‘The Giving Trees Park’: Detroit nonprofits partner on placemaking project in Core City
“Creating greenspaces for community gathering and food production in our urban areas means more resilient neighborhoods that are able to provide for themselves and their residents,” said MEDC Regional Prosperity Managing Director Paula Holtz.
What’s happening: A vacant lot in the Core City neighborhood could soon be reimagined as a community hub in what organizers are hoping becomes the first of many such transformations. Two area nonprofits have partnered on the project they’re calling The Giving Trees Park.
What’s planned: The Giving Trees Park project opens a larger effort from local nonprofits We Are Culture Creators and Permaculture Princess as they work to activate vacant lots into food- and green-centric community hubs. This first park will repurpose a Core City parcel by planting apple trees for their fruit and maple trees for their shade; a small, natural amphitheater will also be built for performances and other uses by the community. Programming will offer cooking lessons, communal workshops, and more.
What it means: “The Giving Trees Park will provide the residents of the Core City neighborhood with a spot for community gathering that provides greenspace and the opportunity to teach and foster land stewardship for now and future generations,” says Dan Gilmartin, Executive Director and CEO of the Michigan Municipal League. “This is a genuine example of placemaking and designing spaces to improve the quality of life for its residents.”
How they’ll do it: The Giving Trees Park project from We Are Culture Creators and Permaculture Princess has been accepted into the state’s placemaking initiative Public Spaces Community Places, a joint effort from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC), Michigan Municipal League, and Patronicity. As part of the initiative, organizers have launched a $50,000 crowdfunding campaign on the Michigan-based Patronicity platform. Should they successfully reach their goal by Sunday, Jan. 12, the MEDC will contribute a $50,000 matching grant to the project.
Learn more about the The Giving Trees Park project on Patronicity.
What they’re saying: “The PSCP grant allows us the grace to present an idea that we felt strongly about and then provided the support to work through it before ever submitting for approval,” says Elizabeth Stone, Director of Permaculture Princess. “You don’t often get that opportunity when applying for funding and it matters.”
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