Keeping the Durfee Innovation Society Clean and Safe

Life Remodeled is a Detroit nonprofit that exists to bridge people across divides to help transform each other's lives. With substantial investments of cash, labor and materials, Life Remodeled focuses on the intentional and equitable revitalization of Detroit neighborhoods distinguished by their significant need and radical hope. 

In 2017, we were leased the former Durfee Elementary-Middle School building to repurpose into an opportunity hub, the Durfee Innovation Society (DIS). The DIS is home to 36 nonprofit and for-profit organizations who work to improve outcomes in education, workforce development, entrepreneurship and human services for Detroiters, specificall those in the Durfee-Central community. Due to COVID-19 and the stay-at-home order, the DIS has had to shut down for the past month, thus depriving Detroiters of the critical services they receive from our tenants. 

We anticipate reopening the building will come with costs we had not previously budgeted for, which is why we need your help! The DIS and the services provided here will be more important after COVID-19 than ever before, but in order to continue providing these services safely, we need to purchase additional personal protection equipment (PPE) that will ensure our tenants and community members stay safe once we resume operations.

Our team hopes to receive the funds from this campaign ASAP, as DIS operations will most likely resume in some capacity as soon as Governor Whitmer's Stay Home Stay Safe executive order is lifted. Currently, this is our plan for reopening:

Prior to May 1:

• Deep clean the building before any of our tenants or community members step foot inside.

• Set up Plexiglas barrier at the front desk to protect front desk workers.

• Acquire additional gloves, face masks, and other PPE for employees and community members who will visit the building.

• Set up a hands-free door opener at the front entrance.

• Set up hand sanitizer stations throughout the building.

May 1: If the executive order is lifted, allow select tenants and those they serve to come back to work, following capacity guidelines established by the State of Michigan.

Week of May 4: Initiate weekly deep cleanings indefinitely from this point on.

Due to COVID-19, many Detroiters have lost jobs, have to take care of their children who are home from school 24/7, suffer from food insecurity, and suffer from chronic health conditions putting them in higher danger if they catch the virus. Disparities between some Detroiters and others have been highlighted as a result of the pandemic, and, as a result, the services provided at the DIS are more critical now than ever.

The DIS will continue to help Detroiters find jobs, supplement education for children with little to no access to these resources, provide critical human services (like diapers and baby formula to families in need) and address other immediate concerns caused by the coronavirus. Our opportunity hub needs to be up and running ASAP to help this especially at-risk community, but the only way we can continue to provide these services is if we do so safely, which is why the purchase of additional PPE means so much to us.

Now is the time for us to come TOGETHER as a community, helping those most at-risk and highly-affected by this virus get back on their feet and ensuring equitable, sustainable change in a community that needs it-- now more than ever.