Detroit PBS receives $2M for initiative focused on faith in community

Detroit PBS has received a $2 million grant to produce and distribute special programming as the lead media partner for a community-driven initiative focused on stories of faith. 

The “Faith in Detroit” initiative, which local Episcopal church Christ Church Cranbrook announced in January, seeks to amplify stories of faith within the community through events, mixed-media art and video content over the next four years. Detroit PBS will serve as lead storytelling media partner and produce programming for broadcast and digital distribution for the initiative, which is funded by the Lilly Endowment.

Though Christianity is at the core of the initiative, Zosette Guir, Detroit PBS’ manager of content operations and production, said the station’s role, combined with its public media principles, will ensure the community’s diverse array of faiths are represented. 

“We are a PBS station. We serve a public media audience,” Guir said. “We’re not just talking to Christians. There are going to be people of other faiths, people who are seeking spiritually. What our audience can expect, and what our mission is, is that this will be a very thorough and inclusive storytelling initiative.”

The Rev. William Danaher, rector of Christ Church Cranbrook, said one of the initiative’s most valuable facets is the ability to uplift and share the stories of people from diverse faith-based backgrounds. 

“People tend to forget that interfaith engagement is a Christian practice, and we are living in a time when many think that the Christian faith should be presented as an either-or,” Danaher said. “From the beginning, during our conversations, we made sure to have people at the table, helping us make decisions, who did not espouse the Christian faith.”

Detroit PBS’ track record of working with the community and uplifting voices within it made the station a perfect fit for the initiative, Danaher said.

“They’ve done incredible work, and we’re proud to be with them. Their motto for community engagement is ‘You lead, we follow,’” he said. “We need public television.” 

Finding faith

Detroit PBS prioritizes engaging with its community on important issues, said CEO Rich Homberg. The station has created advisory groups to inform it about community needs and help shape content. 

“Engaging our community is key to us understanding issues and finding future paths together,” Homberg said. “Detroit’s a face-to-face town.”

About a year ago, Homberg said, he spoke extensively with Danaher about Detroit PBS’ community engagement model. Danaher, whom Homberg described as “very involved in the community,” was intrigued. 

Danaher said that around the same time, the Lilly Endowment, a private organization that supports educational, charitable and religious projects, issued a request for concept papers for its 2025 National Storytelling Initiative on Christian Faith and Life, which aims to amplify stories about Christianity and inspire others to connect with God. The endowment planned to award up to $5 million in grants to 30 organizations to facilitate the initiative’s objectives.

Danaher thought the initiative would be a great opportunity to work with Detroit PBS, so he reached out to Homberg about a potential collaboration. He received a $50,000 planning grant from the Lilly Endowment to create a robust proposal for the implementation grant. 

“Our next step was to take this initial conversation that we had together and create a pathway so that we could invest in each other,” Danaher said. “Our goal with ‘Faith in Detroit’ is to build a storytelling ecosystem that empowers storytellers and lifts up stories. Detroit PBS is one of the key people that we have to have to help do this work together.”

Homberg said the station spent the following months working closely with Christ Church Cranbrook and the initiative’s various other partner organizations, including the Detroit Opera and Oakland University, to refine the plan. The final proposal exceeded 190 pages, Danaher said. 

The endowment awarded the church $5 million for the project. Christ Church Cranbrook allocated $2 million to Detroit PBS. 

The station has produced content about issues affecting Detroit’s community for years, such as the environment-focused Great Lakes Now program, but has not examined faith in depth, said VP of Content Ed Moore. He said the initiative presented an opportunity to tackle the subject head-on. 

“Our goal is to create a bridge between communities,” Moore said. “Detroit is one of the most diverse, yet one of the most segregated cities in the country, and that goes for the entire region of Detroit. … By getting out and understanding these problems, it really grounds us into a lot of the issues and helps us meet the unmet needs.”

‘Strong and sustainable’

Detroit PBS plans to air the initiative programming on One Detroit, its weekly public affairs program, and American Black Journal, its long-running program focused on African American perspectives. Guir said the programming will highlight themes of “resilience, relationships and renewal.”

Homberg said the station will produce programming for the initiative over the next four years. Some projects are “concrete,” he said, while others are on a rough draft list. 

The initiative will draw on the model of the station’s Destination Detroit, a series it launched in 2025 as part of a yearlong initiative to celebrate the nation’s 250th anniversary. The program highlights stories of how Detroit residents’ families first came to the city. 

“We’re going to do the same type of story, gathering around faith in Detroit,” Moore said. “We’ll start off in places of worship, moving around, getting people’s stories of faith.”

Community events will include an annual town hall, panel discussions and storytelling events in collaboration with the initiative’s other partners. 

Moore said Christ Church Cranbrook’s emphasis on inclusivity and its efforts to reach all communities made it an ideal partner for Detroit PBS. At a time when baseless narratives often run rampant, the initiative will depict accounts of faith that can help dispel false stereotypes surrounding Detroit’s diverse array of religions. 

“If you’re not in control of your own story, if you’re not in control of your own narrative, it can be used against you,” Moore said.

Partnering with the community through this initiative allows the station to accurately portray the full spectrum of “what it means to be a person who has faith in Detroit,” Guir said.

“These stories are not simple. They’re never flat. There’s complexity within them,” Guir said. “There’s a place for everybody to see themselves or to share their story. And that’s what feels right about being part of this.”

For Homberg, the initiative underscores the importance of public media stations working with their communities following Congress’ rescission of federal funding for the system. Such work will help sustain public media, he said.

“There’s a huge opportunity for this organization to be able to partner with the community and sincerely around issues around educational literacy, around issues of faith, around the environment or around understanding our history,” Homberg said. “But all of that takes you to be committed to it, and all of that’s built with partners.”