Chase Bank Donates $1M To Move Workers Back To Detroit
DETROIT (WWJ) - Chase Bank is making a $1 million donation to help Detroit Police Officers and city workers move back into the city.
City of Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, Police Chief Ralph Godbee and President of Chase in Michigan Sarah McClelland said the money will be used as down payments to help 70 workers move back to the city over the next two years.
McClelland said $25,000 will be given to the first ten people who will move back to Detroit. Another $10,000 would be available to the others.
The money will be used to help city workers make down payments on vacant homes in targeted neighborhoods.
Congressman Hansen Clarke, who represents Detroit's Boston Edison neighborhood, was on hand for the announcement.
"The Department of Justice, now this is not a formal announcement, that will come soon, will be awarding, I'm happy to say, a cop's grant to the City of Detroit, so that they can hire and retain police officers. And because of the Chase Foundation's work, we're going to be able to find those police officers a home, right here in the City of Detroit."
Detroit Police Officer Tamar Banks is close to closing a deal on a house on West Boston in a historic area in the city. (Watch her full interview below.)
"The Boston Edison district, I would drive up and down the street just to look at the houses. So, being presented with this opportunity to live in the district, is like a 'wow' moment."
The money will go towards the Detroit Works Project and Project 14, efforts of the Bing Administration to attract residents and stabilize neighborhoods.
Both city projects target segments of Detroit's North End and Southwest neighborhoods, where Chase has focused its philanthropy for the past three years to help local residents build a more vibrant community.
"We are restoring a sense of community and pride in our neighborhoods by encouraging Detroiters to live where they work. We are rebuilding homes and strengthening neighborhoods, with the help of financial institutions who believe in the work we are doing," Bing said.
Meantime, residents are sounding off whether or not the city should reinstate the requirement forcing city employees to live within city limits. (Read More)
