Each of the 18 projects will receive grants of $100,000 to $150,000. These projects will begin soon, and they are expected to be completed within 12 to 18 months. There is at least one project in each of the seven Detroit City Council districts.

The projects and their corresponding organizations are listed below:

Project: Afterhouse
Organization: University of Michigan
UM’s Archolab research collaborative and Burnside Farm will transform an abandoned home into an underground solar greenhouse. The main end for the project is to grow food year-round.

 

Project: Center for resident Engagement and Development
Organization: Southwest Housing Solutions Corp.
The former St. Anthony Lithuanian Church in Southwest Detroit is now vacant. However, there are plans afoot to redevelop it. When finished, the building will provide a host of programs and serve as the epicenter for the resident-led redevelopment of a 20-block area.

 

Project: Downtown Boxing Gym Youth Program
Organization: Downtown Boxing Gym Youth Program
The Downtown Boxing Gym Youth Program’s headquarters has long been a former car wash on St. Aubin. Now, the program is in the first phase of its renovation project. A nearby 12,000 square-foot facility will serve as the group’s new headquarters. It will also enable the program to begin accepting youth from its wait list of 400.

 

Project: Fitness Parks for a Healthier Community
Organization: Central Detroit Christian Community Development Corp.
The Central Detroit Christian Community will transform seven vacant lots into pocket parks connected by a walking path. Their goal is to encourage active living in the Middle Woodward Corridor. The organization plans to add fitness equipment, trees, and native plants to the lots.

 

Project: Green Parking and Public Space
Organization: Grandmont Rosedale Development Corp.
Grandmont Rosedale will create a green parking lot and outdoor public space on the Grand River Avenue commercial corridor. Kresge’s grant will fund community outreach activities, design, planning, and redevelopment of the lots.

 

Project: Intersections Pocket Park
Organization: Heritage Works
The vacant lots at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks Boulevards will become community-centered pocket parks that honor these two influential figures. The plans include the installation of new hardscape, benches, and greenscape as well as the making of new public art.

 

Project: Judge Stein Playfield
Organization: Joy-Southfield Community Development Corp.
The Judge Stein Playfield in the Cody-Rouge neighborhood will be renovated. Improvements include new sidewalks, solar-powered lighting, and green infrastructure features. After the project’s completion, the park will be a safer place for children to play.

 

Project: LaSalle House
Organization: Focus: HOPE
The LaSalle House, a blighted two-family flat in the HOPE village neighborhood, is getting a facelift. It will become the first LEED Platinum rehabilitated home in Detroit. The new house will be used as a community space and serve as an art gallery.

 

Project: Mack Avenue Green Thoroughfare
Organization: LAND Inc.
This project will extend the Mack Avenue Green Thoroughfare (Green T) by transforming a three-quarter-mile blighted area of Mac Ave. Commercial Corridor into a green byway.

 

Project: Osborn Neighborhood Stabilization Initiative
Organization: Black Family Development Inc.
Residents in the Osborn neighborhood of Detroit will be encouraged to create short and long term land use plans. Using these plans, Black Family Development Inc. will partner with Life Remodeled to mobilize 5,000 volunteers for a six-day cleanup.

 

Project: Penrose Market Garden and Nutrition Program
Organization: Arab American and Chaldean Council
Through this project, the Arab American and Chaldean Council will create a one-hal-acre market garden facility, an education center, and nutrition programs at the Penrose Village housing development in Chaldean Town.

 

Planning grants worth $20,000 to $25,000 will be completed by the end of August before the next round of Kresge Innovative Projects: Detroit.

Project: Beaufait Belt Line Greenway
Organization: Detroit Eastside Community Collaborative
An overgrown, abandoned rail line will get new life under this project. It will become the Beaufait Belt Line Greenway, a 1.5 mile long bikeable greenway and raised-garden foodway that connects Gleaners and Earthworks Urban Farm.

 

Project: Brightfields Solar Array
Organization: LAND Inc.
If it’s feasible, LAND Inc. will remediate a vacant four-acre brownfield site on the Mack Ave. corridor. It will be used as a renewable energy solar array. The project will also create a training program to give area residents access to careers in solar site installation and maintenance.

 

Project: Delores Bennett Park Expansion Project
Organization: Vanguard Community Development Corp.
Residents will be encouraged to collaborate in order to design an expansion of Delores Bennett Park. The project plans to expand the park from 2.7 acres to as much as 30 acres.

 

Project: Denby Future Community
Organization: Michigan Environmental Council
This project will support the development of a three-year strategic plan for an ongoing program at Denby High School. The program integrates the Detroit Future City Strategic Framework Plan into school curriculum and uses it to guide students in their efforts to change their neighborhoods.

 

Project: Plaza Planning Project
Organization: Young Nation
Young Nation plans to transform a vacant lot and an empty 2,200-square-foot commercial building into a neighborhood-based, arts-infused public plaza and artists market at the intersection in southwest Detroit.

 

Project: Southwest Detroit Green Buffers Planning Project
Organization: Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice
This project will use vacant land to buffer residential areas from industrial facilities and the planned New International Trade Crossing connecting Detroit to Windsor.

 

Project: Vacant Land Adaptive Reuse
Organization: Michigan Community Resources
Michigan Community Resources will plan for the adaptive reuse of land in a high-vacancy neighborhood on the lower east side of Detroit.