Homegrown Foundation Leader Builds Bridges, Trust In Flint

credit: Flickr

Isaiah Oliver grew up in Flint, Mich., and now heads the Community Foundation of Greater Flint, which has spent more than $430,000 in grant funding to help the city recover from its lead-tainted water crisis.

"If it were not for the community foundation, we wouldn't exist," the director of a local outreach center tells the Detroit Free Press.

The 41-year-old Oliver is Flint's first black leader of a foundation founded in 1988; he took the helm of the group last year after working there for nearly three years, per MLive.

"I'm a bridge between those folks who have resources and those who need resources in order to get things done," says Oliver, who also works to build bridges between wealthy donors and impoverished residents.

Oliver tells the Free Press that the water crisis was the "biggest issue that came out of the water crisis" and that rebuilding trust in institutions is still a work in progress.

Flint's water supply was switched to the Flint River in 2014 to save money.

Officials failed to treat the water, which led to dangerously high levels of lead in the city's water pipes.

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