In the 26 years that John Van Camp has
served as executive director of Southwest
Solutions, he has had a significant impact on southwest Detroit.
Van Camp has used his entrepreneurial
skills to increase the effect that Southwest
Solutions — a nonprofit with the goal of
improving southwest Detroit and making a
difference — has on the community.
As head of Southwest Solutions, Van Camp
quickly realized that no matter how important the cause, without a strong organization,
a nonprofit would quickly be out of business.
To make sure that didn’t happen, he worked
to become business savvy and bring finance and accounting personnel into the organization.
From his early start
at Southwest, Van
Camp decided the
organization should
do more than just
offer counseling. He
understood that the people who used the
services, and the community as a whole, suffered from a poor economy, lack of housing
and inadequate education, without any
chance to reintegrate into society.
So in 1997, he hired a real estate developer
to buy old, vacant housing and renovate
properties to rent to low-income people.
Since then, Southwest has converted 21
buildings, financed by selling tax credits to
syndicators.
By converting the buildings, the nonprofit
has helped reduce blight and given hope and
a home to many.
He has also implemented other initiatives, including educating renters on how
to become home owners. And working
with banks, Southwest has helped many
residents become apartment owners.
HOW TO REACH: Southwest Solutions, (313) 841-2595 or
www.swsol.org