An amazing model for social change

https://www.aspeninstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Greyston_121813.pdf

addressing the lack of employment opportunities

The Grand Rapids Center for Community Transformation was established in 2015 in the Madison Square neighborhood as a partnership between a business, a church, two social enterprises, and a non-profit organization, to create opportunities for transformation through meaningful relationships, work, education, and community development.

GRCCT partners exist with a single mission, to create opportunities for transformation, addressing the lack of employment opportunities
for young adults and community residents and a lack of structured and consistent approaches to providing inter-agency and cross sectoral opportunities for the community in a sustainable way.

Representative Payee Services

Cartwill Empowerment Solutions has started accepting community members who are seeking representative payee services. A representative payee is a person or an organization who receive benefits for anyone who can’t manage or direct the management of his or her benefits. A payee’s main duties are to use the benefits to pay for the current and future needs of the beneficiary, and properly save any benefits not needed to meet current needs. A payee must also keep records of expenses. A payee must be able to provide an accounting of how he or she used or saved the benefits. 

CES is a 501(c)(3) organization. Fees are determined by the regulatory bodies
appointing this organization as payee, with consideration of beneficiaries’ financial hardships.

According to CES, “Choosing the right representative payee, whether by choice or as required by the benefits provider, is a critical step in securing beneficiaries’ overall financial success, which is why it is no surprise that roughly 85 percent of representative payees are family members. Empowerment Solutions is approved and qualified to manage all required payee responsibilities.”

The flyer can be seen here and the brochure can be seen here.