It's a knockout ;)
When choosing a small green space or park to highlight for Micro Week, we decided to check in with the Greening of Detroit and one of their many projects that they take on throughout the year. They plant many trees around the city, of course, but they also partner with many community organizations throughout the city to create gardens and green spaces. A few notable projects this summer included alley clean-up and garden beds in the Fitzgerald neighborhood, a big outdoor education center in the Osborn neighborhood, and this little garden project on the east side.
This one we’re highlighting is a partnership with the Downtown Boxing Gym on East Vernor. They turned the lot next to the gym into multiple garden beds over the course of the summer. The Downtown Boxing Gym Youth Program, which serves about 130 youth per day, put together the raised beds and now this garden is used as a community garden for the gym families and neighborhood residents. The Greening, in partnership with WSU, installed the garden. Gleaners, which is located on the next block over, has provided some nutrition education and the kids regularly pick produce from the beds for the meals they prepare at the gym. Here are a few pics from this program, from building the garden beds to full gardens.
This project is just one example of the many initiatives the Greening of Detroit gets involved with throughout the city to engage Detroiters in transforming vacant space into healthy, green places.
Greening of Detroit
Downtown Boxing Gym Youth Program