Growing Tomatoes, Greens & Community Development
As the harvest season is upon us, let me introduce you to a project that’s growing community along with greens, tomatoes, and strawberry jam in Detroit.
Hard Times for a Little Park
For years the maintenance of parks in the City of Detroit was a struggle. As the city dealt with declining taxes, and a bankruptcy, the matter only got worse. While some major parks did receive help, the smaller ones — mostly, in the neighborhoods — were often neglected. But, when a local housing improvement project happened, a small park rehab went from beyond pretty and clean to healthy and connecting the community.
Votrobeck Playground is a three-acre park on Detroit’s northwest side. After Ginosko Development Company completed a 183-unit low-income housing project next to the playground, the company turned its eyes on how to help improve the connected, city-owned public space.
After a series of meetings with residents in the neighborhood, it became clear that not only were new lighting, parking, and picnic improvements welcomed, but the neighbors were interested in the ability to engage with community gardening in a meaningful way.
Following a conversation with the city and working with a local non-profit, Mary Tischler turned to Patronicity’s sponsor program with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation called “Public Spaces, Community Places”. The program provides a matching grant for place-based projects or improvements created by most cities and non-profits in the state.
After drawing up the plans, following the guidance of the neighbors, Tischler was able to create a concept for the Votrobeck Playground called “It Takes a Village Garden” featuring a community garden, fruit trees, rain collectors, wildflowers, and more.
Following approval through the Patronicity program with the MEDC, the project went out to the community. Tichsler said the project saw support from $10 to over $5,000 from donors who wanted to see if happen. In the end, the campaign raised $27, 585 to exceed its goal and unlock a matching grant to help make it happen.
Three Years Later — The Results
After the support came, plus the MEDC’s generous grant, the project at Votrobeck Playground was completed in 2015 with some touchups in 2016.
So, about three years later, what have been the results? Tichsler said she’s seen more community, more collaboration, and more healthy eating for neighbors who struggle with food insecurity.
In addition to a patch of land to grow produce, the garden has a manager to make sure things are going well while opening up an opportunity for educational and recreational programs along with specialized classes like how to can or make jam as a way to extend the value of the fruits and vegetables beyond their usual fresh use shelf life.
“Biggest thing is the gardeners themselves. I get comments every time I go out there and I’m with them and they are just so thankful that they have this food that they are growing for themselves,” said Tischler
The garden has also brought together a collaboration with nearby Oakland University for a study on pollinators which helped area youth to understand the value of bees in the food ecosystem while other features, like the rain garden aspect, has helped limit the amount of storm water runoff into the sewer system.
“The impact is there’s a lot of use of the playground where there really wasn’t a lot before,” said Tischler, including making this beautiful little park into a spot for wedding and graduation photos were such things would have been unheard of in its earlier incarnation.
“There’s just more community happening,” said Tischler.
Support Makes It Possible
The transformation of the playground is apparent — those things can be seen with the naked eye and cost money. But, the impacts on community, on health, on pride in the neighborhood are often hidden from view, resting in the hearts and minds of many. Those items have no direct price tag but are created when community is given a chance to guide and to flourish with just a little help from not only donors but a generous sponsor who sees the value of building them by lending a hand.
At Patronicity, we know innovative organizations that sponsor match programs, like Michigan Economic Development Corporation, as well as those who creative great community projects to improve their neighborhoods on the local level are setting a new standard for neighborhood engagement and improvement. Would your organization like to sponsor great projects like Votrobeck Playground? We’d love to hear about it and we know you can do it because Patronicity is here to help.
Learn more and get in touch at https://www.patronicity.com
