Detroit

Pathways to
Connection

Young people participating in a community-engaged event.
Understanding what keeps young people connected—and what gets in the way.
Our Work

Pathways to Connection aims to identify and improve conditions young people in Detroit say causes them to become disconnected, and what can help them reconnect.

What we know

Connection is shaped across systems.

Detroit's young people often do not experience systems one at a time. Pathways to Connection looks at how these systems meet in real life and how those interactions can strengthen connection or make it harder to sustain.

Young people participating in a community activity.
More than one pathway

The question is not simply whether a young person is connected. It is what around them helps connection hold.

Connection Points

People, place, trust, relationships and community run across every system. So we're paying attention to that too, not as background, but as part of the pathway.

What We Want to Understand and improve

What shapes young people’s paths into, through, and out of disconnection?

Rather than focusing on disconnection by itself, Pathways to Connection considers the lived experiences and realities across Detroit's young people to better understand what protects connection, what disrupts it, and what communities can learn from both.

Meet the team
The Team

The faces behind the work.

Research and Project Team

Community Advisory Team
Community Advisory Team members will appear here as they are added.

This section supports up to 20 Community Advisory Team members.

Partnership Team
Partner organizations and companies will appear here as they are added.
Pathways to Connection
Developed with the belief that research is most useful when communities can understand it, question it, and use it.
About Focus Team Re/val Strategies
Research. Evaluation. Strategy. Community Change. © 2026 Pathways to Connection