Vanguard Community Development Corporation has wrapped up a large-scale beautification project in Detroit's North End neighborhood in partnership with nonprofits Life Remodeled, ARISE Detroit!, Central Detroit Christian; corporate partners GM, Quicken Loans, Ford; and others.
Life Remodeled is a faith-based organization that brings in members from churches from all over metro Detroit to do large-scale beautification projects in different neighborhoods throughout the city, like an extreme home makeover but all curb appeal.
They did a clean-up in the North End last year, but this year's was much more aggressive. Working in conjunction with Vanguard, whose offices are located in the North End, as well as the nearby Central Detroit Christian church, they targeted 48 blocks for beautification over seven days. "They are making a really big impact in a short amount of time in a relatively large area," says Jennifer Ruud, Communications and Outreach Coordinator of Vanguard CDC.
Life Remodeled worked with Vanguard to identify which homes and streets in the North End needed to be focused on. "They wanted to make sure what they were doing would support and build on programs we're planning on launching in the next year," says Ruud. Vanguard conducted land surveys to determine which homes were vacant and needed to be boarded up or slated for demolition, and other finer details of the streets in the neighborhood.
Volunteers built one house, boarded up 250 houses, beautified about 48 blocks, and did small scale remodels on 24 houses. About 5,000 volunteers came out over seven days offering assistance, even skilled labor. Life Remodeled has received corporate support, support from community fundraising, and in-kind donations of labor and materials to help them achieve their goals.
In the next few months, Vanguard CDC will be launching Restore North End, which will make money available to residents on specific streets in the North End to invest in different curb appeal improvements, from new roofs and siding to repaired porches. "This will help (us) stabilize (a neighborhood) that is doing pretty good but needs a little boost," Ruud says. She remarks that this program has been in the works for awhile, and thanks to the massive beautification efforts spearheaded by Life Remodeled, "Now we can go in and focus more on that."
Source: Jennifer Ruud, Communications and Outreach Coordinator of Vanguard CDC
Writer: Nicole Rupersburg
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