Kim Trent: A Leader In the Trenches and Making a Difference in the Community

Kim Trent is not one to complain and sit on the sidelines of life. She is an action person, an activist - who sees wrong and tries to make it right.  She is a true leader - with a cause and a calling.  Her passion is to help people and make a difference. Hear how she does that...and how you can too! 

Kim Trent began her career as an award-winning city hall reporter for The Detroit News, covering the city’s housing department, Detroit City Council and the mayoral administrations of Coleman A. Young and Dennis W. Archer. She left The News in 1995.  In 1996, she moved to Cape Town, South Africa, where she earned a graduate diploma in African Studies from the University of Cape Town. She returned to the United States and after a brief stint as a city hall reporter for the Toledo Blade, joined the Washington staff of Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick in 1997.

After five years as Congresswoman Kilpatrick’s Communications Director, Trent joined the staff of United States Senator Debbie Stabenow as Stabenow’s regional manager for Detroit in 2003. In 2007, she was appointed Director of Governor Jennifer M. Granholm’s southeast Michigan office, a cabinet-level position in state government. She now serves as education policy manager for Michigan Future Schools.

She earned a bachelor’s of arts degree in journalism and Africana studies and a master’s of arts degree in communication from Wayne State University. She has completed fellowships with the American Political Science Association in Washington D.C. and the Michigan Political Leadership Program at Michigan State University. 

Ms. Trent’s community leadership includes her service as president of Enough Sexual Assault in Detroit (SAID) African American 490 Challenge – an effort to raise more than $600,000 to process abandoned rape kits in Detroit.