Philip Shaltz, CEO of a local automation company, is one of seven Uptown Six investors working to provide a vision and some “patient equity” to help transform the city’s once lively downtown into a place where people once again can work, live and be entertained.

The Mott Foundation is joining with the Foundation for the Uptown Redevelopment Corporation and others in efforts to revitalize downtown Flint, Michigan. Grants will support development of the Mott Block, which includes a new complex of office and entertainment space.

Since 1971, when Mott Foundation President Harding Mott was part of a delegation of civic leaders who met with federal officials in Washington, D.C., to propose that Flint become home to a regional airport, the Foundation has supported the expansion of Bishop International Airport.

To counter a decline in downtown Flint, a downtown master plan, created by Sasaki Associates, Inc. in 2002, was developed by the Uptown Reinvestment Corporation with Mott funding. The master plan is being used as the basis for a number of redevelopment strategies, including new housing initiatives that will feed demand for complementary shops and services.

Mott Middle College, launched as the nation’s first multidistrict middle college high school, has become a model for other school districts grappling with the problem of keeping students in school.

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu of South Africa brought his energy and passion to the Flint community with an address in June at The Whiting Auditorium.

Rosewood Park, offering 120 new units of affordable, quality housing for area middle- and low-income residents, opened in Mt. Morris with the support of a $280,000 grant from the Mott Foundation to Shelter of Flint, Inc.