West side school to receive $5.6M renovation

According to excerpts from the story:

Bob Israels, president of Israels Designs for Living, vividly remembers what his northwest side neighborhood was like when he was growing up in the 1950’s.

"Steepletown wasn’t the fanciest part of Grand Rapids, but it was a real community," he recalls. "It was a place where people lived and worked, were institutions like schools, stores and churches brought neighbors and families together."

But in the years that followed, Steepletown suffered through lost jobs, shuttered factories, closed schools, rising crime and a declining quality of life.

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