SOUTHFIELD: AT RISK? Neighborhood integration does not happen naturally. TALES OF FIVE CITIES T KIMBERLY LIFTON Staff Writer hanks to a Jewish commun- ity loan program, busi- nessman Boruch Levine purchased a home in the Upper Park Heights com- munity of Baltimore. Without the loan, he said, he and his family would still be living in an apartment. Because of the Neighbor- hood Project, a similar inter- est-free loan program in ANALYSIS metropolitan Detroit, Cheryl and Arnold Berlin, both computer engineers, pur- chased a starter home in Southfield. The upwardly mobile cou- ple hopes to move into a larger home further nor- thwest within the next five years. With the assistance of a 21-year-old Jewish commun- ity project, thought to be the first Jewish community loan assistance program, news- paper editor Michael Ben- nett bought a home in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. These financial incentives have provided success stories for the Jewish com- munities of Detroit, Cleveland and Baltimore. Each community launched loan programs to encourage Jewish families to buy SOURCED: AT RISK? This is the second of a three-part series. Next week, we will discuss the future of the Jewish corn- munity in Southfield and northwest migration. homes in older neighbor- hoods that were losing Jews to blacks and other minorities. Yet visits to Cleveland and Baltimore, as well as to Philadelphia and Chicago, show clearly that com- munities — no matter how successfully integrated — have a long way to go before they achieve racial har- mony. In the second of a three- part series on Southfield and the future of the Jewish community, The Jewish News takes a close look at a few of the nation's integra- tion and Jewish revival pro- jects. When looking at incen- tives, Detroit, Baltimore and Cleveland had much to con- sider. Each housed many Jewish institutions, con- gregations and educational facilities. Each community faced similar histories. Jews move continuously, leaving behind building after building for newer, bigger and better. Although their com- munities historically never moved back to older neigh- borhoods, Jewish leaders believed financial incentives might make a difference. And they did. Detroit's Neighborhood Project has granted 461 loans since its inception in 1987. Neighborhood Project, in fact, provides the best in- centive: free money toward a down payment. It is the only interest-free program. Cleveland's Heights Area Project, used as a model for Jewish communities throughout the United States, has granted 400 loans in its 21 years — far fewer loans than Neighbor- hood Project. Yet it is part of a larger integration program — one that includes Shaker Heights, government funds and praise from the White House. . Baltimore's Comprehen- sive Housing Assistance Inc. (CHAI) has helped 450 families buy homes, and has counseled over 1,400 clients since its inception in 1983. It is credited in part with stabilizing an area in tran- sition. The Jewish institu- tions were located there, and the residents were getting older. They wanted to bring in younger Jewish families, and they wanted to make the area attractive to middle class whites and blacks. They didn't get what they planned, but CHAT leaders are happy with their results. Because of an unplanned and still-growing influx of Orthodox families, the com- munity has become predominantly Orthodox and black. Two of the places profiled — Oak Park, Ill. and Mt. Airy, Pa. — provide scenarios much different from the others. Each has earned national praise be- cause they are integrated by choice, meaning hard work, little or no public money and grass-roots efforts on the part of a few visionaries. Oak Park, Ill. and Mt. Airy attract smaller numbers of Jews than Southfield, Shaker Heights-Cleveland Heights and Upper Park Heights. They are mostly liberal-minded, and many are unaffiliated religiously. In Oak Park, Ill. and in Mt. Airy, whites and blacks live harmoniously and work together to maintain safe neighborhoods and vibrant schools. Yet integration in all of these cities didn't happen naturally. Living together, working together and fighting together for safe neighbor- hoods and schools is a step in the right direction. Yet this does not underscore the issue of racial tensions. In most of these cities, grass- roots efforts and financial incentives haven't dis- counted long-standing biases. In most communities, For Sale signs still pop up when blacks and other minorities buy homes. Jews living in Southfield, and those who have moved away, say they leave when blacks and Chaldeans become their neighbors. They say they are scared. Families of different backgrounds in these com- munities rarely socialize with those living next door. Perhaps bigger homes, private garages and larger lots have contributed to a lost sense of neighborhood. Or perhaps Jews, whites, blacks, Chaldeans and others don't really want to be integrated. Even Mt. Airy, which on the surface appears to be utopia for ethnics and other minorities, has its problems. A photographer's visit there a week before publication revealed a new twist. Several For Sale signs were posted along a popular street in the community touted as a national model for integra- tion. No loan program alone can change perceptions. But understanding and edu- cation will help. There are no financial incentives in Mt. Airy; there are some in Oak Park, Ill. People like Barbara Talley and Ann Wettlaufer, who run the Oakland County Center for Open Housing, are on the right track. The center hopes to pro- mote racial harmony throughout Oakland Coun- t y , one of the most segregated counties in the country. They want to per- suade whites to move into areas with larger concentra- tions of blacks, and vice versa. THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 23 C