Kalette Shari Willis

Healthy Dearborn is a vibrant community coalition that has partnered with the City of Dearborn since 2015 to create a culture of health in Dearborn by working to reduce health disparities through active living and healthy eating strategies. For more on Healthy Dearborn, please visit our website: https://www.healthydearborn.org/. How do you see your Mayoral administration or Dearborn’s City Council working with Healthy Dearborn? And what specific ideas do you have for implementing Healthy Dearborn initiatives? *

Healthy Dearborn is one of the best organizations this city has! I see my Mayoral administration bringing more awareness and empowering the initiatives that already exist such as the Healthy Streets, and the Multimodal plan! Personally, I exercise regularly, eat a vegan diet. I want us all to be more healthy and active! I also look forward to exploring new and more innovative programs to bring more health and wellness to the culture of our city.

What do you see as Dearborn’s biggest health challenges and Dearborn’s biggest health assets? How can we best leverage our assets to address our challenges? *

Our biggest challenge is the pollution from major industries in our communities. Our biggest health asset is a massive city! The best way to leverage our beautiful home, is to end the pollution, and focus on our Multimodal Transportation Plan. With feedback and ideas from the entire city, we can transform the culture of our city from the overuse of motor vehicles, to one with minimal emissions from our vehicles. Moving forward, we should encourage more walking, biking, and green vehicles, for a better environment.

Do you believe that "Health in all Policies," which is the use of health assessment tools to guide decisions on major civic projects and policy decisions, should be implemented in Dearborn? Please explain why, either way. *

Yes! As we move forward as a city, we have to consider the impact of every project, new policy, and event that we allow in Dearborn. We have to make our health a number one priority, and using health assessment tools will help us make the best decisions!

Dearborn’s Multimodal Transportation Plan (MMTP) (https://walkbike.info/dearborn/) was developed with significant community involvement, including Healthy Dearborn, and was adopted by the Dearborn City Council on October 6, 2020. How do you see the implementation of the MMTP fitting into your community health priorities as Mayor? *

Yes! The Dearborn MTTP is in alignment with my dream! I envision our city with open streets, people walking, biking, rollerblading, jogging, and just generally enjoying the environment more than now. Some people may not agree, but this whole "motor city" culture is outdated, and it's keeping us isolated from one another. For example, if we were to decide to close Michigan Ave as a highway, and transform it back to a walking trail, full of art, maybe a green railway car, and more, we would shift our culture for the better. Moving forward, I hope that we can start to transform our culture to one that is more healthy, sustainable, inclusive, and of course, FUN!