Building and Restoring Civic Capacity

Despite Detroit's legacy as an icon of American industry and innovation, the Motor City found itself grappling with substantial and long-simmering problems when President Obama took office. Its famous auto industry was in crisis and had largely left the city proper, its population had declined for half a century, vital city services were not being delivered, and the City government was hurtling towards bankruptcy. People worried about Detroit's future. President Obama committed the federal government to the region's recovery within weeks of taking office, demonstrating his confidence in the American worker-and the City of Detroit-by providing temporary federal assistance to rescue the auto industry. This assistance paid off: The industry avoided catastrophic failure, returned to profitability, and added over 646,000 US jobs.