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- Best known for the annual Tulip Time Festival celebrating its
Dutch
- heritage, Holland is a community challenged by unprecedented
growth and
- an increasingly diverse population. Abundant resources, a
high-caliber
- work force, and a prime lakeshore location 27 miles from Grand
Rapids
- brought over 300 new industries - many international - to
Holland in the
- mid-80s. As a result of this immigration, language barriers,
lack of
- opportunity, poverty, and family disintegration have led to a
culture of
- disenfranchised youth. The Maple Avenue Church Recreation
Facility
- provides supervised recreational opportunities for youth in a
troubled
- central neighborhood and a "neutral territory" for various
gang members.
- The Ourstreet program is a neighborhood initative that
provides
- proactive assistance to homeowners, landlords, and tenants.
Prompted by
- a nearby gang stabbing, the Van Raalte Elementary School
established
- itself as a community center, providing tutoring, drug
prevention
- training, recreation, and family assistance for the entire
neighborhood.
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- Contact: Jay Peters, Investment Banker, Smith &
Associates, 106 E. 8th
- Street, Holland, Michigan 49423; (616) 396-2676.
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