Community Safety and Healthy Environments

Detroit LISC is committed to supporting safe and healthy communities in order for neighborhoods to be visibly improved and more aesthetically pleasing, the opportunity for crime to be minimized, and increasing opportunities for youth.  

Quality community development and supporting the physical and economic investments in neighborhoods must include investments in the safety and health of communities.  Detroit LISC investments seek for targeted areas to be visibly improved, the opportunity for crime to be minimized, and neighborhoods to become more aesthetically pleasing.  For the youth of Detroit, the aim is to create safe routes to school and support quality after school enrichment programs.  Examples of the work Detroit LISC invests in related to Community Safety and Healthy Environments include:

Safe Growth Training  

Through the LISC Community Safety Initiative (CSI), Detroit LISC brought a Safe Growth Training to Detroit designed for professionals in community development, design, planning, law enforcement, and crime prevention.  This course in Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) introduced participants to basic and advanced 1st Generation CPTED (minimizing the physical opportunity for crime) as well as 2nd Generation CPTED (minimizing the site-specific social conditions that generate crime opportunities).  Three Detroit LISC Investment Areas participated in the program (Central Woodward, Southwest, and East).  Each has completed the program and developed implementation plans as a result of the training.

Community Policing  

Detroit LISC supports community policing programs and resident patrols as a means of increasing security.  As a complement to formal community policing activities, LISC also supports organizations that are working within and across city boundaries to eliminate blight by confronting graffiti, illegal dumping, and code enforcement.  These activities all help to minimize the opportunity for crime.

Access to healthy food

Detroit LISC supports a variety of healthy food initiatives including farmer’s markets, urban gardening and agriculture, and the development of a grocery store attraction fund to encourage local and national retailers to locate in the city of Detroit.  This Fund was established by the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (DEGC) in the fall 2007, and has convened a number of key stakeholders to discuss how to attract grocers to the city, as well as what kind of grocers the city needs.

After-school programs 

The future of the entire City of Detroit depends upon young people, those who live here and those yet to come.  Providing youth in the community with the resources they need to grow into healthy, productive adults is critical to the growth and sustainability of the region.  Detroit LISC works to connect, partner, and/or support activities that provide opportunities for youth to develop necessary life skills and receive a quality education.