Today was the hottest exploring day out of all the exploring day. It was so very humid and hot. There was a time that I was so hot and dihydrate that I went into a local pizza restaurant to ask for a free water. Normally it is a silly thing to do for a person to go in a restaurant to ask for a glass of water without and purchases, but I was so tired and hot and thirsty that I just have to do what I had to do. The cashier was so kind, without a question or hesitation, she went in and fetched me a glass of water. I was so thankful for her kindness.
I traveled through two different area, the Northwest area and the Southwest area. Both area of the city that I explored today share the same characteristic of having its residential district situates right next to a small, industrial factory district. I wonder how many of the residences that live within those neighboring residential district work for those factories. I wonder which one came about first. I think the factories were built first as the age of those old factories seem older than those houses. So I am guessing that those neighboring residential district were built to have the workers to find housing closer to where their work. I don't really know and I will do some research to see what is actually the fact - the factories come first of the houses and what is the importance of the order of events.
Here is the two factory compounds that I went in and did further exploring:
The first one, from the Northwest side of town:
As I travel... I started to realized this sign on some of the houses that I was traveling by, the signs read,"Westown Jubilee Housing Project"s I later researched at home and came across one of their problem, it said on their website:
"Westown Jubilee Housing was born out of a pressing need to address deteriorating housing concerns on the Grand Rapids West Side. Following the “white flight” urban exodus of the 1970’s and the widespread acquisition of the properties by absentee landlords in the 1980’s our stability as a viable community was severely challenged. The decreasing number of homeowners left local retail businesses stifled and stagnant. Residential units were neglected and arson and crime were on the increase. The faith community envisioned a “call for action” through “The Other Way Ministries” that would engage volunteer skills and ‘a personal touch’ to bring back hope and stability to Westown one homeowner at a time. To date we have launched 39 urban homesteaders, with three more in process. It’s impact is growing exponentially!"
"A unique feature of the Westown Jubilee Homesteading program is preparing the candidate family and the potential home on parallel tracks. While homes are acquired, remodeled, insured and insulated – the candidate family (couple or individual) is learning money management skills, investing sweat equity hours, and saving up a small down payment nest egg. Many choices (paint colors, siding, appliances, etc.) are made by the homesteader candidate working alongside Christian craftsmen and volunteers. Upon completion and occupancy a 5 to 8 month trial rental period is established to assure all aspects of our mutual covenant are honored. Then a Land Contract sale is completed and a “Housing Coach” is assigned to guide the first year of home maintenance. Most homes have one or more support partners (churches, businesses, mission work groups, etc.) that enable the sale to be below market value and affordable for medium to low income neighbors. A dedication celebration raises our visibility, and welcomes a new neighbor to put down deep roots in Westown. "
It sounds like such an amazing project targeting to help fix the increasing number of abandoned house in the neighborhood, also, it help the citizens to learn how to how to take care a home and how to own a home. It is truly a wonderful and sustainable project that they are doing here in the Westown. I need to find way to be a part of it and also further study it.
Here is some of what I marked today:
- 58 fruit trees
- 35 dumpster
- 4 dumpster for card board
- 61 fire hydrants
Thanks for reading and your supports!
All the best
Patrick
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