Why Downriver’s Best Kept Secret Deserves to Be Known
The Story of The Information Center and Why We Help People
People around here have a nickname for us.
They call us “Downriver’s best kept secret.”
And honestly? We’ve worn that name with a little bit of pride for a long time. There’s something special about being the place people discover right when they need you most, the number a neighbor presses into your hand, the lifeline a hospital social worker mentions on your hardest day, the help a friend swears by because it changed everything for their family.
Being someone’s best kept secret means you’ve earned their trust. It means that when they found you, you came through.
But here’s the thing about being a secret.
The people who need us most are the ones who haven’t found us yet.
And that’s the reason we’re finally ready to stop being a secret. Not because we want the spotlight. But because somewhere in our community, right now, there’s a daughter trying to keep her dad out of a nursing home, a student one bill away from dropping out, a man in a nursing facility who doesn’t know he could go home, and they don’t know we exist.
This is the story of who we are. And why we’d rather share the secret than keep it.
What We Do, in Three Words
People ask us all the time what The Information Center actually does. We run a lot of programs, and we’ll get to those. But if you want the real answer, the one that fits on a sticky note, the one that’s true on our best day and our hardest day, it’s three words.
We help people.
That’s it. That’s the whole thing.
Older adults who want to stay in their homes. Adults with disabilities who want to live independently. Family caregivers who are running on empty. Students trying to stay enrolled. People who lost a job and need to find work. Families facing an eviction notice, a utility shutoff, a diagnosis, a crisis they didn’t see coming.
When they call us, we help. Sometimes that means one of our own programs. Sometimes it means connecting them to a partner who’s a better fit. Sometimes it just means being a calm, knowledgeable voice on the phone when everything else feels like chaos.
Whatever it takes to help the person in front of us. That’s the job. That’s always been the job.
Who We Actually Are
The Information Center is a community-based nonprofit. We’re headquartered in Taylor, Michigan, and we’ve been serving Wayne County, Downriver, and Monroe County for decades.
We’re not a hospital. We’re not an insurance company. We’re not a faceless government agency. We’re a local nonprofit made up of people who live in this community and chose this work because they care about it.
Our team includes nurses, social workers, community health workers, transition navigators, options counselors, and intake specialists. They’re the people who pick up the phone when you call. The ones who sit with you at your kitchen table. The ones who walk you through the paperwork, find your new apartment, stock your pantry, and check in months later just to see how you’re doing.
If you’ve read any of our client stories, you’ve met some of them by name, Kathryn, Paris, Marsha, Elaine, Margreta. Those aren’t marketing names. Those are real people on our team who showed up for real families. And there are many more like them.
Here’s how one family put it after we helped their loved one: “I found a couple of angels. I couldn’t believe it.” That’s the team. That’s who answers the phone.
Why We Do It
There’s a moment that happens over and over in this work.
It’s the moment someone realizes they’re not alone anymore. The caregiver who finally gets a full night’s sleep because respite care showed up. The man who spent four years in a nursing facility and walks into his own apartment for the first time. The student who was about to quit and instead makes it to graduation. The family who thought a nursing home was their only option and learned mom can stay home after all.
In that moment, something shifts. The weight lifts. The fear quiets. And you can see a person remember that their life is still theirs.
That’s why we do this.
Not for recognition. Not for credit. We do it because everyone deserves to live with dignity, independence, and the support to make it through the hard parts. We do it because our community is full of people who are one phone call away from real help, and we want to be that phone call.
Support for today. Independence for tomorrow.
The Real Cost of Being a Secret
Being a best kept secret feels good. But it has a cost and the cost isn’t ours to pay. It’s paid by the people who never find us.
Every time someone moves a parent into a nursing home without knowing MI Choice Medicaid Waiver Program could have kept them in their own home, that’s the cost of being a secret.
Every time a student drops out over a bill that the Student Assistance Program could have helped with, that’s the cost.
Every time someone in a nursing facility gives up on the idea of independence, not knowing Community Transition Services could help them get home, that’s the cost.
Every time a family in crisis doesn’t know there’s a free, confidential number they could call for help finding their way, that’s the cost.
We’re not willing to keep paying it. The people who need us deserve to know we’re here. So we’re telling our story louder, in blogs like this one, on social media, in every conversation we have, because the more people who know what we do, the more people we can help.
To Our Community Partners
We can’t do this alone. And we never have.
Some of the most important people in our story aren’t on our staff at all. They’re the hospital social workers who refer patients to us. The discharge planners who trust us with their most vulnerable cases. The pastors who keep our number in their desk drawer. The clinic staff, the school counselors, the nonprofit directors, the elected officials, and the neighbors who tell other neighbors, “Call The Information Center. They can help.”
Every one of those people is part of how the safety net holds. When a referral partner shares our number, they’re not just passing along a phone number, they’re making sure someone doesn’t fall through the cracks.
So to every partner reading this: thank you. Thank you for sharing our number. Thank you for trusting us with the people you serve. Together, we mend the safety net, one family, one referral, one phone call at a time.
And if you run an organization that serves the same families we do, a hospital, a clinic, a church, a school, a nonprofit, we’d love to be on your speed dial, and we’d love for you to be on ours. The stronger our partnerships, the fewer people slip through.
Community partners: call us at 734-282-7171 to talk about how we can work together. The families we both serve are counting on the connections we build.
When Should You Call Us?
Here’s the simplest answer we can give: when life gets hard and you’re not sure where to turn, call us.
You don’t need to know which program you need. You don’t need to have it all figured out. You don’t even need to be sure we’re the right place. Just call. If we can help, we will. If someone else is a better fit, we’ll point you to them. Either way, you won’t leave the conversation more lost than you started it.
Call us if:
• You’re caring for an aging parent and you’re overwhelmed
• You or a loved one wants to stay home but needs more support to do it
• Someone you love is in a nursing facility and wants to come home
• You’re a WCCCD student struggling to stay enrolled
• You’re looking for a job or trying to build new skills
• You’re facing a long-term care decision and don’t know your options
• You’re in a crisis and you just need someone to help you find the next step
• You’re not sure, but something’s hard, and you need help
One number. Real help. Every time.
Help Us Share the Secret
If this blog made you think of someone, a friend, a family member, a neighbor, a student, a patient, here’s the most helpful thing you can do: tell them about us.
Share this story. Save our number in your phone. Mention us the next time someone you know is struggling and doesn’t know where to turn. You don’t have to have the answers. You just have to point them to the people who do.
Because the best secrets aren’t the ones you keep. They’re the ones you share with someone who needs them.
We’ve been Downriver’s best kept secret long enough. Help us become Downriver’s first call for help.