Motor City Blight Busters (MCBB) has been working to alleviate blight within the city since 1988. The MCBB tears down blighted structures, clears trash, and brings lots to code. Since 2005, the Fertile Ground Collective (FGC) has been an integral part of the MCBB. Once the MCBB has cleared the land, the FGC helps residents in the neighborhood surrounding the lot establish community gardens. In this way, the cleared lots become vital spaces utilized by the community. The goals of the FGC are fourfold: reclaim the dilapidated land, so that it may become fruitful again; repurpose the land from dangerous eyesore to a source of food and enjoyment; training community members in urban agriculture, so that they may grow their own food, thereby helping to bring fresh food to needy people; and connecting the community through the communal act of growing and sharing food.
Website: http://www.mcbbdetroit.com/
2014 Urban Pioneers, and other volunteers, during a weekend volunteer event.
Another garden.
Motor City Blight Busters Director, John George and The Fertile Grounds Collective Director Cornell Royal.
Assessment: Our assessment, in 2005 was that it was not enough to simply clear the land, the land had to be put to productive use. We also created a hypothesis, that by teaching people farming skills, we would be teaching employment skills. Our second hypothesis was that the act of community gardening would create neighborhood bonds, which may reduce crime in the area. Finally, we hypothesized gardens would help needy people access fresh produce. Therefore, we decided to start creating Urban Gardens. In 2009, the FGC created a program called the Urban Pioneers Service Program. The FGC wanted to integrate young people into the community garden building process.
Planning: We started small, with one garden. From there we learned the skills and best practices of Urban Gardening. We have grown each year as the MCBB tears down blighted properties. Each time we start a garden, we go through the same planning process.
Taking Action: Working in conjunction with Motor City Blight Busters, a local church, and several other local agencies the Fertile Ground Collective recruits neighborhood youth, ages 8 to 18, to become Urban Pioneers. Our program lasts for the 12 week growing season. The students work 20 hours a week and are paid the Michigan minimum wage. Finally, they are given a portion of the food they grow to distribute to their family and friends. We divide the Urban Pioneers into small family-like work units. This family-centered model is critical to the success of our program, as many of our participants come from broken homes, that lack strong adult leadership. Our Urban Pioneers are given plots of land to tend, and taught the farming skills necessary to grow food. We teach the Urban Pioneers skills for selling their produce. Our program is a deeply meaningful opportunity to experience the pride that comes through earning one’s living by hard work, legal entrepreneurship and sustained employment. By the end of the summer, we hope to teach ongoing life skills such as responsibility, compassion, long term planning, budget management and cooperation.
Evaluation: This is one of the places in which the Community Toolbox could help our program. We know our program has a very positive impact on our community. Further, our organization has been sustainable for more than a decade. However, we have not had a systematic methodology for collecting data on our outcomes.
Sustaining the work: The Fertile Ground Collective’s work has been sustained for more than a decade. We have been inspiring youth through our Urban Pioneers Service Program since 2009. The intrinsic value of transforming neighborhoods and teaching life skills is continuously enriching for members of the FGC. This year, we have the opportunity to build a greenhouse, so that we could continue the work of the FGC and Urban Pioneers year round. This greenhouse will also help us develop a sustainable form of revenue by selling produce to local restaurants.
We know that our project is having a positive impact in the neighborhoods we serve. Our garden plots remain tended and free of blight all year. Our students tend to have higher grades than their school peers and are more likely to set themselves on a college-bound track. Our students are also more likely to join school-sanctioned extra-curricular activities.
