the rabbit hole of all the stuff that this guy had done, I said, "Well, I think that that's the beginning of the story."

I think that it's about a man who is free in his heart.

He becomes free and then he does all the things that you do when you've been caged for so long.

And I said, "Well, I hope you don't mind, but rather than just give a bunch of notes on it, I'd like to take a crack at it."

And also I think it's important that a story like this be told by a Black author just because it's the times we live in.

And also my filter is different.

And so for me as a, I'm not a historian, I'm just a writer.

I just write Disney movies and stuff.

And so I took it as a character study.

What kind of person would do this thing?

And I discovered actually that as I was doing it, that in a lot of ways, I was able to find things that the historians were not, because I was asking questions that they weren't.

I was always focused on like, well, where's the family and whatever, and why would he do this, rather than what did he do, why would he do it?

And so it's just been a really great journey for me.

- Since you are a screenwriter, how did you end up deciding to write it as a graphic novel rather than just a screenplay?

- It's interesting because I had just been into Netflix with a project and we just kept hitting against the fact that we didn't have IP, that there was no intellectual property that it was based on.

And my heart had been broken so many times by the kind of risk averse world that I said, "Well, you know what, let's not go in just with the story.

Let's go in with with something."

And the books that were out there were good, but none of them did what I wanted to do.

So I said, "Well look, I'm writing the script anyway, I know the story.

Why don't we just make a graphic novel of it?

If the graphic novel works, then we know we're in good shape."

And the graphic novel is fantastic.

I thought, okay, well this guy is basically larger than life anyway.

He's essentially a superhero, so why not?

It's a perfect format for him.

And also like for kids that will be hearing this story for the first time, what better way to hear it?

You meet people where they live.

I think for the kid that would most want to hear this, it's a graphic novel.

- It was funded with a very successful Kickstarter campaign.

And something that you had told me that really stood out to me was how many of the contributions were people buying boxes of the comics to have sent to schools and libraries.

- People wanted to buy boxes of them and take them to schools.

So we're actually starting another campaign on the defiantproject.com website and also on the Legion M website for people to be able to do just that.

Because I do think it's important, what better gift at Black History Month or whatever to kind of go outside and there's a great box of these fantastic comic books.

Hopefully they'll be fun to read and everything and inspirational, life changing I believe.

I would think that if I was a kid, if I was 10, 15 or whatever, and I read the story, I would say, "Okay, that is the measure of a great man.

What would it take for me to be like that?

Okay, I should read this story."

And then, wow, what did he do afterwards?

Well, okay, public schools, whatever, the military, just proving one after the other to people that were skeptical and all the more reason why you need this story to kind of emphasize why we need history, why we need to learn all this stuff.

- [Will] And Rob Edwards had a lot more to say.

You can watch the entire interview at onedetroitpbs.org.

His graphic novel "Defiant" is scheduled for release in February for Black History Month.

Are you looking for something to do this weekend to get you in the holiday spirit?

Well there's plenty to choose from in the Detroit area.

Dave Wagner and Cecelia Sharpe from 90.9 WRCJ have some ideas for you in today's "One Detroit Weekend."

- Hey, Dave, it's that time of week again to talk about events happening in and around the metro Detroit area.

So what do you have up for us?

- Well let's start with the Monroe Street Midway happening across from Campus Martius through January 7th.

There's so much winter fun to be had at the midway, including an Arctic slide, bumper cars, art experiences, puck putt, and so much more.

- Dave, did you say puck putt?

- Yes, I did.

You bet I did.

It's a nine part course where actually you use a hockey stick to hit a puck into the net.

- Well I'm game.

I'll give it a try.

And coming up Saturday and Sunday, people can tour the decked out homes in the historic Boston-Edison neighborhood during their holiday home tour.

- And if you're decorating your own home, why not do it with something you've created?

The Detroit Public Library's Edison branch is allowing you to do just that with their create a holiday wreath event on Saturday.

- [Cecelia] And through December 17th, get into the spirit with the Detroit Public Theater's Holiday Cabaret.

It's a night jam-packed with holiday and a musical theater classics.

- [Dave] Another theater, Tipping Point in Northville, is also getting into the holiday spirit with "A Very Northville Christmas."

It's supposed to be like a Hallmark movie, only live and in person, and it runs through December 23rd.

- Sounds really entertaining, Dave.

And of course, there's even more events happening around Metro Detroit.

Here's a few more.

Have a great weekend.

(upbeat music) - [Will] That'll do it for this week's "One Detroit."

Thanks for watching.

Head to the "One Detroit" website for all the stories we're working on.

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(upbeat music continues)