History
Rebuilding Together Southeast Michigan
In 1992, a small group of people in Highland, Michigan founded Christmas in April for Oakland County and began completing home rehabilitation projects on the last Saturday of April every year. They grew the program to provide free home repairs for homeowners across all of Oakland County and eventually changed their name to Rebuilding Together to provide year-round services to the community.
Since inception, we have completed over 1,200 home repair projects throughout Southeast Michigan for low-income seniors, veterans, individuals with disabilities and families with children ensuring that they have a warm and safe home to live in. Thousands of community volunteers have performed thousands of hours of volunteer service, delivering $9 million in market value home repairs.
In 2017 the Rebuilding Together National office asked Rebuilding Together Oakland County to consider expanding its services to include Detroit. In January 2018, our name officially changed to Rebuilding Together Southeast Michigan (RTSEM).
After meeting with community groups in the City of Detroit we decided to begin our expansion with the Jefferson-Chalmers neighborhood in City Council District 4, on Detroit's east side; partnering with Jefferson East Inc, the Southeast Waterfront Neighborhood Association, Jefferson-Chalmers Citizens’ District Council, HOPE Community Outreach and Development and Creekside Community Development Corporation to create a sustainable program for the neighborhood.
In 2018, RTSEM began completing home repair projects in Jefferson-Chalmers and executed a housing survey on the exterior conditions of nearly 2,000 homes in the neighborhood. Walking every street in the neighborhood not only allowed us to better understand Jefferson-Chalmers' housing stock, it also gave us the opportunity to interface with countless residents. We heard their stories and gained a greater knowledge of the strengths and needs of the neighborhood.
In December of 2019, we expanded our Detroit service area to include all of City Council District 4. We plan to continue our efforts in Oakland County while growing our capacity in Wayne county.
Partnership are most important in the success of Rebuilding Together efforts in helping those most in need. In the fall of 2024 in honor of Veterans Day Week we worked with the Home Depot Team in Operation Surprise to help a veteran in Southeast Michigan.
OUR MISSION
Repairing homes, revitalizing communities, rebuilding lives.
OUR VISION
Safe homes and communities for everyone.
- Equitable: we strive to treat all people with integrity and respect in our actions
- Community-minded: we are collaborative and seek to engage in meaningful partnerships with residents, neighborhoods, organizations, faith-based groups, and municipalities
- Proactive: we are cognizant of the diverse needs of every homeowner and community, we respond by being open and creative in evolving our model of care
- Data-driven: we track and sustain data on our service to make decisions and educate based on quantifiable and consistent information
- Sustainable: we are committed to strategic thinking that upholds a model of longevity, financial responsibility and maintaining a standard of excellence
