Detroit — During a stop in Detroit on an economy-focused tour, Vice President Kamala Harris touted how the Biden administration is assisting small businesses, including those owned by minorities, and contrasted its approach with the policies of former President Donald Trump.

“The last administration invested in access to tax cuts for billionaires,” Harris said. “We are investing in an access to capital for entrepreneurs.”

Harris said the administration will provide $100 million for small and medium-size auto parts manufacturers to upgrade their facilities and train their workforces. The funding is the latest in a series of recent investments and initiatives meant to spur a transition to electric vehicles being pushed by President Joe Biden. 

The transition to EVs has become a key political issue in Michigan, the longtime heart of the U.S. auto industry and a crucial swing state in the 2024 presidential election, an almost certain rematch between Biden and Trump. The Biden administration, knowing that, has made several similar announcements aimed at Michigan recently and is deploying top surrogates alongside Harris.

Trump has repeatedly slammed Biden’s policies promoting electric vehicles. During a campaign rally in Freeland last week, he said they would bring “an economic bloodbath.”

After arriving at Detroit Metro Airport around midday, Harris and her team made a pit stop at Joe Louis Southern Kitchen on Woodward Avenue, where she spoke with supporters and the owners of the restaurant, according to a White House press pool report.

Around 40 pro-Palestinian protesters rallied at the corner of Warren Avenue and Woodward, near the Wright museum Monday afternoon, demanding a cease-fire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. Harris told reporters later in the day that she was on a call between Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the morning, according to the pool report.

“We are closely tracking what is happening on the ground,” she told reporters. “And my team is keeping me updated and I have nothing further at this time.”

Aid for auto suppliers

Of the new funds announced Monday, the Energy Department’s Automotive Conversion Grant program will receive $50 million to help small and medium-size suppliers convert from manufacturing parts for internal combustion engine vehicles to manufacturing parts for the EV supply chain.

“These grants will allow businesses to upgrade production and production lines to produce parts for electric vehicles,” she said.

The Energy Department’s Industrial Assessments Center Implementation Grants Program will get the other $50 million to help auto suppliers “improve their facilities’ energy and material efficiency, cybersecurity, or productivity, or reduce the greenhouse gas emissions,” the White House said in a press release.

The programs are funded by the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, respectively.

“The strength of America’s economy is also based on the strength of America’s supply chains ― we all learned that in the pandemic if we weren’t clear before,” Harris said, adding that the investment will help to keep the auto supply chain in the United States, which strengthens the American economy and keeps “those jobs here in Detroit.”

Other economic initiatives

Harris said that when she and Biden took office, they pledged to increase federal contracts for minority-owned small businesses by 50%, “knowing that traditionally and historically, folks didn’t necessarily have access to the relationships to get those contracts.”

“And we are on track to meet our goal by the end of next year,” she said to applause from the audience.

She also noted that structural inequities have made it less likely for Black Americans to own a home. Biden’s proposed budget includes providing up to $25,000 in down payment assistance to first-generation homebuyers.

Harris also said debt forgiveness is “a central pillar” of the Biden administration’s economic agenda. She said the administration has already forgiven about $500 million of medical debt across the country, and noted that it will forgive an additional $700 million of debt in Wayne County, .

GOP response

The Republican State Leadership Committee, a national organization of GOP state leaders, criticized the Biden-Harris administration’s policies in a statement Monday, especially the push toward electric vehicles.

“Kamala Harris thinks that the key to winning Michigan voters is to go all in on electric vehicle production, even though Michigan-based companies like Ford just reported a major loss in revenue from their electric car production,” said Mason Di Palma, a committee spokesperson. “The push from Lansing and Washington, D.C., Democrats to force electric vehicles on everybody shows how out of touch they are with reality, and how they have no interest in addressing key issues like improving the economy.”

Tim Golding, the director of grassroots operations for the conservative group Americans for Prosperity-Michigan, stated that since Biden and Harris took office, “every decision this Administration has made has put the American Dream further out of reach.”

“For Michiganders, economic opportunity starts by quitting ‘Bidenomics’ and embracing real solutions that empower individuals and businesses to seek out their purpose and thrive on their own terms — not top-down policies that favor the Administration’s allied special interests,” he said.

asnabes@detroitnews.com

Washington correspondent Grant Schwab contributed.

DETROIT – The Detroit Tigers have unveiled their new City Connect alternate uniforms.

Photos of uniforms

The uniforms are black with a blue tire tread pattern down the center. You can see photos of Riley Greene, Tarik Skubal, and Spencer Torkelson modeling the jerseys and hats.

When will Tigers wear these?

The Tigers will debut these uniforms at home on May 10 against the Houston Astros. They will wear them for the rest of their Friday home games this season.

Detroit is one of nine teams to unveil City Connect uniforms this season. The goal of the jerseys is to celebrate the history, culture, and spirit of each city.

“We are excited to introduce the Tigers City Connect uniforms and celebrate the past, present, and future of the Motor City,” said Ryan Gustafson, president and CEO of Ilitch Sports and Entertainment.

Gustafson said the uniforms represent Detroit’s combination of muscle and innovation, paying homage to the “city that put the world on wheels.”

“From the tire treads to the VIN tag to the M-1 patch on the sleeve, there are unique features on the uniforms, caps, and batting helmets we feel Tigers fans and Detroiters will appreciate,” Gustafson said.

What elements symbolize

The electric blue tire treads down the middle of the jersey represent “the wheels keeping the Motor City and the Tigers accelerating toward the future,” the release said.

The uniforms celebrate M-1, saying Woodward Avenue “unites neighborhoods, and is a central heartbeat of the city’s pride, progress, and potential.” It also notes that Comerica Park is on Woodward Avenue.

“The 313 patch stitched on the left sleeve of the jersey takes you on a ride to M-1, known to Detroiters as Woodward Avenue, America’s first paved road in 1909,” the release says. “The baseball diamond-shaped patch features Detroit’s ’313′ area code, with the No. 1 bolded and emphasized to emulate the classic M-1 road signs.”

The racing stripes at the bottom of each sleeve celebrate that Detroit has long been at the core of the racing industry and “parallels the Tigers’ youthful speed and energy.”

Like every vehicle, the uniform also has its own unique VIN: 190135456884. It represents the team’s first year of AL membership (1910), and the years of all four World Series championships: 1935, 1945, 1968, and 1984.

The tiger eyes at the belt line of the jersey and under the bill of the cap symbolize the “passion, energy, and tenacity” of the Tigers and Detroiters.

The Tigers will have an electric blue City Connect batting helmet with a similar design as the jersey. “Detroit” is scripted across the front and includes the VIN tag on the right side, with a matte finish.

Ilitch comments

Here’s what the Ilitch Sports release said about the uniforms:

The Tigers City Connect uniforms are an ode to the Motor City, a moniker bestowed upon Detroit in the early 1900s when it became the epicenter of the automotive industry, putting the world on wheels, and driving a significant part of Michigan’s economy. It defines who we are as Detroiters, our unwavering drive, steadfast resiliency, and indomitable spirit. The Motor City represents the pride of its hard-working people and is proudly displayed across the chest of the City Connect jersey.

Along with paying tribute to the remarkable history of the automotive industry in Detroit, the Tigers City Connect uniforms were created with the momentum of the city and its bright future in mind. The innovative and modern design presents a fashionable electric blue and dark navy-blue color combination with several features that will resonate with Detroiters, Michiganders, and Tigers fans everywhere.

Like Detroit and the auto industry, the Tigers hold fast to a storied history of both challenge and triumph. While paying homage to our past, we enthusiastically turn the page toward a future brimming with opportunity.  It’s a revitalization in parallel – the resurgence of Detroit, the innovation within the auto industry and the transformation of the Tigers ball club — all converging at a pivotal moment and better than before. The Tigers City Connect illustrates the foresight to shift into a new era of excellence as we drive our forward-thinking, building something special through technology, youthful energy, and optimism.

Standing side-by-side with the people of Detroit and the auto industry, it’s the numbers that prove our Motor City story. Where Michigan is #1 in the nation for automotive manufacturing jobs (6X higher than the national average); accounting for 1.1 million automotive or mobility jobs representing 20% of the state’s workforce; and 21% of all U.S. auto production. Source: Detroit Regional Chamber.

We are Detroit, where innovation meets grit, where excellence meets work, where challenge meets resilience. We look forward through the windshield and no longer in the rear-view mirror. It’s us against everyone. We are Detroit, where muscle meets brains. We are the Motor City.

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City Connect block parties

The Tigers and Nike are hosting two City Connect-themed block parties outside Comerica Park.

The first will be from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. May 10. The second will be from noon to 6:30 p.m. May 11.

These parties will include live music, food and beverage trucks, muralists, and merchandise outlets with City Connect gear.

Detroit police closed parts of Vernor Highway in southwest Detroit to vehicular and pedestrian traffic Sunday evening during the 59th annual Cinco de Mayo celebration because of a “public safety concern.”

Detroit police Sgt. Jordan Hall said Cinco de Mayo hadn’t been canceled, and people had been free to continue to celebrate. He did not go into details about what the concern for public safety entailed, but he said that about seven people were ticketed and released. None were arrested.

Social media reports said the annual Mexican heritage celebration in southwest Detroit had been halted by police Sunday evening.

Local activist Ofeliza MuÑeca Torres Saenz said in an Instagram video that the celebration had been shut down because of “over capacity.”

“One of our biggest events in our community over the (expletive) weekend and they shut it down?” she said.

She said the police closed Vernor Highway, the route used for an earlier parade.

A video posted by Twitter user @vanhoa2272 shows police handcuffing a young person wearing a keffiyeh.

The annual celebration included a parade, which started at noon Sunday, and a cultural and musical fiesta, which began Saturday and ended at 8 p.m. Sunday.