Community Engagement

Community Events & Programs

Art & Design 

Art & Design Student Exhibition

This annual event showcases the creative projects art and design students have produced throughout the year. The exhibition is held at the end of the winter term in April and is hosted at the Greater Flint Arts Council.

Past events

Riverbank Arts

Launched in 2022, Riverbank Arts is a community-centered space for creatives, community members, and academics to connect and support each other in their artistry. Regular art exhibitions are complemented by artist-led workshops produced in collaboration with several community partners, including Buckham Gallery, the Arts Initiative, the Community Foundation of Greater Flint, the Sylvester Broome Empowerment Village, and more.

Learn more about Riverbank Arts

Education 

Ci3T Collaboration

Ci3T explores proactive, systemic methods of looking for students who require additional assistance to experience success in schools.

As part of a multi-university research team with the University of Kansas as the site lead, Associate Professor of Education Eric Common helps lead Ci3T coaching, leadership training, and free professional development sessions for preK-12 educators, administrators, related service providers, paraprofessionals, and parents. 

• 2024-2025 EMPOWER+ Free Session Schedule
• 2024-2025 Ci3T Trainer & Coaches Call Schedule

Early Childhood Development Center

Open to the community, the Early Childhood Development Center offers childcare, pre-K, and interactive summer camps to young children. The program is designed to promote the development of the total individual by enhancing children’s skills through play.

Learn more about ECDC

Inclusive Halloween

This popular annual event creates a safe and supportive environment for kids with special needs and their families to experience Halloween fun. Featuring sensory support, physically accessible activities, and a variety of sweet treats, this is one spooky celebration you won’t want to miss!

Officer Friendly Day

Let’s face it: Interacting with law enforcement can be nerve-wracking for anyone, but it can be especially concerning if you—or someone you love—have Autism Spectrum Disorder. Each Spring, we invite the community and local officers to a fun, casual picnic that features sensory tools, toys and games, officer storytime, and simulated pull-overs to help take the anxiety out of the experience.

Teacher Leadership Symposium

In collaboration with the Greater Flint Educational Consortium and UM-Flint’s K-12 Partnerships Program, UM-Flint’s Education Department hosts this annual symposium to guide Genesee County high school juniors and seniors interested in pursuing a career in education. Attendees engage in various workshops and panel discussions, exploring what it’s like to be a teacher, how to get the most out of their college experience, professional development and outlook, and more.

Coverage of previous year’s Symposiums:

• High school students looking to become teachers can learn at this UM-Flint symposium (MLive, 2023)
• UM-Flint invites K-12 students to campus for Teacher Leadership Symposium (UM-Flint News, 2022)
• Flint education consortium inspires students to become teachers (ABC12, 2022)
• Genesee County high school students learn about what it means to be a teacher at symposium (Mid-Michigan Now, 2022)

History

Annual History Quiz Night

What started as a group of history nerds getting together to test their knowledge in a pub-style quiz night at a downtown pub has evolved into a highly-anticipated annual event now capped at 150 participants! Each Spring, teams from around the campus and community compete for fun prizes and—of course—bragging rights. Local nonprofits and foundations also join in, offering information and resources to the community.If you’d like to be added to our History Quiz Night mailing list, contact Audrey Scribner.

Civic Park Historic District

What happens when the scholarship is finished, and we leave the community? In collaboration with the Urban Rennaissance Center and the St. Luke N.E.W. Life Center, Professor Henthorn and other UM-Flint faculty continue to build connections and maintain relationships with the citizens of this underserved community. As the scope of historians and historic preservation scholars is limited to their disciplines, the work can be seen as “finished” once the papers are published, but that doesn’t mean that the challenges this community has have been met. This is an ongoing case study and collaboration to discover how academic scholarship can have an ongoing, positive impact on the communities they study.

Collaboration with Flint City Bike Tours

Professor Henthorn offers two guided tours through Flint City Bike Tours, with all the proceeds donated to charity. Ride the Redline tour explores the history of residential segregation in Flint and is an excellent example of how work rooted in peer-reviewed scholarship can produce a public-facing experience. Vehicle Cities of the Dead takes you to six of Flint’s historic cemeteries.

Learn more and book at Flint City Bike Tours

Interpretative Tours of the Glenwood Historical Cemetery

Join Professor Henthorn on one of his regularly scheduled guided tours of the Glenwood Historical Cemetery that leverage placed-based interpretive history to provide deeper insight into our collective past. Discover how the cemetery’s motifs, architecture, and other physical features reflect mourning and concepts of death in the 19th century in the Victorian Mourning Traditions tour. Or consider what the city of Flint might have felt like on the day that J. Dallas Dort was interred, as the entire city shut down and the cemetery filled during the Famous Funerals tour.

Learn about upcoming tour dates and how to register at Glenwood Historical Cemetery

Local Cemetery Preservation & Workshops

Funded partly by the Wyatt Endowment, Professor Henthorn and student interns work with local communities throughout Michigan to provide hands-on workshops on cemetery preservation. While some preservation work requires specialized tools and equipment, Professor Henthorn and his students offer guidance on cleaning and caring for headstones and monuments to preserve them against the ravages of time proactively. Workshops have been offered as far north as Alpena and south as Three Oaks on the Michigan-Indiana border.

Partnership with the Whaley Historic House Museum of Flint

Through this long-standing partnership, UM-Flint and the Whaley Historic House Museum offer student internships, classes, and coursework featuring their location as a Gilded Age house. Three UM-Flint alumni, including the current director, Justin Wetenhall, have served as the executive director of WHHM.

Lumber City Baseball Club of Flint, Michigan

In association with WHHM, Professor Henthorn founded a vintage baseball club comprised of history enthusiasts aged 18 and older who want to wear old uniforms and play baseball by the rules of the 19th century—including no mitts! The team meets from May to August yearly and plays games against 20 other vintage baseball teams around Michigan.

Learn more about the Lumber City Base Ball Club of Flint, Michigan, on Facebook