Keep Growing Detroit facts for kids

Keep Growing Detroit is an organization that helps people in Detroit, Hamtramck, and Highland Park grow their own food. It started in 2013. The group teaches people how to grow food in cities. This helps communities get healthy food, especially if they don't have easy access to it. Keep Growing Detroit wants to teach and empower people through urban farming. Programs like the Garden Resource Program helped start Keep Growing Detroit.

Keep Growing Detroit has over 70 gardens that grow food in different seasons. It also has a main farm in the Eastern Market area. At this farm, they grow young plants and seeds. They give these to gardeners in their network. They also hold workshops for anyone who wants to learn. Keep Growing Detroit provides garden supplies to over 1,550 gardens. The organization works to solve the problem of not having enough food in Detroit. By involving the community and teaching farming skills, Keep Growing Detroit helps people control how they get their food.

History of Growing Food in Detroit

Why Keep Growing Detroit Started

In the past, Detroit was famous for its car factories. But over time, the city faced economic challenges. This led to fewer jobs and people moving away. Many people in Detroit, especially people of color, found it hard to get healthy food and good healthcare. Living in areas without fresh food, called food deserts, can lead to health problems like heart disease and diabetes. Many groups now work to make sure everyone in Detroit has access to healthy food.

Farming in the City

Detroit is well-known for its city farming projects compared to other places in the United States. Because people needed healthy food, Detroit showed it could expand urban farming from neighborhoods to the whole city.

In many cities, urban gardens can sometimes push out people of color. But in Detroit, many urban farms are led by people of color. Keep Growing Detroit helps by teaching farming skills and giving supplies to these communities.

Food Access in Detroit

Detroit has been listed as a place with low income and low access to food. It is called a food desert because there are not many stores selling fresh fruits and vegetables. Many people rely on fast food or small corner stores. Grocery stores started closing in the 1980s. The last big chain grocery store closed in 2007. While some say the food desert problem is better, Keep Growing Detroit still works to solve remaining food access issues.

How Keep Growing Detroit Began

Keep Growing Detroit was started in 2013. Its goal was to organize and support existing food programs. These included the Garden Resource Program and Grown in Detroit. The aim was to reach even more city farmers. Ashley Atkinson, a co-director, said in 2015 that she saw the programs growing much bigger. She wanted them to help hundreds more gardens and residents. She stressed the importance of their mission to make Detroit a city where everyone has enough food.

How Keep Growing Detroit Works

Keep Growing Detroit was co-founded by Ashley Atkinson in 2013. The organization has different parts, each with its own goals. The main office is at 1850 Erskine. The Garden Resource Program is a key part of KGD. It gives supplies to local people to help them create and care for gardens. They even help grow young plants for people to use. These young plants are given to residents for 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 connects people with fresh, local produce. This food is grown without harmful chemicals. It has a food stand at the Eastern Market farmers market.

Funding for Keep Growing Detroit

Grants and Support

The Health Fund is one of many groups that give money to Keep Growing Detroit. This money helps KGD build communities 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 as a Community Food Project (CFP). These projects are funded by the U.S. government through a law from 1996. These projects aim to:

• Help low-income people get food.
• Make communities more self-reliant in getting food.
• Solve local food and farming problems.
• Meet specific food needs in states, cities, or neighborhoods.

KGD provides farming supplies for new gardeners. It also offers 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 receive 26 seed packets and 124 vegetable plants. They also get discounts on learning programs. School gardens pay $20 per year for the same supplies. Community and market gardens pay $20 per year for 78 seed packets and 364 plants.

Volunteers grow and give out these young plants at two places in the city. Members who volunteer at least 2 hours get extra benefits. These include compost, access to garden tools, and soil testing. Members also get a document that lists all the plants they can buy as seeds or young plants. This document shows what each type of garden (family, school, community, or market) is allowed to get. It also lists plants for different seasons, like spring, hot crops, cold crops, and fall. This document is very important for KGD members to choose their plants.

Working with Other Farming Groups

There are four main urban farming groups in Detroit. These are 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 young plants that KGD then gives to thousands of its 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 also teaches farming skills for people to use in their own city farms. This education helps create 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 in 2008. This council helped set the stage for Keep Growing Detroit's mission to promote urban farming.

Community Programs

Since it started, Keep Growing Detroit has run several programs. These programs help people in Detroit learn about and use sustainable farming practices. They mainly support Black community gardeners. This helps bring fairness back to the food system.

Garden Resource Program

The Garden Resource Program has supported most of Detroit's gardens. It provides tools and education for those who want to benefit from city gardens. The program gives specific gardening workshops and supplies directly to residents, especially people of color. Ashley Atkinson, co-director of Keep Growing Detroit, launched this program in 2003. The program helps community members learn about their gardening history. It also helps them build personal 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 part of KGD 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 learning programs and workshops for all ages. These programs teach local people the basics of garden care and growing food. They also teach leadership skills to help urban gardening grow. The Michigan Health Endowment Fund supports KGD's learning programs. This organization values helping student apprentices involved in KGD. These student apprenticeships aim to teach and offer leadership chances to young people in Detroit. The learning parts of Keep Growing Detroit focus on the idea of food sovereignty in the city. The programs teach Detroit residents to promote self-reliance. They celebrate urban farming 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 how to keep bees for community gardens in the city. The program has 6 parts. It teaches new beekeepers about bee biology and how to properly care for their hives.

Urban Garden Education Series

KGD offers classes to community members. These classes focus on teaching locals the basics of gardening and caring for produce. The classes are advertised online on their website and 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 sustainably harvest and eat what you grow.

Programs for Young People

KGD offers a paid, 8-week summer work experience. This program gives apprenticeship experience to young people aged 14–18 in Detroit. After their apprenticeship, 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 involve families and neighbors in Detroit playing and interacting. The goal is to start building healthy habits from a young age.

Leadership Training

KGD has several programs that help people get healthy food. They also encourage community leadership and decision-making skills among Detroit residents. Co-founder Ashley Atkinson supports leadership workshops throughout the organization. These workshops help organize the community to address food sovereignty in Detroit. The leaders within KGD connect with other groups in Detroit working on food sovereignty. This helps expand community gardening in 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 (plant science) and community organizing. The program teaches students about plant growing methods. It prepares graduates to take on more leadership roles in their neighborhoods. This program is part of a city-wide effort to improve food access. 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 farming to improve food access, create economic chances, and make life better in Detroit. They do this by working with the government and involving the community.

Getting Land for Gardens

The urban farming movement in Detroit needs available land. Access to land can stop people from starting their food growing journey. Many Detroit residents began their own gardens in empty lots nearby. However, gardening this way does not offer long-term security for the garden. The legal landowners could disrupt it. Keep Growing Detroit is a community leader in helping residents get land for their farming projects. They give people the information and ways to get their own land. Keep Growing Detroit offers different options for getting land. These include oral agreements, written agreements, leasing, and buying land.

Detroit Food Policy Council

The Detroit Food Policy Council started in 2009 by the Detroit City Council. It has worked closely with Keep Growing Detroit. The council watches, advises, and makes decisions about food policy in Detroit. This includes reviewing and updating food security policies. They also help develop urban farming and land security policies. They also publish reports on Detroit's food system.