Jews in the D
“Back Home” from page 29
continued on page 32
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