Keep Growing Detroit facts for kids
Keep Growing Detroit is an amazing organization that helps people in Detroit, Hamtramck, and Highland Park grow their own healthy food. It started in 2013. The group teaches people about urban agriculture, which means farming in the city. This helps make sure everyone, especially those who don't have easy access to fresh food, can get healthy options. Keep Growing Detroit wants to teach and empower community members through gardening. Programs like the Garden Resource Program and Grown in Detroit helped start this important work.
Keep Growing Detroit has more than 70 special gardens called "high tunnels" that help plants grow all year. They also have a main farm in the Eastern Market area. At this farm, they grow young plants and seeds. They then give these to gardeners in their network. They also host workshops for anyone who wants to learn. Keep Growing Detroit provides gardening supplies to over 1,550 gardens! The organization works hard to fight food insecurity in Detroit. By getting people involved, offering leadership chances, and teaching about farming, Keep Growing Detroit helps people take charge of how they get their food.
Contents
Why Keep Growing Detroit Started
Detroit's Challenges and Food Access
In the past, Detroit was famous for its car factories and new technology. But over time, the city faced tough economic times. This led to problems like less money, higher crime, and fewer people living there. Many people, especially those of color, found it hard to get healthy food and good healthcare.
Some areas in Detroit became what are called "food deserts." This means there aren't many grocery stores with fresh fruits and vegetables nearby. People often had to rely on fast food or small corner stores. This can lead to health problems like heart disease or diabetes. Keep Growing Detroit was created to help solve these issues.
Growing Food in the City
Detroit has a strong history of urban agriculture, which is growing food right in the city. Because many people needed reliable and healthy food, city farming became very important.
What makes Detroit's urban farming special is that many of these farms are led by people of color. Keep Growing Detroit helps by teaching about farming and making sure everyone can get the tools they need.
Finding Solutions for Food in Detroit
Detroit has been listed as a place where many people have low income and low access to food. This is why it's called a food desert. Grocery stores started closing in the 1980s. The last big chain grocery store closed in 2007. While some people think the food desert problem is getting better, Keep Growing Detroit is still working hard to make sure everyone has enough healthy food.
How Keep Growing Detroit Began
Keep Growing Detroit was founded in 2013. Its goal was to bring together and support existing food programs, like the Garden Resource Program and Grown in Detroit. This way, they could help even more city farmers. Ashley Atkinson, one of the co-directors, said in 2015 that she saw the programs growing much bigger. She wanted them to help hundreds more gardens and residents. Their mission is to make Detroit a city where everyone has control over their food supply.
How Keep Growing Detroit Works
Ashley Atkinson helped start Keep Growing Detroit in 2013. The organization has different parts, each with its own special projects. The main office for Keep Growing Detroit is at 1850 Erskine.
The Garden Resource Program is a big part of KGD. It gives local residents the tools and knowledge they need to start and keep their gardens. They even help grow young plants for people to use in their gardens.
Other programs supported by Keep Growing Detroit include:
- Grown in Detroit
- Produce for Pantries
- Education Series
- Urban Roots
- Sweet on Detroit
- Detroit Farm Train
- Youth Programs
- Early Childhood Programs
Grown in Detroit helps connect people with food grown locally without harmful chemicals. They have a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) program and a food stand at the Eastern Market farmers market.
How Keep Growing Detroit Gets Money
Grants and Support
The Health Fund is one of many groups that give money to Keep Growing Detroit. This money helps them with their projects to build community and improve food access. Other supporters include Mahindra North American Technical Center, Wayne State University, and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Services.
Community Food Project Funding
Keep Growing Detroit also gets money from the Community Food Project (CFP). These projects are funded by the U.S. government through a law passed in 1996. The goal of CFPs is to:
- Help low-income people get food.
- Help communities become more self-reliant in providing food.
- Find solutions for local food, farm, and nutrition issues.
- Meet specific food needs in states, cities, or neighborhoods.
KGD provides gardening tools and plants to new gardeners and farmers. They also offer ways for people to earn money by selling their produce at farmers markets.
Becoming a Member
If you become a member of Keep Growing Detroit, you get access to many different seeds and young plants. For example, families pay a $10 yearly fee. In return, they get 26 seed packets and 124 vegetable plants. They also get discounts on classes. School gardens pay $20 per year for the same resources. Community and market gardens pay $20 per year for 78 seed packets and 364 plants.
Volunteers grow and give out these plants at two locations. If members volunteer for at least 2 hours, they get extra benefits. These include compost, access to garden tools, and soil testing.
Members also get a special document called the "Garden Resource Program Plant Varieties." This document lists all the plants they can get as seeds or young plants. It shows what each type of garden (family, school, community, or market) is allowed to receive. The document also lists plants for different seasons, like spring, hot crops, cold crops, and fall. This helps members choose the best plants for their gardens.
Working with Other Groups
There are four main urban agriculture groups in Detroit: the Greening of Detroit, Earthworks, Detroit Black Community Food Security Network, and Michigan Urban Farming Initiative. Keep Growing Detroit works with two of these: Earthworks and Detroit Black Community Food Security Network.
Keep Growing Detroit works with Earthworks. Earthworks grows many of the young plants that KGD then gives to its thousands of community garden members. Earthworks also runs programs for young people and adults five times a week. They teach about the environment, growing food, healthy eating, and cooking. The adult program even teaches farming skills that people can use for their own city farms. This education helps new people become future KGD members.
Keep Growing Detroit also works with the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network. They organize workshops, training activities, and help move produce. The Detroit Black Community Food Security Network helped create a food security plan for Detroit in 2006. This led to the Detroit Food Policy Council being formed in 2008. This council helped set the stage for Keep Growing Detroit's mission to promote urban agriculture.
Helping the Community Grow
Since it started, Keep Growing Detroit has run many programs. These programs help people in Detroit learn about and get access to sustainable farming. They especially support Black community gardeners. This helps bring fairness back to the food system.
Garden Resource Program
The Garden Resource Program has helped most of the gardens in Detroit. It gives people the tools and education they need to grow food in city gardens. The program offers special gardening workshops and resources directly to residents, especially communities of color. Ashley Atkinson, KGD's co-director, started this program in 2003. It helps community members learn about their gardening history and build their own strength through their work.
Grown in Detroit
Grown in Detroit collects food, herbs, and other garden items from city gardeners in Detroit, Hamtramck, and Highland Park. This program provides food to several restaurants in the city. It also offers workshops for residents who want to become Grown in Detroit gardeners.
Produce For Pantries
Produce for Pantries is a KGD program that helps solve the food desert problem in Detroit. It collects donated food. These donations are then given to food pantries that need them.
Learning Programs
Keep Growing Detroit offers classes and workshops for people of all ages. These programs teach locals how to take care of gardens, grow food, and develop leadership skills. This helps more people get involved in urban gardening. The Michigan Health Endowment Fund supports KGD's educational programs. They especially focus on student apprentices who learn and lead in the community. These apprenticeships help young people in Detroit gain skills and leadership opportunities. KGD's educational programs teach about food sovereignty in the city. They help Detroit residents learn to be self-reliant and celebrate urban agriculture as an important skill and a way to build community.
Sweet on Detroit Bee-ginner Beekeeping Program
This program started in 2007. It teaches people who have community gardens how to keep bees. The program has 6 parts. It teaches future beekeepers about bee biology and how to properly care for their hives.
Urban Garden Education Series
KGD offers classes to community members. These classes teach the basics of gardening and how to care for plants. The classes are advertised online and are updated each season.
Each class is designed for people of all ages and experience levels. The programs cover many topics. These include how to preserve gardens, how plants grow, and how to harvest and eat what you grow in a sustainable way.
Programs for Young People
KGD offers a paid, 8-week summer work program for youth aged 14–18 in Detroit. This gives them apprenticeship experience. After this, KGD offers the Academic Year Youth Leadership Development Program. This program helps students move into adult leadership roles. KGD also has early childhood programs for children from birth to five years old. These programs encourage families and neighbors in Detroit to interact and play. This helps children start building healthy habits from a young age.
Leadership Opportunities
KGD offers several programs to help people get healthy food. They also encourage community leadership and decision-making skills among Detroit residents. Ashley Atkinson, the co-founder, leads leadership workshops. These workshops help organize the community to address food sovereignty issues in Detroit. KGD's leaders connect with other groups in Detroit working on food sovereignty. This helps expand community gardening throughout the city.
The Urban Roots Community Garden Leader Training Program is a special 9-week program. It trains leaders around Detroit in areas like horticulture (the science of growing plants) and community organizing. The program teaches students how to grow plants. It prepares graduates to take on more leadership roles in their neighborhoods. This program helps the city-wide effort to improve food security. A network of urban gardening groups is teaching more residents leadership skills. This helps increase the success of growing food in Detroit's empty lots.
Working with Local Government
Keep Growing Detroit uses urban agriculture to improve food sovereignty, create economic opportunities, and make life better in Detroit. They do this by working with the community and local government.
Securing Land for Gardens
The urban agriculture movement in Detroit needs land. Access to land can stop people from starting their gardening journey. Many Detroit residents started gardens in empty lots nearby. But gardening this way doesn't offer long-term security. The legal landowners could disrupt the garden.
Keep Growing Detroit is a leader in helping residents get land for their farming projects. They give people the information and methods they need to secure their own land. Keep Growing Detroit offers different ways to get land, depending on what people need. They explain four ways: oral licensing, written licensing, leasing, and purchasing.
Detroit Food Policy Council
The Detroit Food Policy Council started in 2009. It has worked closely with Keep Growing Detroit. The council helps monitor, advise, and make decisions about food policy in Detroit. This includes reviewing and updating food security policies. They also help develop urban agriculture and land security policies. They publish reports on Detroit's food system.
