Importance of Building a Better Community

By Lori Melton

No one understands the importance of coming together as a team and giving back to help those in need better than UAW-Ford. A strong, shared commitment to make a positive difference in the Greater Detroit community (and across the country) is an essential part of the United Auto Workers' ongoing desire to help people around them in every way possible. Helping people ultimately helps communities thrive and grow. Here's a look at some wonderful ways in which UAW-Ford members have served the community in the past year.

The NOAH Project

UAW-Ford's uplifting slogan, which can be seen on a UAW team member's T-shirt in a YouTube video post about Local 600's visit to the NOAH Project in Detroit, sums up their mission perfectly: "UAW Ford: Building More Than Just Cars and Trucks. Building Communities." UAW members prepared and served a hot lunch at NOAH Project, which is a social services agency that serves low-income and homeless people in Metro Detroit.

Based at Central United Methodist Church, NOAH Project also strives to "empower low income and homeless Detroiters to achieve stability by serving as the first step on the journey to self-sufficiency." Receiving help from volunteers like the UAW-Ford team is a critical part of helping NOAH achieve its goals. The team helped feed 250-300 people.

Motown Museum Investment

Detroit is arguably as well-known for its iconic music heritage as it is for its game-changing automotive history. The Motor City is globally recognized as the birthplace of the "Motown Sound," which was developed and nurtured via Motown Record Label's epic artist roster. Late last year, Ford Motor Company and UAW-Ford announced a $6 million investment in a Motown Museum Ford Motor Company Theater expansion. Per the Detroit Free Press, "the investment will also fund educational and music programming at the museum, along with a CARaoke Experience that integrates music with Ford vehicles."

It's great to see the two cultural and industrial Detroit-based bedrocks team up to preserve and enrich the area's rich musical legacy. Both companies are deeply ingrained in the Motor City community's evolution and remain a core part of Detroit's identity. It makes sense they united for the expansion, which will undoubtedly serve to strengthen Detroit's cultural presence.

"We are thrilled to play a role in the next chapter of a global music icon," Ford Americas president Joe Hinrichs reportedly said in a statement. "The enhanced museum will not only upgrade the visitor experience. It also fits with our commitment to investing in the cultural heritage of Detroit and southeast Michigan."

Community Cleanup Day

UAW-Ford was involved in this year's Community Cleanup Day at Sampson Webber Leadership Academy, which serves kids in pre-K through eighth grade on the west side of Detroit. Volunteers gathered on July 29 to make indoor and outdoor improvements at the school. Important asks on their to-do list included painting hallways, doing landscaping and general cleanup on building grounds.

Lots of people pulled together for the cause, including UAW-Ford active and retired employees volunteered for the project, along with parents, school faculty, Department of Natural Resources members, Councilwoman Raquel Castañeda-López, and UAW-Ford Vice President Jimmy Settles, to name a few. Sampson Webber students represent Detroit's future generation of leaders. Beautifying the school grounds should help build their sense of pride in their learning environment.

This is UAW-Ford's second consecutive year doing cleanup at the school. "The school really didn't look like it had any love in quite some time, so he thought it would be a good idea to give it some," project organizer Kevin Fite said in an interview with BLAC, "It's really helped the students, the faculty and the community as a whole."

Other Notable Projects

UAW-Ford works tirelessly to fulfill its goal to "build communities" in the Detroit area throughout the year. Other notable projects include hosting an annual Black Lake Golf Outing to raise money for Great Lakes Burn Camp, which promotes healing, self-esteem, and confidence for burn surviving children in a fun camp setting. UAW Local 600 runs the Neighborhood Food Project to collect food to stock local food pantries. In honor of National Love Our Children Day last year, UAW-Ford reportedly donated $100,000 to fund renovations and mentoring programs at a recreational facility for Detroit youth at Chapel Vision Community Development Center.