Grants Awarded
Socially Responsible Agriculture Project – $25,058
Water Rangers Program Expansion: Supporting Rural and Native Communities in Michigan
The Socially Responsible Agriculture Project (SRAP) will use this grant for outreach to and engagement with residents of rural Michigan to combat pollution caused by concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). CAFOs in Michigan have been shown to pollute the environment, threaten public health, destroy ecosystems, and decrease quality of life for Michigan communities. Specifically, SRAP will develop culturally relevant training materials, issue public notices of CAFO permit applications, offer training and educational webinars, host community listening sessions, and strengthen the network of resident scientists in Michigan who are dedicated to protecting public health and rural ecosystems.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston – $37,500
Revolutionizing Icons: Reimagining the 18th-century Art of the Americas Galleries
This multi-year grant will support the reinstallation of the 18-century Art of the Americas galleries at the MFA Boston in preparation for the U.S. 250th anniversary. The new galleries will include paintings, sculptures, decorative arts, and works on paper from the period 1680 to 1820 from across North, Central, and South America and the Caribbean, including Indigenous and island nations. The galleries will be reimagined to "show the interplay of the diverse cultures active in this period, and to consider the role of the arts in shaping our understanding of the nation's founding, and our broader ideas about the Americas and Americanness - as a place, an identity, and an aspiration."
Argus Farm Stop / Fair Food Network – $15,000
Partnership to Expand the Farm Stop Model
Farmers, consumers, policymakers, and others are interested in learning about and expanding the farm stop model. Farm stops are everyday farmers markets where farmers own and price their products but importantly can return to the farm while their products remain on sale daily and year-round. Argus Farm Stop in Ann Arbor, MI (through the Fair Food Network, its fiscal sponsor) will use this grant to convene interested participants in a farm stop conference that will serve as a resource for current farm stops, communities looking to start farm stops, policy makers, and those interested in growing food systems.
Edison Institute – $25,000
The Oxbow and Suwanee Lagoon Mycoremediation Demonstration Project
With this grant, The Henry Ford (THF) and the Mushroom Conservatory (TMC) will work together to pilot a water quality restoration project grounded in "mycoremediation" - a developing field of environmental restoration that utilizes the biochemical properties of certain fungi to extract contaminants from water and sediment. The pilot will be implemented in a small channel of the Rouge River, the Oxbow, which runs through THF property with the assistance of students at the Henry Ford Academy. The participants hope to use this grant to demonstrate that the water quality improvements available through mycoremediation could potentially be scaled to improve water quality in the larger Rouge River.
Muskegon River Watershed Assembly – $25,000
Friends of the Muskegon River
Conservation projects that preserve, protect, restore, and sustain the Muskegon River are most efficient, impactful, and economically sustainable when local communities and stakeholders are actively engaged. This grant will enable the Muskegon River Watershed Assembly to create up to four "Friends of the Muskegon River" groups to facilitate local community and leadership development throughout the nine-county Muskegon River watershed. The "Friends" groups will help to identify priority projects and ensure that the scientific and technical expertise that MWRA and its partners bring to conservation projects is integrated with local community assets, economies, people, interests, and culture.
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation – $32,000
Worlds Collide: Archaeology and Global Trade in 18th-Century Williamsburg
Colonial Williamsburg will use this grant to create a contextual video to accompany "Worlds Collide," an exhibition of archaeological materials excavated in Williamsburg, VA, that will be on view at the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum from October 2024 through October 2029. The display will highlight the diversity and interconnectedness of people in 18th-century Williamsburg and the globalized nature of urban life during the American Revolution by exploring the diversity of people, cultures and materials that collectively interacted in the 18th-century Williamsburg community. The exhibition will include objects that belonged to European colonists, free and enslaved Blacks, and American Indians that were either made here in America or shipped from Asia, Europe and Latin America. "Worlds Collide" is a central component of Colonial Williamsburg's celebration and commemoration of America250.
Freshwater Future – $25,000
Increasing Capacity of Northern Michigan Environmental Groups
Northern Michigan (Northern Lower Peninsula and the Upper Peninsula) contains some of the state's most pristine and sensitive water resources - cold water trout streams, untouched Great Lakes shorelines, and high-quality inland lakes. Because critical decisions that impact water are made at the local level, community engagement in water decision making is extremely important. Without community-level structures able to engage with permitting and planning processes, degradation of water quality and environmental injustices can be created. With this grant, Freshwater Future will provide consulting and capacity building support to northern Michigan environmental groups to ensure that the capacity exists for sustained engagement and that strong, high-capacity organizations are working to ensure Great Lakes water issues are being addressed.
Legacy Land Conservancy – $15,900
Protecting Local Water Quality Through Permanent Land Protection
This grant will provide the final 5% needed to permanently protect 35 acres of critically important property in the Stony Creek region of the Huron River Watershed in southeast Michigan. The property is mostly wooded with extensive wetlands and 3,000 feet of frontage on a tributary to Stony Creek, which flows to Lake Erie. The property features vernal pools - seasonal wetlands that appear in the spring - that provide critical habitat that is vital to the forest ecosystem and is in an area that is at high risk for development.
Asbury Community Development Corporation – $30,000
Asbury Farm Incubator Project
Asbury CDC will use this grant to launch a farmer incubator program in Flint, MI. Asbury will develop a business plan and pilot an incubator program that provides resources and training to new farmers interested in growing food for themselves and the community. The project will increase the output of Asbury's farm, engage the community, and enhance the local food ecosystem, benefiting Flint residents through improved access to nutritious, locally-grown food and a stronger and more resilient local food economy.
Eastern Market Corporation – $25,000
Eastern Market Microloan Revolving Fund
Eastern Market has an extensive portfolio of programs that support small food businesses and food entrepreneurs in Detroit, MI. Through these programs, Eastern Market has learned that the greatest and most common challenge that food entrepreneurs face when trying to grow or scale their businesses is accessing lending capital. With this grant ($25,000 per year for two years), Eastern Market and ProsperUs, a CDFI and entrepreneurial support organization, will pilot a new Eastern Market Microloan Revolving Fund that will provide microloans of $1,000 to $2,500 to businesses that utilize Eastern Market's business support programs and wraparound services. Borrowers will be able to use the loans to purchase or lease equipment, conduct market research, design marketing materials, secure inventory, or for other uses that enable them to reach the next level in their growth.
Slave Dwelling Project, Inc. – $8100
Keynote at the 8th Annual Slave Dwelling Project Conference Featuring Michael Harriot
This grant will support the keynote address at the 8th Slave Dwelling Project Conference, October 3-5, 2024, in Philadelphia. This year's theme, The Illusion of Freedom: Slavery in the Northern States, will explore American chattel slavery in northern states prior to and after the Revolutionary War in the 1780s. Michael Harriot, a columnist at TheGrio, staff writer on The Amber Ruffin Show, and author of "Black AF History: The Unwhitewashed Story of America," will present the keynote. The conference is being presented by the Slave Dwelling Project in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania's McNeil Center for Early American Studies.
Live Zero Waste, Inc. – $10,000
Reducing Plastic Waste in Ypsilanti
Live Zero Waste, Inc. will use this grant to extend a successful plastic reduction campaign in Ann Arbor to Ypsilanti. The ultimate goal is to reduce plastic use along the Huron River, which has more microplastics than any other Great Lakes tributary. Live Zero Waste will use education and outreach to promote behavior change best practices in both communities to help people commit to taking concrete action to reduce waste and push for systemic change.
Growing Hope, Inc. – $25,000
Cultivating Accessibility and Sustainability in Ypsilanti's Food System
Over the past two decades, Growing Hope has continuously moved the needle to address chronic diet-related health diseases and food insecurity within the Ypsilanti area. Despite progress, many community members continue to experience barriers to fresh produce. Growing Hope will use this grant to invest in garden infrastructure for the farm on Michigan Avenue in Ypsilanti to expand fresh food production and processing and to ensure that the farm is accessible to Ypsilanti residents with mobility or other challenges.
Valley Forge Park Alliance – $25,000
Unveiling the Untold: Illuminating African American Stories at Valley Forge
Recent research has identified 112 civilians and 521 soldiers of African descent who were engaged at Valley Forge during the Revolutionary War. This grant will support an initiative by the Valley Forge Park Alliance to uncover and disseminate the often-overlooked narratives of these individuals. The initiative will offer a fresh perspective on American history by shedding light on the complexities of freedom and sacrifice, and will deepen understanding of the nation's diverse heritage through immersive tours and educational programs utilizing historic buildings as platforms for storytelling.
Make Food Not Waste – $25,000
The 2030 Project
In the fall of 2023, Make Food Not Waste (MFNW) proposed to help Michigan reach its goal of cutting food waste in half by 2030 by redirecting the food waste in Southeast Michigan's top 15 most populated cities away from landfills. Dubbed The 2030 Project, the plan attracted funding from the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy. In the first phase of the project, MFNW is working with the first city, Southfield, to create a tactical blueprint that will encompass the city's food system and incorporate national best practices in food waste reduction, rescue and recycling. This grant will support the second phase of the project, which begins in September 2024 and involves the implementation of the Southfield program and the adaptation of the blueprint to two additional cities - Dearborn and Sterling Heights.
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