For more than a decade, the staff at Cass Community Social Services has been serving women and children, along with the chronically mentally ill, in a building on Woodrow Wilson in Detroit's north end neighborhood.
The Scott Building houses 50 homeless women and children on the first floor, along with 40 adults on the second and third floor suffering from bipolar, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental illnesses.
The unique program for those with a mental illness is the only in Michigan. It offers them a place to stay with very little demands and because of that, 95 percent stay on their medication, according to the Rev. Faith Fowler, executive director of Cass Community Social Services.
"It changes everything for them," Fowler said. "If we can get them on the right dosage or the right drug, they can have a better life."
Now, the Scott Building at 11850 Woodrow Wilson is home to a Little Free Library to serve all of the residents, one of the many ministries of Rev. Fowler.
It is a special little library in Detroit because it was painted by artist Fatima Sow Dawson. She, along with many other Detroit artists, have put their work on libraries to raise awareness of the campaign Detroit Little Libraries is engaged in to increase more books and boost literacy through the Little Free Library.
We promised Fatima, and other artists, to put their libraries up in front of iconic institutions such as Cass Community Social Services.
Thank you, Fatima, for your work.
A very special thanks also to Deborah Lamm and Jon Wolman, editor of The Detroit News, for sponsoring this library.
Thanks also to the Rev. Fowler and her staff for all their work in Detroit, and for being a steward of this library.
I hope to see you at our meetings one day. Motown Writers meet every 2nd Saturday usually at the Detroit main library on the 3rd floor.
