John George: In Detroit, We Work Together

By Bud on April 20, 2008 Comments (12)

John George, founder of Blight Busters, is working to create a critical mass that will bring culture and development back to West Detroit.

Filed under: Blight Busters | Defining New Markets | Detroit, MI | John George | Non-profit | Twelve Month Goals

The main message that John George wants to send over the next month is that Detroit is working together to solve its problems (download 3.5 minute iPod compatible video, 17MB). Among his specific goals, he wants to turn Blight Busters' neighborhood into the Detroit arts district. To that end, he has partnered with the Motor City Theatre Organ Society to restore the Old Redford Theatre and has plans to refurbish the 350 seat theater in the third floor of his headquarters. Combined with the existing Artist Village and the upcoming Motor City Java Cafe, these initiatives should create a critical mass to bring more culture and development into the area.

12 Comments

Sarah Allen on June 9, 2008 9:21 PM
I think that John George has a wonderful idea for the city of Detroit. He is helping do things in the city that a lot of other people may find impossible. I went to the Blight Busters website to see all that the organization does. John George uses the idea of building a community to help the Blight Busters raise money and get things done in the city. He says again and again that "in Detroit we work together." This concept of creating a community seems to be very important to the cause, not only because the things that Blight Busters take on require a lot of work but it brings people together that have a common goal. In my class, I read about how building a community is essential to the success of some websites, but I think that it also applies to non-profit organizations because people with common goals can work together to help achieve the ultimate goals of an organization. John is very motivated to help turn the city around. I also read on the Motor City Blight Busters website that John had an insurance busienss, but he sold it because he decided that improving the city was more important. I think a lot of people in the city of Detroit also have a goal to help improve the city and that is why Blight Busters is such a successful organization. ~Sarah Allen
Tyresse Ferguson on June 11, 2008 4:39 PM
I listened to John George first post on “Going from Devils to Angels” and I thought that one was very interesting so I decided to listen to another one of his post since I am a Detroit native and I love anything positive that is taking place within the city. I must admit that I did not have a clue about the Blight Busters organization. I did visit the website and I think it is amazing that the organization do a lot of things in order to make Detroit a better place. This post in particular is one of interest because John George is looking for sources of finances in order to move forward with huge projects such as restoring the Old Redford Theatre. In this post he did not state whether or not the organizations has looked into getting finds from the state or city in order to help with such a positive project. I believe that the restoration of areas such as this one will give the youth a place to go and learn about different art cultures. Furthermore, improvements in the city of Detroit will bring businesses back to the area and in turn lower the unemployment rate over time. In a way John George and his partners’ on this project are looking for private investors or angels to fund this project. They have partnered with different organizations such as Eastern Michigan University and Google in order to take the message worldwide. This whole post is about the changes that are being made in Detroit in order to revitalize the city. Also, the post is focused on getting investors involved with such a wonderful cause. I think that this is a wonderful opportunity for people to get involved with and to invest in. Furthermore, a project of this magnitude could have the potential to move from one city to the next in order to revitalize the country. Sincerely, Tyresse Ferguson
Raina Bell on June 12, 2008 9:43 AM
I have heard about Angel's Night in the city of Detroit and know how successful it has become with each year, however I did not know who created the idea. John George has an excellent mission and has had great success accomplishing it. I have always thought that by renovating some of the historic houses, theaters, and buildings in Detroit would help make the city a better place to live and also more attractive to visitors. I think it is great that they are renovating the existing buildings keeping the original culture of Detroit. I also find it very admirable to gain the amount of volunteers that Blight Busters has attained in order to tear down dangerous crack houses, building new houses, and cleaning up the city. I think that by getting their name out to more people would definitely bring in donations and volunteers because there are plenty of people who would love to support such a great cause. I think by partnering with Eastern Michigan University and Google is a stepping stone to get their message out to the public of the nation. Detroit has slowly started to build up its presence, but I think that getting rid of the "bad" such as crack houses should be a number one priority. There are lots of children and young adults that live in the city of Detroit and they do not need to have access to such places.
Gazmend dervishaj on November 10, 2008 3:43 PM
Dear Mr John George I think having people like you will help our society and bring people together for a better future. Detroit is a great city but unfortunately abandoned by our fellow citizens and local government.Detroit has a lot of great historic places that are worth of renovating to save the city's history,I really like your idea and effort you are doing to make Detroit a better city, which will bring in more jobs, more investments and improve the local community, people will appreciate your dedication as they did for Angel's Night! Do you work with local government? Do they help you financialy? Great Job! Gazmend Dervishaj
Shawn Nester on November 15, 2008 1:05 PM
It's great to see someone who's dedicating themselves to cleaning up the city of Detroit. There's been a lot of negativity towards Detroit on the news and in the media latley. It's really reassuring to see something like this thats promoting good will, hard work, and improvment in such a great city. I comend you for your efforts. I have family that lives pretty close to the theatre your restoring and i'm looking forward to seeing it when its all said and done. Through teamwork and dedication it seems that you have brought together people from all walks of life, and all different backrounds for the cause of helping Detroit. I hope you plan to continue restoring some of the great arcitechure that Detroit has to offer, it would be a shame to see so much beauty go to waste. I was also wondering if you guys had any other buildings in mind for restoring in the arts district. Is this the type of thing where you find one building restore it and then move on to the next? Or do you restore a building and then use it for your non profit organization? Thanks again for all the work your doing for our city.
Asia Johnson on November 15, 2008 5:01 PM
I think what John George is doing with Blight Busters is a great idea. His intentions are good and should be embraced by the city of Detroit as well as the surrounding areas. He is trying to create an atmosphere that is shared,enjoyed and loved by all. Blight Busters partners with profit and non-profit organizations to raise money and restore areas of the city. In an effort to raise awareness everywhere they have partnered with Eastern Michigan University and Google in hopes of attracting new investors. In the next year John hopes to continue to stablize and revitalize the community. John wants to get the word out about who's involved, why their involved and what their goal is. Hopefully more people will follow John and help to make Detroit a place that people will look forward to visiting. With improvements to the city it will not only attract people but business as well. I think for Detroit to get back on the map as positive place to live and visit you will need more people like John who's main goal is to give back to the community. Also, for those in the city who help out it should give them a sense of pride knowing that they had a hand in rebuilding their city. I know that funding and resources can be difficult to get so, I would like to know how does he go about receiving funding to keep the projects for Blight Busters moving forward?
E. Gordie Davis on November 16, 2008 9:28 PM
From the simple need to keep his family safe and his neighborhood clean, John George created Motor City Blight Busters. Funded out of his own pocket at first, John was determined to stop the deterioration scarring Detroit. By just boarding up an abandoned house that was being used by drug dealers, these dealers left his neighborhood and didn't come back. As described by John, MCBB is a community based, non-profit, housing corporation, and it's mission is to revitalize and stabilize neighborhoods. MCBB depends on the help of volunteers to get the job done. Many local corporations such as Quicken Loans and Compuware provide help from their employees in cleaning up, painting, and repairing. According to their web site, over the years they have had over 120,000 volunteers, boarded up 379 buildings, renovated 176 homes, and built 114 new ones for 1160 people. John also coined the name "Angel's Night" as a replacement for the negative "Devil's Night". They also partner with a company, Good Faith Homes to rehab houses, with whom they split the proceeds from these projects with. Currently, MCBB is refurbishing the Old Redford Theater and has opened the Motor City Java House, a cafe that serves a variety of foods and coffee. It is run by Alicia Marion, who is the manager, and a friend and protege of John George. If I had a question to ask John George, it would be, "How has the recent Fannie Mae problems affected MCBB"?
Jodie Randolph on March 31, 2009 10:38 AM
I have never heard of Blight Busters before today, but I am very interested in their efforts. Any positive effort to get the city of Detroit back on it's feet and cleaned up is a good thing. By restoring these theatres Blight Busters will aid in giving the citizens of Detroit a place to go and enjoy various performing arts. The goals for this project are high and I hope that they will be able to get the funding needed in order to complete these projects. Jodie Randolph
Susan George Rydberg on August 17, 2009 1:00 AM
I am thrilled as a native displaced Detroiter that John George has taken on the projects that he has to bring Detroit back to a dynamic cultural city I remember it as. I moved from Detroit in the 1970's and have fond memories of many days in the Detroit Art Institute, the Old Redford Theatre and in my Uncle Edmund's backyard as children. You go for it John... Hope to hear more about what you are doing... Susan George Rydberg
vickie on March 29, 2010 10:12 PM
John George is the founder of Blight Busters, which is a non-profit organization that is devoted to rebuilding Detroit and restoring some of its lost luster. He states in his interview that they want to establish an Arts District in the neighborhood they are fixing up, which would attract more attention to the area and hopefully increase awareness of their efforts. In regards to funding, George mentions that he would like to get his message out all over the country. He stated that if he could reach an investor in California, or anywhere in the country, that recognized the value in what they are doing and that Detroit works together in a positive way, then he knows they would be intrigued about investing. What he is looking for would most likely be called an Angel, or private investor. An Angel would be attracted to this investment because the Blight Busters have probably outgrown the capacity of investments from people in the community around them, but aren’t big enough to get major financial backing from venture capital companies. George relies on volunteers from the community to help with the efforts, and therefore cannot afford to do much advertising. Thus, word of mouth is the best way to get his message out with little cost since he is a non-profit organization. Recently, Blight Busters has partnered with Eastern Michigan University and Google to help broaden their message and reach others that aren’t just in the immediate vicinity of Detroit. He is taking advantage of the power of Internet to reach more people with little or no investment. This is a smart new way to reach out to others that would normally never hear of his efforts. He has started sister companies to maximize efficiency in achieving the overall goal, which is also a wise choice. Some of the companies are for profit and some are non-profit. One business refurbishes the homes, sells them, then splits the profit between the profit and non-profit. This allows him to funnel funds and or resources between the other organizations to keep them all operating smoothly.
Scott Keller on June 13, 2010 7:11 PM
Founded by CEO John George Blight Busters is a not-for-profit organization that shows what passionate founders can accomplish with a lot of hard work and dedication. It grew from what started as a local clean up effort in a single neighborhood into a well developed organization that has also spun off for-profit ventures. Blight Busters is on its way to transforming not only one neighborhood, but gives a city new life and changes the perception that its own residents have of it as well as outsiders. This organization has come up with several unique and creative ways to fund its operations. When a neighboring abandoned home became a hang out for crack addicts George and his neighbors purchased material with their own personal funds and set out to clean up the lot and boarded up the home. When the addicts came back they were unable to gain access to the home and left. With the encouragement that the residents gained from this effort they set out to repeat the process in other neighborhoods. Not only is Blight Busters boarding up abandoned homes, but they are refurbishing others in partnership with Good Faith Homes giving individuals the opportunity to reach their dream of home-ownership. Blights Busters efforts are not focused on just refurbishing homes, but also refurbishing an image of a night when the city would burn itself down. By getting the mayor and other city officials on board they have changed a night when outsiders would watch this spectacle to a night when local community members would look out for one another on Angels Night. Blight Busters efforts have been taken a step further to also begin refurbishing buildings and setting up businesses and local community centers giving its residents a place to go to listen to music, work on poetry, and develop local artistic talent. A building owner who could not afford to repair his property offered his space rent free and Blight Busters was able to come in and repair the space and open the first cafe that the community had seen. Theaters are being repaired in several locations including one that features one of the few remaining pipe organs in the United States. Being a not-for-profit organization Blight Busters is able to receive funds from government grants as well as sponsorship from local businesses such as Co-Merica, Ford, and State Farm among others. They also host a what the founder calls a party with a purpose in which individuals can come and listen to great music, poetry and see works of art for a small donation and be entertained at the same time they are contributing to a great cause. Scott Keller
Evan Villeneuve on November 22, 2010 11:14 AM
Blight Busters is a great organization. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting John George a few years back and was actually invited to volunteer for the organization. I have talked to people who have actually worked for or with Blight Busters. The evidence is clear that the organization has made a tremendous difference within Detroit, particularly in the Brightmore and Grand River/Lahser neighborhoods. The group engages in a lot of residential home demolitions to help eradicate abandoned homes and blight. It takes a great deal of dedication and passion to walk away from a secure, financially stable job, and enter into a very demanding, risky startup venture. John George financed the effort for 5 years out of his own pocket. This effort would take an incredible amount of foresight and an entrepreneurial spirit. It also goes to show that occupational satisfaction and self-fulfillment is often more important than financial gain. Even if John George is making less money, he hosts arguably one of the most successful non-profit organizations in the United States. Coining the phrase “Angel’s Night” and amassing one of the largest national volunteer programs has given him wide recognition and credibility within the Detroit community and on a national scale. It seems since the mid 1990’s, Blight Busters has done a great job of networking its message through the community—to help stabilize and revitalize the city. He emphasizes ‘working together’. Whether it be on a business level, or on local citizen level, John stresses the importance of team work and how that will effect the revitalization efforts of the city, and the attraction of outside interests. This has been an effective measure to help rally volunteers from all over the country. As a non-profit organization, it is a critical move to team up with other groups, either for or not for profit. John George said it himself; that by partnering with other groups they have managed to gather the resources and extra help needed to implement projects effectively, and even to branch out and diversify the type of projects undertaken. A credible name means that investors and lenders are willing to put capital into the organization. As a non-profit organization, the group gets tax advantages and federal and state grants. These are crucial benefits that for-profit organizations will often not be able to benefit from. Blight Busters also has the ability to team up with other firms and create “wiggle-room” when it comes to implementing projects. For example, John talks about renovating a building. He agrees with the owner to enter into a master lease with an option where he’ll pay no rent for a year, but agrees to do all the repairs on the building. These types of agreements play a large role in being able to increase the amount and diversify the types of projects that one agrees to take on. - Evan Villeneuve

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