Chris Lambert, CEO and Founder of Life Remodeled answered a few of our questions about collaboration, repurposed property, and shared space for common good. We are inspired by the Durfee Innovation Society and believe this model has the potential to make a significant impact across the country!
Link2Lift: Where did the idea for Life Remodeled originate? What initially inspired you?
Chris: I’m convinced the main reason urban poverty continues to exist in America is because we haven’t learned how to love one another across the divides of race, socio economics, education and more. My personal mission in life is to spend every day becoming a little bit more like a certain Jewish construction worker who lived 2000 years ago, was brutally murdered and then came back to life to save many lives… even mine. Being that he spent the majority of his time on earth with those who were the most marginalized in society, I try to follow his example. Driven by the desire to make lasting impact in the lives of those living in poverty, I created Life Remodeled, knowing that it would unite people across race, religion, class, education, etc, and therefore create sustainable solutions to neighborhood revitalization.
Link2Lift: Can you tell us a little bit about the mission and vision of the Durfee Innovation Society in Detroit?
Chris: Life Remodeled has repurposed the former Durfee Elementary-Middle school building into the “Durfee Innovation Society,” which is a hub of opportunity for children, students and adults. Instead of creating new programs ourselves, we created a dynamic space for the best and brightest nonprofit organizations and for-profit companies to move in, share resources and achieve greater collective impact. In partnership with students and community leaders, our new tenants move the needle on educational outcomes and community revitalization. They provide innovative approaches to education, employment, support for entrepreneurs and various social services. In order to be a tenant inside the DIS, organizations must enrich the human spirit of Detroiters by achieving at least one of the following:
- Implementing real world educational opportunities for youth and/or children
- Creating significant workforce development and employment opportunities for youth and/or adults
- Supporting and cultivating entrepreneurism
- Providing a nonprofit service
Link2Lift: We would love to hear a story about the impact this space is having on the community.
Chris: Our site is at 89% occupancy, but only 40% of our tenants are full up and running their programming, therefore stories at this point are limited to our specific tenants and their programming. All will be fully operational by November 2019.
Here are two videos of our tenant’s impact:
On September 3, the Metro Detroit Youth Club will launch in our building, which will provide tutoring, sports and other fun and educational activities for 230 youth and kids every day. We’ve also moved in entrepreneurs, including a pizzeria that hires high school students and teaches them how to franchise, and this fall we will be home to the newest “Detroit at Work” location, which will help more than 4,000 Detroiters acquire sustainable employment every year.
Add to the list The Lawn Academy, which hires 90 youth every summer to mow lawns of veterans, senior citizens and Detroit residents who are disabled for free, and they provide these youth IT training and tutoring year round. Serve Electric apprentices young adults to become electricians right here in our building, learning the trade and upgrading our electrical systems, and then they offer full-time jobs at their company after just 12 weeks.
We’re moving in 27 amazing tenants into our building. 74% are led by people of color and 48% are led by women, and we will serve thousands of youth, children and families every year. Over the next five years, expect community members alongside our partners inside the Durfee Innovation Society to help the Kindergarten through 12th grade school next door improve more than any other school in Detroit. Expect to see thousands of Detroiters acquire meaningful and sustainable jobs… and those jobs and educational opportunities provided here should positively impact the unemployment and crime rates in the surrounding area.
Link2Lift: How do you involve the local community in your projects and initiatives? What does that look like practically?
Chris: Relationships are everything, and when we first begin investing in a community we seek to discover every influencer in the community, including those who lead by title, those who lead by influence, and those who lead by both title and influence. We do so by breaking bread and eventually forming lasting relationships. In the process, we end up meeting additional influencers that were previously unknown to us along the way.
The success of any effort in any Detroit neighborhood will be directly tied to the ability of organizations to hear and put into action the voices of children, youth and adult residents. The Life Remodeled Community Advisory Council consists of 9 adult residents who determine the collective voice of the community residents and stakeholders located within four square miles of the DIS and advise Life Remodeled and the DIS according to the community’s hopes, desires and concerns. Additionally, Durfee and Central students will launch a Youth Advisory Council this fall.
Link2Lift: What has worked well to increase collaboration across the public, private and nonprofit sectors in your projects?
Chris: Every year we mobilize 10,000 volunteers to beautify 4 square miles of Detroit. I found that when you ask two people who have polarizing views on race, religion or politics to sit down and have a conversation about their differences, it’s more often than not counterproductive. However, when they work shoulder to shoulder on a vision they both agree on, they begin to realize they need each other and actually like one another. Check out this recent quote from a Visteon employee, which is available on this site: https://www.visteon.com/giving-back-to-the-community-with-life-remodeled/
“I’m not generally a big fan of picking up other people’s trash and I don’t like bugs. I’ve never mowed a lawn in my life. But what I love about working with Life Remodeled is this: What we often find divides us — race, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status or who we voted for in the last election — all lose their significance as we work together. We are united by our desire to make positive change in the community.”
Link2Lift: We know firsthand and from our research that collaboration requires generosity and trust. The Life Remodeled website states that “all parties must come with the mindset that they have something to give and receive.” How do you build that into the culture of a shared space like the Durfee Innovation Society?
Chris: Most of our tenants are nonprofits, and we remind each other that no single organization has the solutions to all of society’s challenges. Additionally, transportation is a significant barrier in Detroit. By being located in the same building, children, youth and their families will have easier access to a variety of opportunities that are essential to holistic success. Additionally, our staff ensures our tenants communicate with one another, discover synergistic opportunities to share resources, collaborate and share referrals.
Link2Lift: What are your hopes for the future of Life Remodeled? How do you plan to replicate this model in other communities?
Chris: We plan to launch additional “opportunity hubs” like the Durfee Innovation Society in additional Detroit neighborhoods every five years. Within the next ten years, we hope to contextually replicate this approach in two other large urban US cities.
Link2Lift: What kind of data are you collecting? Why do you believe that is an important aspect of your work?
Chris: Gingras Global will provide Impacts & Outcomes Coaching that will help all of our tenants measure the right things in the right ways. This coaching is something current tenants of the DIS have indicated will be a significant value-add and will make their experience as a member of our ecosystem more impactful to the residents of this community. Gingras Global will work with our tenants to assist in specific and intentional data collection which will not only help them grow and open them to new opportunities in terms of partnerships and funding, but also hold them accountable to the outcomes set forth to be accomplished by tenants of the DIS.
A data collection system and set of dashboards will allow for simple and streamlined information to be collected, analyzed and then synthesized in order to inform funding, marketing and programming strategies. Gingras Global will also work along with the tenants in order to help them further develop their strategies based on data results.
