I’ve worked on so many projects with Southwest Detroit Environmental Vision. I worked with the Healthy Air department to contact trucking businesses and educate them about switching to more environmentally friendly trucks. I worked with the Land and Water department to prepare for the Garden Party and sometimes even worked out in the garden. Lastly, I worked with Raquel and other Detroit organizations to get a voter guide out ASAP for the primary elections happening next month. I loved all of these projects and learned something new from every single one but my favorite by far was the garden.
The garden was where I got to meet people who lived Southwest Detroit their entire lives, these people were proud Detroiters inside and out. I was only out there for a few hours every week, but I probably talked to more people in those hours than I did in the office or at home. Cadillac Urban Gardens has helped me understand how important accessibility is in all aspects: food, transportation, water, etc. Fresh vegetables can get pretty expensive, planting them can get expensive, and having a way to get them can get expensive too. CUG tries to take away that obstacle from the many residents by providing free, fresh produce to everyone everyday. I learned that SDEV truly cares about the well being of Southwest Detroiters as they have held multiple workshops in the garden to talk to residents and local business owners and educate them about environmental concerns and how they can be reduced. It showed me that nonprofit work is all a team effort with staff members, volunteers, and the community. I learned that the community is composed of so many different people from so many different backgrounds that all love Detroit. I wish I could have recorded all of my conversations as all of them really showed what great people exist. I am definitely going to miss working with SDEV and cannot believe I only have a week left 🙁
It’s super cool that you got to actually work in the garden and talk to community members! At my site, we started researching the possibility of a community garden too, so it’s cool to hear about an organization that already has one and is able to provide free food to residents.
Wow! It sounds like you have worked on some really important projects that will help not only the organization you work for, but also the community as a whole. Also, I love to hear how SDEV works to educate residents in addition to providing services because it will lead to more sustainable change rather than them just trying throwing resources at the community without teaching them how to properly take advantage from them.