Photograph by Brett Carlsen  |  East Side.  Flint, Michigan.  |  Canon EOS 5D Mark III  EF35mm f/1.4L USM  ISO 100 1/200 at f/2.0

Photograph by Brett Carlsen  |  Leshia Drankwine, 49 of Flint, has been working as a seamstress here for over three years and was made full time in January, “not too many people willing to give a convicted felon a second chance”.  St. Lukes N.E.W. Life Center is home to a small employer of seamstresses that work to create scrubs and other items for the community using workers that were formerly in prison or other programs.  |  Canon EOS 5D Mark III  EF35mm f/1.4L USM  ISO 100 1/60 at f/2.0

Photograph by Brett Carlsen  |  Willie McClure Jr. 19, hugs a congreagation member after it was announced he was awarded the Gates Millennium Scholarship.  Word of Life Christian Church holds a service at their house of Worship in Flint, Michigan.  |  Canon EOS 5D Mark III  EF35mm f/1.4L USM  ISO 200 1/250 at f/2.8

Photograph by Brett Carlsen  |  The now vacant area that was home to Buick City, a sprawling General Motors manufacturing facility.  |  Canon EOS 5D Mark III  EF24-70mm f/2.8L II USM  at 70mm  ISO 100 1/160 at f/5.6

Photographs by Brett Carlsen  |  Members of the organization “Be The Church” work to clean and board up abandoned homes in troubled Flint neighborhoods.  The group is formed from many churches in and outside of Flint, using hundreds of volunteers.  |  Canon EOS 5D Mark III  EF24-70mm f/2.8L II USM at 24mm  ISO 100 1/125 at f/5.6

Photograph by Brett Carlsen  |  ”No Good” fires up a blunt before starting to make a beat in a makeshift hotel room recording studio.  |  Canon EOS 5D Mark III  EF35mm f/1.4L USM  ISO 1250 1/200 at f/2.0

Photograph by Brett Carlsen  |  A dealer pets the 6 week old pit bull he received 2 days prior between rounds of shooting dice.  Making money from the streets is something that happens at a young age for most, with no legal opportunities for income, the drug trade offers great money at high risk.  |  Canon EOS 5D Mark III  EF85mm f/1.2L II USM  ISO 400 1/100 at f/1.2

Photograph by Brett Carlsen  |  Gene Reid is the owner of the Fenton Road Tavern in Flint, Michigan and also advertises a side business of making RIP t-shirts on signs across the city.  Reid commented on the long term changes in his business as the economy of Flint changed by saying “If you drink you drink. You ain’t quitting. It don’t matter how much money you got.”  |  Canon EOS 5D Mark III  EF35mm f/1.4L USM  ISO 1600 1/200 at f/1.8

Photograph by Brett Carlsen  |  ”Jody”, a jobless 38 year old Flint native, strips a discarded mattress he found before placing it on the pile he has on a waiting shopping cat.  By removing the fabric and cushioning, “Jody” can take the remaining springs in for scrap and get two dollars each which he says is helpful when you’re homeless like he is.  |  Canon EOS 5D Mark III  EF24-70mm f/2.8L II USM at 35mm  ISO 100 1/2500 at f/2.8

Photograph by Brett Carlsen  |  A mattress rests in the corner of a room at an abandoned home in Flint, Michigan.  Many homes, like this one, are unworthy of renovation but stand vacant as no one can afford to have them demolished.  |  Canon EOS 5D Mark III  EF24-70mm f/2.8L II USM at 24mm  ISO 400 1/100 at f/4.0