Board Spotlight – Hughey Newsome

Hughey Newsome joined the City Year Detroit Board in 2024 and is already a big asset to our organization. Hughey serves as the Chief Financial Officer for the Piston Group.  Hughey previously served as the CFO for Wayne County, Michigan, for almost three years.  Before that, Hughey served as the CFO for the City of Flint, Michigan, helping to establish the recovery framework during the City’s lead contamination water crisis.

Hughey believes in the importance of serving the community and is excited to be a part of the Piston Group, which also exemplifies dedication to the community. Additionally, Hughey is very proud of his commitment to public service in his five years as CFO in government.

Why were you inspired to serve on City Year Detroit’s board?

My path to joining the City Year board aligns with my path to becoming a civic leader.  I left a nice-paying consulting job in 2017 to become the Chief Financial Officer for the City of Flint.  What drew me to that role was the environmental justice disaster and a desire to dedicate my career to being a part of the solution.  What I learned in that role, and two subsequent roles in working in disadvantaged communities (Pontiac Interim CFO and Wayne County CFO), was that education is foundational to justice.  Without education, you cannot achieve economic equality and economic inequality is at the heart of intergenerational poverty, environmental injustice and social injustice.  I no longer serve in my former capacity of government official in disadvantaged communities, but City Year Detroit allows me to get closer to what I feel is the solution – provision of educational opportunities.

Why does representation matter in education and learning?

Some lessons taught in schools transcend culture.  No matter if you grew up in Bloomfield Hills, off 8-Mile or down river, two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom will give a molecule of water.  However, other lessons require an understanding and sensitivity of where a child is coming from.  Does the conquest of the new world we are taught in history classes a story to be celebrated, or is there a lesson to be learned about oppression and its impact on intergenerational challenges?  If we do not have proper representation in our educational institutions and if these facts are taught with imbalanced perspectives, the subconscious takeaway that certain groups “deserve” the challenges they have could be internalized.  This is just one example, and there are many, many more.  To be clear, any invested educator or stakeholder – regardless of race, ethnicity or background – can provide sensitivity to children from disadvantaged communities, but representation can bring empathy, which helps with that sensitivity.

Do you have a personal example or story of how having an educator who looked like you has positively impacted you?

I grew up in the rural south in the late 80s and early 90s.  While we were at a time beyond segregation and after bussing, the environment was one of nuanced insensitivity.  I had only a few educators of color during my K-12 years.  Fortunately, I did have contemporary-minded educators at key points in my upbringing.  One English teacher in High School challenged me to read Ralph Ellison’s “The Invisible Man”.  To this day, it is my favorite book.  While the book has many different meanings for me as an African-American man, I was struck by her empathy and foresight, even though she would not really be able to understand my struggles – current or future … or could she?  To this day, what strikes me about that event is the power of connecting with someone and having true EMPATHY.  While my struggles as a teenager are unique to me, I know and trust such instances of empathy happen regularly through the City Year program.