At DJJ we hold many partnerships with the greater organizing community in Metro Detroit.

Every year we ask our partners about their political plans and take a wide-lens look at the local political landscape of Metro Detroit. Then we synthesize those responses, and our staff and leaders come together to commit to honing in on a handful of particularly important issues.

This year we are launching two teams — Immigration and Fund MI Future — to focus our impact and build cohesive organizing hubs to fight for racial and economic justice in Metro Detroit.

Immigration

The DJJ Immigration Team is a collective of DJJ-niks working with our partner organization, the People’s Assembly, to build a community defense network for the large immigrant community in Southwest Detroit. Through this partnership, we partake in mutual aid work by providing rides and food distribution for immigrants fearful of driving (the number one risk of detainment and interaction with immigration authorities). We also work on the Political Education team by building relationships with local unions to be in coalition with. Many folks on the team hold roles such as our educators who bring a piece of learning to team meetings, our welcome crew that introduces new folks to the work, our DJJ reps who attend People’s Assembly meetings, and our turnout team that mobilizes the community to our partner’s actions. After building up our team systems and relationship with the People’s Assembly, we plan to educate and mobilize the broader Metro Detroit Jewish community around immigration defense by organizing clergy, congregations, and local institutions.

Contact Stevie to find out more and get involved at [email protected]

Fund MI Future

The Fund MI Future Team is a group of DJJniks working with our partner, Fund MI Future, in a broad coalition to grow the pie of state funding for public goods and services. If everyone pays their fair share, we will have community care and the resources we all need to thrive. We dream of a future where each Michigander has access to quality healthcare, education, and infrastructure, not just the wealthy few. The first step towards this vision is passing a graduated state income tax ballot initiative in 2026. Our work will consist of spreading the word about income tax justice, listening to community responses, collecting signatures and recruiting volunteers to help us.

Contact Laura to find out more and get involved at [email protected]

Other partnerships

Our leaders and staff are organizing around other issues with our partners, including: 

• A statewide coalition of disability advocates strategizing for a hub for disability rights information alongside Detroit Disability Power and other partner organizations
• Protecting Black homeownership in Detroit by stopping unconstitutional property tax assessments with the Coalition for Property Tax Justice
• Advocating for water affordability by passing legislation at the state level to ensure water is accessible to all, no matter your income, with the People's Water Board Assembly

If you would like to be involved in other issue areas, email Lisa at [email protected]