Detroit Metro CVB to Host 30,000 Youth for ELCA Youth Gathering

DETROIT, July 9, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau will welcome 30,000 youth at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) Youth Gathering July 15-19.

Held every three years, the ELCA Youth Gathering is a ministry for youth (ages 14-18) and their adult leaders that includes worship, service, fellowship, study and holy play. The group is projected to use 50,000 hotel room nights while in the region, and pump $30 million into the local economy.

The group's activities will be concentrated in downtown Detroit, but attendees will be housed in hotels across the region. Metro Detroit hotels, restaurants, Cobo Center, Ford Field and Hart Plaza will be buzzing with action throughout the week.

This year's event will consist of approximately 600 community projects. From July 16-18 students and adults will have the opportunity to partner with local organizations in and around the city for a day of Service Learning. These community outreach efforts, called "Proclaim Justice," focus on the areas of housing, education, environmental sustainability, cultural immersion/arts, food/food justice and care in communities. Approximately 10,000 participants will work each of the three days, totaling 220 busloads per day.

Examples of projects include feeding the hungry; making improvements to blighted houses, parks and community gardens; working in neighborhoods that support the arts, cultural identity and family structure; and partnering with schools on learning and leadership initiatives.

The Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau is a private, not-for-profit organization whose mission is to market and sell the metropolitan Detroit area on a worldwide basis as a destination for leisure and business travel including conventions, trade shows, corporate meetings, tours and incentive travel to maximize additional visitors, visitor expenditures, state and local tax revenues, and job opportunities.

More than 700 businesses are represented in the DMCVB's membership. The DMCVB was founded in 1896 as the world's first convention and visitors bureau. visitdetroit.com

SOURCE Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau

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