DETROIT – State Representative Alberta Tinsley-Talabi (D-Detroit) and volunteers spent Saturday, Sept. 8, securing buildings and doing other neighborhood cleanup in the blocks surrounding Hutchinson Leadership Academy at Howe located at 2600 Garland St. Rep. Tinsley-Talabi was joined by local clergy, community volunteers, and members of Alpha Kappa Sorority XI Chapter from Eastern Michigan University.
“No student should be subject to the kind of ‘structural violence’ we see in these abandoned buildings and overgrown lots and yards,” said Rep. Tinsley-Talabi. “As responsible adults, we must do everything we can to improve the areas surrounding every school, and we must do it NOW and not later. When and if the city, state, county or federal government comes through with assistance and funding that will be great. But we can’t wait for that so now it is on US to pick up our hammers and rakes and help protect our children by cleaning up our neighborhoods”
Rep. Tinsley-Talabi and the volunteers did maintenance around the neighborhood including mowing overgrown lawns, removing debris, and boarding up abandoned and dangerous buildings. They worked to secure a number of abandoned buildings that faced the elementary school.