Grown in Detroit

Shown at the Detroit Historical Museum

“Grown in Detroit” focuses on the urban gardening efforts managed by a public school of 300, mainly African American, pregnant and parenting teenagers. In Detroit alone, there are annually more than 3,000 pregnant teenagers who drop out of high school. This school is one of three in the country that focus on urban gardening and this population. As part of the curriculum, the girls are taught agricultural skills on the school’s own farm, which is located behind the school in what used to be the playground. The young mothers, often still children themselves, learn to become knowledgeable about the importance of nutritional foods, the process by which these foods arrive at their plates, and ultimately, to become independent and self-empowered through the process of farming. Many of them start out disliking the often physically hard work on the farm, but this aversion disappears as they see the fruits of their labor growing and being sold for profit. “Back to the roots” has sprouted as a simple yet effective solution for Detroit. As industrial models fail, this is a solution to be replicated in other former industrial giants the world over.