7 of 12 blessings we are celebrating!
Have you seen the plans??
Unsafe. Unsightly. Unbelievable. This is the narrative we are striving to change. It took less than a decade for whole houses to disappear. City resources meant to provide EMT, firefighters, police, and maintain sidewalks, alley lighting, and roads were no longer provided in our community. Consequently, violence soared and residents moved. This allowed incredible decline to happen quickly in our neighborhood.
This is unsafe for children walking to school, as whole sidewalks disappeared under blight. This causes students to walk in the street, provides cover for illicit activity, and impairs mental health. Much of the land around our dorms was not even walkable. Once, we dropped something in wild overgrowth and needed a chainsaw to help us look for it!
But not anymore.
Together, we are striving to transform the narrative.
Emergency services have returned and are improving daily. Our collective community effort has reduced crime by 61%. For years now, community members have been talking about transforming the land around Camp Restore, revitalizing it for community use. As we worked towards this, we were shocked to learn that the design process alone cost $38,000. We were sad but not defeated. We prayed and prayed for our needs to be met.
This year, we were blessed with a grant from the University of Detroit Mercy’s Collaborative Design Center to engage community members in designing the space with professional designers. Included in our designing process have been so many neighbors of all ages. These meetings were beautiful collaborations with excited neighbors. A whole table of teens even participated and held great conversations about the needs in our community!
On top of this, the National Wildlife Federation worked with these same community members to design a children’s natural playspace between the Little Blue House (aka Literacy Center) and Redeemer Cafe.
We have already cleared, graded, and seeded 17 lots with a combination of your support and Beautification grants. This took so much more time and expense than one would think! The lots all have old construction materials, unhealthy trees, and a lot of garbage. This took large equipment, many dumpsters, and several service hours. Just finding a way to remove the larger debris from campus was a feat and took thousands of dollars. Yet so worth it - people regularly stop by and express their excitement of this change!
This coming year, we will seek funding through grants and financial gifts to buy the rest of the land ($130,000) and a small building for equipment storage and vocational training ($60,000). We will also clear, seed, and grade the rest of the land ($30,000), and begin paths and gardens ($50,000). Check out the plans below for both the campus & the playground!
Comments