200 Schools in Detroit Have Closed, 87% of Students Say They Know Someone Who’s Been Shot — and 3 Other Major Problems in the City

Detroit, MI — Detroit is a city of many problems, and unfortunately the students there seem to be most affected. The Associated Press is reporting that since the year 2002, Detroit Public Schools enrollment has declined from more than 160,000 to now just around 50,000.

As a result, more than 200 schools have closed in recent years due to depopulation, leaving only just 97 schools in operation. In addition, violence is extremely high – specifically gang violence. In one study that recently surveyed 1,300 high school students, 87 percent said someone in their family had been shot, murdered or disabled as a result of violence in the past year.

And it gets even worse. Here are three other major problems the city faces:

#1 – Dangerous School Buses: The Detroit city public bus system is considered by many to be “inefficient and crime-ridden”. The mayor wants add video cameras to them all.

#2 – High Infant Mortality Rates: Detroit has some of the highest rates of premature births, underweight babies and infant mortality. These numbers are also high among teen pregnancies.

#3 – Parks Not Well-Maintained: Reportedly, only 25 of the Detroit’s 300 parks were in well-maintained condition last summer. This means that teens and families have less safe and well-kept places to hang out. Because of this, the mayor is urging churches to launch an “adopt-a-park” program that might allow 50 more to be revived.

Detroit, once the home of the famous Motown Records, was a booming city for African Americans in the 1960’s and 1970’s. But in the 1980’s, the city began to be experience major urban problems such as homelessness, high crime, gentrification, and more. Earlier this year, former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison for corruption.