Life Remodeled + HUD Press Conference - Closing Speech

I just thank God I'm following Jerome Bettis because I don't ever want to be in his way. He's the bus, but his other nickname that you may not know is the Closer. So I know if this speech, if I get out of line at all, he's going to finish it for me, take me out. But I want to begin right now by first thanking Secretary Carson for. For choosing this hometown, your hometown of Detroit, Michigan, as the very first place to launch the first Envision Center. But not only Detroit, but specifically for choosing this historic, resilient, and immensely talented Durfee Central community. This man deserves a round of applause. Well, as you saw, we had a few technical difficulties here with the video. If you would have seen the video, you would have seen that Life Remodeled is extremely passionate about bringing together different kinds of people from different walks of life, all different perspectives, different parts of the city, the suburbs, various races, socioeconomic backgrounds, political perspectives. And there's many different perspectives represented in this room today. In fact, one of the things we often invite you to do is to share who or what motivates you, what gets you out of the bed in the morning, what makes your clock tick, because what. When we know that, we get to know a little bit more about you. And so, on that note, let me share my perspective why I do what I do. Even though this is not a religious organization, my mission is that every single day, I want to become a little bit more like this certain Jewish construction worker who lived about 2,000 years ago, was brutally murdered and came back to life and saved my life. That's my personal mission. And for some of you, that's your mission. But I recognize there are many different perspectives in this room today. So I'm going to keep it real, and I'm going to point out the elephant in the room. This is Detroit. And to keep it 100, I think I want to point out and recognize there are many in our country who have admiration and have admiration for the current administration led by President Donald Trump. And there are also those who have serious concerns about the direction our country is going. While I have my own personal concerns, more important than my opinions or my feelings or those of the students, the residents of this neighborhood, and those who have graciously received Life Remodeled into their community with the expectation that we will work together for their vision of success, Life Remodeled, as you see, exists to bridge people across divides in order to transform each other's lives. And I think it's safe to say right now to keep it 100 that America is divided. We agree with that. But for those of us who are in this room right now, I am confident that you and I, all of us, believe that we need each other, that we were created to work together, and we must continually learn from one another to see the picture more clearly together. Anybody agree with that? Now, we all know there are many challenges that get in the way of togetherness, race, religion, politics. There's too many to count. That's just a few. And so sometimes I think that we might find it easier to define ourselves and our tribes by what we're against rather than championing what we're for. Life Remodel believes that all people deserve equitable opportunity to thrive. One of my favorite Mayor Duggan quotes is talent is evenly distributed all around the world, but opportunity is not, and therefore, we must be in the business of promoting and creating opportunity. Many have wisely stated that a child's zip code should not determine his or her destiny. But imagine if, if we decide to work together to flip that script today so that 10 years from now we can say with confidence that the 4820 zip code should determine a child's destiny. Being raised in the Durfee Central community can be a place where residents are offered equal, if not more opportunities than those who live north of 8 mile 48206 can be a place where kids, youth and families consistently learn, grow and thrive educationally, relationally, emotionally, physically, financially and spiritually. Does anybody believe that HUD and Dr. Carson said that when we first met? HUD is not the answer. And Life Remodeled certainly isn't either. All of us together, we are the answer. Our ability to play well with each other, to discover innovative solutions, to learn to see the picture more clearly together, will determine not only the success of this remarkable community, but our success as human beings. When Secretary Carson and the HUD leadership extended the opportunity to partner with Life Remodeled, we were very encouraged by the offer to be selected. However, I realized this was an opportunity for Life Remodeled not only to learn from a major mistake we made in the past, but to make the wise decision this time around. And here's what I mean. When the Detroit Public Schools Community District offered to lease this gorgeous building to Life remodel for $1 a year for 50 years, I regret that Life Remodel did not consult with the community to ask their permission before making the decision. This was a monumental error that raised significant suspicion and created strong perceptions that Life Remodel could not be trusted to store steward this community asset in the best interest of the community. It appeared as though we were just another stereotypical developer seizing a selfish opportunity to make money. And we would eventually attempt to create a new community for new people instead of who we actually are. An organization dedicated to serve alongside an existing community of people who deserve tremendous respect for. For their resilient and remarkable strategies to make much out of very little resources. That being said, I made it clear to HUD that Life Remodel had decided to put the decision fully in the hands of community leaders who represent a cross section of the geographic area where we're working. And this included a number of leaders who were not in support of Life Remodeled. I believe the community leaders who are here today, you're going to see them in a minute. I believe their unanimous decision speaks to the wisdom and maturity of this neighborhood. Although many are disappointed, very disappointed with some of the cards they've been dealt in our modern political landscape, they're going to pick up their cards and win the game anyway. Of course, you know what I mean. This is not a game. This is life. Life is serious. Life is precious. Life is messy. Life is beautiful. And Life Remodeled is optimistic and excited about this partnership with HUD and other federal agencies. And we're all entering into this partnership with Eyes Wide Open. We believe our collaboration can help produce substantially more resources than Life Remodeled and the Durfee Central community would otherwise be able to access without it. But the future remains to be seen. If you're skeptical today, come back in six months, come back in a year. Let's see what happens. We all know it's going to take time to produce tangible results. HUD will hold us accountable to steward well the opportunities this partnership will provide, and we will strive to exceed their expectations. The community leadership will continue to advise and keep Life Remodeled and the HUD and Vision center accountable to ensure our all parties are doing what we said we would do. To that end, Life Remodeled and local leaders have created the Life Remodeled Community Advisory Council, which you can read more about on our website. If you're on that council, can you raise your hand? And let's give a big round of applause for the 12 members a part of that council. The mission of the LRCAC is to determine the collective voice of community residents, students and stakeholders located within the focus area to an advised Life Remodel according to the community's hopes, desires and concerns. They meet monthly to share their ideas and solidify their proposals and positions on behalf of the community. And they hold us accountable to hear and respect community voice in our decision making processes regarding the Durfee Innovation center and the HUD Envision Center. The LRCAC get this will formally document and publicize decisions made by Life Remodel that may be determined to align with with their recommendations, as well as any decisions that may be determined to contradict their recommendations. And again, I think it's important to acknowledge this is not just a group of people who agree with Chris Lambert and everything Life Remodel does. So with that being said, what is the Durfee Innovation Society? A lot of words there and the Envision center actually going to do? You've seen the building. Imagine an early childhood daycare for children ages 0 through 5. That's educational, located on the east wing of the first floor. Imagine the old locker room which used to look like that turned into a construction trades incubator, including a company that started all the way back in January offering apprenticeships to detroiters. They hire four to five young men and women every 12 weeks, pay them for 27 hours a week. Those who want to continue on, they hire them directly into their company and others they place in other opportunities. Imagine a $300,000 assembly line robot and software that was just moved here three weeks ago in a company called Quality Design Services that will be training young people how to code robots and hiring them straight out of high school. Imagine the old swimming pool which costs a quarter million dollars a year to run. If anybody wants to pay that to keep it a pool, that's my number one goal and choice. But if we can't make that happen, we might turn it into another space. AKA possibly a maker space. The gymnasium. Finished. Central High school has only one gym for the K12, so the K8 students will be using this for PE during the day. And we've got an after school basketball and volleyball program here with us today. The auditorium you're looking at it eventually will be turned into a marketplace on the weekends where residents can buy and sell the things they make and grow. And lastly, well not lastly, Tormitos pizza in the back. I'm sure all of you want pizza for breakfast. You're gonna get an opportunity. This is their 20. This guy's all about it. Both these guys. This is their you better fire up the ovens guys. This is their 27th store. This license to this franchise was given to this family. They will be hiring high school students from Central High School to run it, teaching them not only to run the operation but how to franchise. Orion's Quest is a national non profit that brings NASA into the classroom. Junior High and high school kids will actually be working for NASA during school, interpreting data, researching data that's beamed from the International Space Station to Earth. New Electric, the company hiring young Detroiters. Quality Design Services. The company doing robotics automation. The Lawn Academy. These guys, we just met them a few weeks ago. They engage 80 young people a year. The young people are mowing and removing snow for senior citizens, those with disabilities, veterans for free right here in this neighborhood. And they're training them on Macs and PCs and partnering with Wayne County Community College to get them ready for school. Jean Grass Global is a social impact fund broker. They're working on what is now a $10 million fund for entrepreneurs who will start in this building or launch in the community. Lifeline Business Consulting does business consulting for Detroit businesses. Think Detroit's a new co working space moving in next spring. Beyond Basics K through 12 literacy. According to Beyond Basics, 93% of kids in Detroit schools do not read at grade level. We're going to change that together. Rise up hires an after school hip hop program that teaches character development. Bethany Christian Services is foster care and adoption. Holy Yoga. That name pretty much says it all. And Wayne State University will be moving in. You're going to hear more about that partnership. Last slide. These are various partnerships that HUD has already started bringing to the table. And many more are coming. We have the Social Security Administration here today. They're going to make it possible for residents to streamline their applications for Social Security. They provided 15 free computers and more is coming. The IRS will be providing free tax preparation. Michigan Talent Investment Agency, working with the desc, will be providing job training opportunities. Right here. Ying, that's time banking. If you don't know what that is, learn more about it. It's incredible. Seeds of Humanity. We'll be doing robotics, coding. Food for America is talking about a food pantry and possibly a community kitchen here. Greening of Detroit, already one of our partners. We'll be going deeper with them. And the Space foundation is looking at partnership as well. Thank you for being here. Thank you for being a part of the future of Detroit and God bless you.