CEO Corner

Ravi Yalamanchi, the CEO of Metro Community Development takes a moment to talk about the history, vision and focus that drives our organization as we work to improve Flint and Genesee County.

Welcome to Metro’s website. I hope you will find our website informative and helpful. Our primary focus is to work in partnerships to build strong vibrant communities.

To achieve this, we believe the community needs to be built from ground up with a holistic approach that addresses community challenges such as poor graduation rates at public schools, families that struggle with lack of jobs, struggles of youth, transportation, child care, stagnated income levels, loss of manufacturing jobs, lack of health care coverage, foreclosure of properties, seniors opting for reverse mortgage, closure of small businesses, and neighborhood deterioration.The many wonderful and collective efforts by organizations in the Flint Metropolitan Area, such as, Flint Cultural Center, Flint Institute of Music, Flint Institute of Arts, The Resource Center, Bridges to the Future, Genesee County Metropolitan Planning Commission, Genesee County Land Bank, Genesee Health Plan, Boys and Girls club, Big Brothers and Sisters, Genesee County Youth Corporation, Jewish Community Services, Habitat for Humanity, Health Access, and United Way Systems of Care have reenergized the Flint Metro Area. The strong growth of our educational institutions Kettering University, University of Michigan, Baker College, and Mott Community College revives the hope with the notion that we are transforming from a mighty industrial town to a successful college town.

The Flint Metropolitan Area, despite its economic challenges, over the past four decades has always stood up and faced the opponent in the ring. A key reason for this is the wonderful funders, C.S. Mott Foundation, Ruth Mott Foundation, Community Foundation of Greater Flint, United Way of Genesee County, and many family foundations that have invested and continue to invest in the community. They have touched people through arts, education, housing, neighborhood revitalization, health, non-profit capacity building, and assisted with infrastructure development. I thank them for their commitment and being the beacon of hope over the past decades.

At Metro, as an intermediary we do our small part in the macro efforts of revitalization and are a piece in the puzzle. We believe communities are more than brick and mortar. We foster relationships and work in partnership with a multitude of organizations creating centers of strength on issues such as establishing programs for asset building through Individual Development Accounts, promoting homeownership opportunities, developing affordable housing for homeownership and rental, creating a revitalization plan for targeted areas, establishing school/community programs, developing opportunities for youth to be actively involved in the community, community collaborative, partnering with lending institutions in addressing the foreclosure challenges, establishing solutions for seniors to pre-empt foreclosure through reverse mortgage and home retention loans, changing street names from Third Avenue to University Ave linking the two prominent and successful universities -Kettering and University of Michigan- developing a ten year plan to end homelessness, creating permanent supportive housing for families and individuals who have experienced life challenges in an unthinkable way, and acting as a facilitator and advocate for many community development issues.

We are proud to be a partner in the revitalization efforts of Flint Metropolitan Area.

Ravi Yalamanchi