 OCTOBER 24 • 2019 | 33

“Major Tenant” from page 31

One” mobile unit to bring job training 
and placement resources to home-
bound residents in Detroit. 
In addition to operating the new 
Durfee Detroit at Work Career Center 
and WorkForce One mobile unit, JVS 
and ResCare will also be managing the 
Detroit at Work Call Center. The call 
center serves as a central location for 
Detroiters seeking employment and 
training resources and will be staffed by 
several Detroit at Work interns gaining 
valuable work experience while serving 
this vital need to Detroit residents. 
The new Career Center will be 
staffed by 25 employees. Additional 
funding has been provided by the 
McGregor Foundation for integrating 
human-centered design elements into 
the office space and the approach to 
working with customers.
The opening of the JVS center at 
Durfee is somewhat of a personal tri-
umph for the organization’
s chief oper-
ating officer, Paul Blatt. His father-in-
law, who attended Central High School 
(on the same campus), lived on nearby 
Tuxedo Street.
“I am so excited about JVS securing 
this space and this DESC contract,
” 
Blatt said. “JVS for 77 years has always 
delivered our job training resources 
to the people of Detroit to get them 
back to school or work. Now we can 
deliver directly to the neighborhood 

where they live with our mobile unit. 
[Our center in Durfee] harkens back to 
our core mission of helping all Metro 
Detroiters maximize their potential.
”

DURFEE HISTORY 
Durfee Intermediate School opened 
in 1927 and is located on the curve of 
Collingwood at LaSalle on Detroit’
s 
west side. It originally served a work-
ing-class population, including the 
children of many Jewish immigrants. 
Over the decades, population demo-
graphics shifted, and the school body 
was reduced to one-tenth of what it 
was at its height.
 
Due to falling test scores, 
Detroit 
Public School Community District 
(DPSCD) moved the remaining 
600 pupils to a corridor in nearby 
Central Collegiate Academy and 
closed the school in 2017. It leased 
the 143,000-square-foot building for 
the next 50 years at $1 per year to the 
nonprofit organization Life Remodeled, 
headed by Chris Lambert, its founder 
and CEO. (See sidebar.)
With JVS moving in, DIS will be at 
89 percent occupancy. Additionally, 
spaces such as the building’
s auditori-
um, gymnasium and classrooms have 
been restored and are available to rent 
for events and functions. 
Blatt met Lambert in 2017 at a 
Mackinac Policy Conference and was 

“So, we were practicing extra 
points,” Sander continued. 
“Then we went home, and our 
parents told us,” Sander said, 
pausing before sharing the 
haunting news that awaited 
him and his brother. It turns 
out on that day, while 10-year 
old Sander was innocently 
kicking footballs being held by 
his 7-year old brother Carl, the 
Japanese were bombing Pearl 
Harbor.
On a much lighter note, 
Herb took home the award 
for funniest memory when 
he admitted he made a buzz-
er-beating half-court shot 
for the Durfee intramural 
basketball team. “The ball 
went swish,” Herb said, “right 
through the net … for the 
opposing team.” 
At the end of the visit, it was 
to a person, as Aaron Krieger 
described, “great to be back in 
the hallowed halls of Durfee.” 
Added his wife, Winnie: “It’
s 
also great to know that the 
Jewish community that ben-
efited so positively from the 
foundation that Durfee pro-
vided us as children can now 
help pay it forward.”
As the mini-reunion began 
to break up, Tillander proudly 
informed the gathering that 
“those hallways and nearly 
every classroom in the DIS, 
including the 35,000 square 
feet dedicated to the MDYC, 
are now occupied by counsel-
ing, literacy and entrepreneur-
ial programs.”
“Durfee,” Tillander conclud-
ed, “once filled with the energy 
and promise of our Greatest 
Generation is filled once more 
with hope and opportunity for 
the next greatest generation. 
We are so proud that Carl and 
Sander Levin, Jim Comer and 
the Durfee alumni are on this 
journey with us.” 

“[Our center in 
Durfee] harkens back 
to JVS’ core mission 
of helping all Metro 
Detroiters maximize 
their potential.”

— PAUL BLATT

ABOVE: Chris 
Lambert, left, 
founder and CEO 
of Life Remodeled 
and the catalyst 
for Durfee’
s 
transformation, with 
Paul Blatt, JVS’
 COO, 
in a space JVS will 
use as the building’
s 
largest tenant.

DERRICK MARTINEZ 

“Major Tenant” continued on page 34

