Detroit urban farm receives $100,000 in grants to repurpose blighted home site
Garnier Include USA
The site of a razed home in Detroit's North End neighborhood is being transformed into a rain water harvesting cistern and recreational space.
The Michigan Urban Farming Initiative project at 325 Horton St. is being supported by $100,000 in corporate grants.
Minneapolis-based Target Corp. provided the all-volunteer nonprofit a $25,000 grant to convert the roughly 2,300-square-foot property into a cistern using technology produced by Saginaw-based Blue Thumb Inc., MUFI President Tyson Gersh said. France-based Garnier LLC also provided a $25,000 grant, in addition to a $50,000 grant in conjunction with New Jersey-based TerraCycle, to develop outdoor recreational space and supporting infrastructure, he said.
"This is important for urban agriculture as a whole, which struggles to get water as a whole. Through the automated system, we've optimized our own irrigation practices that cuts the amount of time that it takes to water our crop," Gersh said.
This blighted home in Detroit's North End neighborhood was razed by Michigan Urban Farming Initiative for $5,000 to make way for a cistern and outdoor community recreation space to be completed this summer.
With the city of Detroit spending about $13,000 on average to tear down homes in its demolition program in 2016, MUFI found a less expensive option. The organization spent roughly $5,000 to knock down the dilapidated superstructure while preserving the foundation.
Gersh said MUFI will repurpose the foundation and the home's utilities. The 16,000-gallon cistern will be installed in the foundation to feed the irrigation system for the nonprofit's 2-acre urban farm next door while preventing water runoff into Detroit's sewer system. This is a part of the organization's plan to create America's first sustainable urban agrihood.
"The goal of the project is to make it a cost-competitive model for deconstruction," he said. "For about the same cost, we want to convert those blighted properties into something functional, specifically blue infrastructure, that adds value."
Blue infrastructure refers to the practice of diverting rainwater and melting snow from a city's sewer/storm water system into ponds, fields and other natural settings.
Once the cistern is complete, MUFI plans to use the Garnier and TerraCycle grants to create outdoor leisure space for the neighborhood. The space would include more than a dozen picnic tables and four gazebos made from recycled personal care products packaging collected through Garnier's and TerraCycle's recycling program, the release said.
The Personal Care and Beauty Recycling Program is an initiative to create green gardens, Garnier senior vice president of marketing Ali Goldstein said in a statement.
"We applaud the Michigan Urban Farming Initiative for their hard work and dedication to beautifying the North End Detroit neighborhood," he said. "We are honored to grant the Michigan Urban Farming Initiative with a Garnier Green Garden and look forward to watching the community continue to flourish."