Four community leaders who are working to make a better region now and into the future were honored during the Shining Light Awards.
Every year, the Metropolitan Affairs Coalition and the Detroit Free Press recognize leaders who are building bridges, fostering regional cooperation and working to unite communities.
The awards, given during a luncheon Wednesday, Oct. 7 at Motor City Casino Hotel, are named for three historic leaders in metro Detroit: The Neal Shine Award for Exemplary Leadership is named for the late Detroit Free Press publisher; the Eleanor Josaitis Unsung Hero Award is named for the Focus: HOPE co-founder; the Dave Bing Young Leader Award is named for the former Detroit mayor, basketball star and founder of the Bing Youth Institute.
Here are the 2026 honorees.
Neal Shine Award for Exemplary Leadership: Bob Riney, president and CEO, Henry Ford Health
Bob Riney started at Henry Ford Health as a security guard when he was a student at Wayne State University in the late 1970s, and never left. Over nearly five decades, the Downriver native worked his way up to leading one of Michigan's largest health systems with more than 50,000 employees across 13 hospitals.
Riney, said he never got to meet Shine, but the Free Press legend had an impact on his life.
"My father was probably one of Neal Shine's greatest fans and he would read us columns as we were growing up that really stuck with him or editorials that really stuck with him and he would talk about Neal Shine's perspective and how healthy it was for the region," said Riney, who received the award from Neal Shine's son, Dan Shine. "It's just very personal to me to accept this award in his name."
He went on to say: "I did know Eleanaor Josaitis and Father Cunningham very well. In fact as a young person I marched in the Focus: HOPE rallies with them on many occasions on issues of social, economic and racial justice. So this feels very very familiar in a wonderful and warm way to me."
On the regional significance of Henry Ford Health System, Riney said: "Of everything at Henry Ford, the thing I am the most proud of is that we have never wavered, no matter how economically hard it got, from serving all communities − not some communities, not easy communities, not well paying communities, all communities."
Eleanor Josaitis Unsung Hero Award: Dan Austin, historian, founder of HistoricDetroit.org
Dan Austin has brought more than 1,100 of the city’s buildings, monuments and people to life since 2011. The website he founded, HistoricDetroit.org, is a go-to for anyone interested in the richness of Detroit's buildings past and present.
Austin's meticulous research − winding through microfiche, scrolling through newspaper archives and poring over records in Detroit Public Library's Burton Historical Collection − has made Historic Detroit a trusted source. His vivid writing along with thousands of historic photo, have made the site as entertaining as it is informative.
"Detroit has given me far more than just a home or a career. It has given my life purpose," Austin said in his acceptance speech.
In 2024, Austin was diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer. After hearing about the devastating news, followers, fans and friends wondered: What will happen to Historic Detroit? Austin and his wife Elle Tivine-Austin answered that question but didn't stop with the website. They formed a nonprofit, the Austin Past & Future Fund, to raise money to continue Historic Detroit's work and grant scholarships to Detroit youths who want to contribute to their communities in a range of ways, including social work, urban planning, architecture and education.
"Nothing makes you look back on your life quite like a terminal cancer diagnosis. You ask yourself, 'what did I do with my life? Did I make a difference? Did I make a positive impact?' This award makes me feel like I have," Austin said after receiving the award from Mary Josaitis Lendzion, Eleanor Josaitis' daughter.
"I believe my life's biggest impact still lies ahead and I will strive to live up to Eleanor's legacy for as long as I've got, even if the most impactful results come after I am gone."
Dave Bing Young Leader Award: Laura Grannemann, executive director, Rocket Community Fund and the Gilbert Family Foundation
Laura Grannemann's job is to understand complex problems and invest in the people who work toward solutions.
The Rocket Community Fund, funded primarily by Rocket Companies, invests in housing stability, education and employment. Grannemann became the head of the fund by 2023, and directs $500 million in investments in the city. That work has eliminated millions of dollars in property tax debt for Detroiters, and helped thousands of renters become homeowners. Grannemann's work with the Gilbert Family Foundation stretches nationally. She has helped lead the foundation's effort to accelerate research and treatment for neurofibromatosis.
"The Detroit that I see today is proof that progress is possible when people decide to make it so, but we have much more to do. Too many Detroiters still carry the weight of a housing system and an economy that were not built for them, and with them in mind," said Grannemann, who received the award from its namesake, former Detroit Mayor Dave Bing.
Granneman's goal is systemic change, through investments large and small.
“I've seen that the deepest change happens at the intersection of public and private sectors, when business, government, philanthropy and community organizations stop working in parallel and start working together for a common vision.”
Dave Bing Young Leader Award: Jeremiah Steen, youth advocate, founder of the Steen Foundation
Jeremiah Steen is determined to realize a Detroit where young people are influential players in city institutions. He has worked to live his vision and become a role model for it.
Steen was the youngest board member of the Skillman Foundation. He was the youngest fellow at the Jane Goodall Institute. Using his $3,000 in fellowship money, he started the Steen Foundation at 18 and continues to run it with the help of donors − and plans to hand the baton off next year when he turns 26. Through that foundation, which grants between $30,000 and $50,000 annually for scholarships and community programs, Steen has created an organization in which young people decide what to invest in. The foundation also helped purchase Pages Bookshop, making it a youth-led operation.
Before a crowd of business, government and labor leaders, Steen, who received the award from Bing, emphasized the importance of preparing younger generations for leadership.
"Experience cannot be downloaded. Judgment can't be googled and wisdom disappears if we don't pass it on. This isn't about one generation stepping aside so another can step forward. It's about walking together long enough for knowledge to become wisdom and wisdom to become legacy," Steen said.
He went on to say: “Every generation eventually hands the pen to another. The question is whether we wait until the last page or start writing the next chapter together because the greatest legacy we can leave Detroit isn’t simply what we built. It’s who we prepare to build after us.”
Kristen Jordan Shamus, Neal Rubin, Tristan McFolley, Nushrat Rahman and Jewel Gopwani Myers contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Meet 4 metro Detroiters trying to solve big problems
