A Spark of Hope in Detroit's Present and Future

(Courtesy of Press and Guide)
by Morris Goodman

On the front page of the Sept. 23 edition of the New York Times was a report, “Detroit Is Now A Charity Case For Carmakers,” discussing Ford Motor Co.’s efforts to help southwest Detroit, adjacent to east Dearborn.

In part, the author said:

“Although it is based in the neighboring city of Dearborn, Ford has stepped up its charitable efforts in Detroit to help reverse the decline of Michigan’s biggest city. Any time Detroit is highlighted negatively in the national spotlight, it’s bad for our entire region,” Ford’s Executive Chairman William C. Ford Jr. said in an interview. “It hurts morale. It hurts recruiting.”

In the last three national censuses, as Detroit has lost close to a half million residents, southwest Detroit is noteworthy as being one of the city’s few areas that has grown. Over the last 13 years, I have had the honor and privilege of being a member of the board of Urban Neighborhood Initiatives, an award-winning and highly effective community development organization in southwest Detroit.

UNI is at the center of southwest Detroit’s success story.

UNI will be honoring community people who have made a significant positive impact on the Springwells Village neighborhood of southwest Detroit at their annual Heroes of the Neighborhood dinner and fundraiser Oct. 18. The event honors several area individuals and organizations, with Dearborn’s Debbie Dingell, chair of the Wayne State University Board of Governors, giving the keynote address on the importance of a neighborhood-by-neighborhood approach to community development.

Such an approach is at the core of UNI’s mission. The organization has worked holistically on community development in the 1.5 square miles of southwest Detroit neighborhood adjacent to east Dearborn for the past 16 years. UNI’s accomplishments include:

•Renovating a vacant church building into a neighborhood center, transforming a cluster of vacant lots and dangerous vacant homes into a neighborhood park, and fully renovating two neglected Detroit parks.

•Establishing human development programs, teen apprenticeship and employment opportunities and youth summer programming.

•Working with businesses, government, residents and other local organizations to board up or tear down dozens of dangerous structures and transferring ownership of 112 unmaintained vacant lots to Springwells Village residents.

Honorees this year include: Kathy Wendler, president of the Southwest Detroit Business Association; Eduardo Gonzalez, a local youth mural artist; Southwest Rides, a volunteer group which created an area youth-driven bicycle shop; Paul’s Pizza, a legendary community pizzeria; Dennis McDonald, a Springwells Village resident and business leader; Karla Henderson, former Detroit Community Development Department director; and dentist Ghanem Ghannam, a major supporter of area redevelopment efforts.

The event will take place at Historic Fort Wayne, 6325 W. Jefferson Ave., in southwest Detroit. Attendees will have the option of a brief tour of the fort led by volunteers from the Historic Fort Wayne Coalition. Tickets are $70 and available at unidetroit.org. Contact Jon Barth (JBarth@unidetroit.org), 1-313-451-8380 for information on sponsorship and advertising opportunities.

As much as we might wish it were not so, Dearborn’s well-being is inextricably tied to Detroit’s. Supporting UNI through buying tickets to the Oct. 18 Heroes of the Neighborhood event is a good way to help ensure that both cities have bright futures.

Dearborn resident Morris Goodman, a litigation and family law attorney, is a longtime political activist and community observer.

Reference Link: http://www.pressandguide.com/articles/2013/09/29/opinion/doc5244a09ce1483563495498.txt