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September 6, 2016

Building Community

The Tricycle Collective is all about sharing information. There is no real requirement to receiving a donation from The Tricycle Collective other than the desire to save one’s home and the presence of children, but we strongly encourage a pay-it-forward model for those we have helped. With that in mind, we created a mail campaign for each of the 40 families who are homeowners as a result (in part) of our work. Everyone received a letter that included a list of five nearby addresses that are headed for auction this fall. These lists were mailed out with instructions on canvassing, flyers from United Community Housing Coalition and one big question “WILL YOU HELP?”

If even half of the families do this outreach, that will mean another hundred families get the information they need to save their homes. The letters went out last week and the results are coming in!

Many families in The Tricycle Collective are paying it forward, passing on their accidental expertise on the issue of tax foreclosure and ensuring that their neighbors have the information they need to come out the other end of the auction with a stable home.

Our hearts are soaring at the positive responses from Tricycle family members (“do you have any more addresses?”) and newly informed residents (“They told me what was happening to me and how they got help before.”) This sort of community building is the strongest and truest antidote to the poison of foreclosure and we are thrilled, joyed, honored that our families are in a place to give back some of what they have relieved.

Stronger together, keeping Detroit at home.

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