Neighborhoods project spurs millions in additional grants
3:01 a.m., January 7, 2008
By Sherri Begin/Crain's Detroit Business
The Skillman Foundation's $100 million investment in six Detroit neighborhoods over 10 years could leverage an additional $400 million if the pace of supplemental grants continues.
Just two years into its effort, Skillman's $14.7 million investment has brought in commitments for another $64.5 million — or more than $4 for every $1 Skillman has invested — in those neighborhoods.
"We were shocked it happened so soon," said Tonya Allen, vice president of programs at Skillman. "We got a lot of good initial investments early."
Typically, similar multiyear projects don't leverage other substantial grants until their later years, she said.
"If the initial investments are any indicator, we expect the investments to grow towards the end of the initiative," she said. "We're going to try our best to attract (total) investments of another $500 million to those neighborhoods."
Skillman launched the 10-year project in 2006 to foster healthy, safe and supportive environments for children and their families. More than 65,000, or a third of Detroit's children, live in the target neighborhoods, Skillman has said. About half of them live in poverty.
Skillman's grants in the neighborhoods are paying for such programs as after-school activities, family support, income-building and personal finance. They also provide smaller grants to help volunteers in the community work with children.
Several of the six neighborhoods identified by Skillman overlap neighborhoods that the city of Detroit and Detroit Local Initiatives Support Corp. are focusing on in their funding.
LISC, part of a New York City-based national organization, has invested $36 million to improve housing and economic development in five of the six neighborhoods.
Those five neighborhoods are: Chadsey/Condon and Vernor in southwest Detroit, Brightmoor on the west side, Central in the middle of the city, and Osborn in northeast Detroit.
The sixth neighborhood, Cody/Rouge, on the west side, has better housing stock than the others, Skillman said.
LISC had targeted the neighborhoods in 2004 as part of a broader, $100 million-plus plan for new housing, health clinics, commercial revitalization, recreation centers, parks and other public improvements.
"The goal is that we're building healthy, sustainable communities," said Deborah Younger, senior program director at Detroit LISC.
The city also is funding efforts in three of those neighborhoods —Brightmoor, Osborn and Central — as part of the Mayor's Next Detroit Neighborhood Initiative, a $225 million five-year pilot revitalization project in six neighborhoods launched in May.
"When the mayor was choosing his neighborhoods, we advocated very strongly that there be some overlapping," Allen said.
Other money will come from housing developers and other community development organizations; foundations, including the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation and the Berman Family Foundation; companies, including DTE Energy Co. and AT&T Inc.; Wayne County; federal money directed by the Michigan Department of Human Services; Local Initiatives Support Corp.; and The Virgil H. Carr Society of the United Way for Southeastern Michigan.
Having different organizations funding programs in the same Detroit neighborhoods "allows a comprehensive strategy to develop," Younger said.
Sherri Begin: (313) 446-1694, sbegin@crain.com
By Sherri Begin/Crain's Detroit Business
The Skillman Foundation's $100 million investment in six Detroit neighborhoods over 10 years could leverage an additional $400 million if the pace of supplemental grants continues.
Just two years into its effort, Skillman's $14.7 million investment has brought in commitments for another $64.5 million — or more than $4 for every $1 Skillman has invested — in those neighborhoods.
"We were shocked it happened so soon," said Tonya Allen, vice president of programs at Skillman. "We got a lot of good initial investments early."
Typically, similar multiyear projects don't leverage other substantial grants until their later years, she said.
"If the initial investments are any indicator, we expect the investments to grow towards the end of the initiative," she said. "We're going to try our best to attract (total) investments of another $500 million to those neighborhoods."
Skillman launched the 10-year project in 2006 to foster healthy, safe and supportive environments for children and their families. More than 65,000, or a third of Detroit's children, live in the target neighborhoods, Skillman has said. About half of them live in poverty.
Skillman's grants in the neighborhoods are paying for such programs as after-school activities, family support, income-building and personal finance. They also provide smaller grants to help volunteers in the community work with children.
Several of the six neighborhoods identified by Skillman overlap neighborhoods that the city of Detroit and Detroit Local Initiatives Support Corp. are focusing on in their funding.
LISC, part of a New York City-based national organization, has invested $36 million to improve housing and economic development in five of the six neighborhoods.
Those five neighborhoods are: Chadsey/Condon and Vernor in southwest Detroit, Brightmoor on the west side, Central in the middle of the city, and Osborn in northeast Detroit.
The sixth neighborhood, Cody/Rouge, on the west side, has better housing stock than the others, Skillman said.
LISC had targeted the neighborhoods in 2004 as part of a broader, $100 million-plus plan for new housing, health clinics, commercial revitalization, recreation centers, parks and other public improvements.
"The goal is that we're building healthy, sustainable communities," said Deborah Younger, senior program director at Detroit LISC.
The city also is funding efforts in three of those neighborhoods —Brightmoor, Osborn and Central — as part of the Mayor's Next Detroit Neighborhood Initiative, a $225 million five-year pilot revitalization project in six neighborhoods launched in May.
"When the mayor was choosing his neighborhoods, we advocated very strongly that there be some overlapping," Allen said.
Other money will come from housing developers and other community development organizations; foundations, including the Blue Cross Blue Shield Foundation and the Berman Family Foundation; companies, including DTE Energy Co. and AT&T Inc.; Wayne County; federal money directed by the Michigan Department of Human Services; Local Initiatives Support Corp.; and The Virgil H. Carr Society of the United Way for Southeastern Michigan.
Having different organizations funding programs in the same Detroit neighborhoods "allows a comprehensive strategy to develop," Younger said.
Sherri Begin: (313) 446-1694, sbegin@crain.com
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