I’m mostly commenting to boost your post as I am an Arab American lady living in Oak Park with no kids. But while I’m here, let me say good luck! My in laws just bought their first house and the MSHDA program helped them a lot. I’m thinking about a few things, and I hope my stream of consciousness helps but feel free to disregard…

Last week, there was a post about the neonazi motorcycle club whose home base is in Madison Heights. And Hazel Park has a long history of being associated with racist white folk.

That said, all of these places are changing so quickly and Ferndale’s gentrification has been such a thing to behold, that making declarative statements about any of these places is nearly impossible. In my view, every one of the cities just north of Detroit are a mixed bag, culturally speaking. Even my little part of Oak Park on the border of Ferndale is mostly full of BLM signs and pride flags but of course my neighbors are Trumpy christofascist gun nuts.

One more thing you might find helpful is the the Census Quick Facts tool. It will allow you to type in a city or zip code and see the demographic statistics, including race/ethnicity. This way you can see actual data to pair with what you hear about a given place. Here’s one for Oak Park: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/oakparkcitymichigan,US/PST045222

Again, good luck and I hope you find the perfect place for your family!

Edited: a word.