The Greening of Detroit: Working to Create Healthy Urban Communities Through Trees, Education, and Jobs

Kim Kisner
May 21, 2024
Community

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.

GC Citizens Bank 3 — TRAINING VOLUNTEERS

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 years. I feel good about the climate of the city in terms of how people feel about trees and think things will continue to get better from here.

Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter for regular updates on sustainable business practices in and around Detroit.

Kim Kisner

With over 25 years of experience in the development and execution of strategic branding, content planning, and copywriting for brands such as Gatorade, Ford Motor Company, and Under Armour, and published by SEEN Magazine, The Jewish News, and countless health and lifestyle journals and blogs, Kim helps companies, brands, and people tell their stories.

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November 26, 2024 No Comments

JustAir, a Detroit-based startup cofounded by Darren Riley leverages data and technology to provide hyperlocal air quality insights, largely in urban areas. By deploying a network of air monitors, JustAir delivers real-time data that communities, policymakers, and environmental justice groups can use to push for meaningful action. With funding from initiatives that include Google for Startups Black Founders Fund, the company is building systems that aim to transform how cities like Detroit manage air quality challenges. SBN Detroit interviewed Riley to learn about the broader implications of air quality monitoring, the challenges of implementing these systems, and how accessible data can drive public health improvements and policy changes. Q: Why is air quality monitoring critical in urban environments like Detroit? A: Detroit has a history of industrial pollution and high traffic volumes, especially in areas like Southwest Detroit, where I live. These factors contribute to some of the worst asthma rates in the country. Traditionally, air quality data has been collected on a regional level, offering only a broad overview. But air pollution isn’t uniform across a city – it can vary dramatically from one block to the next. Localized data helps us understand where the worst impacts are happening, who is most affected, and when conditions are at their worst. This kind of granular information is essential for designing targeted interventions going forward. Q: How does air quality monitoring technology work? A: Traditional air monitoring relies on a handful of monitors spread across a large area, often providing limited insights. Our software facilitates and integrates multiple air monitors within a single area, sometimes scaling up to 50 or 75 units. These monitors collect data in real time, creating a detailed picture of air quality at a hyperlocal level. We don’t manufacture the monitors ourselves – we work with partners to deploy them. Our software acts as the brain, aggregating data and managing the network. The idea is to provide actionable insights that can help residents, and, also down the road, policymakers and stakeholders in cities like Detroit better understand their air quality challenges and begin to determine how to better manage them. Q: What is an example of your work in Southeast Michigan? A: We have a three-year contract with Wayne County, which, before this partnership, had just seven or eight monitors managed by EGLE (Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy). We added 100 monitors across the county so now every community has at least one monitor. Residents can sign up to get alerts – they can subscribe to individual monitors in their area or around a particular school or place of worship, etc. They can set when they want to receive alerts. This is a customizable service and it’s free – anyone can visit JustAir.app/signup right now and sign up to receive those alerts. The county Department of Health Human & Veterans Services is our lead partner on this project and they’re diving into the data to better understand the air across the community. They’ll be able to use this information to improve the health, safety, and well-being of county residents. Q: What unique challenges do urban environments like Detroit face in addressing air quality? A: Urban air quality is influenced by a combination of mobile sources – like cars and trucks – and stationary sources, such as factories. Detroit’s high traffic volume, especially near international border crossings, adds to the problem. Wind patterns also play a role; on certain days, pollution can settle in specific neighborhoods, exacerbating the issue. Q: How does technology, particularly AI, help address these challenges, and what opportunities do you see for the future? A: Currently, we leverage AI to ensure the validity and accuracy of our data. This is crucial for providing communities with reliable information. We’re now moving into the next phase, where we aim to use AI to recommend actionable solutions for mitigating air quality issues. AI allows us to dig deeper into the root causes of pollution. It helps us analyze data patterns—such as specific pollutants, weather conditions, and wind patterns—to pinpoint sources of air pollution with greater confidence. By marrying environmental context with real-time data, we can provide more accurate insights. Looking ahead, the goal is to utilize these rich data sets to empower communities and policymakers to take informed action. We’re on the cusp of this now. Q: What are the challenges of deploying and maintaining air quality monitors in urban environments? A: Deployment involves hurdles like site selection, insurance, and technical logistics. Maintenance can be another challenge – we need to ensure data accuracy at all times. Our software includes an automated quality assurance system to detect and flag issues, ensuring the community gets reliable information. Q: JustAir recently received funding from Google. How will this investment be used? A: We’re one of ten companies nationwide to receive this funding, which is a great validator for us. Google conducted thorough technical due diligence, confirming that our technology is on the right track. We’re using the funding to enhance our AI capabilities, particularly in integrating contextual data with air quality metrics as I spoke about. The funding allows us to explore new solutions that can help inform and enforce public health policies. Q: How do you measure the success of your air quality monitoring initiatives? A: We have both short- and long-term metrics. In the short term, we focus on network reliability and user engagement—how often people access the data and whether they find it valuable. High engagement is a strong indicator that the information is meeting community needs. In the long term, we aim to measure health outcomes and policy impacts. For example, are asthma-related emergency visits declining in neighborhoods with high air quality awareness? Are cities using our data to implement more effective policies? Q: What does the future look like for JustAir? A: We’ve scaled significantly since launching three years ago, now partnering with 20 organizations across seven states. The future is about leveraging these networks to drive outcomes — working