Through the end of 2025, the Rocket Community Fund and Gilbert Family Foundation have invested $300 million to strengthen housing stability, expand economic opportunities, and improve community spaces that celebrate arts, creativity, and connection in Detroit neighborhoods.
The announcement comes five years after introducing a historic $500 million, 10-year philanthropic commitment to Detroit.
“The strategy is bigger than any single program or investment,” says Dan Gilbert, founder and chairman of Rocket Cos. and founder of the Gilbert Family Foundation. “It’s about building a foundation that gives every Detroiter the stability and opportunity needed to build a more prosperous life for themselves and their families. Detroit is our home and we’re committed to continuing our work, deepening our impact, and investing in the city’s future for years to come.”
Gilbert Family Foundation and Rocket Community Fund’s investments include:
- $110.4 million invested in housing stability initiatives.
- $103.6 million invested in employment and economic mobility programs.
- $79.3 million invested in public life initiatives including parks, arts, and community spaces.
The organizations have executed this work in collaboration with 298 different nonprofit and community organizations, representing 325 different partnerships.
The organizations say the Gilbert Family Foundation and Rocket Community Fund’s 10-year strategy is rooted in protecting economically vulnerable Detroit residents from losing their homes to tax foreclosure or eviction.
Once families are safely and securely housed, the foundations work to connect them with follow-on opportunities to build wealth and access greater economic opportunity. The organizations simultaneously make community-wide investments in public spaces and arts and culture that improve quality of life.
By layering these investments, and tracking outcomes across each pillar, the foundations say they have built a body of evidence showing how their contributions can make the most impact.
“From our five years on the ground, we’ve learned that real solutions start with a deep understanding of the problem we want to address,” says Laura Grannemann, executive director of the Rocket Community Fund and Gilbert Family Foundation. “We listen to residents, collect data, and work in deep collaboration with community partners with the goal of building systems that support Detroiters of all backgrounds. By investing in Detroit residents’ capacity to build opportunity, we are investing in the future of this great city.”
As part of its initial commitment, the Gilbert Family Foundation established the Detroit Tax Relief Fund, which was shaped by years of prior work focused on property tax foreclosure, a leading cause of displacement, blight, and lost generational wealth for Detroit residents.
While residents have access to current year property exemptions through the Homeowners Property Tax Exemption (HOPE) program, the Detroit Tax Relief Fund was created to automatically eliminate delinquent property tax debt for income-qualified homeowners.
Since its launch, the fund and its partners have helped nearly 13,000 Detroit homeowners eliminate more than $52 million in property tax debt, helping families remain in their homes and stabilize neighborhoods.
“In its first five years, the $500 million commitment made by Dan Gilbert through his philanthropic funds has transformed the lives of thousands of Detroiters who faced housing insecurity and critical home repair needs — and who now have the stability they deserve,” says Detroit Mayor Mary Sheffield. “We are fortunate to have a partner like Dan, whose sustained investment in this city and its people has made Detroit a stronger, more resilient place for everyone.”
Additional program highlights include:
Detroit Home Repair Fund: Many Detroit homes face critical repair needs that threaten health, safety, and housing stability. The Detroit Home Repair Fund addresses those challenges by providing no-cost repairs through nonprofit partners. To date, the program has delivered more than 6,000 repairs across more than 700 homes, improving safety and stability for 1,800-plus economically vulnerable Detroit residents.
Detroit Eviction Defense Fund: The Detroit Eviction Defense Fund provides legal representation for renters facing eviction, working alongside the City of Detroit’s Right to Counsel ordinance. Since launching in 2022, the initiative has served 20,000 Detroit residents, helping families avoid displacement and maintain housing stability.
The Detroit Housing Network: In 2023, the Gilbert Family Foundation invested $10 million to launch the Detroit Housing Network, creating a coordinated “front door” for housing support services across the city. The network connects residents with foreclosure prevention, eviction defense, home repair assistance, and homebuyer preparation through a unified system designed to simplify access to help.
The Make It Home program: Through the Make It Home program, renters whose landlords failed to pay property taxes can remain in their homes and gain the opportunity to become homeowners. Launched in 2017, the program has continued to be a vital part of Rocket Community Fund’s Detroit strategy. In total, Make It Home has helped more than 1,700 Detroit families transition into homeownership and provided repair funding for more than 580 homes.
Alongside housing investments, Rocket Community Fund and Gilbert Family Foundation officials say they also are working to equip Detroit residents with the skills, resources, and connections needed to access quality jobs, grow businesses, and build long-term economic stability.
Key investments include:
- $6.5 million contribution to the Motor City Contractor Fund, providing Detroit-based contractors with technical assistance and flexible capital to help grow their businesses and compete for larger opportunities.
- $1 million to the MI Small Business Helper platform, offering entrepreneurs across southeast Michigan centralized access to tools, resources, and guidance to start and scale their businesses.
- $11 million investment in the Apple Developer Academy, preparing Detroit residents for careers in the tech sector through coding, design, and professional skills training.
- $3.8 million investment in Urban Alliance, connecting Detroit high school students and young adults to paid internships, mentorship, and career readiness training.
The Gilbert Family Foundation also has invested in public spaces, cultural institutions, and nonprofit organizations in Detroit neighborhoods.
Key investments include:
- $15 million to Strategic Neighborhood Fund 3.0, supporting inclusive neighborhood development across Detroit as the lead philanthropic partner.
- $15 million to the Unified Greenway Campaign supporting the nearly 30-mile Joe Louis Greenway, including $5 million dedicated to economic development along the corridor to help neighborhood businesses and residents benefit from the project.
- $10 million as a founding funder of Pensole Lewis College of Business and Design in Detroit, the nation’s only design-focused historically Black college and university.
- $1.5 million to launch Seed and Bloom: Detroit, an initiative helping locally-based artists grow their creative practices into sustainable businesses rooted in neighborhood communities.
The first five years proved, according to the foundations, the concept that stable housing, economic opportunity, and vibrant neighborhoods are foundational to thriving communities.
But scaling these solutions citywide and ensuring they reach the residents who need them most will require sustained commitment, community leadership, and continued innovation.
Over the next five years, Rocket Community Fund and Gilbert Family Foundation will invest approximately $200 million to expand proven programs, test new approaches, and build the infrastructure that allows Detroit residents to access opportunity.
For more information about Gilbert Family Foundation and Rocket Community Fund’s ongoing commitment, visit GilbertFamilyFoundation.org or RocketCommunityFund.org.
