The Troy-based Kresge Foundation today announced a record $2.4 million in grants for the planning and implementation of community projects – from park and neighborhood improvement to boosting entrepreneurship – across Detroit through its Kresge Innovative Projects: Detroit initiative.
Today’s announcement brings the total of planning and implementation grants to 99 and the total dollars awarded to $9.2 million since 2015.
“More and more nonprofits – large and small, longstanding and relatively new – are engaging with residents to propose projects that can make decisive, often catalytic improvements that improve lives, foster community, and spur revitalization,” says Kresge President and CEO Rip Rapson in announcing the grants.
Eleven grants of up to $35,000 are in the planning and capacity-building category. Recipients include:
- Bailey Park Projects, which serves the McDougall-Hunt neighborhood, will develop a plan to repurpose vacant lots into an environmentally sustainable, multigenerational green space for neighborhood residents.
- Brilliant Detroit has been dedicated to youth enrichment and school preparedness since its inception in 2015. The organization will develop plans for a youth- and family-centered community hub in the Morningside neighborhood.
- Detroit Justice Center in collaboration with DLIVE will develop plans for a supportive housing unit for those affected by physical trauma and gun violence.
- Dream of Detroit will develop plans for a commercial kitchen and walk-up restaurant space for food-based entrepreneurs on Woodrow Wilson Street on Detroit’s west side.
- Foodlab Detroit will develop resources and materials for the community on the cultural impact food has on the preservation of place, including planning for a Dream Café to highlight those narratives.
- Michigan Humane Society will conduct extensive community engagement in Detroit’s North End to design and develop a pet-friendly park for neighborhood residents.
- The Greening of Detroit will plan for the Greening Hub, which will serve as a center for meetings, classes, workforce training, educational programming and more. The Greening Hub will engage the community in activities that promote climate change resiliency, environmental stewardship and sustainability, and a healthier urban ecosystem.
- Detroit Block Works, which serves a northwest Detroit community, will use KIP:D support to build its organizational and planning capacity in the development of a community gathering space and resource hub.
- North End Neighborhood Patrol will use KIP:D support to build organizational and planning capacity; the organization has engaged youth ambassadors to lead their peers in community-based projects.
- Russell Woods Sullivan Area Association will use KIP:D support to build organizational and planning capacity; the organization as a steward in the Russell Woods neighborhood to elevate resident priorities through placemaking projects.
- Nardin Park Improvement Rock will use KIP:D support to build organizational and planning capacity as a steward in Nardin Park to engage residents in a community design process for neighborhood spaces.
Eight combined planning and implementation grants of up to $150,000 were presented to:
- The Brightmoor Alliance and Sidewalk Detroit to restore habitats and strategically design pathways in Eliza Howell Park in northwest Detroit, augmented by arts and culture programs that increase visitor engagement.
- Cody Rouge Community Action Alliance will develop a pavilion in Stein Park in the Cody Rouge neighborhood for health and wellness activities, community gatherings and placemaking activities.
- Auntie Na’s House will develop a shared commercial kitchen space for resident cooperatives. The group will also expand the Village Park and adjacent community gardens in Detroit’s Nardin Park/Russell Woods neighborhood.
- Boggs Educational Center Project Team will work on a community play space and park as a gathering space near the Grace Lee Boggs School on Detroit’s east side. The community play space will be designed by students and residents, and staffed by resident ambassadors.
- Chandler Park Conservancy will develop a fitness zone at Chandler Park which features outdoor fitness equipment for residents of all ages.
- Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation will develop spaces for social entrepreneurship training and innovation at its facility on Trumbull in Detroit’s Corktown neighborhood.
- Mexicantown Community Development Corporation will design and develop an art gallery and community-centric cafe in the MCDC-owned Welcome Center to preserve and promote artistic, cultural, and culinary arts activities and entrepreneurship.
- Congress of Communities will design and develop a youth hub in southwest Detroit that will use arts and other activities to support young residents, with a particular focus on vulnerable youth populations.
The Kresge Foundation awarded six implementation grants up to $150,000 to:
- Urban Neighborhood Initiatives to build out of the Lawndale Center in the Springwells neighborhood to support youth programming and placemaking activities.
- Young Nation will transform a vacant lot in the Springwells neighborhood into a community-designed park that residents will use for informal gatherings and outdoor recreation and that the organization will use for formal programming.
- Woodbridge Neighborhood Development Corporation will reactivate an abandoned elementary school into a neighborhood hub and center for resident engagement in Detroit’s Woodbridge neighborhood.
- Eden Gardens Block Club will purchase and rehab of a house on Detroit’s east side to use as a center for literacy and improvement of life and work skills.
- Community Treehouse Center, following a KIP:D Round 4 planning grant, will create an inclusive community space in the Jefferson-Chalmers neighborhood that can accommodate multi-generational users and those with disabilities.
- Clark Park Detroit will support the implementation projects identified through a participatory community budgeting process, including revitalizing park gazebos, walking paths, and reinstalling soccer and volleyball facilities.
