This is a story about rebuilding hope in Detroit.

The former Larned Elementary School building sits at 23700 Clarita Street in a hard-hit residential neighborhood in northwest Detroit. Closed down and abandoned by the city in 2002, it sat boarded up and vacant until 2009 when husband and wife duo Ray and Toni Anderson moved in to form the House of Help Community Center. With broad support from the local neighborhood and numerous non-profit and philanthropic organizations, Pastor Ray and Toni have rescued the building to serve the needs of local residents. On a shoe-string budget and with deep compassion, they serve the community with:

•  A weekly Thursday food distribution program that feeds over 150 hungry families
• After-school mentoring and a summer youth camp for local kids
• Assistance programs to help low-income residents with utility bills and emergency rapid relief, in partnership with local non-profits
  
• Bible study classes and Sunday church services
• Community gatherings and potluck dinners

Here's Our Plan!

With your help, we will raise $100,000 to purchase and renovate this former school building into a full-fledged community center and empowerment zone for northwest Detroit. Here's how we'll use the funds raised:

$42,500: We'll finally own the building.
We've reached an agreement with Detroit Public Schools to buy 23700 Clarita St so we can finally have a permanent home. This will allow us to begin the major renovations needed to upgrade the building: a new forced-air heating system to replace the broken boiler and our energy-intensive space heater system, all-new windows, renewable energy infrastructure, urban gardening, and so much more.

$42,500 + $30,000: We'll keep the lights and water running.
Like many Detroiters, we've struggled to pay our utility bills over the years. This past year, we had both our water and electricity cut off. We didn't let that stop us from serving the community, even distributing food packages and leading homework help programs by flashlight and candlelight when DTE cut off our power for nonpayment. We've entered into agreements to get current on our bills, and reduce future bills with energy conservation measures, so this funding will help us get a fresh start!

$42,500 + $30,000 + $20,000: We'll launch a job training and employment program.
We've partnered with local community organizers and entrepreneurs to launch the Detroit Workers and Builders program right inside our building. In a city with over 100,000 unemployed (and 16,000 homeless) residents, we will serve as a job training and information site to help people get up on their feet and find work. Our community center will be buzzing with apprenticeship programs, resume-building classes, computer literacy training and much more.

$42,500 + $30,000 + $20,000 + $7,500: We'll get our administrative team in order.
For years, we've been operating without an Executive Director and with an all-volunteer crew. We need to hire the team that will kickstart our organization into action to better serve the community. This fund will help us to overhaul our organization, invest in professional development, and begin to chart out a path for long-term sustainability.

What if we raise more than $100,000? We'll use the additional funds to immediately begin gut renovating the building, employing and training local residents to do the work through the Detroit Workers & Builders program (see below!). We'll repaint the entire building, replace outdated desks and furniture, unboard the windows, bring in new energy-efficient windows and insulation, install a new heating/cooling system, turn back on the streetlights outside, and so much more. We'll keep you updated with each of these improvements, being completely accountable and transparent with our finances.

This is our future home.

The House of Help Community Center currently leases the former elementary school building at 23700 Clarita Street on the city's northwest side. Pastor Ray and Toni have occupied the building since 2009, using private donations and gracious volunteers to keep it up. The building has several classrooms, a gymnasium, an auditorium, and a large park behind it that used to have a playground on it - until the school closed and the city removed the play structures for liability reasons.

The neighborhood surrounding House of Help was once a

thriving middle-class enclave, but has struggled tremendously in recent years - especially since the Great Recession. Just a few weeks ago, a young black man was killed on the far corner of Clarita Street in gang-related violence. Over the last few years, prostitution and drug dealing have been rampant in the neighborhood, but have diminished in large part to the community work of the House of Help.

We are ready to rebuild our neighborhood.

The House of Help is an anchor to our community, and its renovation will revitalize a downtrodden neighborhood in desperate need of good jobs and educational opportunities. That's why we've partnered with Detroit Workers & Builders, an

innovative new job training and employment organization based right out of the House of Help. They will recruit and train local residents to repair our building and the many other blighted properties in the neighborhood, through apprenticeship programs with master carpenters, electricians, plumbers and other experts.

“Every Neighborhood has a Future”
-Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan