Detroit River Skiff & Schooner Program
A hands-on learning program that connects local youth with the cultural and environmental heritage of the river through tall-ship sailing and boat-building experiences.
Detroit River Youth Career Expo
A hands-on exploration of water-linked education and career pathways, for Metro-Detroit youth (15-25) along with their teachers and families. Lunch provided! April 12, 2025 from 10am-3pm.
The Detroit River Beat
The Story Lab sponsors student internships with nonprofit news organizations, such as Bridge Detroit, Planet Detroit, and Detroit Public Television, to assist thinly stretched staff in the coverage of river-related stories and works with partners to develop new local training opportunities, on campus and in the community, for both student and citizen journalists.
Detroit River Stories Podcast
A student-produced podcast series featuring interviews with local residents about their relationships with the Detroit River.
Gala Library
A library of three interactive, STEM-focused curricular modules, designed for high school and college students, take the Detroit River as an accessible and engaging case study for learning about carbon emissions, data visualization, and scientific communication.
Digital Mapping Project
An interactive collection of historical and digital maps allowing you to explore the Detroit River Corridor through time.
Lives of Leisure and Labor on the Detroit River
An interactive essay exploring the experiences of those who built, maintained, and traveled on Detroit River steamboats at the turn of the 20th century, with special attention to key events in local labor and racial history and the ways they reflected shifting social and political attitudes of the time.
Detroit River Corridor Carbon Emissions Visualization Tool
Designed in consultation with history and environmental studies teachers at regional high schools, this multi-layered, interactive ArcGIS map draws on dozens of public data sources to create a comprehensive greenhouse gas emissions inventory for the Detroit River.
Resistance on the River Curriculum
An extensive collection of learning materials and lesson plans that engages middle school students with the history of anti-slavery and anti-racist organizing along the Detroit River corridor.
100 Years Ago, Today
An ongoing collection of stories gathered from historical newspapers from the 18th–20th centuries, pertaining to the rich history of the Detroit River and its surrounding communities.
People, Place, & Things
People, Place, & Things is an ongoing collection of stories about Belle Isle and the impact it has on those who visit and nurture it. Each month, we’ll post tales of people whose lives have been transformed, those who have found healing, community, and spiritual renewal through their connection to this unique place.
The Detroit River and the University of Michigan
An illustrated history of the many-layered connections between U-M and the region’s defining waterway dating back to the university’s founding in the early 19th century, just a few blocks from the river’s edge.
