Nonprofit's hope: Make neighborhood a place to call home, not a place to flee

Focus: HOPE is expanding their mission with the new program "Promise Neighborhood" to build on the concept of neighborhoods.

Excerpt:

Focus: HOPE now is ramping up its community and economic development as part of an emerging “Promise Neighborhood” concept, something President Barack Obama has touted as a model he'd like to see expanded across the country to revitalize impoverished urban areas.

Modeled after the touted Harlem Children's Zone in New York, the Focus: HOPE neighborhood project would be the first of its kind in Detroit.

The project is bounded by Hamilton on the east, Dexter on the west, Davison on the south and the Lodge service drive to the north. It includes a slice of Highland Park, but is mostly in Detroit.

With Focus: HOPE as the anchor, the project will layer nonprofit services for children and families — with a focus on education.

The backbone will be preschool through 12th-grade programs, working with schools in the neighborhood that build on Focus: HOPE's Center for Children, Jones said.

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