About
Redeem Detroit is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that aims to revitalize neighborhoods in the city of Detroit. Our goal is to take vacant properties and rehabilitate them and then use them to help the citizens in the neighborhood where they are located. We believe that everyone deserves a second chance and that’s why we train at-risk youth (teen parents), homeless veterans, and returning citizens in vocational and job readiness skills, and with these skills we help them become entrepreneurs or provide job placement as well as connect them to the resources they need. In return they help us clean up the neighborhood and eliminate blight.
Redeem Detroit was started by men and women who grew up in the city of Detroit; went to School in the city of Detroit; and worked in the city of Detroit. During our youth, we witnessed first-hand, the terrible effects of drugs (particularly crack cocaine) on the Detroit Community. Many of our family members fell victim to the lure of drugs and were either using drugs, selling drugs, and/ or in prison because of drugs. We watched our communities decline and we saw people change for the worse. As a result, most of us grew up with no fathers and no male role models. Many of us latched on to the negative images that we saw in real life as well as those that were magnified in the media. These images helped to form the stereotypes that shaped our perspective about life and ourselves. Because of this warped perspective, many of us made mistakes in life, but fortunately, we graduated from college and we now have careers in various fields including education, politics, engineering, criminal justice, psychology, and nutrition.
With the support of our community leaders, we have been able to serve over 1,000 families in Detroit.
NEW PERSPECTIVES
With a new perspective on life and with love for the people of Detroit, we decided that we cannot just leave the next generation to fend for themselves. Realizing that social conditions and negative influences played a major role in destroying the lives of our family members and friends, we felt that it was our moral duty to intervene, especially since conditions have become worse. With proper research, we confirmed that young minds adapt to the images and social conditions that are prevalent in their environment, and as a result, follow in the footsteps of those who look like them and those who they see most often.
Although there are thousands of positive people who look like them in Detroit, they don’t see those images in the right proportions. We decided to fix this image problem by showing the citizens of Detroit something different and opening up opportunities where there were once closed doors and dead ends.