My father was in the Navy so I grew up moving frequently and know what it is like to wish that I lived in beautiful home. I believe that everyone deserves to live in beautiful home, and consequently I have been frustrated by the notion that “affordable housing” must be unattractive. There is simply no reason why inexpensive homes cannot be lovely, charming, and wonderful. This has been one of my guiding principles when building affordable housing in Portland, Maine in the early 1980’s; in Key West in the 1980’s and 1990’s; and currently in Marathon, Florida.

In 2003, the Singh Company began renovating the dilapidated Overseas Motel in Marathon, into a delightful community of 13 affordable homes. We preserved a streetscape with a sense of history and accentuated its historic character with lush landscaping and white-picket fences. The Village reverberates with the sense of community and is a place to truly call home. We collaborated on this great project with the Middle Keys Community Land Trust, a non-profit whose dual mission is to provide the opportunity of home ownership to those who would otherwise not be able to afford it, and to create a long-term bank of affordable housing.

Another significant part of my philanthropic work has focused on the support of education. In 1985, I provided the seed money to found the first Sikh school in North America, located in Canada. Since then I have provided the funding to establish or substantially renovate six schools in the United States. The most recent was a school I was invited to visit in Marathon.

The Grace Jones Day Care serves children that range from 8 weeks to 10 years old, providing inexpensive childcare for mothers that cannot afford to remain out of the workforce. During the visit I passed through the nursery and saw these little tiny babies, each in a blanket in their own crib, sleeping peacefully. I was touched by what I saw and knew I wanted to help. The school is located in rundown building that had not been renovated since its days as the segregated school in the 1940’s and 1950’s. I partnered with a committee of like-minded citizens who believed in the institution and wanted to rebuild the decaying school. I offered to design a beautiful new building and put up $300,000.00 of the money to construct it. My architectural plans show a building evocative of a fantasy castle complete with spires and flags. It was designed in this way because I believe each of these children deserved to come to school where they felt like they were a prince or a princes. I wanted to provide a place where these children could go to be in touch with beauty, especially those whose lives might not provide these opportunities otherwise. Construction of the new Grace Jones Community Center will begin soon.