CLARK

From Page 3 rough that e ort, she’s ful lled an early ambition to bring other national funders into the city.

She brought her political and social justice background to bear in forging a new strategic plan that saw Hudson-Webber taking on a new advocacy role in policy issues that impact the quality of life in Detroit and funding, among other things, new approaches to crime intervention in the city.

She spearheaded the Michigan Justice Fund, a funders’ collaborative working to advance equitable justice in the state through investments to stem the ow of individuals into the criminal justice system, support the investment of public dollars to community-driven alternatives to incarceration and ensure returning citizens receive the support they need to ourish.

Under Clark’s leadership, Hudson-Webber also launched the Community Policing Innovations Initiative with the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan after the murder of George Floyd, to work with communities to address issues in police practices, systems and services.

Named among Crain’s 100 Most Inuential Women in 2016 and 2021, Clark has brought local, county and state stakeholders to the table to move the city forward through those and other new policies.

Supporting stakeholders with data that drives better decision-making and policymaking has been a hall- it allows basically a union boss to come in and threaten you and say, ‘Hey, if you don’t do things the way we want, we can as a third party condentially le a complaint against you’ and then these LEO agents can come in and start investigating any small business or employer. ... is is going to allow the harassment of many small businesses across the mark of her tenure, working with organizations such as Detroit Future City.

In other funding areas, the foundation has made investments to strengthen Detroit’s ecosystem of community development organizations and moved arts and culture grants to a cohort of small, BIPOC-led organizations.

“It’s all about intentionality and ensuring our dollars are reaching communities and leaders that are doing incredibly innovative work,” Clark said.

At the same time, she has brought to the foundation a focus on ensuring the decision-making of grantees is driven by community voice and priorities.

“I’m passionate about what I’m doing and will continue it,” Clark said.

“But as I make the transition, I’ll be able to make some more space for attending to my dad’s legacy and projects.”

Ed Clark, an abstract expressionist painter, whose works are part of the Detroit Institute of Arts’ permanent collection and on display at the Whitney and the Museum of Modern Art, died at age 93 in 2019.

A book and documentary on his life are forthcoming, Clark said.

Still, leaving Detroit will be bittersweet, she said.

“It’s about the work I’ve been privileged to do here but also about how welcoming the community has been here.”

Contact: swelch@crain.com; (313) 446-1694; @SherriWelch state that are not complying or getting along with unions. It’s kind of a threat to employers, and it is going to have a chilling e ect.”

Supporters of the law, however, said the intent is to clear up uncertainty that existed when the old law was on the books for more than 50 years. Sean Egan, LEO’s deputy director of labor, said he wrote most of the new language that was included. e prior law, he said, was vague on what would happen if there were violations and where complaints could be led.

“Most of the way that we enforced the law previously was just department-created policies of how we would investigate and process complaints,” he said. “If we did nd a violation, under the previous law there was no administrative action, really. It would just be a determination that would be referred to either the attorney general or local prosecutors for some criminal provisions that were included in the original law.”

A violation of the old law was a misdemeanor. e criminal penalty will be replaced with a ne in the new law, which Egan said is common with enforcement of other wage and workplace rules.

Egan estimated the state got two dozen prevailing wage complaints a year in the past, and the state recovered tens of thousands, sometimes hundreds of thousands, of dollars for workers annually.

“Complaints were more challenging under the prior law just because of that lack of clarity. We certainly accepted complaints and did investigations, but there was no real statutory support for demanding certain records and making sure there was certi ed payroll. .... We resolved I would say 85% of them through determination, but we didn’t have the authority to actually issue an order of payment. ... What the prevailing wage law does now is it creates the speeding ticket, so to speak, but it also enhances Wage and Hour’s ability to proactively investigate complaints for prevailing wage projects.” e state will do a lot of outreach and education so contractors and workers understand the new law, Egan said. e bill was sponsored by Democratic Rep. Brenda Carter of Pontiac, who once worked as a journeyman machine repair machinist. e enforcement pieces, she said, are about “worker protection.”

While critics have said the change will result in higher taxpayer costs to build schools and do other public projects, Carter said it will make sure workers are paid fairly, and the work is done safely and correctly the rst time.

“ at’s how you save money, because if you have to do it over and over and over again because you don’t have the expertise to get it done right the rst time, then that’s how you lose money,” she said.

Contact: david.eggert@crain.com; (313) 446-1654; @DavidEggert00