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spent some time in Israel, and like the
idea of being in an area such as this. I
feel it's a vibrant community and
there's something for everyone."
Commenting on the housing
prices in the area, Greene remarks,
"When we decided to buy in Oak Park,
we didn't want to 'get behind the
8-ball' by going into the more expen-
sive suburbs. "I've heard of young
couples who really must be struggling
after buying there. Here there is hous-
ing at affordable prices."
The Neighborhood Project has
enabled many families to buy homes
when it seemed still a dream. Mark
Schlussel believes "the program itself
was probably a precipitator of thought
amongst people living in apartments
who realized, 'Gee, we can probably
stretch and afford a home, but we don't
have the initial downpayment,' and so
we gave them the amount of money
necessary to get them over that first
big hurdle — the downpayment, the
equity in their house — because young
families with young children have
tremendous demands on their incomes
and it's very hard to accumulate
enough money to buy a house these
days. Secondly, I think it also allowed
them to make a philsophical decision
that they'd prefer to live in Southfield
and Oak Park, rather than in other
parts of the Jewish community at this
time. For those people the program
was an impetus to make the big leap
forward and buy a home, to put down
their economic stakes."
It is that philosophical commit-
ment that is at the crux of the reason-
ing behind the Neighborhood Project.
Having observed a movement of
Jewish families away from the
"Jewish heart" of Detroit — away from
its services, its organizations, its
synagogues and its stores — the Fed-
eration's leadership, after much com-
munal input, came up with the pro-
gram to encourage people to stay in the
area.
As Schlussel describes it, "I think
the goals of the Neighborhood Project
are:
1. To preserve an extremely viable
and multi-faceted Jewish community
that lives in Oak Park and Southfield,
and neighboring communities like
Huntington Woods.
2. To preserve the infrastructure
of the very important series of
facilities — from the synagogues to the
Jewish Community Center, to the fab-
ric of the community itself with its
availability of kosher butcher shops,
bakeries and the like.
3. The Jewish community can,
through the Neighborhood Project,
enhance and improve the quality of
life of a number of families in the
Jewish community who might other-
Bill Pugliano
N
is pivotal. The program does not want
to encourage any families to buy a
home if they are financially unable to
maintain regular payments.
What kinds of people are making
use of the program, and are setting up
home in Southfield and Oak Park? Ac-
cording to Mark Schlussel, chairman
of the project's advisory committee,
"The demographics are very interest-
ing. We are finding the people are
mostly young; under 35. They cross all
areas of religious affiliation in the
Jewish community, from Orthodox to
Reform. A number of them are
families with children in the day
school system, but an equal number of
them send their children to public
school. Some families have no children
yet."
The Fosters lived in Oak Park for
five years, but as David explains it,
"We needed a larger house because we
had outgrown the first one when our
children were born. We wanted one
that better suited our needs." Their
new house is located in the Beacon
Square subdivision near 11 Mile and
Lahser.
Linda Foster adds, "The nice
thing about the area is there are
sidewalks, and we are within walking
distance of parks and schools. We like
to ride bikes, and we can do that here
comfortably . . . We have child carriers
on the back of our bikes for the chil-
dren while they are small. The
sidewalks are important to us because
they make it more conducive for the
children to go outside to play. Have
you noticed how people tend to congre-
gate when they can walk up and down?
It makes for more of a neighborhood
feeling."
Looking at the Jewish community
of Oak Park and Southfield from an
overall perspective, David Foster ob-
serves, "I like the fact this area is an
open Jewish community. There's a
wide range of religious affiliation, and
a good intergenerational mix. It's a
healthy environment. On Christmas
Day I was able to take my three-year
old son to the Jewish bookstore and
choose a book about Chanukah. It was
easier to explain to him our way of life
when it is around us for him to see."
Steve and Meryl Greene also re-
ceived a Neighborhood Project loan. It
helped finance their first house, in the
Lincoln-Greenfield area of Oak Park.
"We had a number of reasons for decid-
ing on the Oak Park area," says Steve.
Housing in Oak Park is in a price
range we could afford, and the school
district is very good. The decision to
buy this house has been right fozr us.
The neighbors seem very nice. The
area does have a very definite Jewish
flavor. You can see it in the number of
synagogues, and in the 'kosher strip.' I
The Neighborhood Project helped Steve and Meryl Greene purchase their Oak Park home.
wise not be able to afford the quality of
housing this program enables them to
obtain.
4. It's a very important program
on an interfaith and interracial basis
as it establishes a commitment to the
Jewish community at large to preserve
the role of Jews in a neighborhood
that's multi-racial and multi-
religious. Sociologists have said there
are only changing neighborhoods, not
integrated ones. We wish to prove we
truly can become an integrated neig-
borhood.
"The Project is to give people the
incentive of moving into the neighbor-
hood by providing them with the ini-
tial seed money on a non-interest basis
so they can become eligible for
mortgage loan financing from an
appropriate lending institution. This
is the initial part of the program. I feel
the program will expand into other
areas.
"I see the Project as doing two
things. One, it induces new people to
move into the area who might other-
wise not have had the resources to do
so, and two, it encourages people who
are already in the neighborhood to re-
think about reinvesting in their home,
to take a look at the quality of life. I
think the second part, although not
measureable, is equally if not more
important than the first."
Federation is no longer alone in
funding. When it set up the program, it
targeted $250,000 as the initial seed
money and this will probably be used
up when the additional loans are allo-
cated. Schlussel is confident the Fed-
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