The Greening of Detroit

Between 1950 and 1980, around 500,000 trees were lost in Detroit to Dutch elm disease, urban expansion and attrition. During that same time, economic constraints prohibited the city from replacing those trees.  Detroit is an urban area - that makes trees a vital part of city living. Trees are key to our quality of life, public health and provide enumerable environmental benefits. The Greening of Detroit was founded with a single focus in mind – restore the city's tree infrastructure.

The Greening of Detroit is a non-profit organization focused on guiding and inspiring others to create a “greener” Detroit through planting trees, educational programs, environmental stewardship, and building community.  We involve Detroiters in the process through job training programs, community engagement, and education. We are proud to have planted over 160,000 trees over the last thirty-four years and to have educated thousands of children and adults about their roles in creating a cleaner and greener environment. 

 We recruit Detroit residents to participate in our workforce training program, which provides them with practical and marketable skills for work in the green job sector. We also hire high school and college students for our Green Corps program in the summer and expose them to what it would be like to work in the environmental sector. The trees we plant, the gardens and green spaces we create + maintain, and the workforce training programs we operate all provide economic, environmental and social benefits to the communities we serve. But most of all, we inspire visitors and residents to imagine a new paradigm for the City of Detroit.

We are collaborators and depend on the extraordinary support of our many volunteers, donors, and community and corporate partners throughout the year. We thank you and are forever grateful for your assistance. Our work is providing tangible results to the community, and we are excited to play an active role in the continued transformation of this great city.