SOUTHFIELD:
AT RISK?
The Neighborhood Project helps
Southfield retain afewish flavor.
SOUTHFIELD, MICHIGAN
M
KIMBERLY LIFTON
Staff Writer
intzy and Gene Schramm
expected to live in Southfield
about 10 years when they
moved into their home on
Jeanette in 1972.
"It seemed like every 10
years the Jewish community
moved, or it started to move
or to spread out," said Mrs.
Schramm, president of
Writer's Aide Service.
"We figured if we waited a
little longer, we could buy in
Ann Arbor," said Mrs.
Schramm, whose husband,
Gene, is a professor of Near
Eastern studies at the Uni-
versity of Michigan in Ann
Arbor. "The fact that we
(Jewish community) have
stayed here nearly 20 years
says something."
Instead of moving into a
house with a first-floor bed-
room and bathroom for her
mother, the Schramms built
an addition with financial
assistance from the Neigh-
borhood Project, a Jewish
Federation program aimed
"I do not have a crystal
ball, but I am optimistic."
— Steve Kaplan
at maintaining a strong
Jewish presence in parts of
Southfield and Oak Park.
As 40 percent of
Southfield's estimated
26,600-member Jewish
population is expected to
move — many out of
Southfield — Mrs. Schramm
wonders about the city's
future as a Jewish nucleus.
"I don't know if the Or-
thodox community can sus-
24
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1991
tain the (Southfield) Jewish
community alone," she said.
"I am certain the Neighbor-
hood Project is creating
stability."
The Schramms are Or-
thodox, and they are thrilled
that their neighborhood at
Greenfield and 10 Mile is
bustling with young, obser-
vant families. They no
longer talk about moving.
The 10 Mile - Greenfield
corridor is perfect for their
lifestyle. It includes nor-
thwest Oak Park and the
eastern tip of Southfield.
Nearby are close to a dozen
Orthodox synagogues, a
Reform congregation, Tem-
ple Emanu-El, and the Con-
servative Beth Shalom.
Also within the corridor is
Sara's kosher restaurant,
Zeman's kosher bakery,
Lakewood kosher market and
Borenstein's bookstore.
Within a quarter-mile ra-
dius is the Jimmy Prentis
Morris Jewish Community
Center, Federation Apart-
ments and the mikvah.
Plans are under way to
refurbish the JPM Center,
adding a health club and an
indoor pool.
"When you say Jewish
neighborhood of Detroit, the
first thing I think of is 10
and Greenfield," said
Shelley Singal, who last
year moved from Oak Park
to the 10 and Greenfield
area in Southfield with her
husband, Ruvi, and their
two children.
"Will it stay this way? I
think so," Mrs. Singal said.
"Ten years ago, I wasn't so
sure."
When the Schramms
secured an interest-free
matching home improve-
ment loan from the Neigh-
borhood Project, they joined
hundreds of Jewish families
who have taken advantage
of the five-year-old commun-
ity revitalization program.
The Singals, Shelley, a
legal secretary, and Ruvi, a
property manager, received
a loan for their home on
Prairie, a racially integrated
street.
"We were the first Or-
thodox family on this
street," Mrs. Singal said.
"There are some other Jew-
ish families, some black
Rabbi Irwin Groner was the
catalyst for the
Neighborhood Project.
families and another Or-
thodox family just moved in.
It is becoming more Or-
thodox.
"We're here to stay," Mrs.
Singal said. "We don't want
to move again."
Without Neighborhood
Project, the Singals might
not have been afforded such
an option. With two chil-
dren, they began to outgrow
their Oak Park home. Yet
they had limited finances to
spend.
"Without Neighborhood
Project, we couldn't have
done this," Mrs. Singal said.
Because of a $1 million
United Jewish Charities
revolving fund administered
through the Jewish Federa-
tion with the assistance of
Hebrew Free Loan Associ-
ation, Neighborhood Project
has helped 461 families
secure matching loans for
down payments or home im-
provements in Southfield
and Oak Park.
Recycling of the payments
has enabled Neighborhood
Project to double its impact,
providing loans as high as
$10,000 and representing
total home purchases of
about $32 million.
The project evolved out of
the Federation Planning
Department, at the time
headed by Alan Juris, who
now runs the organized Jew-
ish community in Windsor.
Larry Ziffer, current Federa-
tion planning director, had
just moved to Detroit as a
planner from Boston, where
the Jewish community pro-
vided a loan incentive pro-
gram.
"I knew Boston had a pro-
gram, and I knew Baltimore
was doing something. It
seemed like Detroit was ripe
for it," Mr. Ziffer said.
Initially, skepticism was
widespread among Federa-
tion leaders, who said
Detroit's community never
stays too long in any one
place. The Jewish commun-
ity had just settled upon Oak
Park and Southfield, which
many leaders believed had
limited time.
Blacks started buying
homes in areas Jews were
vacating for further nor-
thwest suburbs like Farm-
ington Hills and West
Bloomfield. They started
moving for a variety of
reasons. Some were
frightened of a new culture
moving in. Others question-
ed the future of the schools.
Some were parents to
grown children and no
longer needed large homes.
Condominiums further nor-
thwest were better suited to
their needs. Others wanted
newer and bigger homes not
available in Southfield.
Although the Jewish
community had never
reinvested in a neighbor-
hood, attitudes changed
after the Federation receiv-
ed a letter from Congrega-
tion Shaarey Zedek's Rabbi
Irwin Groner. In the letter,
Rabbi Groner asked when
the community was going to
respond to an ongoing prob-
lem. The empty-nest syn-
drome was beginning to
grow in Southfield, a suburb
much stronger economically
than previous areas deserted
by the Jewish community.
Around his synagogue at
Bell Road and 11 Mile Road,
children were grown and
their parents were moving
into apartments, condos and
smaller homes elsewhere. In
his letter, Rabbi Groner said
Jews were not buying homes
in the area. He wondered
how long the area surroun-
ding Shaarey Zedek would
be an island.
Rabbi Groner and then-
Executive Vice President
Wayne Feinstein spoke to
the Federation.