6th ANNUAL ARISE Detroit! NEIGHBORHOODS DAY

WHAT IS NEIGHBORHOODS DAY?

 

Neighborhoods Day celebrates all the great work block clubs, churches, schools  community groups and local businesses do throughout the year in the effort to create a better Detroit. Neighborhoods Day events are  held all over the city on the same day, from midtown to downtown, from the west side to the east side.

Free Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters

Health and Community Resource Festival

Free Infant Maternal Health Program

Need Transportation Assistance?

2012 Youth Olympics was a Great Hit!

      Last Saturday on July 21^st from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM the Cosidine Family Life Center on Woodward Ave. hosted the 2012 North End Summer Youth Olympics. The event was a great hit as is the case when food, family, and sports come together!  The sporting events schedule consisted of swimming and boxing demonstrations, Golf lessons, fitness exercises, a fun walk, and 3 on 3 basketball tournaments. While the performing artists schedule included Mosaic Youth Theatre, Cass Tech Marching Band, Cheer Team, Jazz Kids, The Real Deal a vocal and quartet band, and finally the Nick Speed Orchestra which a brought a fusion of hip hop, Techno, and Motown. Of course there were children’s activities that ran all day and included arts and crafts, bouncers, train rides, and the video game mobile. When asked to describe the Youth Olympics in one word, a participant uttered “Eventful! There is simply too much going on!”

To view more pictures from the North End Summer Youth Olympics click here. 

Volunteers needed at Gleaners!

Happy Summer Everyone!

Dear Volunteers,

Hope you’re having fun in the sun and enjoying this great weather!

It’s summer, and more than 315,000 kids who depend on school meals are at home and hungry. Charter One Foundation and other generous sponsors are matching gifts dollar for dollar so that we can provide 2 million meals to these children.

We have several projects happening at Gleaners Community Food Bank in the Detroit and the Taylor warehouses.

We are looking for volunteers to assist with all these projects.

Here is a list of volunteer opportunities and details:
Ÿ Office Volunteers: Scheduling, data entry, light clerical.
Ÿ Warehouse Volunteers: Pulling agency orders and packing for agency distribution.
Ÿ Pantry Pack Volunteers: Packing food items into boxes for families.
ŸMobile Volunteers: Packing and bagging food boxes for school distributions.
***Projects will be assigned depending on the priority of our warehouse needs.

Dates need to be filled:

July 30th 9-12noon and 1-4p.m./July 31st 9-12noon and 1-4p.m.
We’re looking forward to hearing from you.

We welcome individuals and groups of any size.

During the summer months we experience a lower number of volunteers and without your support it is very difficult for us to continue our mission “Nourishing communities by feeding hungry people.”

Please help us by scheduling a volunteer visit soon.

Please call me or send me an email so that we can schedule you or your group.

Sincerely,

Alma D. Perez
Gleaners Detroit & Taylor Volunteer Coordinator
(313)923-3535 ext: 239
aperez@gcfb.org

Government Funds to Pay Mortgage

Detroit Non-Profit Housing at 313-972-1111 has government funds to pay the mortgage for three months for a city of Detroit resident who is 1-3 months behind in their mortgage payment and can demonstrate they can sustain the mortgate after the three months of assistance. There is no charge for this assistance.

Important Announcements from CDAD!

CDAD Hires New Executive Director Sarida Scott Montgomery CDAD is very excited to announce that it has hired a full time Executive Director, Sarida Scott Montgomery, who will be starting in September. For the past several years, Ms. Scott has worked as the Chief Program Officer for Michigan Community Resources (MCR), a nonprofit founded to help nonprofit organizations, which has played a vital role in the community development industry with technical and legal assistance. In her capacity at MCR, Ms. Scott oversaw all of the organization’s programs, managed staff and helped fundraise. Ms. Scott has worked closely with CDAD in recent years as a former board member, where she served the organization as Secretary, during a critical time of reorganization and growth. “Professionally and personally I support the efforts to elevate the role of CDOs in current planning and revitalization work in Detroit,” Ms. Scott says, “It will be a challenging and rewarding opportunity to lead CDAD to a position of further growth and prominence.” Ms. Scott’s hiring represents the culmination of a multistage hiring process which was lead by the CDAD board, its members, and the funding community. “I am very proud of this process,” said Scott Alan Davis, CDAD’s chairman, “We engaged the CDAD community, had a great response and were pleased with the quality of candidates. We look forward to working with Sarida.” Before MCR, Ms. Scott worked at the City of Detroit as an Assistant Corporation Counsel for the Law Department and also worked as a staff attorney for the Legal Aid and Defender Association of Detroit. Ms. Scott has a law degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and an undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan..

Pilot Grants Annouced for Strategic Alliance Demonstration Project Finally, it is with incredible excitement that the Strategic Alliance Demonstration Project selection committee has identified three strategic alliances for funding. The primary focus for these alliance is to identify more advanced means of sharing resources, responsibilities, and cost-saving measures that benefit every member of the alliance. These alliances improve the capacity of the community development industry to stabilize Detroit neighborhoods through an innovative partnership between CDAD, the Michigan Nonprofit Association (MNA) and Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC). The selection committee is proud to award the following sub-grants: Restore Northeast Detroit – NED (Nortown CDC) – $25,000 Lower Eastside Alliance (Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice) – $12,500 Bridging Communities, Inc. – $12,500

CDAD Office Move With the prospects of a growing staff, CDAD is looking to expand its offices at Orchestra Place, where it currently shares a small office within the University of Michigan Detroit Center. For the past two years, CDAD been located at the Detroit Center, on the ground floor of 3663 Woodward Avenue. The move is anticipated to take place in the next month. Our partnership with University of Michigan will continue as CDAD moves to Suite 120, located on the north side of the building. CDAD’s new director and additional staff will occupy about one thousand square feet of space in larger offices, alongside open meeting rooms. All committee meetings will be coordinated out of suite 120, while larger meetings, such as the bi-monthly membership meetings, will continue to be held in the Ann Arbor room of UofM Center. While the address will remain, please look out for any changes regarding other contact information. We look forward to serving you!

Foreclosure Grants Available

Foreclosure Grants Available

The City of Detroit was awarded a CDBG-R grant for $9.9 million. From that grant, $1.2 million was earmarked to provide housing assistance to eligible City of Detroit residents who are at risk of losing their home through means of  foreclosure.

Southwest Housing Solutions was awarded $272,519 of that $1.2 million to distribute to struggling homeowners.  We have listed below some of the eligibility requirements for the program:

• Property must be in the City of Detroit
• Must be the legal owner of property
• Property must be your primary residence AND you must live in the home
• Mortgage delinquency status cannot exceed three (3) months of arrearages
• Property taxes must be current – (Note: there are some exceptions; call for more
details)
• Homeowner must be able to show stable income

If you, or know ANYONE who you think might qualify for this program, please have them call the Housing Opportunity Center immediately and request an Intake Package at 313.841.9641 or stop by the office and pick one up. We  have an EXTREMELY small window of opportunity to help eligible City of Detroit Residents, so it is imperative that we act quickly. Any funds that have not been used by the August 31, 2012 deadline, will be returned to the City of  Detroit and then, eventually, back to the Federal Government. Thank you for your assistance in spreading the word and please do not hesitate to call our office with any questions.