Community News
TOUCHING HEARTS, CHANGING LIVES
Make a Donation
Get Involved
10-Year-Old Learns About Life Skills From Home
Mrs. Burns, a mother of six living in Detroit, was extremely disappointed to learn she had contracted COVID-19 for the second time at the start of 2021. She had already recovered from it once after experiencing life-threatening symptoms. This time around, they told...
Head Start Family Survives Pandemic With Help From Matrix
*The names in this story have been changed for confidentiality When Bernice and her husband Ricardo decided to move to Michigan in 2019 with their two children, they could not have predicted the challenges that would lie ahead. After they began work in the same...
12-Year-Old Pursues Her Passion with The Detroit Children’s Choir
Shecolby is a mother of four living in Detroit and while she was scrolling through social media during the end of 2020, she came across an ad for Matrix Human Services Youth Assistance Program. The information prompted her to enroll her 12-year-old daughter, Diamond,...
Eagle Scout Donates 10,000 Diapers and 9,000 wipes to Matrix
In March of 2020, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, then 16-year-old Junior in high school and Eagle Scout, Brady Bank, visited Matrix Human Services to see how he could help. While there, he learned about the need for diapers and wipes, items that were...
Matrix Human Services Healthy Senior Initiative Delivers Healthy Food to Doorsteps
Last week we kicked off our first of many food distributions to seniors participating in our Healthy Senior Living Initiative - Food Rx Program. This program offers free health screenings in partnership with the HUDA Clinic which will inform a food prescription aimed...
Matrix Human Services Becomes A Certified HUD Local Housing Counseling Agency
James King pictured above at his home purchased through the Detroit Land Bank Matrix Human Services has been assisting clients for years with homebuying education and resources as part of our overall mission to provide a hand-up for those facing poverty and low-income...
Matrix Human Services Impact Report 2020
Our 2020 Impact Report Video highlights the challenges and successes we experienced during an unprecedented year. We moved over 500 employees to virtual services, purchased over 800 tablets so children and youth could learn from home, expanded our food distribution...
Matrix Human Services is Helping Detroiters Amid the Pandemic
New Detroit Resident Receives Critical Health Services During COVID-19 Pandemic
When Kelly was 16 years old, she began a relationship with a man she knew for a long time. Eventually, they were engaged but by the time Kelly found out her partner was HIV positive, it was too late. She felt that he attempted to trap her, but the relationship still...
Family of 4 Receives Angel Tree Holiday Gift Boxes For the Whole Family
Jasmine discovered Matrix Human Services in late 2018, when her then 1-year-old daughter began attending our Head Start Birth-to-5 Program at our Plymouth location, one of 16 Head Start Centers exclusively operated by Matrix Human Services in the city of Detroit. As a...
Mother of 4 Receives a ‘Hand Up’ From Matrix During COVID-19 Pandemic
Ms. Shannon is a mother of 4 who has been through an especially challenging year. Before 2020, Shannon was working at General Motors in Detroit but suddenly found herself laid-off, while she was pregnant. After she gave birth to two healthy baby twins, she enrolled...
10 Year Old Thrives in Matrix Youth Services Program
Brooklyn Fordham resides with her grandmother in the Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects and has been working with Matrix staff since our Youth Assistance Program (YAP) was hosted at the Peter Claver Building. As Brooklyn's grandmother, Ms. Fordham, describes, Brooklyn...
Family In Need Receives Heat and Hope From Matrix
Ms. Thelma and her daughter Janlissa have faced difficult circumstances ever since they were forced to relocate from a rental property that was being torn out 4 years ago. However, the new rental home that they share together has been plagued with issues. "The people...
Long-Time Matrix Supporter Continues Annual Donations During Coronavirus
Mrs. Shirley Patterson has been donating brand new clothes, toys, and other valuables to Matrix Human Services for more than 15 years. Director of The Matrix Center, Mr. Ken Brown, remembers meeting Ms. Patterson in 2005 when she began donating around the holidays to...
Matrix Human Services Receives Award for Outstanding Commitment to Advancing Energy Efficiency in the Community
Matrix Human Services was recently honored with the Supporting the Cause Award during the virtual DTE/SEEL Community Appreciation Awards. The award was given to the community partner who demonstrated outstanding performance and exceptional...
Matrix Provides Extra Food Distributions to Head Start Families During Pandemic
In November, Matrix Human Services partnered with Atlas Wholesale Food Company, Wayne Metro Community Action Agency, and Renaissance Head Start to fill a need that many of our Head Start families were missing - food. Our Head Start families used to count on the...
Matrix Human Services Distributes Thanksgiving Meals Before The Holiday
On November 23rd, the Monday before Thanksgiving, Matrix Human Services joined forces with Higher Hopes to provide Thanksgiving meals to some of our Head Start families that have expressed significant need. Higher Hopes is a non-profit that serves families with...
Matrix Supporters Featured for National Philanthropy Day 2020 – Greater Detroit Chapter
"Every November, the Association of Fundraising Professionals celebrates National Philanthropy Day, recognizing the generous contributions of individuals and organizations to worthy causes large and small. The Greater Detroit Chapter throws one of the nation’s largest...
Matrix Distributes Book-Bags and Face Masks to 3 Detroit Schools
Every year, Matrix Human Services hosts a bookbag drive with Ford Motor Company Fund where bookbags and school supplies are distributed to children in our summer camp. However, this year was different. Due to Coronavirus, our summer camp and bookbag drive did not...
The Matrix Center Provides a Polling Place on the East Side of Detroit
On November 3rd, 2020, The Matrix Center on the East side of Detroit once again hosted voters as a polling place at Gratiot and E. McNichols (13560 E. McNichols rd). During Coronavirus, many voters had already cast absentee ballots and voted by mail or drop boxes....
Grandmother In Need Receives Donated Bed and Dresser Set
On Tuesday, October 27th, Angela was at The Matrix Center on Gratiot and McNichols to receive food at our bi-weekly food distribution with Forgotten Harvest, as well as complete paperwork to receive a replacement furnace and refrigerator thanks to our partner...
L.A.C.C. Child Care Academy Transforms After Renovations
In May, we talked to Ms. Laurie Clark-Horton, owner of L.A.C.C. Child Care Academy on the West Side of Detroit about the renovations she was excited to begin in preparation for re-opening her Early Child Care facility with a new COVID-19 "friendly" interior as well as...
Ford Motor Company Fund Donates A Smart Bench To The Matrix Center
Thanks to the Ford Motor Company Fund, a new Smart Bench was just installed in front of The Matrix Center complete with free Wi-Fi and phone charging stations powered by solar panels! Come see for yourself at 13560 E. McNichols rd., Detroit, on the corner of Gratiot...
Matrix Hosts Another Diaper Distribution for Head Start Families
On October 16th, 2020, we provided another diaper distribution for our Head Start families and kids from birth to 5+ years old at our downtown office location. With the challenges that this year has brought including financial insecurity for so many, we know every...
Matrix Secures Replacement Furnace For Woman In Need Before Winter
Jackie was living in Alabama when her husband passed and she decided she wanted to move back home to Detroit to be closer to friends and family. That was right before Christmas in 2018 and Jackie had just moved into a house she purchased through a land contract. She...