Across the country, thousands of public schools face closures due to low enrollment.
But Detroit, Michigan-based nonprofit Life Remodeled is welcoming vacant schools into a new era.
The organization, which has invested $51 million in revitalizing Detroit neighborhoods, primarily works to purchase vacant properties and work with dozens of area organizations to provide life-changing resources to community members.
Its first remodel — the Durfee Innovation Society — opened in 2023. A former elementary and middle school, the building is now what the organization calls “an opportunity hub,” providing resources like after-school programs, career preparedness, and support in accessing healthcare, financial literacy, and more.
“The Durfee Innovation Society is an Opportunity Hub,” Brandy Haggins, the director of the project, told CBS News. “We call it that because we’ve taken an old school building that probably would have set back vacant, and we housed it with the best and brightest nonprofits in Detroit.”
She continued: “An Opportunity Hub is a place where individuals can come and get opportunities that they deserve, that they probably otherwise would not have access to.”
The building is home to over 35 organizations, including Nursing Detroit, Big Brothers Big Sisters, and Starfish Family Services.
Since it opened, the Durfee Innovation Society has provided 3,400 Detroit students with after-school programming, 5,600 with job opportunities, and 13,400 children and families with resources and support.
Ultimately, the organization says, 22,000 Detroiters take part in Durfee’s programs every year.
These numbers represent exciting milestones, but they are also in competition with what Life Remodeled is up against.
According to the organization, 88% of third graders in Detroit read below grade level. 30% of Detroiters can’t access the healthcare they need. And Detroit residents’ median household income is 50% less than suburban residents.
School closures impact low-income communities hardest, with low enrollment rates causing school districts to consolidate resources — and infrastructure.
In 2017, Durfee Elementary School merged with a local high school, and Life Remodeled swooped in to save the space.
“It’s not just community history; It’s personal history for a lot of people,” Haggins told CBS News in 2024. “What better way to work with the community than to reopen their school building into something that still belongs to them?”
The services available at the hub are free to anyone in the community. Nonprofits housed there pay for their space “at cost,” meaning they only pay what it takes to keep the building up and running.
It’s a model that seems to be working.
“The best part about being involved is seeing the actual change be made,” Charles Spears, the youth alliance president for Durfee Innovation Society, told CBS News. “You know, a lot of people talk about it. But when you get to see first hand, you actually see what is happening. It’s just like, wow, there is literally opportunity for all.”
Now, Life Remodeled is onto their next project: another “opportunity hub” on the east side of Detroit. The new property, formerly Winans Performing Arts Academy, is a 90,000-square-foot space that plans to open in December of 2025.
It’s called Anchor Detroit, and it’s located in the Denby community — an area in which residents “face significant poverty and lack access to opportunities related to educational attainment, job opportunities, and health and wellness resources,” according to a press release from Life Remodeled.
More than 50,000 square feet of the space will be leased by nonprofit partners, who will bring more after-school youth programs, workforce development initiatives, and health resources to the area.
“When the Winans Academy asked us to consider repurposing their building, the Denby Neighborhood Alliance leaders told us loud and clear that they wanted to partner with us to turn this beautiful school building into a hub of opportunity similar to our Durfee Innovation Society,” Life Remodeled CEO Chris Lambert said in a statement. “We are inspired and encouraged to move forward.”
Anchor Detroit is currently being renovated to prepare for its reopening and will reportedly include a “significant presence” for arts and culture programs.
Once it opens, Life Remodeled estimates the new space will support 18,000 community members per year.
“This should be a nationwide model for other schools that have closed across the country,” Haggins told CBS News. “I think taking a school building, or any historical building that means something to a community, and repurposing it into something that’s for the community — that’s huge and necessary.”
Header images courtesy of Life Remodeled
