Jews in the D

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30 | OCTOBER 24 • 2019 

congressman agreed to lend their 
names to the club with assurances 
it would be dedicated to making 
a difference in the lives of Detroit 
children and the community at 
large, building a bridge from the 
advantages they enjoyed in the past 
to a more promising future. It was 
equally imperative to the Levins that 
the new club include and be named 
in recognition of a representative of 
the Detroit African American com-
munity. In Jim Comer, the Levins 
knew a great choice had been made.
For 60 years, MDYC’
s mission has 
been to empower youth to reach 
their full potential through qual-
ity programs. Serving more than 
2,200 members age 6-18, the clubs 
are open weekdays after school, 
Saturdays for specialized program-
ming and throughout the summer 
from early morning to evening.
Advancing academic achieve-
ment, career exploration, financial 
literacy, character building, leader-
ships skills, civic engagement and 
sports are just a few of the educa-
tional and life skills opportunities 
made available to the children on a 
daily basis. 
The clubs are led by a team of 
full- and part-time professionals, 
supported by a 24-member Board of 
Trustees comprised of business and 
community leaders, plus hundreds 

of volunteers who serve as tutors 
and academic mentors.
Now, the newest Levin-Comer 
club location, within the same 
decades-old walls of Durfee that 
provided Carl, Sander and the 
predominately Jewish student body 
a safe and nurturing environment 
years ago, will inspire a future 
generation of greatness for under-
served children in Detroit. “To the 
extent our careers can be an inspira-
tion, that’
s a great reward,” Carl said. 
“It makes me very happy to think 
that’
s a possibility because these kids 
deserve the same opportunity we 
had.” Added Sander: “Durfee was 
so much a part of our growing up. 
I salute this club for helping to take 
the memories and build them into 
the lives of others.” 

NEED IS APPARENT
That there is much 
work to be done is a 
vast understatement. 
MDYC CEO Brett 
Tillander stunned us 
with the recent MSTEP 
(Michigan’
s standardized assessment 
test) reading scores that indicated 
only 1.2 percent of third graders at 
the Central High School building 
just north of Durfee (now a K-12 
school) met the state’
s reading 
standards.

Launched in 2017, Durfee Innovation Society was 
the collaborative creation of Detroit Public School 
Community District (DPSCD) and Chris Lambert, 
39, an Indiana native who traded his 
career pursuits of business and law 
for one of community building and 
altruism after his travels in Africa 
as a college student. He moved to 
Detroit in 2010 and, in 2011, founded 
the nonprofit Life Remodeled. 
Since 2014, Life Remodeled, with $27 million in 
donations and counting, has renovated four Detroit 
public schools, repaired 188 homes, boarded up 
2,000-plus blighted homes, beautified hundreds of 
blocks and mobilized thousands of volunteers. 
Lambert, with DIS, continues to set his sights 

on creating something that offers long-term 
sustainable and expandable benefits for Detroit’
s 
neighborhoods. With DIS, he and a host of non-
profit organizations are creating a sustainable 
one-stop-shop incubator, where neighborhood 
families, youth and adults could come to hone 
their education and job skills and get help with 
social services. 
For starters, DIS houses resources such as fos-
ter care and support agencies, literary assistance 
services for children and adults, a podcast and 
music recording station for budding artists, and 
even a clothing boutique and a pizzeria designed 
to offer youth job training in retail and food service 
industries. 
Lambert admits that, at first, the local com-

Dream 
Realized

Bringing education, 
job training and social 
services to Detroit 
neighborhoods.

Chris Lambert

ALAN MUSKOVITZ
ALAN MUSKOVITZ

TOP: A glimpse at the fine workmanship inherent at Durfee.
ABOVE: Beautiful windows allow light to filter into the library.

Brett Tillander

