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����ר�� Film and Art Education sophomore, Davon Travier recently completed a prestigious Mayor Fellowship with the City of Detroit.

Appointed by the Mayor of Detroit, Mike Duggan, the four-month program was open to graduate and undergraduate students from all disciplines to work with the City in initiatives that enhance the quality of life for the 673,000 residents of Detroit. Interns worked on engagement initiatives reaching across a broad spectrum of areas in policy, communications and public engagement. 

Travier completed his internship in the Department of Neighborhood (DON), which acts as a direct link connecting city officials with Detroit residents. The DON serves a crucial role in fighting blight, rebuilding neighborhoods, championing renewable energy initiatives and supporting community groups and business owners. 

During Travier’s time at the DON, he contributed his photography, videography, editing and storytelling skills to develop content to boost public participation rates. Showing how creativity can positively impact society and the community, an increase in community participation driven by Travier’s content, directly led to economic growth in the community programs, events and small businesses across the City of Detroit

“One of my most memorable moments was when I uploaded a video to Detroit’s social media page and the video received over 20k views. This was so inspiring because I was told that there’s been an overflow of applicants and sign-ups because of my video.”

Over the course of Travier’s internship, The Department of Neighborhood’s social media following grew from 100 reaches to approximately 80,0000 reaches; 4,000 likes; 500 new followers and 600 shares. Over 150 hours of content was viewed online, resulting in  over 410 saved posts. 

“I loved this internship because no two days were the same. I truly enjoyed documenting and capturing video footage of the city I love!” Travier believes receiving the phone call informing him of the offer for this internship was simply life-changing. 

You can learn more about the City of Detroit’s Department of Neighborhoods here: .

You can learn more about the Film department here: /academics/undergraduate-programs/film/.

You can learn more about the Art Education department here: /academics/undergraduate-programs/art-education/.