The global COVID pandemic exacerbated issues such as food insecurity, homelessness and childcare in many communities, including the Oakland County seat of Pontiac.

To help, leaders of Micah 6 Community, a grassroots non-profit, established a community garden in a Pontiac neighborhood providing residents a place to both grow and harvest fresh produce and summer programming for their children.

To bolster Micah 6’s ambitious initiatives to support residents, Oakland County awarded $2 million in ARPA funding toward the rehabilitation of the long-abandoned Elmer R. Webster Elementary School into the Webster Community Center, a vibrant gathering spot for the neighborhood and city.

“This is a big project that will absolutely be transformative for our neighborhood, the M-59 corridor and the West Side of Pontiac.”

The 53,000-square-foot school is located along a major thoroughfare, surrounded by residential homes and had been vacant since 2007. The basement became a swimming pool of wastewater, the roof was decaying, and windows were broken or boarded up. However, tearing down or gutting the building was never an option. Micah 6 wanted to protect the historic integrity of the structure and in 2022, the Webster School was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Micah 6 and the county made the health of the neighbors and the environment a top priority during the renovations, which included extracting a deteriorating 20,000-gallon underground fuel tank at the property.

When completed in 2025, the Webster Community Center will feature space for 11 partners providing health and wraparound services, fresh food, space for recreational, music and art activities, Rochester University and public transportation services.

The county’s infusion of ARPA dollars into the project couples well with several of its strategic goal, investing in communities disproportionately impacted by the COVID pandemic and promoting environmental sustainability by creating walkable neighborhoods and green spaces, along with repurposing, rather than tearing down historic buildings.