Meet ML
I moved back to Detroit more than 20 years ago because I wanted to be a part of its comeback. It was important for me to be here for family and to help the city I’ve always loved.
- M.L. Elrick
M.L. Elrick is running for Detroit City Council in District 4 to continue serving the community he has called home for more than 20 years and to bring honest change to city hall.
He is a Pulitzer Prize and Emmy Award winning investigative reporter. You may know his work for the Detroit Free Press, Fox 2 Detroit, WDIV/Channel 4, WJR 760 AM or Detroit Public Radio/WDET FM 101.9. He also hosts a podcast, ML’s Soul of Detroit.
He is also a long-time union member and activist, serving as an organizer, shop steward, negotiator and vice president of the Free Press unit of the Newspaper Guild of Detroit. He was a member of the Lecturers’ Employee Organization while teaching at the University of Michigan-Dearborn; the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA), which represents reporters at Fox 2; and UNITE HERE Local 24, which represents vendors at Comerica Park, where ML. worked as a beer vendor after starting out as a hot dog man at Tiger Stadium.
M. L. is on the board of the East English Village Neighborhood Association and created a charity hockey game, which has raised $125,000 for Detroit children’s programs. M.L. is a former member of the school commission at St. Clare of Montefalco School, where he also served as a chaperone, field day team leader and softball coach. He is a former youth hockey coach, and coached baseball and soccer for Eagle Sports, which is based at Balduck Park. M.L. is also a long-time member and volunteer with the Friends of the Alger Theater. He is a proud member of the East English Village soccer and softball teams, which represent the neighborhood where he has lived with his wife and two daughters since 1999. (You may have seen M.L. mowing the median on East Outer Drive, picking up trash on East Warren Avenue or cutting the grass in front of a vacant home.)
His association with District 4 dates back to 1981, when M.L. stocked shelves at Johnson’s Milk Depot on Mack and, later, as an employee of the Sherwin Williams paint store at Kensington and East Warren. M.L. is excited by the progress he sees in Detroit and District 4, and believes even greater days are ahead if caring people are willing to get involved.
Your support will help bring M.L.’s energy and positivity to city hall, where he can continue working to help Detroit and the district reach their full potential.