port huRON

SOUTHSIDE REINVESTMENT INITIATIVE

As Mayor of Port Huron, and on behalf of all members of City Council, we see the limitless opportunities and possibilities of the Connor Street Corridor. A community-led initiative such as this is important to capturing the dreams and hopes of the very residents this District will serve.

- Pauline Repp

WHAT IS COMMUNITY BUILDING?

Engaging and empowering a group of people within a defined area, such as a neighborhood, municipality, or region, to improve economic, social, and environmental well-being through collaborative stakeholder driven initiative.

- Nate Geinzer, Founder/CEO

Double Haul Solutions

building COMMUNITY in
port huron's Southside neighborhood

What comes to your mind when you think about the southside of Port Huron? Do you think about your neighbors? Your church? Your school? Your job?

When someone thinks about their community, it may be their church community, their neighborhood community, their school community. Someone’s community could be made up of some or all of these community assets.

When we talk about the Southside Community, we mean all of the people who live, work, and play in the southside of Port Huron. We want to know what makes this community of residents, businesses, and visitors great, and what could make this community even greater.

Maybe great means more gardens for people to explore and get fresh vegetables and flowers. Maybe great means more moderately priced houses for new and existing residents to move into. Maybe great means more street lights and safer sidewalks for kids to play outside.

Many of life’s best conversations happen around a meal or over a drink. The Southside Initiative and the engagement team at Double Haul Solutions invites the Southside community to join upcoming conversations to chat about what’s next for their community. For more information, see below.

study area

Map Source: www.SEMCOG.org

ASSETS OF COMMUNITY BUILDING

Housing. Schools. Parks. Stores. Churches.

Sidewalks. Streets. Gardens. Lights. Activity.

Neighbors.

Family.

Friendship.

Economic and Social Investment.

Much Much More.

THANK YOU FOR THE OPPORTUNITY TO SERVE!

FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

FINAL REPORT

port huron engagement team

Great leadership is in our nature.

The team at Double Haul Solutions has been engaged by the City of Port Huron to collaborate with groups such as the Southside Initiative to engage the neighborhood around community reinvestment priorities. The feedback gained through these efforts will help shape future city policy and community investment priorities focusing on Port Huron's Southside and the Historic South Park Neighborhood. The City seeks to lay the foundation for a stakeholder driven community building strategy.

Nate Geinzer

Founder/CEO, Double Haul Solutions

Nate launched his local government career in 2005 and quickly found a passion for communities. It is due to this passion and desire to support communities with diverse challenges and needs that he launched Double Haul Solutions in late 2021 and Nate has joined the staff at Oakland

University to teach in its Master of Public Administration Program.

For six and a half years, Nate served as City Manager for the City of Brighton and prior, with the City of Farmington Hills. In both communities, Nate was heavily involved in community reinvestment and engagement activities including the Grand River Corridor Improvement Authority in Farmington Hills. Nate has an MPA from Eastern Michigan University and has been extremely active in professional organizations serving the Michigan Municipal Executives and Michigan Municipal League in various volunteer leadership roles.

Julia Upfal

Senior Planner, Giffels Webster

Julia Upfal, AICP, is a senior planner at Giffels Webster with over seven years of community development experience. Julia earned a BA in Urban Studies from Wayne State University in 2012 and a Master of Urban Planning degree from the University of Michigan in 2015.

Julia has worked in both the public and private sector, most recently serving as the City of Chelsea’s Community Development Director. Julia’s experience includes master planning, ordinance reviews, code enforcement, economic development, and grant writing. Since 2015, Julia has accumulated over $1,000,000 in public sector grant funding for local communities.

Julia’s technical expertise in planning coupled with her passion for public engagement enables her to provide guidance that strategically aligns development with established community goals.

Amanda Opalewski

Director of Client Engagement, Double Haul Solutions

Amanda's interest in cities took off when she took an Introduction to Urban Studies class during her undergraduate program at Wayne State University, where she majored in Public Affairs and Urban Studies. She had her first internship

working for the Michigan Suburbs Alliance and their Redevelopment Ready Communities program. Amanda quickly decided she wanted to do all things cities and local government. Continuing her education at Central Michigan University, she graduated with her Master of Public Administration.

Amanda invests her passions into recruiting young people, particularly woman, into the local government profession. Amanda brings an array of local government knowledge and energy to the Double Haul Solutions Team.

Denise Murray

Engagement Enthusiast and Retail Guru, Double Haul Solutions

Denise Murray is an award-winning economic development professional, marketing director, and broker. Here creative approach to problem solving bolsters her collaborative, inclusive, and success driven essence. Denise has served

shopping centers, downtown communities, and non-profit organizations nurturing innovation and advancement in each environment. She finds collaboration where it exists, or fosters it where it doesn’t, to strengthen the communities and industries she serves. Denise utilizes a skillset that spans planning and executing special events, customer service training, marketing strategy development and implementation, grant writing, and so much more to realize victories small and large. Denise is a lifelong learner eager to expand her horizons and share her knowledge with others.