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The Greening of Detroit

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The Greening of Detroit
Formation1989
TypeNonprofit resource agency
Location
ServicesReforestation, Urban forestry, Urban farming, Job training and workforce development, Environmental education
President
Lionel Bradford
Director of Programs
Monica Tabares
AffiliationsBank of America
Budget
USD $3.8 million (approximate)
Websitegreeningofdetroit.com

The Greening of Detroit is an urban forestry program and non-profit partner in The Detroit Partnership; it was founded in 1989.[1] In addition to planting trees in the Detroit area, the organization engages in urban forestry education, job training, and other community programs.[2] In 2011, Greening planted 12,156 trees in Detroit,[3] and as of November 2017 has planted over 100,000 trees in the city since the organization's inception.[1][4] The organization is involved in urban farming, working to maintain and improve urban farms in Detroit.[5] Greening is also working to improve air quality.[6] Its annual operating budget is approximately $3.8 million.[7] Lionel Bradford is the president of The Greening of Detroit.[5][8]

Programs

The Greening of Detroit's Lafayette Greens garden

The organization works to coordinate and utilize vacant lots in Detroit for urban gardens and tree nurseries.[9] Produce grown in the gardens is used to provide Detroit citizens with food, and trees grown in the converted vacant lots are replanted in the city.[9] The conversion of the vacant lots also improves their appearance and serves to reduce vandalism.[9][10]

At Romanowski Park in Detroit, The Greening of Detroit has partnered with area schools to educate students about nutrition and gardening during the growing season.[9]

The group is working to use bioremediation techniques to restore contaminated land in the city, including an abandoned lot owned by Detroit Public Schools.[11]

Detroit Conservation Corp

The organization's Detroit Conservation Corp. (DCC) workforce development program was started in 2006, in partnership with LaSalle Bank.[12] This job training program was developed "to provide unemployed Detroiters with valuable job training and certification in the green industry."[12] This partnership has continued with Bank of America (which acquired LaSalle Bank in 2007),[13] which provided a $200,000 grant for the Detroit Conservation Corp (Formerly GreenWorks) program in 2012.[12] The Detroit Conservation Corp program provides training for jobs in landscaping, agriculture and forestry, and upon completion of the program, participants are afforded an opportunity to take the Landscape Industry Certification exam.[12]

Green Corps

The Greening of Detroit employs 200 students in their Green Corps program every summer. The employees are picked from a pool of 2,000 prospects, and the jobs pay minimum wage.[5] In the process of their work to maintain various plantings in Detroit, Green Corps employees also learn about urban ecology.[9]

Controversy

According to a report by Christine E. Carmichael, a researcher from the University of Michigan, during Greening’s tree planting in Detroit from 2011 to 2014, 24% of residents submitted a "no-tree request",[14] more than 1,800 out of the 7,425 possible trees.[15] Although they recognized the benefits of urban forestry, their personal experiences with the city government’s initial deforestation of the area after the 1967 Detroit riot led to distrust. The city government’s stated reason for deforesting the area was to control the spread of Dutch elm disease, including spraying DDT from helicopters over residential areas, but some African-American women interviewed by Carmichael viewed the deforestation and helicopters as increased surveillance of their communities in response to racial tensions, and consequently did not trust reforestation efforts. On the other hand, Greening representatives were under the impression that residents didn't recognize the importance of urban forestry. These differing perspectives on the city’s history through different lived experiences was described by Carmichael as “heritage narratives”.[16]

Neighborhood residents also felt distrust towards Greening staff for not involving residents meaningfully enough in planning and decision making, as well as the fact that most of their volunteers were white and not from Detroit, a city with an African-American population of 83% in 2014. Additionally, residents felt that large trees already planted on city property weren’t properly cared for by the city, causing issues with safety and the appearance of neighborhoods, and that they would also be made responsible for the trees that Greening planted without their input.[16] Residents participating in the report were more willing to accept the trees if they got to choose what kinds of trees would be planted.[15]

In 2014, some residents also protested against Greening’s removal of playground structures and planting trees in southwest Detroit’s Bridgeview Park. Greening’s intent was to remove contaminants such as arsenic and lead with the new trees through phytoremediation, but residents voiced concerns such as that they didn’t get to give input on the project, especially as a Black community; digging health hazards; and a possible rodent population increase.[17] They were also not informed of the contaminated soil by the time the project started, although the Detroit Public Schools district, which held ownership of the land, had previously erected a fence to prevent trespassing.[18]

In response to Carmichael’s study, Greening expanded involvement of residents in planning and planting, as well as increased their number of community-engagement members from one person to four people, all of whom lived in Detroit.[16]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Green Infrastructure". The Greening of Detroit. Retrieved 7 November 2013.
  2. ^ Gallaher, John (Sep 9, 2012). "Greening of Detroit expands beyond urban forestry". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved Nov 7, 2013.
  3. ^ "Inspiring the next Detroit: 2012 a year in review" (PDF). The Greening of Detroit. p. 4. Retrieved 7 November 2013.
  4. ^ Block, Dustin (June 7, 2013). "A low-cost fix for Detroit drainage problems? Planting trees". MLive. Retrieved 8 November 2013.
  5. ^ a b c Timm, Jane C. (September 10, 2013). "Urban farming takes hold in blighted Motor City". MSNBC. Retrieved 7 November 2013.
  6. ^ Collaboration of Efforts to Improve Southwest Detroit’s Environment by Michelle Abd’Elaziz
  7. ^ "Listing for The Greening of Detroit". Charity Navigator. Retrieved 7 November 2013.
  8. ^ "Contact us". The Greening of Detroit. Retrieved 7 November 2013.
  9. ^ a b c d e Louv, Richard (2012). The Nature Principle: Human Restoration and the End of Nature-Deficit Disorder. Algonquin Books. pp. 203-204. ISBN 1616201509
  10. ^ This was stated in the book The Nature Principle: Human Restoration and the End of Nature-Deficit Disorder, and was sourced therein from The Greening of Detroit's website
  11. ^ Southwest Detroit tree-planting plan fuels toxic relationship, Jim Lynch, The Detroit News, 23 May 2014
  12. ^ a b c d "Greening of Detroit Partners with Bank of America to Put Unemployed Detroiters to Work in Green Industry Jobs". dBusiness. September 24, 2012. Retrieved 7 November 2013.
  13. ^ "Bank of America completes LaSalle acquisition". Columbus Business First. October 1, 2007. Retrieved 7 November 2013.
  14. ^ Carmichael, Christine E.; McDonough, Maureen H. (2019-01-07). "Community Stories: Explaining Resistance to Street Tree-Planting Programs in Detroit, Michigan, USA". Society & Natural Resources. 32 (5): 588–605. doi:10.1080/08941920.2018.1550229. S2CID 158240649. Retrieved 2023-01-25.
  15. ^ a b Goldman, Jason G. (2019-01-22). "Do-Gooders Should Survey Communities First". Scientific American. Retrieved 2023-01-25.
  16. ^ a b c Mock, Brentin (2019-01-11). "Why Detroit Residents Pushed Back Against Tree-Planting". Bloomberg. Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved 2023-01-25.
  17. ^ The Associated Press (2014-05-23). "Detroit residents rally against tree planting in contaminated park". MLive. Advance Local Media LLC. Retrieved 2023-01-25.
  18. ^ Dahl, Ronnie (2014-05-23). "Trees being planted in Detroit Park to remove soil contaminants, neighbors have health concerns". WXYZ. Scripps Media, Inc. Archived from the original on 2014-05-28. Retrieved 2023-01-25.

Further reading

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