Living Cities, a phlianthropic collaborative of 22 of the world's largest foundations, has awarded $17 million to support development along the Woodward Corridor in Detroit.  The funds were part of $82 million in awards made to five cities across the country for development of innovative solutions to creating opportunity and economic activity in cities.

In describing the award to Detroit, Living Cities stated that by focusing on the Woodward Corridor, which is home to Detroit's major universities and hospitals, the initiative will create a model for older industrial cities looking to reuse vacant land and expand opportunity.

Arnold Weinfeld is Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Michigan Municipal League. He can be reached at 517-908-0304 or by e-mail

Detroit is one of ten Cities of Service launching citywide "high impact service plans" geared toward encouraging volunteerism and community service, this month. Cities of Service is a coalition of over 100 U.S. mayors, which was launched by 17 original founding mayors, in 2009 - it has grown quickly. A number of Michigan cities participate, including Flint, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Muskegon, and Detroit. Detroit, along with nine other cities, received a cut of the first round of “Cities of Service Leadership Grant” funding, awarded by the Rockefeller Foundation, this January.

The grant is supporting Detroit Service, Mayor Bing’s initiative to address some of Detroit’s most pressing community service needs. Chief Service Officer Barbara Jean Patton will oversee the implementation of a number of goals outlined in their "Action Plan." Detroit Service is focusing on increasing public safety, encouraging urban gardening projects aimed at “blight elimination” and “beautification” of Detroit neighborhoods, increasing literacy among both grade schoolers and adults, promoting youth involvement in volunteering and community service opportunities, and building capacity for existing organizations. They will work with a hearty list of external partnering organizations and internal partners within the City of Detroit to coordinate volunteers and promote community engagement in these areas of service. 

For example, a volunteer "Citizen’s Radio Patrol" (CB radio patrol) will inform the Detroit Police Department of potential criminal activity in their neighborhoods. Partners on the project include the police department along with two AmeriCorps VISTA members. Wayne State University will measure the community-based patrol's impact on public safety. In addition, the resurrection of an "Eyes and Ears" program in Detroit will coordinate and train city service workers and other people who work in neighborhoods on a daily basis to keep an eye out for crime. 

Over time, Detroit Service will develop their new website, www.volunteer.detroitmi.gov into a centralized resource of information on volunteering and community service in Detroit. The City will post all of their volunteer opportunities on the site. The site is up (in its infant stage) and you can sign-up to receive updates via email now. 

Jennifer Eberbach is a professional journalist and writer. Find contact information on her website www.jenthewriter.info.

Detroit has a considerable amount of publicly-owned vacant land - no big surprise. The big question; What to do with it? One option that is up for discussion is to use some of this land for urban agriculture. Proponents of urban farming and gardening contend that more locally grown produce will increase residents' access to food and utilize the land in a productive way. 

According to a report, “Growing Food in the City: The Production Potential of Detroit’s Vacant Land,” which the C.S. Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems at Michigan State University released this summer, the City of Detroit owned 31,123 parcels of vacant land amounting to 3,598 acres, by the end of 2008. Vacant land owned by the City of Detroit, Wayne County, the State of Michigan, and the Wayne County Land Bank totals 44,085 vacant parcels amounting to 4,848 acres.

One of the questions the report sought to answer was; “Is it really conceivable for urban farms and gardens to contribute to the urban food supply in any significant way?” This report concludes that the answer is yes.

It “presents a summary of research on the possibilities and desirability of food cultivation on the publicly-owned vacant land in Detroit,” the report states. Aside from presenting a “catalog of vacant land,” it examines “how season extension techniques and post-harvest management would impact this availability,” including things like hoop-houses, as well as the impact of “biointensive growing methods,” the “desirability” of urban farming based on public feedback from interviews and focus groups, and more. A particularly interesting piece of this research looks at “Local Production Capacity” in Detroit, which determines how much of the city’s “annual vegetable or fruit consumption...could be supplied through local production given season constraints,” in different production scenarios, the report reads.

Jennifer Eberbach is a professional journalist and writer. Find contact information on her website www.jenthewriter.info

Finding ways to bring greater access to food and more food buying choices to Michigan residents living in "Food Deserts" is a challenge that enters into all sorts of conversations at both the government and community engagement levels - from discussions about city planning strategies, to business development efforts, to urban agricultural initiatives, to a variety of non-profit and community-based outreach projects happening right now. It's a good time to familiarize yourself with the term and the complexity of issues surrounding how lacking access to grocery stores and healthy food options negatively impacts not only human health but the health of neighborhoods. 

Research consultant Mari Gallagher has studied "Food Deserts" in Detroit, and I found her report, "Examining the Impact of Food Deserts of Public Health in Detroit," on Yale University's Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity's website, which also features other food related information for you to browse. If you are more interested in hearing what the impact of "Food Deserts" is straight from the mouths of people living in them, take a look at this older Detroit News article, from 2007, which reported on grocery store closing in Detroit. This article, "Grocery closings hit Detroit hard: City shoppers' choices dwindle as last big chain leaves," includes a lengthly discussion about some of the issues related to the lack of food choices in Detroit, and it features public feedback from people who are personally impacted. 

I don't live in a "Food Desert," but when I hear about people living in these areas - mostly low-income, economically depressed neighborhoods - I try to sympathize and understand what it must be like for them. I think of my frequent trips to the corner gas station, which is the only convenient place within walking distance to run to the store for things like trash bags, paper towels, batteries, and cat food. I don't compare my lack of convenient dish soap options to the lack of food choices plaguing many people in places like Detroit - "Food Deserts" are a much more serious issue. However, it makes me think about how lucky I am that the corner gas station isn't the only place nearby that I can buy food. 

Jennifer Eberbach is a professional journalist and writer. Find contact information on her website www.jenthewriter.info