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Community Assessment Plan Part III

SW 4020
Gay Jackson
December 7, 2014

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Introduction:
The purpose of this assessment was to identify the most urgent issues that contributed to the
decline of the Jefferson-Chalmers community. The findings were identified through past and
present data, and information obtained by the residents of the community.
Key Findings:
The Jefferson Chalmers community has been plagued with blight, commercial and
residential vacancy as well as crime. According to the U.S. Census Bureau report of 2010, the
Jefferson-Chalmers does not have a healthy or stable housing market with 11 residential sales in
2010, compared to 43 sales in 2005. The prevalence of abandoned commercial and residential
structures in the community has created an unsafe environment for residents and potential
buyers. Another weakness of the community is the lack of cohesiveness among the community
organizations as far as collaboration and communication, and the community does not have a
staffed certified housing development organization which has limit its eligibility for federal
housing grants (First American Core Logic).
Strengths and Resources:
The vacancy rate in the city of Detroit is a threat with 23% vacancy rate in the city, but
Jefferson-Chalmers community has maintained a level of residential strength that can bolster
stabilization efforts (U.S. Census, 2010). The parks and waterfront housing is another strength
of the community with attractive quality brick homes that no other community in Detroit can
boast about.
Although the community organizations has in the past lacked cohesiveness and
communication, the Jefferson-Chalmers community has numerous associations organizations and
churches that could yield a large community impact, for instance in 2012 the residents took

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action to dispel the negative effects of vacant property by organizing a quarterly cleanup that
cleaned 220 vacant lots.
Measures of Success:
The cooperation of the community organizations will provide more financial funding and
resources to implement this action plan. By creating a collaborative body and establishing
benchmarks to measure the progress and establish supportive ways to hold each partnering
organization accountable (www.Mi-community.org).
Clarify the Challenges:
The clean up of the community by preserving assets, and making the community safe while
encouraging investment is the overall strategy for the Jefferson Chalmers Community. The
collaboration between the numerous organizations and associations is paramount for the efforts
to be a success.
Evaluating the Change:
The plan will focus on creating a more sophisticated system to track blight and monitoring each
organizations progress on the implementation of their designated work plan according to the
organizations purpose in the community. The organizations will be held accountable for not
meeting their target goals.
Action Plan:
The following organizations will carry out the action plan.
1. Creekside will contact negligent property owners to resolve blight issues, and Creekside
will also advocate for code enforcement to target unresponsive property owners.
2. Jefferson Chalmers District Council will advocate for demolition of vacant and dangerous
properties.

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3. Jefferson East Business Association will provide property owners with home repair
assistance.
4. Creekside, HCOD, and SWNA will organize cleanups and board-ups around priority
properties (Jefferson-Chalmers Stabilization Program).
Conclusion:
The success of the proposed action plan is dependent on the community leaders as well as
residents of the Jefferson-Chalmers community. Blight and vacancy, are the target problems that
need to be address as quickly as possible to prevent further decay of the community. The
Jefferson Chalmers community has suffered because of the lack of organizational cohesiveness,
which will now be a part of the action plan to hold each organization accountable for the void or
lack of progress in making this community a thriving riverfront residential and commercial
community.

Reference:

Detroit History. Retrieved on November 9,2014. http://www.city-data.com/world-cities.

Jefferson Chalmers - 48215. Retrieved on November 9, 2014.
http://www.city-data/neighborhood/Jefferson-Chalmers.
Neighborhood Stabilization Plan. Retrieved on December 4, 2014.
www.creeksidedetroit.wordpress.com
Neighborhood Stabilization. www.mi-community.org/file/NSI_JeffChalms_Planv10B_Final.pdf
Netting F. Ellen (2010). Social Work Macro Practice. 5th.ed. Pearson