DETROIT – We’ve seen how a number of organizations are doing great work in your neighborhood, and this week is no different.
One local woman is creating a home for children and families in need. It’s kind of a magical place. A home on a block in Detroit where inside you can find the help you need for your family. It’s a safe space. One of the homes on Prairie Street in Detroit was still being renovated about a year ago. Now the orange front door is a constant in the homes across the city owned by the non-profit Brilliant Detroit.
“Brilliant Detroit exists to create what we call kids success neighborhoods. In a nutshell, we want to make sure that ZIP codes do not predict a child’s future,” said Cindy Eggleton.
Eggleton founded the non-profit organization about four years ago with a goal to help children succeed from birth to eight years old. They make sure that families and children have everything they need in education, health and family support.
“You can come here for a pregnancy workshop, for a parenting workshop, for GED,” she explained. “Your children can come for language development. You can come for play and learn, nutrition, tutoring, anything within that age group.”
The home was redone with help from people living in the neighborhood. Once inside you’ll see a home that’s meant for families to thrive.
“When you walk through that orange door, what we hope is that you’ll find a lot of love, you feel safe and it’s a place to grow,” said Eggleton.
Those families needing help just look for the orange door in their neighborhood and show up.
“What we do is we sit you down and say, 'If you could wish upon a star, what do you want for you and your family?’ Everybody’s got individual needs and we help you where you are," said Eggleton.
Brilliant Detroit’s services are free of charge for the parents and children. For Eggleton, a life-long Detroiter, this kind of work comes from the heart.
“I have yearned for something that is deep enough, wide enough, to really help as many people that’s neighborhood driven,” she said. “Organizations provide programs and services but a community is there for each other. Brilliant is both and that’s why it’s working.”
If you’d like more information on Brilliant Detroit, please visit: https://brilliantdetroit.org/
More: Your Neighborhood