Community Legal Resources-- Pro bono attorneys, nonprofits to 'tell their stories'

By John Minnis Legal News The Grandmont-Rosedale area in northwest Detroit suffers the same problems as other Detroit neighborhoods--aging housing stock, abandoned or foreclosed homes, graffiti, rundown, blighted commercial districts--but unlike other neighborhoods, Grandmont-Rosedale residents are fighting back. To do so, they formed the Grandmont Rosedale Development Corp., a non-profit organization formed and operated by neighborhood residents who care about their community and want to see it maintained as a great place to live and do business. To date, the GRDC has: * Renovated and sold 54 vacant houses to new home owners. * Made 95 home improvement loans and grants to low income homeowners. * Renovated four vacant commercial buildings. * Made 37 facade grants to businesses, improving 78 of the 140 businesses on Grand River. * Renovated seven neighborhood parks and school playgrounds. * Removed graffiti from over 500 buildings through its ongoing Graffiti Busters campaign. * Mobilized hundreds of volunteers annually for neighborhood cleanup and beautification projects. Grandmont Rosedale Development Corporation is just one of many Community Legal Resources success stories to be related at the "Telling Our Story" event to be hosted Thursday, Dec. 2, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. Heidi Mucherie, CLR chief executive officer, said GRDC came to her organization a year ago seeking help in dealing with a high rate of vacancies and foreclosures that seemed to "crop up overnight." "This organization and its residents went through and intense planning process to stabilize their neighborhoods," she said. "This was a neighborhood that knew what they needed to do. They did the heavy lifting. It was just a phenomenal thing to see." Created in 1998, Community Legal Resources provides pro bono legal services and technical assistance to nonprofit organizations in Michigan that serve low income individuals and communities, with an emphasis on community economic development. Community Legal Resources is part of a network of established programs across the country that serve nonprofit organizations and was founded with support of the American Bar Association's Business Law Section's Pro Bono Committee. Since 1998, Community Legal Resources has provided more than 900 nonprofit organizations in Michigan with free legal services valued at an estimated $9 million. CLR recently administered the Community and Property Preservation Program, which provides mini-grants to support community-initiated action. The initial CAPP pilot program, launched in 2009, is designed to provide supplemental financial assistance to community-based organizations that incurred costs due to vacant property maintenance and security initiatives. The CAPP program has helped stabilize Detroit neighborhoods, such as the Grandmont-Rosedale area, experiencing negative effects of increasing numbers of vacant properties and declining vacant property conditions. According to Grandmont Rosedale Development Corp. Executive Director Tom Goddeeris, CLR helped his organization in a number of ways. About a year ago, CLR helped GRDC develop a "Vacant Property Plan" that involved documenting the extent of vacant and foreclosed property in the area and researching the ownership of the properties. CLR then helped fashion a multi-faceted strategy for addressing the vacant housing problem. "Our strategy includes purchasing and renovating vacant homes and selling them to new homeowners, providing grants and loans to low-income homeowners to keep them in their homes and mobilizing volunteers to maintain vacant properties that are neglected by their owners," Goddeeris said. CLR also provided mini-grants to GRDC to directly support the vacant property maintenance efforts. "I would also say that their help in creating our Vacant Property Plan has also helped us attract other partners and resources to our community," Goddeeris said. Pro bono attorneys played a major role in the GRDC-CLR partnership. Mucherie said the CLR provides attorneys an opportunity to "make a difference." "Lawyers go into the field to make a difference," she said. "Lawyers in many cases become personally invested." At the 12th annual event Dec. 2, a law firm, two outstanding attorneys, two community nonprofit clients and two partner organizations will be awarded and have a chance to tell their stories. "This lets us tell our stories and the stories of the lawyers," Mucherie said. "It's an annual event to celebrate our nonprofit clients and to celebrate our pro bono attorneys who donate so much of their time." The event is free. Attendees may register by contacting Sara Jean Baker at sjbaker@clronline.org or by calling her at (313) 962-3171, extension 234. The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History is located at 315 E. Warren, Detroit, near the Wayne State University campus. Published: Wed, Nov 24, 2010

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