The Center for Urban Youth and Family Development in Detroit is watching a lot of key pieces of its puzzle fall into place that will allow it to turn an empty house into a community center on the east side.
The nonprofit helps teens with little-to-no family support find quality places to live. These young people are often kids in their late teens who have an inadequate family support system or are products of the foster care system. Many of them find difficulty in establishing their own homelife in young adulthood because of a lack of that family support.
"A lot of these kids were becoming homeless," says Marsialle Arbuckle, executive director of the
Center for Urban Youth and Family Development in Detroit and a product of the foster-care system himself. "They couldn't move in with family and didn't have the skills to line up their own housing."
The Center for Urban Youth and Family Development in Detroit recently received a vacant house on Indiana Street that it plans to redevelop into a home for similar teens in transition. The house will also serve as a community center for these sorts of teens, providing a safe place for them to gather. It will also provide them with access to the Internet and other resources.
"It's a nice neighborhood in a nice community," Arbuckle says, adding his nonprofit is working to turn "some urban blight into urban bright."
The Center for Urban Youth and Family Development in Detroit also received a $50,000 from the Maxwell House as part of Drops of Good: The Maxwell House Community Project. That money will go toward the renovation of the house, such as remodeling the interior and upgrading the interior infrastructure such as heating and cooling systems.
Source: Marsialle Arbuckle, executive director of the Center for Urban Youth and Family Development in Detroit
Writer: Jon Zemke
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