Almost done with week 2! There has been so much going on, beyond work, which I hadn’t expected. I’ve had a wonderful time getting to know everyone even better. A couple of us went to the Pride Fest and watched the Motor City Pride Parade on Sunday, which was very fun (we also managed to pick up lots of free merch and candy from the parade). I’m excited to learn more about and explore the city with all my fellow DCERP-ers (I don’t know if that’s a term) even more in the next couple of weeks, from going to farmer markets and night markets to attending other events happening in Detroit.
Now onto my work. I’ve found myself settling into a better routine this week, now that I’ve figured out (mostly) what I’m doing. Some of you may already heard me launch into a far too lengthy explanation about this already, but, this summer, I’m working at Brightmoor Artisans Collective (BAC), a nonprofit focused on food systems, community wellness & economic development. It works on promoting agricultural sovereignty and access to healthy, local, affordable food in Brightmoor. For my project, we’re developing the Farmstead Incubator Project, which sets out to create a land trust for the purpose of streamlining purchasing of sites and supporting BIPOC farmers in Brightmoor. By creating a trust, it serves to protect the land in Brightmoor from developers. As BAC will evaluate and pre-determine suitable land clusters for farmstead sites (water lines, property lines, neighborhood approval, etc.), BIPOC farmers in Brightmoor can acquire land directly through BAC and do not have to navigate the city’s land bank/other possibly complicated systems to set up farmsteads.
Right now, I am literally starting from scratch, which has been very exciting but also a bit daunting. I’ve been working about remotely half the week, as the initial stage consists entirely of categorizing and entering data related to every empty plot of land into a spreadsheet. When I’m in person, I’ve also been helping out around the site in terms of weeding, mulching, and doing other gardening-related tasks. Every day in person feels a little different, so I do really enjoy the days I show up at the site!
Looking forward to the next few weeks (seeing Belle Isle and attending a performance by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra are on my list of to-dos)!
Hey Jessica! Your project sounds really cool. It also sounds daunting, but I relate to that with my own project. I’ve been having to learn the geography and history of my neighborhood, and it’s a whole lot of information to take in. I need to know it, though, in order to be helpful to my non-profit and complete my project. We’re all in it together! Since we’re all still kind of scrambling to get a hold of everything now, I look forward to hearing about where everyone ends up when August rolls around. Also, count me in to a trip to Belle Isle!