We've got work to do

Poverty is getting worse in Detroit. A third of our residents — and 44 percent of Detroit children — live below the national poverty line. Think about that: Nearly half of our kids are poor. Detroit — a place that for so long was the economic rock for hardworking families — now has poverty rates worse than rural Mississippi.

Skillman Foundation President & CEO Carol Goss

The Skillman Foundation, a private philanthropy created in 1960, is committed to changing the odds for Detroit children. Our plan isn’t complicated. Over the next ten years our chief priority will be to transform six key neighborhoods of the city into places where kids are safe, healthy, educated, and prepared for successful adulthoods. If our model of community engagement succeeds, and we’re able to help residents remake their neighborhoods into places where children can prosper, the Foundation, or its partners, can replicate the model in neighborhoods throughout Detroit.

We also want to attack the culture of poverty, pervasive in Detroit and other parts of the metro area. We want to help those who are fighting for basic quality of-life improvements. We want to lift up the good things in our city like our world-class culture and arts organizations and programs, our strong youth-development community, the growing number of good schools, and the gritty determination to persevere that most Detroiters demonstrate in small ways every day.

We will continue our work to improve the education landscape in Detroit, continue to be a voice for Detroit’s children, continue to take risks on appropriate opportunities that have great potential to change outcomes for kids. We want children in Detroit to grow up believing that success and prosperity are possible.

We believe foundations are uniquely positioned to take risks. We intend to help change conditions for ordinary Detroiters by investing in neighborhoods and schools, leveraging other dollars, and bringing other partners — sometimes unlikely partners — into the mix.

I’m privileged to lead such a dynamic organization, which in two years will celebrate its 50th anniversary.

Rose Skillman, our founder, spent much of her time concerned about the needs of children — especially vulnerable children. She’s been gone for a quarter century, but her advocacy for kids carries on. The Skillman Foundation is determined to honor her dreams. If you have similar hopes for our community I urge you to get involved. Send me and email, if you believe that kids matter here, and you're willing to help make Detroit work for children and families again.