The Greening of Detroit Finds New Life For The City and Its Residents

Southfield (CW50) - The Greening of Detroit is a non-profit organization that has spent over 30 years planting trees and providing jobs to Detroiters in order to improve the quality of life inside the city.

The Greening of Detroit has engaged the community to help residents get involved in building greenspaces, planting trees, finding jobs, and getting educated. Since 1989, the organization has planted over 130,000 trees in the City of Detroit, Hamtramck, and Highland Park.

The non-profit provides programs outside of just tree planting. One of these programs is their Adult Workforce Training Development Program. This program helps Detroiters with barriers to employment find jobs in the fields of landscaping and tree artisanship. Trainees receive hands on training, along with job readiness skills in financial literacy.

The other program is the Green Corps. A program for teens 14-18 years old. Members of the Green Corps invest time in their communities by learning to be environmental stewards. Planting and taking care of trees and green spaces in their communities is part of the job. These community areas include the city's schools and gardens. The program is a six to eight-week summer youth employment program.

Lionel Bradford, President & CEO of The Greening of Detroit, joins Lisa Germani on Community Connect to talk about the service the non-profit has provided to Detroit over the last 30 years and how it will continue to improve Detroit's green spaces.

To learn more about The Greening of Detroit and its programs, go to GreeningofDetroit.com

Watch Community Connect, Saturday at 7am on CW50