Safe and Clean Neighborhoods

Tubman Organizers work with communities to keep their neighborhoods safe and clean.  Past and current activities include: removal of stray dogs, clean-up of illegal dump sites, boarding up or demolishment of open and dangerous buildings, and organizing neighborhood clean-ups.

Neighborhood Clean-Ups

The Detroit Action Commonwealth has organized and completed over 20 neighborhood clean-ups over the past two years. Click here to view pictures from one such clean-up.

In 2010 Our Kids Come First's Maybury and Roberto Clemente chapters both organized neighborhood cleanups around their schools.

Blight and Abandonment 

On March 18, 2010 Our Kids Come First (O.K.C.F.) held a public meeting attended by over 500 people where they presented Karla Henderson, then the Director of Building and Safety Engineering, with the Dirty Thirty - a list of 30 open and dangerous abandoned houses near neighborhood schools. They demanded that the City of Detroit clean-up or demolish these dangerous buildings to increase safety in their neighborhoods, especially around schools.  Of the thirty houses on the list all but 7 have been demolished. Since the success of the Dirty Thirty campaign current Director of Building and Safety Engineering, Kim James, has approached O.K.C.F. asking for a new list of abandoned houses in need of action.

Stray Dogs

In 2010 the Roberto Clemente Our Kids Come First Chapter had had over 27 stray dogs caught by the Department of Animal Control and Care.