National Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference to Be Held in Detroit in 2015 (Press Release)

FLINT, MICH. – The sixth national Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference will come to Detroit, Michigan, May 19-21, 2015, announced the Flint-based Center for Community Progress, a national nonprofit and host of the event. The conference will be held at the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center and is expected to draw 700-1,000 professionals to the city.

Themed “Beyond Blight: Building a Bold Movement,” the conference will explore the latest tools to combat vacancy and move beyond neighborhood blight, as well as how government officials, community leaders, and others in the field can join forces across departments, cities, and even states to achieve wide-scale positive change. Conference sessions will highlight work from around the country, including efforts in Michigan.

“We are looking forward to hosting the Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference in Detroit,” said Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan. “This conference will bring together leaders from around the country working daily to eliminate blight in their neighborhoods. We’ve got a lot to share about the great and exciting strides we’re making here to transform our vacant properties from liabilities into assets. We also look forward to learning from what’s working elsewhere.”

The Center for Community Progress selected Detroit as the site of the conference because of the city’s innovative focus on moving beyond blight through a multi-sector approach, bringing together public, nonprofit, business, and government stakeholders, as well as the city’s fresh approach to both neighborhood reinvestment and green reuse.

Held every eighteen months, the Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference is the sole national conference dedicated to helping communities overcome vacant, blighted properties. It attracts and connects professionals from many interrelated fields, including community development, urban policy, code enforcement, affordable housing, land banking, urban planning, economic development, and public safety.

“Community Progress is proud of its roots in Michigan, and it feels great to bring the Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference to our home state,” said Tamar Shapiro, president and CEO of the Center for Community Progress. “The 2015 conference will reflect the rising groundswell of national support for the hard work, innovation, and investment needed to move our communities beyond blight.”

About Center for Community Progress

Founded in 2010, the Center for Community Progress is the only national 501(c)3 nonprofit organization solely dedicated to building a future in which entrenched, systemic blight no longer exists in American communities. The mission of Community Progress is to ensure that communities have the vision, knowledge, and systems to transform blighted, vacant, and other problem properties into assets supporting neighborhood vitality. As a national leader on solutions for blight and vacancy, Community Progress serves as the leading resource for local, state and federal policies and best practices that address the full cycle of property revitalization. Major support for Community Progress is generously provided by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and the Ford Foundation.