The barely two-year-old Habitat BRAND – Building Resident Action by Neighborhood Design – program is adding hope to Flint by changing neighborhoods aesthetically, bringing people together in a positive way and building new memories meant to leave an optimistic mark on the city.
Shon Hart knew he didn’t want to follow in the footsteps of his own father.
When Young Life mentors roamed the halls at Lake Fenton High School ten years ago, Jake Kirk, now 28, remembers making fun of and avoiding them.
Saving the unsaved. Preaching the gospel. Helping the needy and the community. This is the mission of Freedom Temple Church of God in Christ, located on Flint’s north side. Charles Williams is the founder and pastor and has been serving God and his community for 40 years.
When Michael, 54, Troy, 43, and Charles, 53, were locked up by the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) prison system, a U.S. postage stamp cost 22-cents, a movie ticket was $2.75, and the internet and cell phones did not exist – but, for three Flint natives who entered a correctional facility in their 20s and served more than 90 years combined, life on the outside of prison walls seemed almost as scary as the first day they arrived in their eight-by-ten-foot cells.
The Genesee County Youth Corporation, better known as REACH & Traverse Place, celebrated its 40th anniversary on Friday, Sept. 8 by holding its first ever fundraiser at the Flint Farmers’ Market in Downtown Flint, according to Pete Hutchison, the organization’s Chairman of the Board. About 200 guests attended the fundraiser where a delicious dinner was served.
Nic Gatlin, Program Director at Carriage Town Ministries for the past seven years, came aboard to help when his dad, Dr. Dallas Gatlin, took on the role of executive director in 2010. According to Nic, “my parents have always supported CTM. All the while I was growing up, they were donors and we volunteered.” They have created many initiatives and changes through that time, but the latest addition to the ministry comes in the form of sweet, pastry goodness – and valuable job training.
Noah Patton, 29, remembers the days he lived, with five felonies under his belt, as “a gang-banger on the streets near Flint’s Northside – a gang-ridden, gunshots-every-night, dilapidated, run-down area where we have no exposure to things like college life or higher education because we’re trying to survive. I counted myself out (of society) because I was always smelling like weed, hurting people and stealing purses. I was your basic, common thug.”
In 2009, the Wayne County Prosecutor made a horrifying discovery: 11,341 untested “rape kits” were found in a Detroit Police Department storage facility. The shocking quantity of sexual assault cases was combined with the harsh reality of an inadequate system to process them, making it necessary to find a way to address the problem with real, workable change. But, so far, only one Michigan county has come up with a way to reduce the chance of victims falling through the cracks. One county in the nation has found a way to build bridges of support, linking resources for victims through collaboration between the YWCA Victim Advocates, local government agencies, along with hospitals, to focus on the survivor’s well-being – and that one county is Genesee.
About four years ago, Sheila Crider had an experience that changed her life forever. More than anything, she disliked driving on snow-covered or icy roads. But she saw nothing threatening about the weather on a cold, winter day in January when she left her Fenton home to go to a Bible study. “I was driving on U.S. 23 and hit a patch of black ice,” she recalls, and after losing control of the vehicle, she crashed head-on into a tree. Her injuries included major damage to her pelvis and sacrum. “The doctors at Beaumont Hospital put me back together,” Sheila remembers, with tears in her eyes. She had always been active and strong, but nothing could have prepared her for the physical pain she endured. “I was a runner and a weightlifter. It was extremely humbling to have to use a walker.”
