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Mott Foundation releases second Focus on Flint report, plans community conversations

Flint Area

Meeting Evolving Community Needs

A performer sings to an audience from the stage set up in one of Flint's alleys, called Buckham. His back is to the camera but the audience in front of the stage is facing the camera. Many people are recording and taking photos of the artist with their cell phones and cameras.
An artist performs during Flint Alley Fest in downtown Flint. This photo is used on the cover of the second edition of Focus on Flint. Photo: Mike Naddeo

Flint, Michigan – Five years into its Focus on Flint initiative, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation published its second report designed to provide credible data and helpful information for residents and other community members.

Copies of the publication are available at various locations throughout the city, including the Flint Farmers’ Market, Berston Field House, Hasselbring Senior Center and the Mott Foundation Building. A digital version of the publication and a complete list of pickup locations can be found at focusonflint.org.

“We’re pleased to publish another edition of Focus on Flint, and we’re eager to continue to have conversations with residents about their priorities for Flint,” said Ridgway White, president and CEO of the Mott Foundation.

A private charitable foundation, Mott typically awards more than half its annual grantmaking budget in support of the Flint area community. In 2023, that amount totaled more than $80 million.

Several community conversations will be scheduled over the next few months. To stay up to date on upcoming conversations and other Focus on Flint initiatives, visit focusonflint.org/updates.

The Mott Foundation launched the Focus on Flint initiative in the summer of 2019. After commissioning a survey of 900 residents and gathering community data, the Foundation published the first edition to provide a realistic picture of Flint’s challenges and opportunities, and to lift up how residents felt about life in the city.

Mott Foundation staff then hosted more than 30 community conversations to learn more about the community’s priorities and top concerns. This second edition of Focus on Flint includes what has happened since then, including grants the Foundation awarded based on what residents said was important to them. The publication also includes a list of community resources available throughout the city.

In 2019 and every year since, the Mott Foundation has commissioned a survey of Flint residents about eight key issues that affect quality of life. The new Focus on Flint report shows how residents’ feelings about key issues have — or have not — changed over the years.

“We always want to know if what we and other organizations are doing in the community is adding up to positive change residents can feel in their day-to-day life,” White said. “The Focus on Flint project gives us a way to track that over time. It also gives us another opportunity to hear about priorities and share what we learn.”