As much as teamwork is reinforced in school you never really see how important it really is in the real world. As the old saying goes, “It takes a village to raise a child,”  it really does take everyone in the office to get a project done. Though one person in the office at SDEV […]

Thus far one of the primary observations I’ve made both inside and outside of work through this program is a sense of unity amongst organizations and residents of Detroit. I believe that this stands out to me so much because it contrasts my experiences last summer, when I had the opportunity to work in New York City. In

The everyday hustle and bustle of American Indian Health and Family services surrounds me as I sit at my desk, staring at my screen with music blaring through my headphones. When I take a minute to unplug, sit back, and watch the staff, I see their dedication, drive, and focus. Everyone appears to be on

EcoWorks is a non-profit environmental consulting group that is involved in many projects in Detroit and around Michigan. The project I am involved in is assessing the city of Dearborn and providing recommendations to lower their energy use and make them a more sustainable city in general. The first step to achieving this is to

Dear Luis Carlos Wow week two was strange. It was almost like week one, except completely different. You still don’t really know what you will end up doing at your non-profit due to the fact that they don’t know what you will be doing there, but hopefully something will come up. Eight more weeks, and

The organization I have been so fortunate to be placed with this summer is Voices 4 Earth Justice.  V4EJ is an interfaith non-profit that intertwines urban agriculture, ecology,and sustainability education to help foster community development and stewardship of the planet.  I sat down to talk to director, Patty Gillis and she explained how V4EJ came

I am working with the Detroit Public Schools Office of Energy and Sustainability. They manage energy usage and cost, auditing, rate optimization, vendor negotiations, and energy savings initiatives, such as the DPS Go Green Challenge. Most of what I do is divided into two areas: researching alternative funding methods for school efficiency upgrades, and analyzing

This summer I am working with Friends of Parkside. FOP is a small nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting and bettering the community in The Village at Parkside, a public housing project in East Detroit housing around 275 low-income families. FOP collaborates with residents, board members, volunteers, businesses and community partners to empower residents through resources such as after

This summer I’ll be spending my time working with FoodLab Detroit. FoodLab is a small non-profit that started as a few food entrepreneurs around a kitchen table, sharing advice and trying to work together to learn how to advance their food businesses and has now grown to an organization with over 145 members and counting.

I am about two weeks into the program now! I have switched internship sights and have started to really explore the city in the past seven days. I have gone to the Eastern Market, enjoyed Motor City Pride and the Pride Parade, went out to dinner with friends and enjoyed a new restaurant, explored the