ShoreBank Enterprise Detroit announced Friday, Jan. 19, that it will utilize $12 million in grants and low-cost loans from the Ford and Knight foundations to help spur new development in the city.
Of that money, ShoreBank hopes to use $6 million of that in the six neighborhoods designated in the city’s Next Detroit Neighborhood Initiative (i.e. Northend, Brightmoor, Grand River Greenfield, Osborn Community, Bagley Community and East English Village).
It’s expected that money will help leverage $20 million in additional public and private investment, such as financing for small contractors and façade improvement.
"Today is a great day because more dollars are coming into Detroit to develop our community,” Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick says.
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation is contributing $5.4 million to grants that address community development and neighborhood revitalization, education and job readiness for the city’s workforce and the city’s development of a community wireless strategy. The money will be managed by ShoreBank, which provides loans and technical assistance to grow small businesses located in the city.
"All of these investments help move the community forward,” said Brenda Price, Knight Foundation’s program director for Detroit.
ShoreBank Enterprise Detroit is the nonprofit arm of Chicago-based ShoreBank. The Detroit headquarters are in a restored building at the corner of Mack Avenue and Philip Street on the East Side.
The surrounding neighborhood, which is just west of the Next Detroit designated neighborhood East English Village, is going through transitions. Overgrown lots where dense housing once stood surround abandoned and burnt out homes, but the blight is on the same blocks as renovated buildings, new homes and a new retail development at the corner of Alter and Mack.
ShoreBank gutted and restored the once abandoned and burned out two-story building in 1999. The bank spent between $2 million and $3 million creating the about 20,000 square feet of office space.
“This initiative fits exactly what we’re trying to do in Detroit,” said Ray Waters, president of ShoreBank Enterprise Detroit.
Source: City of Detroit and ShoreBank
Writer: Jon Zemke
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.