FOR RELEASE: April 17, 2018 

Mayor, community groups and business partners 
launch recruitment drive for Motor City Makeover

• Citywide annual cleanup and beautification effort scheduled for May 5, 12 & 19
• City also promotes recycling and launches pilot program to clean select number of alleys

Mayor Mike Duggan and community and business partners today kicked off Motor City Makeover, the City’s annual cleanup and beautification effort, and outlined plans for a pilot program to clean a small number of alleys.  Volunteers can sign up at www.motorcitymakeover.org, or by calling 313-224-4415.

The Mayor called on residents, community organizations, business owners and students to join the effort to clean and beautify the city during the first three Saturdays in May at a news conference at Butzel Family Center, 7737 Kercheval.  This year, Motor City Makeover will take place in Districts 1 and 2 on May 5; in Districts 3, 4, and 5 on May 12; and in Districts 6 and 7 on May 19.  

In addition to the citywide cleanup in May, the City will focus on:

June                  Flower planting and beautification efforts
The Department of Neighborhoods, in partnership with Keep Detroit Beautiful, will give away about 1500 flats of flowers to registered community groups.

Summer/Fall     Cleanup Efforts with Community Groups
The City will provide bags and gloves and arrange for pickup of debris for groups with cleanup projects outside of May.

Ongoing            Board-Ups
The City will continue its efforts to board up vacant homes across the city and provide boards for community groups boarding up vacant homes throughout the year.  Since the Board-Up Brigade was launched last summer, crews have secured more than 6,000 vacant homes across the city.   
    

"Over the past several years we've made great progress making our city cleaner and more beautiful and a big part of that has been the Motor City Makeover partnership between the City, volunteers and sponsors," said Mayor Mike Duggan. "Every year our city looks better, and I encourage everyone to come out and help keep our progress going."

SPONSORS AND DONORS
For this year’s campaign, the City already has raised $45,000 in cash donations and $15,000 worth of in-kind donations from area companies. The top two sponsors for this year are Adient and Advanced Disposal. 

“Adient is proud to be the platinum sponsor of Motor City Makeover for the second consecutive year. Our employees enjoyed making a difference in the city’s neighborhoods last year by volunteering at this dynamic event and we’re proud to continue our support,” said Neil Marchuk, Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer for Adient.  “With the move of our global headquarters to Detroit, we are excited to participate in this initiative with our new neighbors.”

“Motor City Makeover showcases the tremendous love and hearts of service that so many have for the city. As a company that proudly employs many Detroiters and long-time Detroit employees, we’re proud to be a part of this tremendous and cooperative effort,” said Terry Schweitzer, General Manager, Advanced Disposal Services.  “We’re grateful for the City’s leadership with Motor City Makeover, and for the cooperation we have with them every day to keep Detroit clean, safe and healthy.”

Other sponsors include: BBEK Environmental, Bell Equipment, Comcast, DTE Energy, Flex N Gate, Giorgi Concrete, Ilitch Holdings, Meijer, Marathon Petroleum, Motor City Electric and Sachse Construction. 

The City is receiving in-kind donations from GFL Environmental USA, J. Fons Company, Jenkins Construction, and Republic Services of Michigan. Any organization or company that would like to donate to Motor City Makeover should call (313) 224-3400. 

2017 MCM BY THE NUMBERS

• Individual Volunteers – 6200
• Number of Groups Participating – 420
• Tons of Trash Collected – 1723
• Number of Tires Collected – 8000
• Number of Locations Cleaned – 450
• Houses Boarded Up – 141
• Bags and Gloves Distributed – 13,500
  
  

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

Individuals and community groups must register with the City of Detroit Department of Neighborhoods (DON) in order to receive a limited supply of bags and gloves, as well as information regarding special pickups of brush, tires, bagged litter and roll-off containers.   Debris will only be collected from pre-established locations.                

Individuals and groups are encouraged to:

• Register online at www.motorcitymakeover.org or call (313) 224-4415 to join the effort.
• Clean around their neighborhood, business, house of worship, or school on their designated Saturday. 
• Organize their neighbors, members or employees for a massive cleanup or to board up vacant homes. Volunteers can indicate where they will clean or do board-ups when registering or call (313) 224-4415 for a location.
• Beautify their area by planting flowers, plants, or trees, or by removing graffiti, etc.

The scheduled cleanup dates are as follows:

Saturday, May 5
District 1  - Crowell Recreation Center, 16630 Lahser
District 2  - Northwest Activities Center, 18100 Meyers

Saturday, May 12
District 3 - Farwell Recreation Center, 2781 E. Outer Drive
District 4 - Samaritan Center, 5555 Conner
District 5 - Butzel Family Center, 7737 Kercheval 

Saturday, May 19
District 6 - Patton Recreation Center, 2301 Woodmere
District 7 - Adams Butzel Recreation Complex, 10500 Lyndon

In addition, volunteers may take bagged litter to any of the drop-off locations listed below, which will be open on the three Saturday cleanup dates.

Bulk Drop-Off Locations:  Limit is one cubic yard or 1,000 pounds

Davison Yard - 8221 West Davison, 10:30 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Southfield Yard - 12255 Southfield Road, 10:30 a.m. - 6 p.m.

J. Fons Transfer Station - 6451 E. McNichols, 8 a.m. - 4 p.m.