Center for Advancing Research and Solutions for Society

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has experienced multiple devastating wars and conflicts during its post-colonial era, with an estimated 5 million conflicted-related deaths in the past decade. Eastern DRC is now classified as the global region suffering the most sustained burden of internecine warfare, with extraordinary high rates of sexual violence towards women.

University of Michigan urban planning professor Margaret Dewar added insight to an Oct. 23 Reuters article on the work community organizations are doing to help revitalize parts of Detroit.  Dewar has worked with community groups in Detroit to fight blight in neighborhoods hit hard by foreclosures. She also leads a CARSS sponsored project to evaluate those efforts, one of five current CARSS projects based in Detroit. The others take on issues that include health, urban planning, education, workforce development and poverty.

• Plan for a Healthy Detroit:  Uses health impact assessments to inform city planning.
• Detroit Youth Enterprise: Steers homeless teens toward safer paths to self sufficiency.
• Driving Detroit Forward with Data: Helps decision-makers use the resources of Data Driven Detroit.
• Community College Success: Helps community college students stay in school and connect with employers in high demand fields.

Mortgage foreclosures have hit Detroit neighborhoods especially hard, leaving even middle-class neighborhoods with hundreds of vacant houses. Neglected, those vacancies drag down property values and erode residents’ confidence in a neighborhood’s future, fostering more neglect and blight.

But in some neighborhoods, community-based organizations are fighting back – taking advantage of government and philanthropic programs designed to help head off blight and strengthen housing demand. A CARSS-supported effort led by Michigan urban planning professor Margaret Dewar aims to figure out what’s working, where, and why.