URC announces Ubuntu Center

The Urban Renaissance Center (URC), a Flint-based, community-rooted nonprofit organization, is proud to announce the acquisition of the former Dort Meat Market, a long-standing neighborhood landmark that will now be transformed into the Ubuntu Building, a permanent home for community-led healing, learning, and neighborhood revitalization in the Civic Park community.

The Ubuntu Building will serve as a central hub for URC’s growing portfolio of programs, including workforce development, youth leadership, family support, wellness initiatives, cultural convenings, and collaborative partnerships. Grounded in the African philosophy of Ubuntu: “I am because we are,” the building is envisioned as a shared, welcoming space where relationships, resources, and opportunity converge.

“This building carries deep history in this neighborhood, and we are honored to steward it into its next chapter,” said Pastor R. Sherman McCathern, URC CEO. “For generations, this space represented provision. Now, as the Ubuntu Building, it will represent possibility, a place where our neighbors can gather, grow, heal, and build a future together. This is what community ownership looks like.”

The redevelopment project is being led by Mike Siwek, serving as contract lead, with architectural design by FUNchitecture, a firm recognized for people-centered, community-responsive design. The project team is working closely with URC to ensure the space reflects the values of accessibility, dignity, and shared community ownership.

Looking ahead, the Ubuntu Building will support future partnership with the Institute of Ubuntu Thought and Practice (IUTP) and Michigan State University’s College of Arts & Letters Department, creating opportunities for community-engaged scholarship, cultural programming, and knowledge-sharing rooted in lived experience.

“This building is not just about programs, it’s about infrastructure for relationship, culture, and long-term community power,” Pastor McCathern added. “Our partnership with IUTP and MSU Arts & Letters Department reflects a shared belief that neighborhoods are co-creators of knowledge and solutions.”

The acquisition of the former Dort Meat Market represents a major milestone in URC’s long-term vision for Civic Park: transforming historically significant spaces into platforms for collective care, economic opportunity, and neighborhood-driven leadership.

“This is a moment of reclamation,” Pastor McCathern shared. “We are honoring the past, meeting the present, and investing in a future where Civic Park continues to thrive, by and for the people who call it home.”

About the Urban Renaissance Center The Urban Renaissance Center (URC) is a Flint-based nonprofit organization dedicated to healing, self-determination, and neighborhood transformation. Serving as both an anchor and an incubator, URC advances community wellness, workforce development, youth leadership, and family support through relationship-driven, place-based strategies rooted in Ubuntu.

Media Contact: Jordan E. Brown, VP SIPI, Inc. 810–240–4804 jordan@sipi-inc.com