it looks like a war zone. >> they say we are the worst city. >> welcome to my hometown. detroit michigan. >> tonight, i return home. >> all of the weapons that you want. >> with all of the questions from my hard-hit city. why is crime so high? why is corruption so rampid? >> it sounds like a kickback. substandard schools. who is in charge and who will

bring change? >> we found embezzlement, fraud, no-show jobs. >> i've got tough love for this tough as nail towns. >> i grew up here. i worked here. >> we've got to do something different. >> like bull dozen tire neighborhoods. that's pretty drastic. >> that's the reality. >> can this city turn itself around? >> i think there's a lot of good people trying. >> america now. city of heartbreak and hope. a "dateline" special. good evening and welcome to "dateline." i'm chris hansen. one-third of the city is illiterate. and 75% of kids drop out of school. this is the middle of america. i grew up in the detroit area

and just like the people who live here, i've often wondered how can this city be saved. >> people don't care. they just feel hopeless. when they don't care, this is what happens. ♪ ain't no sunshine when she's gone ♪ >> reporter: it may be hard to fathom, but this city was once the heartbeat of the american economy. detroit, michigan. >> if we saw a nation similarly situated with a piss-poor school system like the detroit public school system, where crime is running amuck, if we saw that in another nation we'd be giving them foreign aid.

>> reporter: while things seem bad across the country, detroit may be the ultimate reflection of america's pain. if you really want to get a sense of what people are up against here, just spend some time with cordette grantling. she lives in the heart of the city and ekes out a living cleaning a medical office in the suburbs. >> it's a good job. i'm thankful to have a job. >> reporter: for 15 years she says she survived off of temp work in the auto business. as it all began to dry up she took assorted jobs. and now, due to the recession, she says her hours have been cut back making it even tougher. >> by me working part-time i only get like $203 every two weeks. >> reporter: that meager income isn't enough to support her three kids, two boys and a baby girl. she says she doesn't collect welfare, but she does benefit from food stamps and social security payments for one of her

boys. all three children were abandoned as infants by their parents. cordette took them in. she's been rescuing children for 25 years. hey, you guys? come here a minute. >> this is torrieon. >> reporter: torrieon, my man, how you doing? >> this is the baby boy. he's 3 years old. >> reporter: you 3? >> and this is deonte. >> reporter: deonte. >> deonte is 11. >> reporter: as you'll soon see, cordette's story may represent both the heartbreak and the hope that is detroit. this city's future rests in part on how much someone like cordette can accomplish. why do you do it? >> because my mother left me. it's a hurting feeling. it still hurts right today. but the grace of god keeps me strong. >> i know that i have a god that delivers. >> reporter: she knows she's been strong before and can be strong again for her children's sake. detroit was strong before, too, about as strong as any city could be. >> the river rouge plant of the ford motor company, dearborn, michigan, the largest industrial unit in the world.

>> reporter: back when the auto industry was in its prime, carmakers employed hundreds of thousands of workers directly. and indirectly, the whole country benefited. millions found jobs in steel factories and auto-related businesses. it all helped forge a huge american middle class. the city of detroit was alive, had heroes. joe louis, the world's heavyweight champion. championship teams. >> the detroit american leaguers are the new world champs. ♪ nowhere to run >> reporter: and some of the best music around. but in the 1960s detroit was already beginning to lose its luster. race riots in 1967 tore the city apart.

then in the 1980s another blow as foreign automakers muscled in. >> three out of ten american auto workers are without a job right now. >> reporter: challenges that hurt the city and the nation. i grew up in the detroit suburbs. my dad was a sales executive in the auto industry. a lot of the guns -- in 1984, i returned to detroit working as a local reporter and stayed for a decade. he's admitted to police that he stole the .38 revolver out of the crack house. and as bad as things already were, there was hope things could somehow turn around. until last year when the auto industry imploded. >> on our broadcast tonight, bankrupt. general motors files for protection from its creditors. >> reporter: the crisis hit the middle class and for the first time the suburbs.

for thousands who lost jobs, security vanished in an instant. today, from the air, parts of detroit look like a war zone. factories abandoned, houses burnt out, and lots vacant. the population, once 2 million, now is less than half that. this was once the main train station. these remnants of what once were homes. and while there are still some better-off areas, even some mansions are boarded up here. what happened to detroit seems surreal, especially for those who grew up here like musician kid rock. >> you can buy a house for $1,500. >> reporter: $1,500. >> you know, but who wants to live in that neighborhood, you know? >> reporter: there are more than 400 liquor stores in detroit. but if you want to buy food, good luck. in the entire 140 square miles of the city, there are no krogers, no safeways.

there are only eight supermarkets, and they're discount stores. the bad economy certainly hasn't helped detroit's crime rate, one of the highest in the nation. or the schools, among the worst in the nation. the city government is broke and broken, leaving many in the community, like cordette grantling, frustrated and fed up. >> so much corruption and so much wrongdoing is going on and you don't trust nobody anymore. >> reporter: tonight, through cordette's eyes, you'll see just what it takes to survive here. in some ways, her struggle to save abandoned children is a lot like the struggle to resuscitate this all-but-abandoned city, a struggle that is perhaps just a more extreme example of what's happening all across america. and it's not just cordette. you're about to meet others in detroit in law enforcement, in education and in the community, who are battling the odds to save the city.

the situation is so extreme, detroit mayor dave bing says it demands radical action. his plan? bulldoze as many as 10,000 buildings and homes and literally shrink the city's borders. >> so those neighborhoods you go in and tear those places down. >> reporter: just one provocative possibility you'll hear about in a city that is virtually on life support. >> the day of reckoning is here. and we got to do something different. coming up, into the wild. but not for hunting. for dinner. >> is it good eating? >> are things really this bad? when a city of heartbreak and hope continues. (announcer) roundup extended control

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>> reporter: to what it was. to be honest, it still looks like hell. >> yeah, but it was worse. >> reporter: when the economy of a city like detroit spirals downward, it takes a toll on the neighborhoods. cordette grantling says the block where she lives now is a lot better than the one where she used to live. >> all the houses are falling apart. this one was burnt up. just because they had to move out, they threw a fire bomb in it. >> reporter: not exactly an environment to raise children in, which is one reason she moved. >> i work hard to keep my kids straight and on the right path, you know? i show them how i'm a working parent. everything i do is to show them respect and honor. >> reporter: and that's what she teaches her kids, from the time they get up. >> put your sweater on. it's cold. >> reporter: her days are long. after breakfast, she takes deonte to school, then returns home to prepare for the rest of the day. >> have to get deonte out of

school at 3:15. i have to get ready for work right behind that so have to cook dinner early. >> reporter: she takes her kids with her just about everywhere. >> thank you, big boy. i don't have a sitter or anything. no, you can't get up there. yeah, just me and these beautiful babies. >> reporter: this day, she deposits her paycheck. >> it goes very quick. this paycheck was only $182. and on this day, when she picks up deonte, she also picks up three big bags of donated clothing. >> okay. we got coats and clothes for children that are in need in the community. come on, so i can talk to you, tell you what i want done. >> reporter: in the afternoon, she leaves for her cleaning job. a neighbor keeps an eye on the kids. >> there's some juice in that refrigerator, but don't get crazy okay? >> okay. >> reporter: cordette reminds deonte to be responsible. >> that's about it.

i got to go. you know, nobody comes up here. >> reporter: not far from where cordette lives, a former reporter i know, luther keith, now a community organizer, takes me to see his old neighborhood anintroduces me to an old-timer. >> this is joe davis. >> reporter: hey, mr. davis. chris hansen. like many of his generation, mr. davis says he moved to detroit from the south for a factory job with ford. how has this neighborhood changed? >> oh, man, changed a whole lot. and it just -- this hurts me to look at it. >> reporter: why do you stay? >> i don't want to stay. my wife is keeping me here. my wife. >> reporter: what's the saddest thing you see when you look around the city? >> how people's tearing up things. >> reporter: and what's the best thing about this city for you? >> i don't know. what about it, duke? what the best? >> it -- the best is all gone. >> reporter: the best is all

gone you say. >> the best is all gone. >> reporter: for their generation, an auto job guaranteed good pay and benefits for life. and you didn't need a college degree. and that's what tom douglas was counting on. thanks to his desk job at ford, he bought this house in the suburbs. >> ford was very good to me and my family. >> reporter: 19 years? >> yes. yes. it opened doors that i had never imagined. life was good. >> reporter: michigan's auto workers at the peak in 1978 numbered nearly 500,000. but then one plant after another shut down. by 2009, the workforce dwindled to less than 100,000. the middle class, and especially middle-class african-americans, have been hit hard. tom douglas was one of the casualties. >> never thought i'd be on the brink of being uninsured, jobless, collecting unemployment. >> reporter: now the douglas family is trying to save their home and turning to others for help, like the food bank at

their son's school, which sends home a backpack full of free food every week. cordette understands what it's like to struggle to feed her family. like many in detroit, she relies on food stamps. she considers herself fortunate because she has a car, and she can drive to the discount supermarket closest to her. she buys mostly canned goods. >> we don't have a fresh produce supplier around us. it's noodles. people love their noodles. i pay for it with a food stamp card. >> it's going to be $58.36. >> okay. >> reporter: nutrition is a critical problem. not only do many families depend on schools to feed their kids, at least one man here is offering a unique choice for dinner in difficult times. by day, glemie beasley is a blues musician. but at night, he traps raccoons in detroit and hunts them outside the city limits. he skins them in his backyard. one raccoon will feed four people? >> yeah.

>> reporter: he prepares the meat, freezes it, cooks it for himself. is it good eating? >> oh, yeah. >> reporter: and even sells it to others. his customer base is small, he says, but in these hard times, growing. >> we have bananas. we have pears. >> reporter: detroit's desperation has inspired more practical forms of innovation. a group of churches sends this truck into the neighborhoods with fruits and vegetables. and on a bigger scale, some of detroit's vacant lots are being converted into, of all things, urban farms. that's where cordette gets some of her produce. taja sevelle came up with the concept. it's odd to see crops off linwood avenue. i mean, it's really strange. >> yeah. no, it is.

i mean, but it's cool. i've had people coming up to me crying and just saying, "thank you for putting these gardens in because we don't know how we would have fed our family." >> reporter: they have 800 gardens in detroit alone, she says, funded by corporate sponsors. the food is free, and anyone can take it. >> listen, we want to get rid of hunger in our generation. and we believe it will happen. >> reporter: but besides limited access to food, there's another reality to worry about in a city like detroit. >> my children cannot come outside by theyself. i try to explain to them, "it's not that you don't have no freedom, but i'm trying to keep you safe." coming up -- detroit drowning in crime. we hit the streets. can the new chief clean up this town?

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lord god, i just thank you for being my father today. >> reporter: it's a saturday morning, and on one of detroit's

countless vacant lots, cordette grantling joins a weekly prayer group. >> i thank you for blessing me today, to be allowed to be a mother, lord jesus. >> reporter: she says she is grateful that her kids are safe. detroit has had a serious crime problem for decades, but now cordette says it can feel like the wild west. >> we used to be able to play in backyards, swings, swim. none of that. if i'm not there you can't do it. because i don't know what might happen. you could be sexually molested. you could be turned onto drugs. who knows? and i'm not going take that chance. >> reporter: she's already been down that path with andre. he's the first child she took in, 25 years ago, when he was abandoned by his mother, who cordette says was addicted to crack. cordette struggled to keep him out of trouble, but he found his share of it anyway. >> the streets swallowed him up real fast. he thought that he knew everything. >> reporter: like so many young men here, andre dropped out of school, became a teen father and landed in jail.

>> credit card fraud. i started beating up on people, taking they money. >> you'll reap what you sow doing that. >> reporter: but now he's back living with cordette and trying to stay out of harm's way. this is what happens just about every day in detroit. >> no, no. >> reporter: a young man shot to death, his family distraught. >> that's my cousin, man. that's my cousin, man. >> he's gone, isn't he? is he gone or is there any chance? >> i don't think so. >> okay. >> reporter: at the murder scene a face you probably wouldn't see in most big cities, the police chief. warren evans, who has a law degree, used to be the county sheriff. >> not much we can do here, inspector. >> reporter: he took over the

police department last year. if you could send one single message to criminals in this city, what would it be? >> the paradigm's going to change. we can no longer be the city that tolerates behaviors that nobody else tolerates and then wonder why we're the city that has more homicides than others. >> reporter: there were more than 1,300 shootings in detroit last year and 364 murders, the vast majority of the victims african-american. per capita, detroit's murder rate is seven times that of new york city. >> i know kids who are 19 and 20 years old have been shot three and four times. >> reporter: three and four times? >> absolutely. because they do gang warfare, chris. >> you got it? >> reporter: chief evans has made getting guns off the streets a priority. every night, cops encounter young men who are armed. this night, they catch one and recover his gun. >> yeah, baby. here, unload this for me. >> it's a little piece of junk, but they kill a lot of people, don't they? >> reporter: part of his strategy, stop minor violations now to prevent bigger crimes later. >> just relax. >> reporter: but he's short-handed. >> good evening. >> reporter: 20 years ago,

detroit had more than 4,500 police officers. today, fewer than 3,000. >> i can't hire anybody else. you know the city's broke. >> reporter: but with the city in a fiscal crisis, he says he's learning to do more with less. >> homicides have gone down for the last four months. and the reason that is, is because we're starting to get out in front of the shootings. >> reporter: he's reduced desk jobs to put more officers in the field. and he's pushing everyone to do better. >> if my old butt can get out here and grab a gun you all can grab ten. you're doing a wonderful job, and i appreciate it. >> reporter: including himself. two nights a week chief evans goes on patrol. >> what's going on, fellows? hey, fellows? >> reporter: and when he sees a gathering in an abandoned garage, his team moves in. >> grab that one. >> what were you guys doing in there? >> nothing. >> reporter: it seems some have been drinking and gambling.

>> 24? you really showing the kids how to live, huh? >> reporter: the chief sends them on their way. >> you think you guys can find your houses, go somewhere else and not loiter and hang around out here? >> hell yeah, i promise you i can. i promise you. >> okay, scoot. >> reporter: it would be easy to say, "hey, they're just throwin' dice," and keep going and look for something more serious. why is it important to make your presence known? >> no good was going to come from that. there's a 26-year-old, 27-year-old guy over there, another guy admittedly is drinking. here's a 13-year-old and 14-year-old over here. i mean, the mixture just isn't good or right. >> reporter: another mixture he worries about, suburban kids coming into the city to buy drugs. that's what they suspect this group is up to. >> you're down in detroit contributing to our crime

problem. then you're going to run back. >> reporter: chief evans lets them off with a warning, too. >> why don't you guys go home take a deep breath and let me not see you under these circumstances anymore? >> reporter: situations like that are exactly what cordette prays her kids will avoid, especially andre, who's moved into the basement. he says he's trying to be a role model for his younger siblings and trying to stay out of jail. now without your -- >> mother. >> reporter: -- mother here, where would you be today? >> actually either dead or in jail. >> reporter: either dead or in jail. and you're certain of that? >> uh-huh. >> reporter: but what opportunity is there in detroit for a young man like andre? a high school dropout with a criminal record. cordette is pushing him to go for his ged. as for her younger kids, she knows that staying in school is their only hope. >> they can't do nothing without education. they have to have it. coming up -- kids head to school, not to study on computers but to steal them. and what about the adults? >> you found embezzlement, fraud. are you an administrator or a law enforcement official? when america now: a city of

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what's that? >> a dog. >> what's that? >> a cat. >> woo-hoo. gimme five. >> reporter: on any given evening, cordette grantling works with her children at home. her little one's coloring. 11-year-old deonte doing homework. he's in fifth grade but reading

at only a second grade level. still she's hopeful. and when you dream about their future, what do you see? >> i see doctors. i see lawyers. i want to push them to do something positive. >> reporter: but the chances for success in detroit's schools are slim at best. nearly three-quarters of students here drop out. and many who do graduate still aren't up to par. detroit recently achieved a dubious distinction, the lowest scores ever on a leading national math test. and the schools are in fiscal crisis. this year started with a $200 million deficit. the impact is clear. imagine trying to learn in a classroom that looks like this. i mean, the floor is basically rotted out. >> this floor is rotted out. things are so bad the governor appointed an emergency manager, robert bobb. it's a beat-up building. >> it is a beat-up building. >> reporter: he gave us a tour of mumford high, once one of the city's best. >> this is also a science lab, where we did not have running water. >> reporter: how could you have

a science lab without running water? >> that's one of the tragedies of the detroit public schools. >> a dispute that begins between two groups in the halls of denby high school. >> reporter: school violence is another tragedy. >> the detroit police bomb squad -- >> reporter: in march, a 13-year-old brought a homemade bomb to school. during the summer session, two masked gunmen ran through this gas station to a bus stop near a school. they shot seven people, including five students. robert bobb went to see the victims. i'm guessing that visiting a student who was shot outside of a public school was not listed as one of the conditions in your contract. >> no, it wasn't. but these were my kids. >> reporter: adding to the mess, there's brazen theft. so far this school year, thieves like these, seen on surveillance video, have stolen nearly $800,000 worth of computers. and corruption has been rampant for years. >> case number 0923. >> reporter: this woman was a teacher's aide. >> your honor, i want the court to be aware that this is a violation of public trust. >> reporter: but she was part of

ring that embezzled more than $50,000 from the schools. she pleaded guilty to fraud. >> i'm sorry that it happened. >> reporter: her sentence -- probation. it's just one of more than 260 cases involving all sorts of wrongdoing that robert bobb's investigators have taken on in an effort to crack down. so you've found embezzlement, fraud, no-show jobs, double-dipping. are you an administrator or are you a law enforcement official? >> well, we are doing what's necessary to get money directly to the classroom, where real teaching and learning should be taking place for our kids. >> reporter: one of his hardest tasks, persuading parents to trust a failed system. in the past decade, detroit's public schools have lost half their student population to attrition and charter schools. >> this is your son? >> it's my nephew. >> reporter: bobb has taken his pitch to the streets with help from the likes of bill cosby.

>> you were not afraid? >> no. >> why? >> because i like school. >> listen. >> reporter: detroit's schools need all the help they can get, says robert bobb. and they are getting help from people like pam good. she's a suburban mom who created a nonprofit program that tutors 5,000 detroit students a year, including deonte, cordette's fifth-grader, who, remember, is reading at only a second-grade level. s-s-s. >> s-s-s. >> can you echo it after me? [ sounds out ] >> awesome. good job. >> he comes with a lot of struggles. at the same time, we felt that we could help him. and that's absolutely what's happening. >> reporter: mind if i sit in for a minute? her volunteers include teens from brother rice, the suburban catholic high school i went to. >> when there's a period there, take a pause when you're reading. okay? >> in 1945, my grandfather became a pilot with the air force. >> these children matter. it isn't too late. they get it. >> reporter: and cordette gets that to keep kids on the right track, parents have to do their part. >> you coming to the next lsco meeting? >> reporter: she's president of

the community organization at deonte's school. >> excuse me, sweetheart. can i talk to you for a minute? you here to fight with somebody? >> yes. >> okay, but is it worth it you going to jail? >> no. >> reporter: when she sees trouble brewing outside the school, like this young man with a stick apparently looking to settle a score, she steps in. >> everybody running in the building saying you out here going crazy. watch out for somebody that's up here with a bat and all that. so just calm down so you don't get in trouble, okay? because it ain't worth for all that. >> reporter: can it be turned around? >> yes. >> reporter: will it be turned around? >> absolutely. >> reporter: robert bobb is beefing up security, and his investigators have snagged some of those thieves, figuring out where they were breaking in and catching them in the act with police on hand to make arrests. bobb is shutting down dozens of the worst schools and pushing to

build new ones. he's also putting some new people in charge. >> this is the new principal. >> reporter: at mumford high, he brought in mario morrow. now, you and i go back a little ways. >> right. >> both: michigan state. >> reporter: morrow, a longtime educator, left a public relations job with the state to come here. >> i'm ready and i'm willing. we're working hard. everybody in the community is excited. we're going to turn this around. >> reporter: but only two months into the job morrow quit, telling a local reporter he felt he was beating his head against the wall. no one said it would be easy. nothing in detroit is. like that $200 million school budget deficit. robert bobb promised to bring it down. but in spite of his best efforts, it now looks like it's going up to $300 million. if schools don't improve significantly what's going to happen to the city? >> serious decline. just don't think failure is an option for the city of detroit. coming up -- baron and now

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>> reporter: cordette grantling says faith is what helps her make it through the day. she attends church twice a week and often manages to make a small donation. >> right. god bless you. i love you. >> aw, all right, look at here. thank you. >> reporter: but she says her faith has been tested by seemingly endless corruption in local government, one case after another, for years. >> they robbing us and they disrespecting us because we voted them in for a purpose, and that's to lead and help the people. >> reporter: in 2002, a young new mayor, kwame kilpatrick, took over. >> and i pledge to you today -- >> reporter: and promised to root out corruption. but in 2008, he left office in disgrace, ousted in a sex scandal. he pleaded guilty to obstruction

of justice and went to jail. now out on parole, he's still under investigation, this time as part of a bribery probe by the fbi. >> kwame kilpatrick got off track. detroit's paying for it now. >> reporter: sam riddle is a veteran detroit insider. he may epitomize the unique political culture of this city. >> the reality is that the culture of corruption thrives still as we sit here in detroit. >> reporter: riddle may find it easy to point fingers, but ironically, he's under indictment himself. federal prosecutors allege that he helped his former boss, city councilwoman monica conyers, collect bribes. you're accused of being monica conyers' bagman. >> and to that i say so what. >> reporter: so what? >> so what. my position is this, and that is that i am innocent. i am willing to go before a jury, which i will do, and assert that innocence. god bless america.

love you guys. >> reporter: in fact, he did go before a jury earlier this year. but the jury deadlocked and the judge declared a mistrial. riddle's former boss, monica conyers, is the wife of democratic congressman john conyers. she pleaded guilty to bribery and has been sentenced to three years in prison. and riddle doesn't deny that he benefitted from an usual deal facilitated by monica conyers. a local businessman, who she said might need a favor, paid riddle $20,000. he says he did very little for the money but had to hand over half the cash to conyers. >> the councilwoman demanded, if you will, a finder's fee from me. >> reporter: finder's fee sounds like kickback. >> well, it can sound like kickback all day long. i'm giving you the reality, a detroit reality that may not be a very pretty picture to some. all i'm telling you is what occurred. >> reporter: sam riddle. you know sam? >> yes. >> reporter: told me that that's just the way things work in detroit. >> i don't accept that. if that's the way things worked in the past, then we need it to be the past. our future will not tolerate that.

>> reporter: mayor dave bing is determined to transform the way people think and behave in detroit. so that's your old pistons jersey? >> that's the old pistons jersey. that's it. >> reporter: bing is a basketball legend from the 1960s and '70s. after retiring from the nba, he found more success building a company that supplied steel to the auto industry. he became mayor in a special election in may 2009. he was re-elected in november. >> this is a great city. it can be a great city again. >> reporter: first priority, he says, tackling the deficit, which is more than $325 million. >> expenses are still way, way too high. you know, it's a tough situation. >> reporter: could this city actually go broke? >> absolutely, yes. >> reporter: to drive home his message, bing gave his salary, all but one dollar of it, to the police department. and when he forced city employees to take a 10% pay cut, he reduced his dollar to 90 cents.

>> we are in this together. and we're either going to swim or sink together. >> reporter: how does the situation here in detroit affect the rest of the country? >> i think it's huge. what happens in detroit, number one, affects all of southeastern michigan and all of michigan. and also, the country. i mean, we've put the world on wheels. we've put the motown sound around the world. everybody remembers that. and those days are gone. >> mayor dave bing. >> reporter: to really breathe life into detroit, mayor bing says it'll take a huge amount of help from washington, beyond the billons already handed to the auto industry. president obama has not been here since you've taken office. >> no. we have talked. i am sure he will come here. i think he has got a full plate himself right now. >> reporter: do you think you can take him in a game of one-on-one? >> oh, sure. he may say no, but yeah. i think so.

>> reporter: the federal government is helping detroit with aid to education, housing and jobs. but, mayor bing says, it'll take a lot more to revitalize this community after so many decades of decay. i grew up here. i worked here. i've kept a close eye on this place. and it seems to me that every time detroit takes two steps forward, it takes one step back. >> well, i intend to take three steps forward and maybe one step back. and that's going to be an improvement. >> reporter: and one step he's talking about taking is an extreme one, actually shrinking the city. there are entire neighborhoods that are like ghost towns. are you going to have to just write some of those off and say, "look, nobody's going to live there anymore." >> the answer is yes. >> reporter: that's pretty drastic. >> but that's the reality. coming up -- a rock star to

the rescue? >> i give a lot of love to this city and i get a lot of love back. >> his own plan for change. >> when america now: a city of heartbreak and hope continues. ♪ ♪ this is the a-b-c of a perfect harmony. ♪ ♪ hey. ♪ hey. ♪ hey. ♪ hey. ♪ the a-b-c of l-o-v-e. ♪ the a-b-c of l-o-v-e. ♪ hey. ♪ hey. ♪ hey. ♪ hey. so send us your answers today. and mail back the census. because they're the first step

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>> reporter: in spite of all the challenges, cordette grantling's spirit is unbroken. >> if you have a roof over your head and some food to put in your stomach and clothes and shoes to put on your back and your feet, you can make it, you can make it. >> and if you believe that great things -- >> reporter: all of detroit is praying for a miracle. ♪ great things >> reporter: at this church. putting their hope in hybrid cars. technology that might just help detroit rise again. ♪ great things

>> the thing that makes it such a great city is the people in and around detroit. and you'd just like to take that spirit and somehow just -- >> reporter: harness it. >> yeah, just give it, you know, a makeover and see it thrive. >> reporter: kid rock grew up outside the city but was drawn here as teenager, inspired by the music and culture. you can see it in his video "roll on." >> i was just really trying to capture the people and the spirit, not trying to show it as everything's great. not trying to show it as everything's bad. but just trying to say, "this is our city. we should be proud of it." >> reporter: he says he feels an obligation to give back to the city that's given so much to him. >> i give a lot of love to the city. i get a lot of love back. i mean, if i was living in l.a. i'd just be another fruitcake out there, you know. >> reporter: this past summer, at the stadium where the tigers

play baseball, he gave a series of concerts offering affordable tickets and drawing tens of thousands of fans into the heart of detroit. he also has a new business venture. so this is the badass beer. cheers. >> it is. >> reporter: he insisted on brewing the beer in michigan, he says, to create local jobs. >> it might actually work, too. people might actually drink it. >> reporter: can this city turn itself around? >> i don't know. i hope so. i'll be here. i'll be here trying. i think there's a lot of good people here trying. >> reporter: like tom douglas, even though he's lost his job at ford and his family may lose their home in the suburbs. do you think you'll make it? >> i have faith. >> reporter: he's regrouping, back in college studying engineering, with kids half his age. >> so how did you do?

>> reporter: and in a desolate area near downtown, there's a restaurateur who's opened a french bistro. an improbable success. the movie industry is an unexpected one. thanks to a generous state tax break, hollywood has been shooting scores of films in the detroit area. like "the vanishing on 7th street," starring hayden christensen of "star wars" fame. >> it's a privilege. and they're opening up all the doors for us, and the city's been great. >> reporter: a bright spot. a sign that maybe, just maybe, this community will see better days. mayor bing thinks it will, and he's pushing a bold plan. all that vacant and abandoned property adds up to at least 40 square miles. that's about the size of the city of buffalo. bing wants to tear down abandoned houses, clear out entire neighborhoods that the city can no longer support and literally downsize.

>> the same services that you have to provide for a thriving inner city neighborhood, you can't continue to do that for a neighborhood that has one or two homes there. you can't afford to do it. so people are going to have to be upset with me, but i've got to do what i need to do. >> reporter: but how do you move folks out of their house? do you say, "hey, you got to go. we're going to find you another nice house over here"? >> that's what you got to do. and i mean, that's going to be the toughest sell of my life. >> reporter: that's pretty drastic. >> but that's the reality. >> reporter: bing says don't count detroit out, at least not yet. >> i'm not dreaming, not smoking anything. i really think and believe that this city will come back. cordette grantling hopes so, for the sake of her children. like deonte, her fifth grader, whose tutors now say is reading at grade level. >> high fives. >> yeah, all right. >> reporter: cordette dreams of

the day he gets his high school diploma. >> whoo. i'll be the proudest mother there is. recently she's been in court seeking guardianship of the younger ones. for torrieon, it's now official. >> i am full guardian over him. i am his mother now. >> reporter: you've taken in six. are you done? >> no. i don't feel that i'm done. i feel some more is coming. >> reporter: her son andre now realizes she's been his guardian angel. what do you say to her? >> if it wasn't because of you, i would not be here. >> reporter: and you mean that. okay. >> you going to be all right. you got to step up and be that man you got to be. >> reporter: for now, she's living day-to-day, getting her kids fed and out the door each morning, and through it all, setting an example, not only for

her kids but for detroit and for all of us. >> they say we the worstest city there is. we not the worst city. it's what people are working with. we have hope in the city. we just need the help. >> reporter: she needs it now more than ever. she recently lost her job because of a health problem. some encouraging news. the mayor's demolition plan has begun. on a personal note, i still consider myself a detroiter. it's been especially hard to watch what has happened to the city. i see some reason for optimism but, realistically, it could take ten or even 20 years. you can learn more about the people trying to turn things