Habitat for Humanity of Kent County Meets $5 Million Building Blocks Goal

    GRAND RAPIDS, MI, July 10, 2015 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Habitat for Humanity of Kent County has completed its $5 million Building Blocks Campaign on Grand Rapids' West Side.

The Building Blocks revitalization campaign was the organization's most ambitious neighborhood campaign to date and the largest example of Habitat Kent's growing emphasis on holistic neighborhood revitalization. Building Blocks was announced on Sept. 18, 2013, with the goals of helping 200 families in two years by building or rehabbing 40 homes and renovating or repairing 160 homes in five West Side neighborhoods.

Neighborhood revitalization efforts will continue over the next two years as Habitat Kent targets Grand Rapids' west side. These efforts will include home building, rehabs, repairs and neighborhood beautification projects. This fall Habitat Kent is partnering with SiTE:LAB to supply structures and land in Roosevelt Park neighborhood for its Art Prize entry.

"We are thrilled to have surpassed all of our Building Blocks campaign goals," said Mary Buikema, executive director of Habitat Kent. "The community has recognized the value of such a neighborhood revitalization initiative and has supported it generously, allowing us to multiply the impact of our work exponentially.

"When we build multiple homes on a single block and complement that work with repair and renovation projects, the entire neighborhood benefits. Property values rise, the community of neighbors grows stronger, families thrive, crime dissipates and established homeowners begin to invest once again in properties they can be proud of."

As of the success of the just-completed campaign, Building Blocks has:
• Provided 200 families with a safe and secure place to call home, including 40 home builds and 160 home repairs and renovations
• Met its campaign goal of $5 million with the help of 400 individual donors and 95 corporations and businesses
• Engaged 19,000 volunteers and sustained 89 local jobs
• 12,000 hours of Sweat Equity
• Generated $261,000 in local income from home sales
• $4.9 million to benefit the local economy during the building process

Throughout its 30-year history, the housing nonprofit had built or rehabbed single homes in partnership with low-income families across Kent County. Beginning in 2012 with a 16-home project in the Wealthy Heights neighborhood, Habitat Kent shifted its emphasis from one-off projects and began concentrating its work to revitalize entire blocks in target neighborhoods.

"We are working in partnership with the community -- our donors, our volunteers and, most of all, the hardworking families who earn Habitat homes," Buikema said. "As we set new goals and target new areas, we hope that the community will continue to support our efforts to empower families and strengthen neighborhoods through homeownership."

Habitat Kent welcomes all community partners -- individuals, corporations, foundations and faith communities -- to participate in achieving its vision of a world where everyone has a decent place to live by donating, committing to volunteer services and referring potential family partners for the homeownership and home repair programs.

About Habitat for Humanity of Kent County
Established in 1983, Habitat for Humanity of Kent County is committed to the mission of serving God, building hope and transforming lives through neighborhood revitalization and homeownership. In its 32-year history, Habitat Kent has served more than 450 families and has now served 200 more through the successful complete of its two-year Building Blocks Campaign to revitalize Grand Rapids' West Side.

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