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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Rethinking Freight: How Drones May Change Cargo Transport

March 11, 2025 No Comments

The Detroit Region Aerotropolis Development Corp. is a public-private economic development partnership with the Wayne County Airport Authority. Looking through an environmental and ecological lens, the organization aims to build out the manufacturing, logistics, and mobility sectors in the airport region of Southeast Michigan to attract investment and improve transportation efficiencies. One of its key areas of focus is exploring sustainable freight solutions, including the use of drones to transport lightweight cargo, reducing emissions, road congestion, and overall wear on transportation networks. SBN Detroit spoke with Christopher Girdwood, CEO of Detroit Region Aerotropolis, to discuss how drone technology is reshaping logistics, the environmental and economic impact of freight inefficiencies, and the future of cargo transport in Southeast Michigan. Q: How is the Detroit Region Aerotropolis set up and funded? A: Detroit Region Aerotropolis is part of a Next Michigan Development Corp. (NMDC), a legislative framework established around 2010 following the Great Recession. The goal was to stimulate economic growth by leveraging key regional assets, such as Detroit Metropolitan Airport (DTW) and Willow Run Airport. Similar NMDCs exist across Michigan, including Traverse City for wine and tourism and Midland for Canadian cross-border trade. In total, there are seven in the state. We are funded through contributions from the Wayne County Airport Authority, Wayne County, Washtenaw County, Taylor, Romulus, Van Buren, and Huron, along with private partners like DTE and national developers. The overarching concept of NMDCs is to harness regional strengths—in our case, the airport region and aerotropolis—to drive economic engines and create new opportunities locally, nationally, and even globally. Q: A main focus of the Detroit Region Aerotropolis is the utilization of drones to transport lightweight cargo. Is this a fully operational initiative, or is it still in a developmental phase? A: Right now, we are still in the developmental phase. About five years ago, we engaged Airspace Link, a Detroit-based company, to explore alternative solutions to road expansion, which can be very costly. In fact, building a new mile of road can cost around $1 million, so extrapolating from there, to expand Ecorse Road between I-75 and I-94 could run between $40 million and $50 million. Instead of building new roads, we started asking whether low-altitude airspace could be used to transport freight more efficiently. In 2021, we conducted a drone demonstration for stakeholders in Taylor, showing how drones could be used for transporting time-sensitive medical supplies like COVID tests. By 2023, we partnered with Automation Alley, Airspace Link, and the State of Michigan to run another pilot involving the movement of Project Diamond’s 3D-printed parts. The core question is, why transport a five-pound part on a two-ton truck when a drone can deliver it faster and more sustainably? Looking forward, we’re launching a pilot program – again in partnership with Airspace Link – that will consider Michigan’s extensive railway network for use as a corridor for drone flights. Since rail corridors are underutilized, they could serve as safe, dedicated pathways for just-in-time delivery solutions. Q: From an environmental standpoint, what are the biggest inefficiencies in the current freight and logistics system that drones could help solve? A: One of the biggest inefficiencies we see is the mismatch between cargo size and transport vehicle. It’s the two-ton truck scenario I mentioned. Trucks often run at low capacity in terms of cargo. They consume fuel, contribute to congestion, and increase emissions. By adopting a model where the size and weight of transported goods are better matched with the vehicle, we can significantly reduce unnecessary truck traffic. Low-altitude airspace offers a solution to move cargo without adding more trucks to the roads. We’ve been analyzing similar drone freight models in Dallas, Virginia, and North Dakota, which have used battery-powered drones to optimize freight movement and reduce carbon footprints. Our goal is to bring those sustainability benefits to Southeast Michigan. Q: What are the key challenges when it comes to widespread drone adoption for cargo movement in Southeast Michigan? A: One of the biggest challenges is community acceptance. We want to ensure that drones operate in designated corridors, avoiding residential areas and sensitive infrastructure. Over-communicating with communities and local governments will be key to gaining public support. Another challenge is regulatory approval. Romulus is currently working on an ordinance to allow drone operations, and we hope that other municipalities will follow their lead. Being a first-mover in this space often attracts industry investment, so communities that take the lead in enabling drone logistics will likely see new businesses and jobs emerge in their regions. Q: Are there specific industries or types of cargo where drones could make an immediate impact? A: The State of Michigan has asked us this same question. An example is 3D printing and advanced manufacturing. Getting designs from production to final assembly is critical. The traditional transit method involves a delivery truck – a process that could be made far more efficient with drone delivery. Similarly, in the HVAC industry, skilled tradespeople often need custom-cut sheet metal at their job sites. Instead of driving to pick it up, a drone could deliver the materials directly, eliminating travel time and allowing for more installations in a day. Another promising sector is medical logistics, where time-sensitive deliveries of medical equipment and devices are already gaining traction. Unlike consumer drone delivery models like Amazon’s, which focus on residential shipments, we are prioritizing and leaning into our industrial heritage in Southeast Michigan. Our focus is on using drone freight to support Michigan’s manufacturing sector by moving goods between Tier 2 and Tier 3 suppliers and final assembly plants – ideally utilizing railway corridors as designated drone flight paths. Q: Are there cost savings for businesses, or is this more about sustainability and reducing environmental impact? A: It’s a combination of both. From a cost perspective, companies are already exploring drone freight as an alternative to traditional trucking. Additionally, every new truck on the road contributes to traffic congestion and the need for expanded infrastructure. If drones can help prevent the need