Chinwe Onwere

I can’t believe it is already the last week! There is so much to unpack within the last 2 months from living and working in Detroit. Working at KGD and interacting with other members of the DCERP cohort has truly been such a remarkable experience, and I have learned so much about Detroit and also […]

It is insane to think about how it is the end of the program is steadily approaching us. Just in the beginning of June, we were talking about how much this summer would “fly” by, as we excitedly anticipated starting our projects soon. Now with 2 months under our belts working for our non-profits and

A guest speaker that stood out to me was Ms. Tiffany Brown, who recently spoke about the organizations that she is a part of which includes being executive director of the Detroit Food Academy and founder of 3D; Developing Despite Distance. Parental incarceration is a topic that I know little about, even though I have

Liberation practices refer to movements that aim to promote collective rather than just individual action. They require the strength of the community and its members to fight for issues that affect themselves, and each person acts as a “bone” in order to move the ‘body’. Liberation practices aim to empower individuals to change by recognizing

As someone who has an interest in the environment, specifically human relationship to the environment, it has been rewarding to physically be in an urban green space and develop my understanding of food security and sovereignty. Keep Growing Detroit’s basis is built on those principles, and as I go on the farm and help with

Before reading How to Kill A City by P.E. Moskowitz, I didn’t realize how much wealth was concentrated in the Midtown/Downtown areas and not the rest of Detroit. It really opened my eyes to how the disparity in Detroit is not just a “recent” issue, but has been rooted in the city since its establishment.

For so long, the stereotypes  and media representations of Detroit had influenced my own outlook about what this city actually was. When the news cameras rolled and showed the blighted neighborhoods, the empty ransacked homes and vacant lots, these images continually reinforced in my mind that Detroit was a city that was unable to stand

So far, my internship has been a rewarding and enriching experience. My summer internship is with Keep Growing Detroit, a non-profit organization whose mission is to create a food sovereign Detroit, as well as supporting local farmers and adolescents through their Garden Resources program and youth/early-development childhood programs. My summer research project is currently focused

June 3rd-the move-in of DCERP. I quickly packed all of my items, and my tote bags filled to the brim with t-shirts, shorts, and summer dresses. My snack bin rattled with goodies as I placed it in the back of my car, already stuffed with miscellaneous items such as a small vacuum, a lone paper