City leaders on Wednesday launched an initiative aimed at connecting Detroit’s most impoverished residents to resources to keep them housed, working and current on utility and water bills.
Detroit Community Health Corps was created in June by Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, who tasked new Deputy Mayor Conrad Mallett with heading up the effort that will send community health care workers and peer counselors door-to-door to families in need.
The program, initially being funded with $3.5 million in federal coronavirus relief dollars, will begin with a targeted group of 160 families identified by Detroit’s housing and water departments, officials said during a Wednesday news conference at Public Safety Headquarters downtown.
“There’s not an awareness of the support available,” Mallett said. “What we want to do with this particular program is go out to where those persons are and find them, rather than them having to come and find us.”
Once Detroit’s City Council approves the plan, the city, through its Detroit at Work program, will begin hiring an initial team of about 20 staff members and start reaching out to households in October.
More than 36% of Detroiters, Mallett noted, live below the poverty line and the COVID-19 crisis has further isolated them from support services.
Duggan said before now, there hasn’t been a centralized place for Detroiters to seek help.
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Source: Duggan launches Detroit Community Health Corps for struggling families
