Creating a Sense of Belonging Through Construction
Located in one of Detroit’s most historically underserved neighborhoods on Joy Road, the new Covenant Community Care Health Center is reshaping lives through health and well-being services that were previously not accessible. Expected to serve roughly 10,000 community members annually, this new health center signifies an investment in empowering a diverse young community.
The diverse Cody-Rouge neighborhood consists of roughly 35,000 residents and has the second-highest population of children in the city. As such, the City of Detroit and other organizations are backing the well-being and growth of this neighborhood through programs such as the Strategic Neighborhood Fund (SNF). The SNF will invest $7.4+ million in the community and focuses on key areas of development, such as neighborhood stabilization, parks and greenways, streetscape improvements and economic growth – creating a sense of belonging through revitalization.
From the onset of the SNF plan, stakeholders have been soliciting the community, including 400 youth who call it home, to inform the strategy. Additionally, young advocates such as Detroit Public School students and Cody-Rouge Action Alliance’s Youth Council have greatly informed the key areas of focus. The momentum of this community-centered change has given way to Covenant Community Care opening the doors of their new facility.
While Covenant Community Care has been serving Detroit’s West Side from Joy Road since 2001, the new health center is Covenant’s first ground-up facility. The Joy Road facility offers patients medical, dental, substance use treatment and behavioral health services, regardless of their income or insurance status. With a dedicated outdoor event plaza, Covenant hosts events such as weekly farmers markets in the summer, cooking demos, exercise programs, organized group walks and more. A walking trail features native Michigan plantings and is accessible 24/7. These amenities, coupled with the range of offered services, underscore Covenant’s unwavering commitment to whole-person health care, ensuring the community’s comprehensive well-being.
The Covenant Community Care Health Center is truly a facility for the community, by the community, and that idea extends to the construction as well. Rockford embraced a diverse trade group for the project, with 34.68% of local minority vendors utilized. Additionally, our team partnered with a local carpenter who grew up and opened his business in the area. This project has created opportunities for local trades to invest in the well-being and betterment of their community.
The Pan American Health Organization defines health equity as “a fundamental component of social justice that indicates the absence of avoidable, unfair or remediable differences among groups of people due to their social, economic, demographic or geographic circumstances.” With the addition of the new Covenant Community Care Health Center, and as the Cody-Rouge neighborhood continues to evolve, it stands as a testament to the City of Detroit’s investment in all its people, for generations to come. This commitment to health equity ensures that all community members, regardless of their circumstances, are included and part of a fair system, fostering a sense of pride and belonging.
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