Melissa McLeod started her popular Instagram page @Feral_Detroit documenting the birds and wildlife of Detroit as a reaction to the elitism she experienced in the birding community.
This new Ferndale business was inspired by the Barbara Ward quote, “We have forgotten how to be good guests, how to walk lightly on the Earth as its other creatures do.”
As a college student, Deeply Rooted Produce founder Dazmonique Carr experienced food insecurity. Now her company is working to create more equitable access to affordable, high-quality produce for Detroiters at every income level.
“We estimate that this project keeps 1.5 million gallons of stormwater out of the system in an average year,” says Valerie Strassberg, Detroit Urban Conservation Director at The Nature Conservancy.
Rather than one major developer shaping the direction of the site, it could become a network of smaller adaptive reuse projects.
After a multimillion-dollar river remediation effort, Detroit's RiverWalk is preparing to begin work on a new extrension on the city's east side.
When COVID-19 hit Michigan this year, the Detroit Innovation Fellowship cohort were well placed to support the communities hit hardest. The 23 social innovators involved in the talent development program are proving that their focus on creating sustainable, accessible resources builds the kind of resilience that see communities through a crisis.
In Detroit communities hit hardest by COVID-19, solar power projects provided some relief and continuity of service this year. For engineers and entrepreneurs Ali Dirul and Karanja Famodou, renewable energy is not just about the sustaining the environment, it's about sustaining equity.
COVID-19 setbacks and losses have not been able to diminish the optimism of neighborhood innovator Tammy Black. The Jefferson Chalmers resident is drawing on the strength of her community to sustain plans for the construction of a treehouse community center and advocate for horticultural therapy.
It's not just a design hub that Tanya Saldivar-Ali and her husband, Luis, are building on 18th Street — the Detroit couple is developing a construction pipeline to connect residents with sustainable careers. But it's the cutting-edge technology they are using to tell residents' stories that is capturing international attention.
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