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» cover story
Working At The
White House
Metro Detroit native appointed
White House liaison to the
U.S. Jewish community.
Ryan Fishman
Special to the Jewish News
Ben Goutkovitch and Josh Stewart carry in a couch into their new home: Moishe House Royal Oak.
Moishe House
heads from Detroit
to Royal Oak;
Ramah Fellows settle
in Ferndale.
Robin Schwartz I Contributing Writer
I
n the summer of 2011, Detroit's first-ever Moishe
House opened on East Ferry Street with a great deal of
fanfare and high hopes the communal home would be
a catalyst for change and attract young Jews to Detroit.
Over the last two years, a handful of young Jewish lead-
ers lived in the seven-bedroom, 5,000-square-foot house in
the heart of the city's Cultural Center and received subsi-
dized rent from generous donors; dozens of programs were
held and thousands of 20-somethings participated.
But in July, Moishe House Detroit Midtown quietly
closed its doors and so did a second Detroit location
known as the Repair the World Moishe House (a service-
based site piloted by the Repair the World organization)
in the Woodbridge area of the city. That house, which was
CONTINUED ON PAGE 8
1942 - 2013
Covering and
Connecting
Jewish Detroit
Eve y Week
iving some of the credit for his success to the
place he still calls home, Matt Nosanchuk,
48, is taking his experiences in Metropolitan
Detroit's Jewish community all the way to the White
House.
Born in Windsor and raised in Detroit and later
Birmingham, the new associate director of the
White House Office of Public Engagement and
Intergovernmental Affairs
says there was always some-
thing to learn from the
impressive breadth of chari-
table, political and social
engagement in Detroit.
"Because Detroit has
always had a vibrant,
engaged and large Jewish
community, I had the oppor-
tunity in the course of my
life to interface with and
learn from various aspects
Matt Nosanchuk
of it," explained Nosanchuk,
who refers to his title infor-
mally as simply liaison to the
Jewish community.
"My aunt worked at Jewish Vocational Service. I went
to Cranbrook with the children of the community's most
active and prominent leaders. In high school, I interned
for Sen. Carl Levin in Washington, one of the state and
country's leading Jewish politicians ... I was always
impressed with our community's involvement in a wide
array of issues both through its individuals and its orga-
nizations."
Nosanchuk is no stranger to the region's Jewish politi-
cal circles; he was married to Rep. Sandy Levin's daugh-
ter Madeleine and has worked closely with the Levin
brothers on their campaigns.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 18