Community Wealth City: Detroit, Michigan

In the 2000 census, Detroit had a population of 951,270 residents, marking the first time since 1920 that the city's population had dipped below one million. The city's racial composition in that census was 81.6% African American, 12.3% White, 5.0% Hispanic, and 1.0% Asian. As of 2006, the Census Bureau estimates that Detroit's population has fallen by another 32,000 to under 919,000 — a number that represents more than a 50 percent decline from the city's population of 1.85 million in 1950.

For more than four decades, many neighborhoods in Detroit have suffered immense population decline and related urban disinvestment and deterioration. This loss in population and jobs is a direct repercussion of the declining manufacturing base of the region, especially of the Big Three automakers and the even faster shrinkage of industry parts suppliers. The city's poverty rate in 2006 was 32.5 percent, the highest rate for any large (population of over 250,000) city in the country. Unemployment in Detroit is also high. In 2006, the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated the annual unemployment rate in the city of Detroit to be 13.7 percent – except for post-Katrina New Orleans, this marked the highest rate, by far, of the United States' 50 most populous cities (Fresno, which ranked second highest, had an unemployment rate of 7.5 percent).

Despite the daunting task of working against the tide of automotive industry decline, community wealth building institutions in Detroit have had some significant successes. From 1991 through 2005, $9.5 million in loans and grants from Living Cities and additional support from Detroit LISC helped to generate $337 million worth of housing projects, resulting in 3,547 affordable housing units. The fruits of rebuilding efforts are visible in Corktown (where Tiger Stadium was located), Mexicantown (in southwest Detroit, near the Ambassador Bridge that links Detroit to Windsor, Canada), the Morningside neighborhood on Detroit's east side, and in parts of downtown Detroit.

Faced with the recent spate of manufacturing lay-offs, both the City of Detroit and the philanthropic community are stepping up their community building efforts. The City's program, labeled the NEXT Detroit Neighborhood Initiative, will spend $125 million of public funds over five years to implement six neighborhood plans that have been developed through a 15-month community planning process. The philanthropic community has pledged $100 million to create a “New Economy Initiative” fund that will “target companies and projects aimed at diversifying Michigan's ‘old economy'.” The Ford, Kresge and Kellogg foundations have each committed $25 million, with the remaining $25 million coming from the Knight, Hudson-Webber, Max and Marjorie Fisher, C.S. Mott, Skillman, the Community Foundation for Southeast Michicago, and the McGregor Fund.

Anchor Institutions

University Cultural Center Association
www.detroitmidtown.com/05
Founded in 1976 by Wayne State University, the College for Creative Studies, the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Engineering Society of Detroit, UCCA aims to support the physical maintenance and development of Midtown Detroit. In 2003, the UCCA launched a major initiative to improve Woodward Avenue, Midtown's main thoroughfare. To date, over $20 million has been secured for streetscape and façade improvements and low-interest loan programs. Today, the UCCA has over 60 members representing the area's cultural, academic, medical and service institutions, corporations, businesses and community organizations

Community Development Corporations

Abayomi Community Development Corporation
www.abayomicdc.org
Founded in 1997, Abayomi is a faith-based nonprofit organization, with origins in New St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church, serving Northwest Detroit. Abayomi has provided community and economic development, education, and recreation programs to over 5,000 youth and has completed the first phase of construction of a planned 36,000-square-foot community center. The CDC also provides home repair assistance to seniors, is developing an asset-building program modeled on the individual development account approach, and has plans to expand in the future into the area of commercial real estate development.

Bagley Housing Association
www.bagleyhousing.com
Bagley Housing Association (BHA), a not-for-profit organization that provides resources for community development in the Hubbard Richard and Hubbard Farms districts (and other designated areas) of Detroit. BHA seeks to complement other efforts in the area to build a thriving, economically, ethnically and culturally diverse residential/business urban environment. Specifically, BHA's goals are to: improve housing stock for low and moderate income families; foster commercial development; attract institutional improvement and development; promote job creation; and address other elements needed for a sustainable neighborhood.

Cass Corridor Neighborhood Development Corporation
www.casscorridor.wordpress.com
The Cass Corridor Neighborhood Development Corporation (CCNDC) was established in 1982. The group rehabilitates and builds decent, safe and affordable housing and manages eight multi-unit properties. The group also maintains a 3,000-square-foot community center which is rented out for a fee for private functions and at no cost for local nonprofit groups.

Grandmont Rosedale Development Corporation
www.grdc.org
GRDC works to preserve and revitalize the Grandmont Rosedale communities of northwest Detroit. Through its Housing Development Program, the group purchases and renovates vacant homes, assists low-income homeowners with home repairs, and builds new housing on vacant lots. GRDC also has a Commercial Revitalization Program, which aims to revitalize the Grand River Commercial corridor and a Neighborhood Beautification Program, in which volunteers plant trees, install neighborhood signs and rid the community of graffiti.

Greater Corktown Development Corporation
www.corktowndetroit.org
Greater Corktown Development Corporation is the result of a merger between Corktown Consumer Housing Cooperative, founded in the 1960s, and Greater Corktown Economic Development Corporation, founded in 1976. The group is currently working on three residential infill projects with a total of roughly 50 units. Now that private investor capital is returning to the neighborhood, plans to shift its focus to supporting commercial and retail activity along Michigan Avenue, which straddles both historic Corktown and North Corktown.

Mexicantown Community Development Corporation
www.mexicantown.org
Mexicantown Community Development Corporation aims to foster economic development in the Hispanic community of Southwest Detroit, known as Mexicantown. Founded in 1989, its goals include marketing, cultural programs, maintenance and improvement of parks and streetscapes, business training and incubation, reuse of vacant land and development of the Mexicantown International Welcome Center and Mercado.

Northwest Detroit Neighborhood Development
www.ndndhomes.org
Northwest Detroit Neighborhood Development is a community-based neighborhood organization committed to building affordable housing for low and moderate-income residents in the city's Brightmoor community. To date, it has constructed more than 200 homes and renovated more than 30 others. NDND was also one of a group of non-profit organizations and houses of faith in Brightmoor that spearheaded the establishment of the Brightmoor Alliance in 2000 to develop a broader neighborhood reinvestment strategy that links land use, housing and commerce.

Southwest Detroit Business Association
www.southwestdetroit.com
Founded in 1957, the Southwest Detroit Business Association pursues economic development to stimulate investment and grow community wealth in the Mexicantown and nearby areas of southwest Deroit. The group disburses grants for commercial real estate development, provides technical assistance (such as architectural assistance for historic renovation work), and assists with community planning and organizing.

United Streets Networking and Planning: Building a Community (U-SNAP-BAC) www.usnapbac.org
Founded in 1985 by a consortium of seven neighborhood organizations and four business associations, U-SNAP-BAC works to revitalize Detroit's east side. U-SNAP-BAC also owns a housing subsidiary, which operates a neighborhood home repair program. To date, U-SNAP-BAC has counseled over 900 families; aided in the development of over 100 block clubs; mentored numerous small businesses; facilitated dozens of workshops, meetings, community forums, and neighborhood cleanup efforts; planted more than100 trees; rehabilitated over 500 homes; and constructed over 130 new affordable homes.

Vanguard Community Development Corporation
www.vanguardcdc.org
Founded in 1994, Vanguard CDC serves the North End neighborhood of Detroit with a wide-variety of programs, including youth services, in-fill housing construction, commercial real estate development, small business development services, and community organizing. Among Vanguard's programs is its Urban Artist Collective, a multi-media program for youth that teaches graphic design, website design, project management and entrepreneurial skills.

Warren/Conner Development Coalition
www.warrenconner.org
Founded by Eastside Detroit leaders in 1984, the Warren/Conner Development Coalition brings together residents, neighborhood organizations, businesses and business associations. WCDC manages an annual budget of approximately $3 million, owns its 30,000 square foot, renovated headquarters building and also serves as landlord to a number of service agencies. It also supports commercial revitalization through a number of subsidiary organizations. Over the past decades, its economic development work has generated 200 new jobs and nearly $20 million in private sector investment.

Community Development Financial Institutions

Detroit Investment Fund
www.detinvfund.com
The Detroit Investment Fund invests in local initiatives that have the potential to stimulate economic development within Detroit while generating a return for the Fund's investors. By providing low-cost, mezzanine financing, the Fund helps leverage owner equity and attract bank capital to support local investment. To date the fund has lent out over $43 million, attracting a total of $392 million. Projects funded have included real estate development, commercial and industrial lending, and seeding of more specialized community development loan funds.

Michigan Interfaith Trust Fund
www.interfaithtrust.org
Founded in 1985, the Michigan Interfaith Trust Fund fosters economic and social justice by providing loans and technical assistance for affordable housing and economic development throughout Michigan. In the past 20 years, the fund has lent out $24.3 million in affordable housing and business development loans, which have leveraged an additional $89.7 million, helped finance 1,916 units of housing and supported the creation of 192 jobs.

ShoreBank Enterprise Detroit
www.sbk.com/bins/site/templates/child.asp?area_2=pages/det/main
ShoreBank Enterprise Detroit is a subsidiary of the Chicago-based Shorebank community development bank, which provides loans and technical assistance to small businesses in Detroit. Since 2001, ShoreBank has invested over $48 million in financing to revitalize economically depressed neighborhoods in Detroit. It also provides its customers with much-needed information about how to use financial services effectively to build their assets.

Cooperatives

Back Alley Bikes
www.backalleybikes.org
Back Alley Bikes is a collectively run community bike space that repairs bikes and aims to provide a community space for education and empowerment. The shop was started by Detroit Summer volunteers in 2000 to offer transportation for youth involved in community gardening and mural projects. Since then, the shop has grown to fill a void in the Cass Corridor and greater downtown area as a neighborhood bicycle community center.

Cooperative Optical Services, Inc.
www.coopoptical.com
Co/op Optical is the largest not-for-profit provider of vision care services in the state of Michigan. Formed in 1960, they pioneered prepaid vision programs in Michigan. As a cooperative, the group contributes to health care cost containment in eye care by providing funded program coverage at reasonable rates.

Cass Corridor Food Co-op
www.geocities.com/casscorridorfoodcoop/index.html
Founded in 1972, Cass Corridor Food Co-op is member owned and operated. Members in good standing receive 10% off their total bill every first Saturday as well as a free quarterly newsletter, and special members-only discounts.

Detroit Edison Credit Union
www.detedcu.org
Organized in 1944 to provide financial services for Detroit Edison employees, Detroit Edison Credit Union has grown to provide loans and savings services to more than 28,000 members. As of September 2007, the assets of the credit union exceeded $485 million.

Cross-Sector Initiatives

Center for Community-Based Enterprise
www.c2be.org
Launched in 2006, the Center involves a collaboration of socially oriented investors and business developers who seek to make Detroit a national applied innovation lab for community-based wealth creation strategies. The group's mission is to develop, prototype, and launch strategies to create and support community-based enterprises in Detroit, and to create models that will enable the emergence of similar community-based enterprises everywhere. One fundamental principle behind the approach is to create a form of “rooted” wealth-creating capital committed to operating in a specific community through its ownership structure, business model, or by-laws.

City Connect Detroit
www.cityconnectdetroit.org
City Connect Detroit aims to facilitate collaboration among nonprofits, governments, businesses, grant makers, and others in the metro Detroit region. The group's website includes information on available grants, trends in philanthropy, research and resources to assist area nonprofits with capacity building and forming cross-sector partnerships.

Foundations

Community Foundation for Southeastern Michigan
www.cfsem.org
Founded in 1984, the Community Foundation has to date distributed more than $260 million to support thousands of charitable activities. The Foundation has grown to over $570 million in assets and holds more than 860 funds established by individuals, families, businesses, nonprofit organizations and private foundations. Among these funds is its Detroit Neighborhood Fund, which aims to strengthen near-eastside neighborhoods by encouraging collaboration and stimulating investment in this area of Detroit. The Community Foundation also will be the managing agency of the planned $100-million Detroit “New Economy Initiative” Fund.

Ford Foundation
www.fordfound.org
Incorporated in Detroit but headquartered in New York since 1953, the Ford Foundation has recently made a renewed commitment to its original hometown, leading the effort to create the Detroit “New Economy Initiative Fund” by pledging $25 million toward the fund's creation. In 2007, Ford also made $2 million grants to support three leading area cultural institutions: the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, the Arab American National Museum in nearby Dearborn, and the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Hudson-Webber Family Foundation
www.hudson-webber.org
Created in 1984 through the merger of two family foundations with origins dating back to the late 1930s and early ‘40s, the foundation concentrates its giving primarily within the City of Detroit and has a particular interest in the revitalization of the urban core. During 2006, the Foundation provided grants totaling $3.7 million. The foundation has pledged $5 million in support of the Detroit “New Economy Initiative” Fund.

John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
www.knightfdn.org
Since 1950, the Knight Foundation has given awarded grants in excess of $1 billion, including 556 grants in the Detroit area totaling more than $76 million. Among these are grants that address community development and neighborhood revitalization, education and job readiness for the city's workforce, and the city's development of a community wireless strategy. Knight also has committed $10 million to the multi-foundation Detroit “New Economy Initiative” fund.

Kresge Foundation
www.kresge.org
Headquartered in the Detroit suburb of Troy, the Kresge Foundation is developing a multi-year five-part strategy to support the long-term health and stability of the Detroit region. The Detroit Program consists of five priorities: 1) neighborhood improvements, 2) economic development, 3) support for arts and cultural institutions, 4) downtown Detroit revitalization, and 5) enhancing the city's environment and natural resources. Kresge is also one of the three principal $25-million anchors to the $100-milion, multi-foundation Detroit “New Economy Initiative” fund.

Skillman Foundation
www.skillman.org
This Detroit-based foundation focuses its effort on developing good schools and good neighborhoods for children. The foundation is focusing the bulk of its grant dollars in six Detroit neighborhoods - Southwest Detroit (Vernor and Chadsey-Condon), Brightmoor, Osborn, Central, and Cody-Rouge.

W.K Kellogg Foundation
www.wkkf.org
In addition to being one of the three principal $25-million anchors to the $100-milion, multi-foundation Detroit “New Economy Initiative” fund, the Kellogg Foundation has been a strong supporter of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy, committing $17 million to the effort between 2004 and 2006. The Riverfront effort aims to leverage private capital to build housing and retail, and make improvements in public safety or transportation in low- and moderate-income areas in Detroit north of Jefferson so that residents will share the benefits of the riverfront improvements.

Municipal Ownership

Riverview Energy Systems
www.landfillenergy.com/popups/riverview.htm
Located in Riverview, about 20 miles south of downtown Detroit, the Riverview gas recovery project is a city-owned enterprise that was constructed in 1987 and has been selling power to Detroit Edison since 1988. Power production from the gas brings in more than 40,000 megawatt-hours of electricity per year and reduces annual sulfur dioxide emissions by over 1,200 tons. Riverview's royalties covered the construction costs in its first two years of operation and now add to the city's cash flow.

Policy Advocates

Community Legal Resources
www.clronline.org
Community Legal Resources delivers free legal services to nonprofit organizations building neighborhoods in Detroit and throughout Michigan. Their mission is to foster pro bono legal representation for unfulfilled legal needs of nonprofit community organizations in Michigan that serve low-income individuals and communities, with an emphasis on community economic development activities. Since 1998, Community Legal Resources has provided over 550 nonprofit organizations with free legal services valued at an estimated $5.5 million.

State and Local Policy

NEXT Detroit Initiative
www.ci.detroit.mi.us/NextDetroit/tabid/1521/Default.aspx
Launched by the City in 2006, the Next Detroit initiative is a five-year strategy designed to improve the quality of life in six neighborhoods-East English Village, Osborn, North End, Brightmoor, 7 Mile-Livernois, and Grand River-Greenfield-by coordinating city services around the neighborhood work plans and leveraging private investment in the targeted communities. The city has committed $125 million to the effort and aims to raise $100 million in matching corporate and philanthropic support.

University-Community Partnerships

Detroit Community Partnership Center, School of Architecture,
University of Michigan
www.tcaup.umich.edu/urp/dcpc.html
The Detroit Community Partnership Center at Taubman College of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, supports student and faculty research that address community identified needs while meeting the College's educational mission. Issues addressed include quality of life, land use, economic development, and transportation. In one case, students and faculty have helped develop a plan for a retail district with three community-based organizations and have provided analysis to an organization ready to work for greater transportation equity.

Institute of Detroit Studies, Marygrove College
www.marygrove.edu/ids/index.asp
The only institute of its kind, the Institute of Detroit Studies was founded by Marygrove College in 2001, at the time of the City of Detroit's tricentennial. The Institute builds on Marygrove College's mission to serve the people of metropolitan Detroit, on its location in the city, and on its strong relationship with different Detroit constituencies.

Wayne State University Labor Studies Center
www.laborstudies.wayne.edu
Wayne State University's Labor Studies Center is a comprehensive labor education center committed to strengthening the capacity of organized labor to represent workers, while at the same time strengthening the university's research and teaching on labor and workplace issues. The Center's work includes training of local union leaders as well as research on labor-community coalitions, community benefit agreements, and regional power building strategies.