Detroit Park Programs Bridge Nature Gap for City Youth, Seniors

Vanessa Williams of northwest Detroit's Brightmoor neighborhood never anticipated she could take her three kids camping in their home community last summer. But thanks to the nonprofit Sidewalk Detroit, Williams and her children enjoyed a free overnight campout in Brightmoor's Eliza Howell Park, complete with camping gear.

Offering experiences like this is only one of the many ways that Sidewalk Detroit enhances livability for Detroit's neighborhoods by advancing spatial equity in Metro Detroit's parks. 

Thomas Long, a science coach for Ann Arbor-based charter school management firm Global Educational Excellence (GEE), said he couldn't find enough opportunities to get his students outdoors for hands-on learning. Over the last three years, however, a partnership with the Huron-Clinton Metroparks has allowed Long's students to participate in outdoor experiences at no cost to students.

"Students had never been to the parks and just were kind of in awe and wanted just to experience it and just be out there," Long said in an interview with Model D. "A lot of them are from the inner city and have not had the opportunities to go to the local Metroparks, and so taking them on field trips was eye-opening to them."

In addition to offering programming for any school in the five-county Metro Detroit service area, Metroparks has focused on equity to make science and nature education available to underserved students in Metro Detroit. Metroparks provide classroom programming, field trips, park admission, and other materials, as well as reduced bus transportation costs for the schools.

Students aren't the only ones benefiting from nature-based initiatives. 

Older adults are also enjoying experiences in nature thanks to the Cody Rouge Community Action Alliance in northwest Detroit's Senior University initiative. Senior University has hosted community picnics and guided tours in Rouge Park. Beyond ways to connect with nature, Senior University provides essential socialization opportunities for seniors at community parks.