The Boulevard House, now the Southwest Detroit Community House, is located in Southwest Detroit, Michigan and situated right on the Boulevard, in the articulation of Mexicantown, Mexican Village, and Hubbard Farms. It is the University of Michigan's settlement house, providing space for praxis among community scholars, community activists and residents. Since it was established in mid-2012, the Boulevard House has been used to create a place-based space to develop projects, engage community and support social change. History of the Settlement House Movement The Boulevard House reflects the traditions and approach of the settlement house model in U.S. social work. Inspired by England's Toynbee Hall, the approach was adopted in the United States in the late 1880s and 1890s with such organizations as Stanton Coit's Neighborhood Guild (New York's Lower East Side), Lillian Wald's Henry Street Settlement (Manhattan) and Jane Addams' Hull House (Chicago). The term "settlement house" mirrored a belief that community outreach should be done from within a community, and the houses provided a residential and community space for those working on local social issues. Original settlement houses often taught adult education and English language classes, provided schooling for immigrants' children, organized job clubs, offered after-school recreation, initiated public health services, and advocated for improved housing for the poor and working classes. In most modern iterations, settlement houses evolved into community centers and no longer provide residential housing for its workers. United Neighborhood Centers for America is the current settlement house membership organization and estimates there are 150 active settlement houses in the U.S. Purpose The Boulevard House works for the needs and benefits of the neighborhood and larger community, using the models of community-based participatory research and empowerment evaluation. Using these models, the Boulevard House is a space for observation and discussion, creating opportunities for community engagement, action and change initiatives. It is based in community-embedded praxis, which identifies five aspects of social change needed to produce positive and sustainable effects on the social, political and economic systems. Those aspects include comprehensiveness, synchrony, integration, long-term perspective, and inclusiveness. In addition to the above, the Boulevard House adheres to certain practice principles and integrates ongoing community feedback and discovery. The principles of practice are as follows: Recognize community as a unity of identity Build on strengths and resources within the community Facilitate collaborative, equitable involvement of all partners in all phases of the research and practice Integrate knowledge and