Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan President and CEO Nicole Sherard-Freeman, a Detroit native and nationally recognized leader whose career has connected philanthropy, public service and economic opportunity, recently keynoted the inaugural Kohn Social Policy Conference in Detroit. 

The University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy hosted the event in September at The Godfrey Hotel Detroit, bringing scholars, policymakers and community leaders together around one question: What can a city do to promote human thriving?

Sherard-Freeman joined Ford School professor and City of Detroit Chief Executive of Health, Human Services, and Poverty Solutions Luke Shaefer for a conversation that explored how leaders across sectors can work together to strengthen the systems that shape opportunity, stability and well-being.  

“This is our chance to develop an allergy to silos,” Sherard-Freeman told the audience. “Look around and develop relationships with people who think differently, build bridges and do something.” 

The inaugural Kohn Social Policy Conference is a new biennial Ford School convening focused on emerging social policy challenges and practical, evidence-informed solutions. This year’s program explored interconnected issues including health, education, childhood poverty, and housing and homelessness. 

“Nicole Sherard-Freeman’s leadership reflects the kind of cross-sector, deeply engaged public work that the Kohn Social Policy Conference is designed to elevate,” says U-M’s Celeste Watkins-Hayes, who serves as the Joan and Sanford Weill Dean of Public Policy at the Ford School. “Her deep commitment to Detroit and to expanding opportunity bring an essential perspective to her exchange with Luke Shaefer, grounding the conference’s central question in the real work of policy, public service and community investment.” 

This story originally appeared in our Fall/Winter 2026 REPORT Newsletter