Brightmoor Seeds a Greener Future

NICK JONES, Metro Detroit Local Food Coordinator

One hundred years ago, farmland stretched along the banks of the River Rouge and across what is now northwest Detroit. The neighborhood of Brightmoor was annexed by the city in 1925, and low-cost homes were built there for workers migrating from southern states.

Brightmoor bears the struggle of Detroit more than most neighborhoods. The area that was once home to 35,000 residents now is home to only 12,000. Those who remained have watched as public schools and parks were defunded, and grocery stores and businesses were shuttered. More than a third of households live below the poverty line, and all suffer from poor amenities and a high crime rate.

Despite decades of history that have intervened, much of Brightmoor today echoes with its agrarian past. Food grows throughout the neighborhood, especially along The Brightmoor Farmway which was established 10 years ago.

In vacant lots, there are now gardens, hoophouses, chickens, and goats. Robust sugar maples dot the spaces between standing houses. Every spring, neighbors work together to tap the trees and boil their sap into syrup.

The Brightmoor Artisans Collective, with its brightly-painted storefront on Fenkell Avenue, is a meeting place for the farmers, gardeners, and eaters of the neighborhood.

The collective’s cafe serves affordably priced soups and sandwiches made with local ingredients. Behind the counter, a commercial kitchen is available for rent to chefs and entrepreneurs. Plus,the collective hosts cooking classes, a farmers market, and free wellness and creativity programs for all ages.

At the weekly farmers market, prices are kept lower than at nearby suburban markets. “If you're growing in this neighborhood,” says director Brittany Bradd. “It’s only appropriate to make the food available to neighbors at an equitable price.”

Outside organizations are beginning to invest in Brightmoor’s local food community. A few blocks north, The Detroit Partnership for Food, Learning, and Innovation, a research center led by Michigan State University Extension, brings together Detroiters and university researchers. Their focus of study is urban farming and its potential to address economic, ecological and public health concerns.

L'Oreal Hawkes-Williams is a Brightmoor-based gardener and activist with Voices for Earth Justice. She sees growing food as the first step in creating a stronger, healthier, more sustainable community. “It's not the planting or the weeding. It's something that happens when you're engaged in the experience, when your hands are in the soil and you're working together.”

The people of Brightmoor are working together. Despite the challenges of the past and present, they are planting seeds and grafting new growth to old roots. In Brightmoor, local food is the future.