Blight Busters

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

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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.

Blight Busters' sister organizations each take ownership of its front in the war on blight.

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

John George, founder of Blight Busters, feels non-profits need to think like businesses to survive (download 7 minute iPod compatible video, 36MB). To this end, he has created a series of sister organizations, both for-profit and not-for-profit. These separate organizations each have their own director, own board, and own focus. In this way, each organization takes ownership of its front in the war on blight.

Two examples of these partnerships are:

• Good Faith Homes which buys and rehabs homes, splitting the profits with Blight Busters.
• The Artist Village which combines community art outreach with a coffee shop and cafe.

Blight Busters' mission has expanded from merely stabilizing to revitalizing neighborhoods.

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Filed under: Blight Busters | Detroit, MI | Finding Gaps | John George | Non-profit

Five years after the first Blight Busters event, John George was considering whether to devote full time to the organization (download 9 minute iPod compatible video, 46MB). Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich convinced him to take the leap. He was just not suited to his previous role, though he was earning a good income. Now, the income may not be so great, but he is rich in positive energy.

During the 15 years since, Blight Busters' mission has expanded from merely stabilizing to revitalizing neighborhoods. The funding model has also expanded from purely grants based to more of a community-based model with Fun'raisers, parties with a purpose of community building.

John George's nature is to gather a community around his activities, and he set about doing just that when he founded Blight Busters 20 years ago.

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Filed under: Blight Busters | Detroit, MI | Finding Gaps | Housing | John George | Non-profit

John George traces the founding of Blight Busters to one Saturday in 1988 when he cleaned and boarded up a crack house that had become a "nuisance" in his neighborhood (download an iPod compatible version of this 9 minute video, 46MB). At the time, there was a crack epidemic in the country and many abandoned houses in Detroit. The drug addicts just moved on.

John's nature is to gather a community around his activities, and he set about doing just that. Within five years, a part time weekend activity had turned into a full time job, and John was realizing more and more the power of communication. One night, he was sitting with his aunt, and she was dismayed by the prospect of the upcoming "Devil's Night", the night before halloween when hundreds of fires would be set in the city of Detroit. John's view was that if you labeled people devils, they would behave devilishly. So, he proposed changing the name to "Angel's Night". By 1995, the state legislature and City of Detroit had both officially proclaimed the name change.

In future segments, we will explore the vast extent of Blight Busters' and its sister organizations' activities.