Season 2
PathBreakers Podcast
A podcast from The Kresge Foundation exploring who has the power to shape their city
About PathBreakers Season 2
Four American cities. Sixteen conversations. One central question: Who has power to shape what happens in their city? In Detroit, New Orleans, Memphis, and Fresno, we talk with community leaders building neighborhoods of opportunity, reclaiming narrative power, and creating the conditions for families to thrive. And we sit down with city leaders to ask what it looks like from City Hall. Hosted by Tracey Pearson and Jamie Bennett, with mayoral episodes hosted by Kresge President & CEO Rip Rapson.
Featured Episode
Orlando Bailey
Outlier Media
You can’t shape your neighborhood if you don’t know what’s happening to it. How one Detroit newsroom turned journalism into infrastructure for neighborhood power.
Explore the 4 City Arcs
Detroit: Building Neighborhoods of Opportunity
Meet three Detroiters, and one dynamic new leader in Mayor Sheffield, working to ensure residents in every corner of the city thrive.
Mayor Mary Sheffield with Rip Rapson
City of Detroit
Detroit’s future will be written in its neighborhoods. How does Detroit’s mayor ensure the city’s revival reaches every corner, and what does it take to govern a city in a moment when federal headwinds are coming on strong?
Orlando Bailey
Outlier Media
You can’t shape your neighborhood if you don’t know what’s happening to it. How one Detroit newsroom turned journalism into infrastructure for neighborhood power.
Caitlin Murphy
Live6 Alliance
A commercial corridor went from 10% occupancy to thriving neighborhood hub–and they’re just getting started. How one Northwest Detroit alliance is building opportunity block by block.
May 27
Simone Sagovac
Southwest Detroit Community Benefits Coalition
When a $6 billion bridge comes to your neighborhood, who decides what you get in return? The decade-long fight to make sure residents write the answer.
June 4
More episodes dropping soon.
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Memphis: Built to Last: Creating the Conditions for Family Stability
The leaders building the city’s future aren’t waiting for change to trickle down — they’re constructing it neighborhood by neighborhood, family by family, generation by generation.
More episodes dropping soon.
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Fresno: Community Narratives, Identity, and Culture
We talk to Fresnoians and leaders who have a shared conviction: narrative power is not a luxury, it’s infrastructure.
More episodes dropping soon.
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New Orleans: The Imperative of Health and Climate Equity
In a city that already knows how to survive, community leaders are building the food systems, green infrastructure, and public health frameworks to face what comes next.
More episodes dropping soon.
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About Our Hosts
Meet Tracey Pearson and Jamie Bennett, our co-hosts, who bring their unique experiences and questions to our PathBreaker conversations. They’ll be joined by Kresge’s own Rip Rapson, who will sit down with each city leader to set the city’s context.
Catch up with Season 1 PathBreakers
In America’s cities, progress doesn’t happen by accident. Listen to these 12 conversations with courageous individuals who challenge systems, imagine better futures, bring along communities, and create pathways forward for us all.