Life Remodeled presents 6-day event for neighborhood beautification in Detroit

Bringing resources, beauty and safety back into Detroit neighborhoods is what the organization known as Life Remodeled has set out to do.

“So we’re just coming together to beautify the neighborhoods,” Stepha’N Quicksey of Life Remodeled Detroit said. “So that we can just contribute to everybody living in a safe, comfortable, clean neighborhood.”

The nonprofit is coming together with volunteers throughout the city to help improve the quality of life for people living near the old Dominican High School near Whittier Avenue on Detroit's east side. The location is now Life Remodeled's newest Anchor Detroit hub.

Quicksey said the project is something that the Life Remodeled team does any time they bring a new opportunity hub to a neighborhood.

“We currently have an opportunity hub on the west side of Detroit — the Durfee Innovation Society — that we’ve been operating since 2017,” Quicksey said. “We served nearly 30,000 Detroiters there, so we’re very happy to be moving to the east side of Detroit to replicate that model of an opportunity hub.”

The east side hub is located in the city's 4th district and it will house organizations that provide support services to residents such as youth programs and workforce development.

The team behind Life Remodeled plans to touch seven of the 20 neighborhoods that surround the hub with their beautification project.

“We’re going to be removing trees, cutting trees and bushes at vacant lots and vacant homes as well as mowing grass at those properties," he said, adding that they'll also be removing debris and trash throughout the area.

And 100 select residents will be receiving a special gift from Amazon.

“We’re installing Ring devices in honor of Anchor Detroit,” Ian Conyers of Amazon Community Affairs said.

One resident who lives in the area said before Life Remodeled stepped in to help, some of the vacant properties were a problem.

“Paper, debris. You name it, we had it,” Shirley Bradford said.

But today, Bradford is proud of what the organization is doing.

“They’re making it look very, very beautiful and I wish they would come and do mine," Bradford said.

The project began on Monday and is going on all week, ending Saturday with a community fair where residents in the neighborhood can come out and meet the organizations that will be occupying Anchor Detroit.