Overview:
- Ethan Bakuli, a Planet Detroit reporter, is set to explore the health impacts of flooding in Metro Detroit's eastside neighborhoods through the USC Health and Climate Change Reporting Fellowship.
- His project will highlight the chronic street flooding and basement backups affecting these communities.
- Bakuli's findings, supported by USC's community engagement program, will be published in Planet Detroit in 2026.
Planet Detroit’s Climate Solutions and Service Journalism Reporting reporter, Ethan Bakuli, has been selected for the inaugural USC Health and Climate Change Reporting Fellowship, a national program from the University of Southern California’s Center for Health Journalism supporting in-depth reporting at the intersection of climate and public health.
Bakuli will focus his fellowship project on the health impacts of flooding in Metro Detroit, particularly in eastside neighborhoods that face chronic street flooding and basement backups.
Living on Detroit’s eastside and reporting from these communities has shaped his understanding of how residents deal not only with immediate infrastructure failures but also with longer-term physical and mental health effects.
He said the fellowship will give him the support he needs to investigate the physical and mental health challenges Metro Detroiters face long after the stormwater has receded.
Bakuli brings a strong background in community-centered journalism to the role. Before joining Planet Detroit, he covered education and community issues for Chalkbeat Detroit and worked as a freelance journalist reporting on race and labor.
Earlier in his career, he taught high school students to produce audio and visual stories about their communities. This experience reinforced his belief in the importance of community-led reporting.
As a freelance journalist, Bakuli has written about community responses to corporate pollution, grassroots efforts to reduce chronic absenteeism in under-resourced schools, and healthcare labor organizing in both rural and urban settings. His work has appeared in USA Today, Chalkbeat, Planet Detroit, Capital & Main, and other outlets.
Bakuli said his lived experience and reporting background make the flooding project a continuation of work he has long wanted to pursue. He noted that neighbors routinely share stories of repeated flooding and its toll.
“USC has a long track record of supporting ambitious reporting on health issues across the country, and I trusted that this fellowship could assist me in producing this project from start to finish,” he said.
Bakuli’s fellowship reporting will be published in Planet Detroit in 2026 and will include community engagement supported by USC’s program.
Has repeated flooding in Metro Detroit impacted your family’s health? Please share your story by filling out the form below or contacting Planet Detroit.
Reporting by Ethan Bakuli
‘Nothing here is waste’: Detroit farmers call for composting policy changes after pilot programs
Advocates call for policy changes after a recent pair of pilot Detroit composting projects, one led by the city’s sustainability office, and the other by local food and environmental justice organizations.
GUIDE: How Detroiters can prepare for flooding
A guide to help Detroit homeowners and renters protect their homes from flooding, including emergency alerts, damage claims, and safety tips.
Detroit community group launches study of data center development: ‘It’s really important that we do this soon’
As data center proposals spread across Michigan, residents on Detroit’s east side are organizing to slow development or minimize harm to neighborhoods already overburdened with industry.