The Greening of Detroit: Working to Create Healthy Urban Communities Through Trees, Education, and Jobs
Established in 1989, The Greening of Detroit is a nonprofit organization with a mission to inspire sustainable growth of a healthy urban community through trees, green spaces, healthy living, education, and job opportunities. To date, it has planted 147,000 trees and trained more than 1,000 people through its five-year-old workforce development program. Putting trees in the ground is job one for the organization, but it also is involved in stormwater management and providing landscaping services to residents and businesses in the communities they serve. President Lionel Bradford has been with the nonprofit since 2010 and is proud of its 35-year history. SBN Detroit interviewed Bradford about the organization’s programs, impact, and future. Q: What was the impetus to begin The Greening of Detroit? A: For years Detroit was known as the Paris of the Midwest, partly because of the tree canopy cover the city used to have. Between 1950 and 1980 Detroit lost over a half million trees due to Dutch Elm Disease, urbanization, and neglect due to financial struggles. In 1989, The Greening of Detroit was founded to reforest the city of Detroit. Since its inception, 147,000 trees have been planted throughout the city. We also started a youth employment program as a way to educate and take care of these trees. Our Green Corps Summer Youth program at its height employed 200 high school students. That number decreased due to COVID-19, but it’s coming back up. In a nutshell, our organization has two main pillars: workforce development and green infrastructure. Q: What are you currently working on in terms of tree planting? A: We are in the third year of a five-year strategic plan where we are looking to plant 20,000 trees throughout Detroit, Hamtramck, and Highland Park, and train 300 individuals who have barriers to employment. This plan fits into a larger initiative we are involved in called the Detroit Tree Equity Partnership. This is a collaboration with American Forest, DTE Energy, and the City of Detroit in which we are planning to plant 75,000 trees over the next five years. There is a buzz in the city right now in terms of trees. We’ve done a lot of engagement and outreach. Recently we conducted a 500-tree giveaway, and there were still cars lined up after we gave away the last tree. It’s great to see this. Q: What is your involvement with the Walter Meyers Nursery? A: Walter Meyers is a tree nursery on 72 acres in Rouge Park that for years went untouched. In 2004, The Greening of Detroit – with the city’s permission – took over managing that property to serve as a training ground for our adult workforce development. We have used it as an outdoor classroom setting. In 2017, we put together a master plan to turn it back into a working nursery operation. As an organization, we are looking for ways to generate revenue for our training programs and to plant our trees. We want to control our destiny and cut down the carbon footprint involved in having trees shipped in. We have planted over 4,000 trees in the nursery and harvested our first 200 trees last year. The goal is to get to a point where we are selling 5,000 trees annually to municipalities, the City of Detroit, and the community. Q: What sustainable impact do you think this brings? A: In addition to creating green infrastructure in the city, community engagement is at the heart of what we do. Our job is to get trees in the ground, but we do not want to impose our will. We want to be invited into communities. Not only do we want residents to have a say, but we also want them to be a part of the work. This is a model that speaks volumes in terms of sustainability, and it’s held up across the state and the country. Q: How does The Greening of Detroit impact businesses? A: We engage and work with business owners in the communities we are involved in. Many of them bring us in to green their properties. The more green space we can add for businesses, the more it helps aesthetics and foot traffic. Green space and economic development go hand in hand. Also, from an economic standpoint, our education program puts people into jobs doing work around the city, which enhances the economic viability of Detroit as well. Q: In what other ways does the organization create green infrastructure in the city? A: Stormwater management. We have installed three major bioretention ponds around the city that hold up to a million gallons of water. These are in Rouge Park, Chandler Park, and Eliza Howell Parks. We also work with residents and businesses to replace impervious surfaces with green infrastructure through our Land + Water WORKS Coalition. Q: You have an adult workforce program from which over 1,000 Detroiters have graduated in the past five years. How does this work? A: This is a six-week program called the Detroit Conservation Corps. Sixty percent of those who have graduated were previously incarcerated. We are passionate about helping that population get credentials and secure jobs that pay decent wages. We work with a network of businesses looking to employ, most from the tree care and landscaping industries. These companies work in tandem with our advisory committee to help us build our curriculum and help with job placement. We have hired a small percentage of our trainees ourselves. Q: What is the future of The Greening of Detroit? A: Community engagement will always be a focus. We also are rebuilding our environmental education. These programs fell by the wayside before and during COVID-19, but we are working to get into schools, facilitate field trips, and educate our youth. We truly believe that getting the Meyers Nursery operations up and running is key for us moving forward. It will be important for us to generate our revenue. I’m proud we’ve been able to sustain the organization for 35
New Detroit Director of Sustainability is Focused on Community
In March, Mayor Mike Duggan named longtime urban farming activist Tepfirah Rushdan as the city’s new director of sustainability. Rushdan was serving as Detroit’s first director of urban agriculture, where she worked to encourage urban farming by improving city policies and streamlining processes. Rushdan is helping lead the process of selecting a new director of urban agriculture, a position that will report to her. Rushdan also previously acted as codirector at Keep Growing Detroit, whose mission is for the majority of fruits and vegetables consumed by Detroiters to be grown in the city. She also is a co-founder of the Black Farmer Land Fund. She serves as treasurer of the Detroit People’s Food Co-op and is a cofounder of Black to the Land Coalition, which connects BIPOC people to outdoor recreation. She is also a board advisor to several other community projects and has formerly held seats at the Detroit Food Policy Council and the Uprooting Racism Planting Justice initiative. In her new role, Rushdan will lead the city’s priority actions within the four main goals of the Detroit climate strategy: Transitioning to clean energy Increasing sustainable mobility Accelerating energy efficiency and reducing waste Prioritizing vulnerable residents and adapting to change Reducing flood risks Protecting from extreme heat Improving air quality SBN Detroit interviewed Rushdan about her role, the challenges, and the opportunities. Q: How will you approach the four main goals of the Detroit climate strategy? A: The key for us to work across all departments within the city. There are some real champions in place who want to meet these goals and are already working to do so. My approach to tackling the four main goals involves fostering collaboration and synergy across all city departments. We are actively building out our capacity within my department to ensure that every arm of our municipal operations contributes to realizing our citywide sustainability vision. Q: You’ve said that you believe Detroit has real potential to become a national leader in municipal sustainability. What is your vision behind this? A: Being in Michigan, we have so many natural assets. Also, Detroit brings some things that may be seen as deficits, like vacant land and blighted areas, but I think these are big opportunities for us. It’s a chance to rethink what the city will look like in the coming years. Coming from an urban farming background, I’ve been thinking about the potential of this vacant land for many years, and I’m excited to find ways to repurpose it toward environmental goals – whether that’s farming, pollinators, solar, or other things. Also, Detroiters have grit. This is a city that’s been largely disinvested in, which has fostered strong resilience in our spirit. There is great potential here. Q: A major immediate focus is the city’s solar neighborhood project, which will replace up to 250 acres of vacant, blighted land in up to six neighborhoods with solar arrays that will create enough clean energy to power all of the city’s 127 municipal buildings. Can you tell us more about this project? A: This was largely driven by the people in the communities. The city put out a questionnaire regarding what the residents would like, and 19 groups responded saying they’d like to utilize the vacant land for projects. This city has met with them alongside other stakeholders and partners to determine what this might look like for the neighborhoods, the logistics of the sites, and so on. We currently have eight potential sites, and we are in meetings with the council to discuss moving forward with three of them for Phase One. We have selected two potential developers. The developers will work closely with the residents to lay out what the sites will look like in terms of design and aesthetics and work hand-in-hand with the neighborhoods. If all goes well with the city council, we’ll be able to start building as early as this fall. Q: What are the challenges of the project? A: I think there is a big opportunity to educate the public about climate change the issues that are at the forefront. It’s a chance to invest in the neighborhoods – communities that have not seen investment in years. This is a chance to spread that out. We’ll also be developing in the immediate areas around the footprints of the sites, investing in housing with energy upgrades, and more. So, I think it’s a chance for us to rise to the challenges of meeting the goals that the state of Michigan, the federal government, and the United Nations have outlined. This will take everyone working together including residents, businesses, and organizations. Q: Overall, do the city’s sustainability goals involve or play into workforce development? A: I’m proud of the work the city is doing around developing our workforce to be ready for the green economy. That’s pivotal. I want to highlight the Detroit At Work program where residents have opportunities to access careers and training. In fact, one of the new training options is around electric vehicle charging. The city is looking forward in terms of where the workforce needs to be and putting things in place for job creation toward these things. Q: What impact do you think your work will have on businesses and the economy? A: Sustainability is not exactly sexy. It takes a lot of work, commitment, and collaboration between businesses, residents, and all stakeholders. Business communities are driving our economy, so we need to be thinking about working alongside businesses to make sure their practices are sustainable. We all have to rethink how we are doing business and working together as a whole to reach our goals. Also, recently the city council unanimously passed the Energy and Water Benchmarking Ordinance requiring buildings with over 25,000 square feet of space to annually report their energy and water usage. This data will be gathered, and learnings and insights will be shared with other large business owners. Other cities have done this, and it’s been helpful. Q: What impacts are
Moving Toward a More Just and Sustainable Future in Southeast Michigan
Sara Soderstrom is an associate professor in Organizational Studies and Program in the Environment and the Erb Undergraduate Fellows faculty director at the University of Michigan. Sustainability has evolved significantly over the years. At the University of Michigan’s Erb Institute for Sustainability in Business, this evolution includes working toward market transformation: business transforming the market to make it more sustainable. We can’t be thinking only: ‘How do we do less bad? How do we pollute less? How do we use fewer resources?’ We need to actually think about ‘How do we do more good?’ That fundamentally pivots the way that you think about business—it’s much more of a proactive than reactive conversation. It also centers justice in a way that early business sustainability didn’t. This shift changes the local vs. global dynamic to consider the local as part of the global system, and it sharpens the focus on small and midsize businesses. It also considers supply chains and key stakeholders more broadly. A study that I conducted with Kathryn Heinze, associate professor in the School of Kinesiology at the University of Michigan, shows some of the ways these shifts are happening. The study focused on the nonprofit FoodLab, which was operating in Detroit at the time. FoodLab aimed to promote healthy, environmentally sustainable, and accessible food systems and to grow a good food economy by working with its members: local food entrepreneurs. One thing that we realized as we were working with local entrepreneurs was a focus on being embedded in place—what is Detroit? What is the commitment to the city? What is the future for the city we envision? And how do we place ourselves in that future as entrepreneurs? With this network of businesses, there was a strong motivation not just for the financial viability of the business, but for doing good through business. But at the same time, these entrepreneurs have resource constraints, so there are tradeoffs. How do you balance things like a living wage with ensuring composting or locally sourced materials? FoodLab helped ease some of these constraints by serving as a connector that lowered the barriers to entry around sustainability. This way, each entrepreneur didn’t need to have all the answers or all the resources—they could get the information they needed about sourcing, financing, or best practices through the network. FoodLab functioned as part incubator, part social movement organization, connecting folks with these shared interests to collectively learn, but also as the space that could aggregate these resources and make them accessible to people, so that they could more effectively move forward towards sustainability and justice goals. FoodLab asserted that they couldn’t have a just and sustainable food economy if there wasn’t engagement, ownership, and voice from diverse entrepreneurs that reflect the City of Detroit. So they had a lot of intentionality around diversity and engagement, both in who was participating as entrepreneurs in the network, but also in what they were prioritizing as their goals as an organization. It was centering equity and justice in almost every conversation and decision they were having. The ways that FoodLab built its organizational practices and structured conversations made sure that everyone involved felt like they were heard, even in contentious conversations, which built trust and helped them move collectively towards this more just and sustainable imagined future. The Erb Institute – a partnership of the Ross School of Business and the School for Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan -. works to create a sustainable world through the power of business. Somewhat like FoodLab, we also serve as an enabling network. The students are the key actors, We are the convener, and then the network continues with alumni who are now 10 to 20 years out but still lean into us and each other for support as they work toward solutions to sustainability and justice challenges. Two of our key programs are: Impact Projects, through which students design projects, often working directly with businesses or partnering with businesses and community partners on organization-led projects. The projects give businesses access to students who have time, expertise, and passion around sustainability and justice efforts, who can help them focus on an issue—such as supply chain, procurement, or skills redevelopment. Erb on the Road, which brings both graduate and undergraduate students to businesses, nonprofits, and other organizations across Michigan. The program allows students to engage with a variety of different types of businesses and nonprofits that are focused on local sustainability challenges and figure out solutions for them. For undergrads specifically, what has been powerful is hearing them reflect on learning what is happening locally—which makes what we talked about in the textbook real—but their experiences are helping them recognize that business and sustainability is an available career path. People are committed to sustainability in myriad ways, and you don’t need to wait until you are chief sustainability officer to do sustainability. The Erb Institute is focused on preparing future leaders – and also service to the state of Michigan. We want students to recognize that being part of the University of Michigan isn’t just the Ann Arbor campus – it’s also the state and world. So we work to help focus that commitment to: What does it really mean to be the leaders and the best? Supporting and engaging locally in Detroit and across Michigan is part of that. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter for regular updates on sustainable business practices in and around Detroit.
A Focus on Housing and Commercial Corridor Stabilization
Detroit native and Councilwoman Latisha Johnson has been active in the community for 15 years and represents Detroit City Council District 4 on the east side of the city bordering Harper Woods and Grosse Pointe, a community she’s lived in most of her life. She attended Detroit Public Schools and graduated from the University of Michigan- Dearborn, where she earned a degree in finance. She began her career in Detroit’s tourism industry, marketing the city to visitors to attract spending within the local economy. Johnson began her public service in 2007 when she became vice president of the East English Village Neighborhood Association. During her tenure, she led efforts to eliminate blight, hold financial institutions accountable, and prevent residential property tax foreclosures. In 2014, she founded MECCA Development Corp. to address concerns of well-being, workforce development, youth engagement, and neighborhood revitalization. She has also has served as treasurer for the 5th Precinct Police/Community Relations Council, vice chair of the City of Detroit’s Board of Zoning Appeals; member of the Wayne Metro Community Action Agency Regional Advisory Council, and was a volunteer with Wayne State University’s AmeriCorps Urban Safety Program. SBN Detroit spoke to Johnson about her sustainability goals and about how residential development and business development go hand in hand. Q: What are your primary goals for sustainability in the city? A: One key thing is the evaluation of our internal processes. I co-chair the Small Business Task Force with two council colleagues, Mary Waters, and Angela Whitfield-Calloway. Our focus is to ensure that our requirements and practices for small businesses to bid on projects are not insurmountable. One example that came to light just recently: We had a contract come before us, and our procurement team had to make calls to companies to encourage them to bid. In a healthier environment, we should have contractors knocking on our door to bid on projects. This showed us that a lot of companies are overwhelmed by our processes. Small businesses just don’t have the resources to navigate them, so we are now trying to streamline the system and reduce paperwork and red tape. We want to find ways to help grow small businesses, particularly in the neighborhoods of Detroit. Q: In 2014, you founded MECCA Development Corp. to address concerns of well-being, workforce development, youth engagement, and neighborhood revitalization. How does this work impact and inform your role as a councilwoman? A: It definitely impacts what I do now. MECCA had four areas of focus: workforce development; residential development; seniors; and youth. The area I became passionate about – especially as we saw property values climbing – was and is residential development. Houses have become unattainable for lower-income families in this climate. Too many people cannot afford the down payments and can’t qualify for loans. Now I’m hyperfocused on affordable home ownership. This also comes from who I am as a Detroit native who grew up in a lower-income household. I have firsthand experience with these challenges. Therefore, I’m working on programs and opportunities to assist. We recently started a Down Payment Assistance Program to provide up to $25,000 for lower-income renters who want to purchase a house in the city. I’m also working on getting the city of Detroit to support Community Land Trusts. I recently worked with a group of students from the University of Michigan to understand how split-rate taxes (which tax vacant land at a higher rate than structures and improvements) would impact Detroit homeowners. I also established the Equitable Development Task Force, which focuses on addressing underserved communities through policies and programs that reduce disparities while fostering places that are healthy and vibrant. The task force may include residents, representatives from the community, labor, the business sector, as well as any other individuals interested in participating. So yes, MECCA helped shape and inform the work I do around housing and home ownership. I’m always striving to find ways to provide support to low-income families. Q: How do you think residential development impacts businesses in Detroit? A: When I look at our district, the areas that have benefited from the Strategic Neighborhood Fund – Jefferson, East Warren, and now Gratiot – are the areas in which residential properties have also stabilized. So, we know that revitalizing commercial corridors helps stabilize residential, and vice versa. More businesses will come into these areas – it’s cyclical. I’d also like to see people having the opportunity to build equity in their homes that they can pull out to start their own businesses and build generational wealth. It all connects. Years ago, when I worked at Detroit Convention and Visitors Bureau, and we hosted site inspections, we had to craft the routes to prevent taking clients through blighted commercial corridors. When commercial corridors look a certain way, it gives the impression that the neighborhoods are even worse. So, we need more of a focus on both housing and commercial corridors to become stabilized, and they depend on one another to do so. Q: What are the biggest challenges you face? A: First, the tax rate in Detroit. It’s a challenge for residents and businesses. Second, is the lack of promotion of our neighborhoods and commercial corridors to encourage businesses to establish there. No entity proactively promotes and connects entrepreneurs to these communities. There is a big opportunity there. Q: What are other opportunities for the city, and how will these affect businesses? A: As I mentioned earlier, there is an opportunity to streamline the city’s internal processes so that smaller businesses can bid on and secure projects. Another opportunity is the promotion of harmonious growth between business communities and residential communities. We have not done that well. I think businesses and communities can work together better to support one another. When a business does this, it will inherently last longer in the community And when it comes to bringing industry and manufacturing to certain areas, the city has to do a better job of ensuring that we are protecting residents.
Steam Heat, Detroit Thermal, and Powering Greater Downtown Detroit
For more than 100 years, Detroit Thermal has served many of Detroit’s buildings, including GM Renaissance Center, Huntington Place, Fox Theatre, Detroit Medical Center, Ford Field, The Fisher Building, the City of Detroit, and Wayne State University. In 2021, the company enrolled in DTE’s MIGreenPower program. A voluntary renewable energy program, MIGreenPower enables DTE electric customers to attribute a greater percentage of their energy use to Michigan-made wind and solar beyond the 15% DTE already provides. Detroit Thermal’s goal is to gradually increase its MIGreenPower enrollment to attribute 100% of its electric usage to renewable resources by 2030. SBN Detroit spoke to Todd Grzech, Detroit Thermal CEO, to learn more about how both steam heat and the company’s enrollment in the program impacts Detroit. Q: Tell us more about Detroit Thermal. A: Detroit Thermal is the district energy heating system for the city of Detroit. We’ve been delivering clean steam energy to the greater downtown Detroit area and services through an extensive underground network of steam piping for over 100 years. Detroit Thermal was one of the original district energy systems in the country and is a critical piece of Detroit’s energy infrastructure and we currently provide energy services to more than 100 buildings. Q: Is Detroit Thermal considered an alternative utility to DTE? A: Typically, we don’t see ourselves as that. We are more of an alternative to property owners providing their own heat energy, and we utilize DTE electric and natural gas to provide steam heat. Q: What are the benefits of steam over electricity? A: Energy savings and cost savings. From A BTU conversion standpoint per dollar, steam beats electric by a lot. Electric heat is very expensive. An analogy I like to use is the comparison between an incandescent light bulb and an LED. The amount of energy and the process required to turn the electricity to heat is much more complicated than steam heat – and there is waste in that. Another thing with steam from a pressure perspective is that it finds its own lower pressure area so we don’t need mechanics or fans to move the heat. Think of a steam pot when you see the steam moving. Its energy alone transfers the heat. This is not the case with electric heat. Q: Are you serving both older buildings and new builds? A: Yes. In Detroit, older buildings like the Fisher and Cadillac Place are piped for steam and have radiators that are designed for steam heat. Newer buildings are using hot water to create steam. A great example is Bedrock’s new Hudson’s site. It is connected to our underground system. The building is piped to carry hot water throughout. Steam heats the water, and the water moves through the piping to heat the spaces. It’s a closed-loop system in that the same water continues to be heated, then moves through the pipes, which is very efficient. Q: What are the challenges/barriers to entry when it comes to using Detroit Thermal for steam heat? A: The main challenge is geography. Where a building is located in relationship to our underground system. If it’s close to the system, it’s usually relatively easy to connect. If the building is too far away, it might be cost-prohibitive to run a pipe to connect just one building. When it comes to our infrastructure it’s about density. The more buildings that can share a single line the more cost-effective it is. There is a cluster of density in the central business district. The underground piping system does a loop basically from Ford Field to Huntington Place around and back. The Hudson’s site is pretty close to that loop so we just needed to run about 100 feet of piping off of that system to connect it. When you get farther away from the central business district piping might not make sense. On the consumption side, steam heat gets interesting as well. When we look at office buildings where operators are looking to maintain a nice temperature for all workers, steam heat is very effective. On the multifamily and apartment side, it’s desirable to have a unit in each space that can be metered and billed. You can’t do that with steam heat. Q: Is the steam used for heat only, or are there other uses within the buildings and businesses? A: It is used largely for heat but, yes, there are other uses. Some entities use steam for pressure, such as breweries. Russell’s Pharmacy in the Fisher Building uses it for its pharmaceutical processes. Hospitals use it for the sterilization of equipment. Restaurants can use it to clean dishes. Q: In 2021, Detroit Thermal enrolled in DTE’s MIGreenPower program and is gradually increasing its MIGreenPower enrollment to attribute 100% of its electric usage to renewable resources by 2030. The company’s commitment is said to ultimately offset the carbon dioxide equivalent of greenhouse gas emissions from over 1,000 passenger vehicles driven for a year. Can you tell me how this works? A: Basically, we pay a premium today to support DTE’s development of solar energy and wind farms. With growth here, these sources become less expensive, and over time dollars are spread further to reach 100% of the electrical supply. Q: Is this an accelerator for Detroit Thermal toward your goals to reduce carbon footprint and or switch to 100% renewable energy? A: Yes, it is in line with our overall goals to reduce our carbon emissions footprint. We are on the path right path to do so as DTE defined the program. Q:How do you think this enrollment and the overall work you are doing make an energy impact on the City of Detroit and the overall region? A: I think, really, all companies in Detroit are working hard toward reducing energy consumption. From an energy consumption perspective, we consider ourselves to be like a co-op. if we are making energy improvements everybody gets the benefit – not only the company that is doing that locally. So, as we
