Legacy Lives Here
Spring 2026 REPORT
Spring 2026 REPORT
The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan is pleased to release our Spring 2026 report. These stories celebrate how collaboration helps our region thrive.
Dive into the first installment of a four-part series about Community Foundation donors Suzanne and Raymond “Bud” Baber, whose generosity continues to benefit southeast Michigan. Read a Q&A with Trustee Stacy Ziarko. Catch up on news about the Detroit Regional Workforce Partnership, our Rural Philanthropy Fellows and more.
Do you have a story idea to share? Email [email protected].
A message from Nicole Sherard-Freeman
Interest in regional collaboration is on the rise across southeast Michigan.
Even as local communities navigate shifting federal funding, the impacts of geopolitical tensions and conflicts, and the economic impact and opportunities of artificial intelligence, regionalism is gaining traction.
Collaboration with public and private partners like you helps to ensure our region is a place where everyone can thrive. This report highlights several cases in point.
Detroit Regional Workforce Partnership moves to Detroit Regional Partnership
The Detroit Regional Workforce Partnership (DRWP), founded as an initiative of the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, has moved its home base to the Detroit Regional Partnership.
The consolidation positions DRWP to make an even greater impact on advancing economic opportunity in southeast Michigan.
Collaboration is key to building a stronger, healthier region
The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan is committed to being a thought leader around our five focus areas of Economic Opportunity, Health Equity, Youth and Education, Arts and Culture, and Public Space and Environment.
To do so, the Community Foundation seeks to shine a light on the issues and share ideas about how we can jointly expand equitable access to opportunities throughout southeast Michigan. This was the goal of a set of engagement efforts we hosted in 2025 called the “CFSEM Conversation Series.”
‘Legacy Lives Here’: Donors entrust Community Foundation with their philanthropic dreams
The Suzanne L. and Raymond Baber Jr. Fund represents one of the most complete philanthropic journeys in the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan’s history — a 22-year arc that began with a modest donor-advised fund and ended with the largest estate gift the Community Foundation has ever received.
In the first installment of a four-part series about the fund, you’ll meet longtime Lake Orion residents Suzanne and Raymond “Bud” Baber, who established a modest donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation in 1997 to support causes they care about in their hometown and beyond.
Q&A: Trustee Stacy Ziarko says thriving communities take teamwork
Trustee Stacy Ziarko embodies the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan’s value of collaboration. As president and CEO of Connect Macomb, a business advocacy and networking organization that serves more than 1,100 members countywide, she functions as a community builder and corporate matchmaker.
She also takes pride in serving as a conduit between Macomb County and the Community Foundation and says her superpower as a trustee is linking people, industries and ideas to move initiatives forward.
Rural philanthropy fellows help Community Foundation develop strategy, capacity
The Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan has partnered with the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation on its Rural Philanthropy Fellows program, a $2.9 million investment by Wilson to strengthen the future of philanthropy and expand the capacity of partner community foundations.
“The expertise and lived experience of our Rural Philanthropy Fellows will be vital as we seek to expand our reach and deepen our impact in the rural communities throughout our seven-county service area,” says Sarah Baltman Wedepohl, vice president of Community Impact at the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan.