Jefferson East Inc
When was it organized?
1994
Who is completing this survey? Name and role with organization:
Executive Director, Josh Elling
Choose one category that best fits your organization:
Community Development Organization (not sponsored by a church or agency or company)
Does your organization have paid staff?
Yes
If yes, what is your FTE staff? Within that, what is full time and what is part time?
8
What is the annual budget of your organization?
1.4 million (operation and core)
Describe the streets or locations that define your organization’s overall focus area (north, south, east and/or west):
- Alter — E
- I‑375 — W
- River — S
- Vernor — N
Describe in detail the work your organization does, within the role categories below, along with the specific geographic area in which the work is done. Refer to the definitions below of the community development roles we are inquiring about. Include any partner organizations you work with, and how the work is funded or otherwise resourced. Use extra pages if necessary. If your organization doesn’t do work in one or more of the role categories, just skip that portion of the survey.
Please describe the work your organization does in community development:
Convening/Facilitating: General Description
- We do safety organizing work. Every month, we convene about 200 stakeholders in the 5th and 7th precincts around our neighborhood Compstat process. We analyze statistics and create community given solutions to crime hot spots.
- In Jefferson Chalmers, we have a neighborhood stabilization initiative where we coordinate with community groups such as Creekside CDC, Hope Community Outreach and Development, etc.
You can’t put a system for people on civic engagement. You’re never going to be able to identify every voice that’s there and you’re never going to come up with something that makes everyone happy.All we can do is hear as many view points as we can.
- We have project specific engagement around real estate development project. In Jefferson Chalmers, when we kicked off our main street project. We brought 100 — 200 residents and they detailed what kind of retail services they wanted to see.We also checked in with the community leaders to field test and talk about different areas of the development.
- We partnered with The Platform in Islandview for the Grand Blvd/Jefferson intersection.Last week, we convened 60 residents to discuss what should go on the Big Boy site.
- We did mobility outreach when we did the streetscapes of Jefferson Chalmers. In previous years, we received a grant from the Knight Foundation to do education around mobility and bike infrastructure on Jefferson.We convened public meetings and partnered with the city and supported them as they did outreach.
- We work with the city and we support them on the back end.
- We worked with ADAC to hold charettes across the city.
- We’re working with the Riverfront Conservancy for business front improvement in Rivertown.We’re organizing business stakeholders in that geography.
Convening/Facilitating: Partner Organizations
- Creekside CDC
- Hope Community Outreach and Development
- The Platform
- The city
- Police Department
- Border Patrol
- Private security entities
- Block clubs
- Other Neighborhood associations
- Villages CDC
- West Village Association
- Indian Village Association
- Islandview community groups
- Rivertown community groups
- Convening/Facilitating: Funders
- Knight Foundation
Convening/Facilitating: Important Outcomes or Lessons
Outcomes:
- We’ve informed our economic development work to make sure that its in sync with the neighborhood.
- Our safety programming allows for alignment between the police and community needs.
- For our mobility work, our convening efforts we make sure that the city is informed from our prior experiences and there are good outcomes.
Lessons:
- Don’t presume to speak for the neighborhood.There are multiple neighborhoods.
- Don’t get involved as a governmental agent.
- You can’t put a system for people on civic engagement. You’re never going to be able to identify every voice that’s there and you’re never going to come up with something that makes everyone happy.All we can do is hear as many view points as we can.
- I have a pluralist view of how community engagement should work.There should be multiple voices that you balance to create and optimal position.
- There’s a tyranny of the vocal minority that comes out and dominates community development process.I question the “silent majority” who doesn’t show up and what do they want.
- We haven’t developed a robust and consistent engagement process because can be elitist and pejorative and because it’s challenging.
- Where we’ve had the most success in engagement is around specific and discrete project.Because if you engage for the sake of engagement, it’s to amorphic and you engage yourself in circles. We do smaller projects (focusing on four blocks or an certain intersection) that tends to be more productive for us
- We’re not just developing one neighborhood and we’re not the voice of every neighborhood.
Resident Engagement/Empowerment: General Description
- We do safety organizing work. Every month, we convene about 200 stakeholders in the 5th and 7th precincts around our neighborhood Compstat process.We analyze statistics and create community given solutions to crime hot spots.
- In Jefferson Chalmers, we have a neighborhood stabilization initiative where we coordinate with community groups such as Creekside CDC, Hope Community Outreach and Development, etc.
- We have project specific engagement around real estate development project. In Jefferson Chalmers, when we kicked off our main street project. We brought 100 — 200 residents and they detailed what kind of retail services they wanted to see.We also checked in with the community leaders to field test and talk about different areas of the development.
People are expecting city government to do more things. There’s a great mistrust around city involvement at the same time.
- We partnered with The Platform in Islandview for the Grand Blvd/Jefferson intersection.Last week, we convened 60 residents to discuss what should go on the Big Boy site.
- We did mobility outreach when we did the streetscapes of Jefferson Chalmers. In previous years, we received a grant from the Knight Foundation to do education around mobility and bike infrastructure on Jefferson.We convened public meetings and partnered with the city and supported them as they did outreach.
- We do check-ins along the way with residents on development.
- We have Americorps teams that go out and flyer people’s cars and provide and car clubs to people.
- We provide home and apartment safety assessments to install deadbolts, smoke detectors, etc.We flyer the neighborhoods to tell them about these opportunities.
- We were founded just to support the Jefferson Chalmers neighborhood.Coleman Young tried to build a shopping center and the planning department didn’t want to see it built. Residents wanted Riverbend Plaza built so they formed Jefferson East.These residents were more professional, business and action-oriented.In 2008, we got money to look at the rest of East Jefferson and that pulled in other stakeholders like DEGC and the Riverfront Conservancy.We had two boards the old JEBA board and the JCC board.Since we had the same staff, we merged.We redid JEI’s bylaws.Jefferson East four districts: Rivertown Lafayette and Elmwood Park, The Villages, The Marina District and Jefferson Chalmers.We have 12 board members — three from each of the four districts that have to live or have an asset of that district.
- We have corridor directors that have interests across multiple districtsDirectors include Invest Detroit, Downtown Detroit Partnership and Belle Isle Conservancy.
- Twenty-five percent of the board are residents.We have 31 board members that meet four times a year.The executive committee meets more frequently and is composed of the District Vice President, representatives from each of the neighborhoods and corridor members.
- We have a for-profit development arm with a 7 person board: 3 from JEI and 4 residents.They report to the JEI board.
- We did a jazz festival and did Jazz on Jefferson. Chrysler funded this.
Resident Engagement/Empowerment: Partner Organizations
- Riverfront Conservancy
- DEGC
- Downtown Detroit Partnership
- Invest Detroit
- Residents
- Belle Isle Conservancy
- Creekside CDC
- Hope Community Outreach and Development
- The Platform
- The city
- Police Department
- Border Patrol
- Private security entities
- Block clubs
- Other Neighborhood associations
- Villages CDC
- West Village Association
- Indian Village Association
- Islandview community groups
- Rivertown community groups
Resident Engagement/Empowerment: Funders
- Chrysler
- Knight Foundation
- Resident Engagement/Empowerment: Important Outcomes or Lessons
Outcomes:
- Residents feel connected to our work.
- Our development is in sync with community wishes (affordable housing and retail).
- In terms of advocacy, if we have issues that we need to address around zoning, we’ll address it.
Lessons:
- Don’t have an exclusively resident-only board member structure.
- The population is aging out and people that have moved in have little patience for the traditional community development model. People want to see things get done.
- People are expecting city government to do more things. There’s a great mistrust around city involvement at the same time.
Economic Development: General Description
- We have a for-profit development arm with a 7 person board: 3 from JEI and 4 residents.They report to the JEI board.
- We were a traditional main street organization.We focused on Alter to Connor — Alter to Dickerson. We were focused on facade programs, small business support and clean and safe streets.
- We laid the groundwork for planning (zoning, design overlays, stabilizing of the market).
- In 2013, market forces were coming back to Lafayette Park, Riverfront and The Villages, but not in Jefferson Chalmers. We worked with the developer for Jefferson Chalmers Main Street Project, the first phase of which was 7 million, 23 units of affordable mixed income multifamily (two apartment and two retail buildings).
Be in the deal so the benefits from the project can be reinvested into the community through programming.
- For the two apartment buildings, we are50/50 equity partners with the developer. The retail buildings are directly JEI. I realized that JEI needs to control the real estate in order to do things like the inclusive development principle (50–60% AMI).
- We 64 million in pre-development. The bulk of them are in partnership with the same developer like Hotel Saffron and the River Plaza in Indian Village.
- We have a partnership with The Platform to develop the old nursing home site on Grand Blvd, north of Jefferson. We’re equity investors in these deals.
- Kresge is doing a PRI investment in us.
- Our goal is to increase the overall health of the neighborhood, create job opportunities for local residents and create revenue for neighborhood stabilization.
- We’re establishing local tax captures to help fund redevelopment gaps.
Economic Development: Partner Organizations:
- The Platform
- Invest Detroit
- Enterprise
- Community Partners
- IFF
- Capital Impact
- DEGC
- Mayor’s Office
- HRD
- PDD
- Community Organizations
Economic Development: Funders
- Enterprise
- City of Detroit
- Kresge
- Hudson Webber
Economic Development: Important Outcomes or Lessons
Outcomes:
- We implemented an inclusive development model.
- We’re creating jobs in the neighborhood.
- We’re creating mixed income neighborhoods.
- We’re developing a strategy for keeping long-time Detroiters in their neighborhoods — so if people decide to sell their homes, there is an affordable place for them to go a few blocks aways so that they can maintain their social ties.
Lessons:
- If you don’t control the building, it doesn’t matter. We’ve spent a decade trying to convince people to do things and having site control saves time.
- It’s good to have resident engagement on the front end so people don’t feel threatened by them.
- Be in the deal so the benefits from the project can be reinvested into the community through programming.
Resident Support: General Description
- We do intakes for the 0 percent home loan repair program .We do intakes from wherever they come (all over the east side). We do a lot of foreclosure prevention and credit counseling. Michelle and her team do a case based approach to homeowner stabilization where they help with utility issues.
Grant funding for the staffing of the 0 percent work doesn’t cover the amount of effort we put in for the case management approach. The reason we jumped into the 0 percent program was because we heard home repair as being the biggest resident need. This something that Creekside or Church of the Messiah would traditionally do, but they collapsed.
- Fifty percent of the people applying for the home repair loan aren’t qualified because of DTI. We’ve got a venture opportunity counselor to help them raise their credit scores.
- We convene Show Me the Money Day and financial literacy work.
- Michelle from our team works on our sustainability work with University of Michigan’s Heatwave, Health and Homes Initiative, which helps determine which housing types are vulnerable to extreme climate events and then we build towards having a sustainable case manager that can help adjust climate to the specific typography of the home.We distribute Heat Health kits.
- We’ve funded 10,000 hours of extra police patrols.
- We have Americorps teams that go out and flyer people’s cars and provide and car clubs to people.
- We provide home and apartment safety assessments to install deadbolts, smoke detectors, etc.We flyer the neighborhoods to tell them about these opportunities.
- We partner with Clear Core for home repairs.
- We used our home safety assessment to help with Wayne State’s lead safe program for 300 homes.W. they did lead and safety assessment for 300 homes. home safety work with them
- There’s a lot of resident organizing around safety so we consult with block clubs and provide them tools.
- We fund domestic violence advocates that are embedded in the 5th and 7th precincts. Our largest violent crime category was assaults. There are two advocates that help victims when they come in and provide them with support and help them get a PPO for fee or free.Any given month, we get between 50–70 cases.
Resident Support: Partner Organizations
- Americorps/WSU Center for Urban Studies
- University of Michigan School of Public Health
- DPD
- HRD
- LISC
- Wayne Metro
- United Housing
- Community Housing Coalition
- DTE
- Clear Core
Resident Support: Funders
- The City (CDBG Public Safety Grant ~100,000)
- LISC (CDBG)
- JP Morgan Chase
- Enterprise
- Ford
Resident Support: Important Outcomes or Lessons
Outcomes:
- We help between 50–70 domestic abuse victims every month.
- We’ve funded 100,000 extra police patrol hours.
- Residents have Heat Health kits, car clubs and deadbolts.
- We used our home safety assessment to help with Wayne State’s lead safe program for 300 homes.
Lessons:
- If you’re a high capacity organization people, come from all over for help.
- Grant funding for the staffing of the 0 percent work doesn’t cover the amount of effort we put in for the case management approach.The reason we jumped into the 0 percent program was because we heard home repair as being the biggest resident need.This something that Creekside or Church of the Messiah would traditionally do, but they collapsed.
- I don’t know if it’s the most efficient to have 5 organizations with capacity to do community development along one corridor because you have to have a certain type of economy of scale to employ the people for certain services and that funding isn’t available. It also may be duplicative. We’re not just a corridor organization; we’re corridor and neighborhood service organization.We have to be strategic about what neighborhoods we go into.
Community Planning and Advocacy: General Description
Community Planning:
- I participated in LEAP and Detroit Future City’s plan.
- Jefferson East Business Association came up with our streetscape plan. When the city government came back, we said that’s the planning department’s job. I don’t have the legal nor philosophical objective to do that.Even if we had a board made up of all residents, we’re not the professional leadership of a democratically elected government.We’ve shied away from the planning.
- We have plans for specific projects and the neighborhood planning we leave to the city.
Advocacy:
- There are issues that are important to our people.We wanted to do advocacy around transit access.We did voter education around the RTA process though we could’ve done more there.
Having a professionally managed CDO, allows for someone to see the whole picture and balance interests rather than having an executive of the CDO that lives in the neighborhood who may be more likely to operate from self-interest.
- We advocate for stormwater infrastructure.We were conflicted as to whether we should push against the drainage fees or green stormwater infrastructure in the developments.We chose the latter.
- We’ve been hesitant to get involved with advocacy because who are we advocating for — the business or residents haven’t developed advocacy because who am i advocating for.
- We’re advocates against domestic violence.
- We work with Hope Community Outreach and Development for a summer youth program.
Community Planning and Advocacy: Partner Organizations
- RTA
- DDOT
- Police
- Transit Riders United (TRU)
- The Platform
- Shelborne Development
Community Planning and Advocacy: Funders
- None unless it’s tied to development
- Community Foundation (tax capture in Jefferson Chalmers)
Community Planning and Advocacy: Important Outcomes or Lessons
Outcomes:
- Development projects get done.
- Residents generally agree with proposed development.
- People are aware of major safety issues.
- When you get involved in planning, they want to know what our agenda is so it’s better to let the city engage residents.
- We’ve been able to provide good advice to the planning department and it’s helped there process. We advise the planning department on effective ways of doing their planning processes, but they’re the public face of it or CDAD.
Lessons:
- Initially, I thought the city had planning and development down.I’ve realized that the city means well and they don’t listen enough.
- We’ve gotten frustrated with them — especially when we partnered around mobility because they left something to be desired. They didn’t realize what was really needed.
- They’ve learned a lot. The Islandview planning process didn’t go well, but the Jefferson Chalmers project is going better. We helped them write their RFP, which is why we’re staying away from engagement around it.
- There needs to be more voter registration and education.
- Having a professionally managed CDO, allows for someone to see the whole picture and balance interests rather than having an executive of the CDO that lives in the neighborhood who may be more likely to operate from self-interest.
Finally, please rank each role 1 to 5, with 5 being the most frequent role, and 1 being the least frequent role carried out by the organization.
Convening/Facilitating: Frequency Rank
4
Resident Engagement/Empowerment: Frequency Rank
3
Economic Development: Frequency Rank
5
Resident Support: Frequency Rank
5
Community Planning and Advocacy: Frequency Rank
2
Can you please point us to other organizations in Detroit — especially in your immediate neighborhood — that are doing community development work? (Organization name, contact name, email, phone)
- Hope Community Outreach and Development: they do all the youth stuff, we do pass through grants through them
- Monique when we get job openings at restaurants: Monique Holliday, 313–330-3037
- Church of the Messiah: Pastor Barry Randolph
- Rivertown Detroit Association: Chip Rohde, 313–259-1010
- Riverbend Association: Jay Henderson
- Charlevoix Village — Toiya Watts, Elmwood Park
This information is current as of 3/6/18