Sweet Home Detroit

CommunityNEXT's Live Detroit Fund helps attract young change makers to the city.

Marielle Temkin I JAI Intern
Jerry Zolynsky I Photography

I

n an effort to bring Detroit's
young people back to the city,
CommunityNEXT, a department of
the Jewish Federation of Metro-
politan Detroit, is administering a rent
subsidy program called the Live Detroit
Fund (LDF).
The LDF was funded by the Do It
For Detroit campaign of August 2011,
organized by CommunityNEXT, which
raised $100,000 via fundraising
events, social media campaigns and
charity sports tournaments that took
place in Chicago, Detroit, New York
City and Los Angeles.
Recipients of the fund receive $250
per month toward their rent, as long
as they host a monthly event to build
community in Detroit. As of press
time, 14 people had been awarded LDF
subsidies, and there are enough funds
for 11 more.
"This program has been highly suc-
cessful by the fact that we've had so
many people interested," said Rachel
Lachover, associate director of Com-
munityNEXT. "I believe this incentive
was one of the last pieces of the puzzle
to get people interested in going and
living Downtown. Once people see
what's going on in Detroit with the eco-
nomic and cultural growth, they want
to be a part of it."
While recipients of the LDF do
not have to be Jewish, Lachover has
noticed it has started to "strengthen
the Jewish presence and community
Downtown, which is such a great effect
of the program."

Meet Some LDF Recipients

My assignment was to attend the Motor
City Moishe House's annual summer
barbeque and track down recipients of
the LDF, some of whom partnered with
Moishe House to host the event.
This was my first visit to Moishe
House, and I really did not know what
to expect. The house is gorgeous, and
the backyard was set up with tents,

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games and tables, and everyone there
was friendly and fun to talk to.
In an odd stroke of luck, the first
person I asked was an
LDF recipient. Meg
Pouncy, who moved
back home from
Pennsylvania, is very
interested in the
arts and how they
can positively affect
Detroiters.
Meg Pouncy
"I applied for
the LDF because I
wanted to be a bigger part of the
rebirth and rebuild of the city," she
said, "and I felt this was a great
opportunity to do that in a col-
lective way."
Pouncy works in the design
field and plans to focus her
monthly events on the arts. "I
believe art is a strong way to com-
municate ideas and stories between
students in the city."
My next find was Ryan Landau,
23, who received his LDF in Febru-
ary along with his roommate, Jacob
Smith. Together, the
duo has hosted a slew
of events ranging from
a bar crawl to a pool
party to a Michigan
beer tasting. Landau
lived in Washington,
D.C., and worked for
IBM before moving
back home. "The fund
was a good push for
me to come back to
the city," he said, "and
I love being back here.
It's amazing. You're
a big fish in a small
pond, and I really feel
that you can make a
difference here."
Smith, an entrepre-
Jacob Smith
neur who co-founded
Go Green Energy Con-

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Many LDF recipie
nts attended the
House annual
Moishe
barbecue.

Gabe 1.1eistein of
Detroit
lloyal
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bean. bag toss.

suiting in Southfield, loves the energy
in Detroit. "There are lots of things to
do every night, and people are so pas-
sionate about the city, and their mo-
mentum just keeps carrying over into
different areas," he said. "I applied for
an LDF [subsidy] because I wanted to
be a part of the rebuilding of Detroit.
I'm very excited about what's going on

in the city right now."
Next up, LDF recipient jenile Brooks,
who also moved back home from Wash-
ington, D.C, echoed
Smith's excitement.
"Before I heard about
the LDF, I was already
considering moving
back here," she said,
"and now that I'm back
I've been able to ex-
perience Detroit as an
Jenile Brooks adult, and I love it."
She is working on
opening an online
grocery delivery store called Harvest
Express, which she hopes will be up
and running by August. Brooks wants
to host a supper club for one of her
events, and she has also been working
with josh Gershonowicz, a resident of
Moishe House, to plan a bike tour of
the city. "I'm very excited about mak-

Sweet Home Detroit on page 3

July 19 - 2012 1