Overview:
-"I am a Detroiter and I care," says Heidi Ausgood, a member of Planet Detroit's spring 2025 Neighborhood Reporting Lab.
-Ausgood, who's lived in Grixdale for decades, recalls the neighborhood's vibrant history.
This story is published as part of Planet Detroit’s 2025 Spring Neighborhood Reporting Lab, supported by The Kresge Foundation, to train community-based writers in profile writing. This year’s participants will focus on highlighting grassroots leaders driving positive change in Metro Detroit.
Heidi Ausgood attributes her passion for storytelling to her mother, who taught at Detroit’s now-closed Edgar A. Guest Elementary School on Fenkell Avenue on the city’s northwest side. Growing up, her home was full of Black literature, including poetry, as well as Shakespeare classics and Encyclopedia Britannica sets that Ausgood completely devoured.
Ausgood, who’s lived in the Grixdale area near Palmer Park for decades, is a former broadcast journalist and self-described urban anthropologist. She has been documenting the developments in Detroit throughout her lifetime, working with media outlets like WDET, Michigan News, and now Planet Detroit.
While interested in international affairs, Ausgood has focused on local issues related to Detroit history. Her motivation for writing is to shed light on hidden issues around the city and empower her readers with valuable information to enhance the quality of life in her neighborhood and beyond.
In this interview, Ausgood shares what motivates her to write, and what attracted her to Planet Detroit’s Neighborhood Reporting Lab.
As a native Detroiter, you’ve had a chance to witness a lot of history in this city. What was the Palmer Park neighborhood like once upon a time?
Well, when I first got to the neighborhood, it was full of artists and actors and models. Everybody and their mother was doing something creative. On every corner!
There was always something going on, and people throwing parties. I remember this one time just walking right through someone’s backyard, and we just started eating their food. And they just welcomed us right in. Can you imagine? We used to go downtown and dance all night, then go to a complete stranger’s house for breakfast, because we had been dancing together, and our endorphins were high. It was that kind of feel-good atmosphere.
Other than the parties, what else is different about the area today?
There was a time when you could get up, go get your hair done, go grocery shopping, go buy something to wear out for the evening and go out right in your neighborhood. Did you hear what I said? You could do all of that right in your neighborhood in Detroit! It was so lively and had so many things going on, all across the city.
I know you’ve been active as a community organizer and a journalist to bring about change in your neighborhood and beyond. Are there any specific issues you’re focused on now?
Well, it can be tiring at times. Like the recent news of those two children, unhoused, dying of the cold in the Greektown parking structure. I’ve spent a lot of time focusing on environmental racism. And I like speaking to people who are colorful and not only have a lot of opinions on a lot of different things, but they’re doing a lot about it. I have a lot of ideas and people to consider writing about here.
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What would you say about today’s environmental awareness and action level in Detroit?
You know, just writing about it, and as an organizer, I have learned that it all depends on the people’s power or involvement in situations. It all depends on what they have seen in the past, and what they are working towards for the future. It’s always a question of how much power people have. I mean, how do some of these lawmakers have so much say over the destiny of millions of people?
Do you see your job as a neighborhood reporter as a way to educate and inform people?
We must shift from an individualistic society to a collective one. Because the individual standpoint is “every man looking out for himself.” Well, what happens to you when something happens to you? If there’s no one there for you? Clear communication and producing a story for the public can influence real change and even impact policy. That’s why I’m writing. Because I am a Detroiter and I care.