Mini-Grantees

Thank you to all the 2018 Take Action on Air Quality applicants!  We had 22 applications in total, with an array of interesting projects that could impact air quality in the City of Detroit.  The 2018 grantees are:

 

Applicant: Auntie Na’s House

Project Name: Clean Air in Our Village

Award: $5000

Project Description: The ‘Clean Air in Our Village’ project will contribute to long-term improvements to indoor and outdoor air quality as well as overall youth and community education about air quality issues and pollution reduction strategies. Auntie Na’s plans to install indoor air filters in the Village Community Centers, plant trees on lots near the I-96 and Davison Freeway, and develop and implement environmental and social justice education for children and teens participating in Auntie Na’s summer program.

Applicant: Pilgrim Baptist Church

Project Name: Renewable Option for Houses of Worship

Award: $5000

Project Description: The Renewable Option for Houses of Worship Project includes installation of solar powered security lights above the entrances to a building adjacent to a neighborhood Detroit church that the church owns and uses for its community food distribution center for neighborhoods residents.   This pilot project will be used as an example in a series of three workshops for houses of worship in Detroit that will promote the use of renewable by houses of worship in the City.

Applicant: Denby Neighborhood Alliance/Great Communities Now! Coalition

Project Name: Denby Community Engagement Project

Award: $5000

Project Description: The Denby Community Engagement Project will plant vegetative buffers along Outer Drive and the Whittier business corridor to reduce resident’s exposure to air pollution.

Applicant: In Memory Community Garden

Project Name: In Memory Community Garden Solar Project

Award: $5000

Project Description: The In Memory Community Garden Solar Project will improve air quality and educate residents be increasing the use of renewable energy in Detroit through a pilot solar project in Detroit’s Warrendale neighborhood. This pilot project will install solar lighting in the In Memory Community Garden and will build capacity so that residents, leaders, and youth can learn about the process and benefits of installing solar power, as well as co-benefits related to air quality and safety.

 

Applicant: Great Lakes Environmental Law Center

Project Name: Detroit Vegetative Buffer Project

Award: $5000

Project Description: The Great Lakes Environmental Law Center will conduct a survey of local ordinances from across the country to determine the best practices regarding vegetative buffers, use its analysis to create a draft vegetative buffer ordinance for Detroit, and conduct stakeholder outreach to both residents and local government to receive input on the draft ordinance and to educate stakeholders about the purpose and need for the ordinance.

Applicant: South by Southwest Collaborative (hosted at Grace in Action)

Project Name: Cultural Ambassadors for Clean Air

Award: $2500

Project Description: Cultural Ambassadors for Clean Air [CA4CA]: Be Aware of Your Air Campaign is an educational program with two goals 1) reach populations and social networks from the Latinx, African and Arab American communities to implement culturally appropriate, multi-lingual ways to teach about clean air 2) build a common curriculum together across neighborhoods communicating the same message, cleaner air=better health. The process will enhance the leadership of local community residents on the fencelines in pollution-impacted areas who will lead the process of researching information about pollution, titling them Cultural Ambassadors (CA). CA’s will look at current information, research to develop and implement 3-5 multi-lingual lesson plans that identify the pollution sources, health impacts, and regulatory framework that govern pollution control in Southwest Detroit and South Dearborn.

Applicant: Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition

Project Name: ACT: Advocating For Clean Air Together

Award: $2500

Project Description: The ACT Program, Advocating for Cleanair Together, mobilizes information about the impacts and solutions to air pollution, utilizing power maps, to create a strategic advocacy plan for Detroit, Dearborn and River Rouge. It will be an effort to investigate and identify key decision makers in air quality and public health at the local and state level, and within private corporations. This process will help strategically engage in dialogue and education of those actors, in advocating for solutions such as health impact assessments, cleaner energy, ongoing corporate dialogue, pollution permit intervention, city council resolutions, and/or ordinances and legislation in other geographies to be implemented in SE Michigan.