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Hill Harper Urges Others to ‘Invest In Detroit’ After Buying Coffee Shop to Train Young People

Posted byBy Kiersten Willis | Published on: CommentsComments (0)

Hill Harper won’t reveal where he’s building his Detroit home. (Gilbert Carrasquillo/FilmMagic)

Actor and author Hill Harper has fallen in love with Detroit and he’s investing in the city’s youths by providing them a chance to develop their job skills.

Harper, who stars on “Homeland,” purchased Roasting Plant coffee shop and cafe to give Detroit youth the opportunity for professional growth through his Manifest Your Destiny Foundation.

“Detroit is a great American city that was forged on innovation, social enterprise and entrepreneurship,” Harper said in a press release issued to The Detroit News Monday, May 15. “My ownership of Roasting Plant Coffee in downtown Detroit builds upon that legacy. It is truly an honor and privilege for me to help fuel the Motor City, not just with Roasting Plant’s incomparable coffee but by providing career paths and launching pads to greater success in a booming industry for young Detroiters hungry for opportunity and active mentorship.”

Harper has lived in Detroit for the past four years while filming two movies and he has bought and started renovations on a home. He will bring MYD’s Summer Empowerment Academy to Detroit for the first time this year, which will be free of charge and prep students for high school and college.

“The way to have [a] real sustainable impact is to create economic opportunity for young people because it not only impacts their self-esteem in a positive way when they have a job and income and the skill, it also impacts their ability to make choices about their future,” Hill told WWJ Saturday, May 13.

Harper hopes his purchase leads other people to want to invest in Detroit, too.

I’m telling everybody, ‘Listen, invest in Detroit’ ” he said in the press release.

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