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City
Dwellers

Live Detroit Fund accepting rent subsidy applications
from young adults committed to strengthening Motown.

Jackie Headapohl I Managing Editor

re you young? Want to live
in Detroit? Committed to
planning one substantial
event a month that will
strengthen the Jewish and larger De-
troit communities? The Live Detroit
Fund (LDF) is for you, and applica-
tions are now being accepted.
The LDF, administered by Corn-
munityNEXT, a program of the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit to
attract and retain young talent in the
region, will provide up to 25 next-
generation leaders a rent subsidy of
$250 per month for up to one year.
The organization raised $100,000
during the summer, and on Oct. 15
kicked off its application process
over free dinner and drinks at the
Sixth Street Lofts in Corktown.
"CommunityNEXT understands that
in order to prevent further brain-
drain from the city of Detroit, incen-
tives must be created to re-populate
and build excitement in the city,"
said Rachel Winer, marketing strate-
gist for CommunityNEXT.
To be eligible, applicants must
be older than 21, currently not live
in Downtown Detroit, and should
demonstrate a commitment to the
city of Detroit and the Jewish corn-
munity with a proven track record
of representing the Next-Gen Detroit
community. Financial need is not a
consideration.

A

Brad Snider on
Finale Friday
(the last day
of Summer in
the City) saying
goodbye to Jordy,
one of the LMS
campers. The
event was at
Hubert Elementary
School in Detroit's
Brightmoor
community (the
school was closed
in 2005). Jordy's
school is near
Clark Park so he
and Brad get to
see each other.

Sound like you? Applications are
being accepted online and will be
until 25 recipients are chosen. Re-
cipients will be chosen by a lay and
professional committee of Cornmu-
nityNEXT staff members, volunteers
and Federation staff members. Recip-
ients will be notified upon approval
and have 30 days to show proof of
their approved lease Downtown to
start receiving the monthly subsidy.
Here are a few Next-Gens who plan
to throw their hat in the ring for the
rent subsidy.

"Bringing Our
Friends Back"

Adam Duke, 23, a Mich-
igan State University
grad living in Waterford,
is an entrepreneur. He
grew up in Bloomfield
Adam Duke
Hills, where he went
to Birmingham Groves
High School. At college,
he studied entrepre-
neurship and alternative
energy engineering.
He and Jacob Smith
from West Bloomfield,
Jacob Smith
also 23, but a Univer-
sity of Michigan grad,
grew up together. In July 2009, they
launched GoGreen Energy Consulting,
a home energy evaluation and energy
upgrade company based in Southfield.

Their mission is to help homeown-
ers reduce their energy costs and be
more comfortable in their homes by
pinpointing energy loss. The company
is "buzzing" right now, according to
Duke. The two are adding employees
and anticipate being super-busy this
fall.
But growing their business isn't the
only thing on their minds. They're also
planning to move — both men want to
live in Detroit and have applied to the
Live Detroit Fund for rent subsidies.
"I've been all over the world and I
love Detroit," Duke said. "I know peo-
ple have a bad opinion of the city, and
that hurts me. It will never get better
unless we move there and make it
better. I want to move downtown and
see what I can do to help make that
happen."
But why Detroit?
"I want to live in an area with a con-
centration of young people, and right
now that means Royal Oak, Ferndale
or Detroit," Smith said. "I choose De-
troit because it's an opportunity to be
part of a movement — I want to lead
that movement."
Both Duke and Smith, who are Jew-
ish, say they have another reason for
wanting to move to Motown and help
bring about its revitalization.
"We want to bring our friends back,"
Smith said. "Ninety-eight percent of
the people we grew up with left here

for other cities, some because they
couldn't find jobs. Nearly all of them
said they would love to move back
some day."

Revitalizing
Youth Baseball

Justin Prinstein is a
27-year-old baseball
player who grew up in
Southfield and attend-
ed North Farmington
Justin
High School. He was a
Prinstein
Division 1 Athletic and
Academic Scholarship
baseball player at George Washing-
ton University in Washington, D.C.,
graduating in 2006 with a degree in
political science.
After graduation, he turned pro
for baseball and has been playing
professionally for five seasons in Bel-
gium, the Netherlands and Germany.
He also played in the inaugural (and
only) Israel Professional Baseball
League season in 2007. Since 2009,
he's also worked as a Major League
Baseball scout in Europe for the
Houston Astros.
"This year I was hired to coach the
Hungarian National Team in addition
to my playing career, so I was living
in Budapest until September," he
said. "I just moved back downtown

Continued on page 7

Continued from page 3

professionals than I was able
to in West Bloomfield. Just the
other day, when I met friends for
drinks, it turned out three-quar-
ters of the group was Jewish, and
it all happened organically.
Once a month, above the Mexi-
cantown Bakery, a micro-funding
event called Detroit Soup is held.
Guests pay $5 for a meal and can

pitch community development
projects with the funds raised.
This is the unique, collaborative
environment that has grown out
of the city's adversity.
Come see our gorgeous turn-of-
the-century house or have a cup
of delicious Mexican hot chocolate
down the street. Or maybe meet
me at the taco truck on Livernois

and Vernor for the best Mexican
food this side of the border. Come
be a part of the excitement that is
Detroit's revitalization.
When my forefathers left Europe
and settled in Detroit, it was the
"land of opportunity." This state-
ment has never been as true as it
is today.
Here's to next year in Detroit.

Bradley Snider, 23, is a West Bloomfield High School graduate who earned a bachelor's degree in
environmental science at the University of Michigan. He is just starting his year of service through
AmeriCorps, serving at United Way as a coordinator for volunteer projects. As a student, he
participated in and led spring-break service trips through U-M Hillel to Nicaragua, Argentina and
Guatemala. He will be combining his interests in service learning and Detroit as the staff leader
on U-M Hillel's new Jewish-Detroit Initiative. He is a lifelong member of Adat Shalom Synagogue,
Farmington Hills.

October 20 2011

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