Detroit — The farmers at Oakland Avenue Urban Farm are experts at growing fruits and vegetables that end up on dinner plates throughout the city and surrounding region, executive director Jerry Ann Hebron said.

But that isn’t enough to protect their North End neighbors from food insecurity.

“We already know we can grow food. We grow a lot of food. We grow good food,” Hebron said. “What’s next? How do we move this, move the needle? Because none of us can say we have food sovereignty.”

That’s why Oakland Avenue Urban Farm is embarking on an ambitious plan to redevelop a 9,000-square-foot vacant grocery store at the corner of Oakland Avenue and Westminster Street.

They want to turn the building into a community resilience center that will offer commercial kitchen space, community food storage, cooking classes, event space, housing and solar power. They hope their resilience center will be the first of many to be built at Detroit urban farms.

Hebron’s vision for Oakland Avenue is inspired by her childhood in the area. Oakland Avenue was a bustling commercial corridor in the 1950s and ’60s. Now, people have to leave the neighborhood to shop and run errands. She wants to see more businesses and resources return to the community.

“Being able to be a part of a major development on the corridor should send a signal to others to come and build their developments as well,” said Hebron, who also is executive director of Northend Christian CDC.

The same effect could take place in other parts of the city as Detroit farms build similar indoor food centers, Hebron said. Oakland Avenue Urban Farm is working with a network of Detroit farms, including Cadillac Urban Gardens, Feedom Freedom Farms and others, are pursuing plans to build a similar community resiliency spaces throughout the city.

“We realized we are just one community,” Hebron said. “What about all the others?”

More: Detroit has 122K vacant lots where homes once stood. How should they be filled?

How solar panels help Detroit urban farm serve its neighbors

Northend Christian CDC was founded in 1999 by Hebron’s 94-year-old mother, Reverend Bertha L. Carter of St. John Evangelist Temple of Truth and School of Wisdom, the church adjacent to the grocery store that the organization plans to redevelop.

Carter and her congregation started Oakland Avenue Urban Farm in 2000. Northend CDC has renovated five houses around its farm and turned a sixth into an expansive chicken coop. They rent some of the homes to tenants and use others as gathering space.

Oakland Avenue Urban Farm grows fruits and vegetables on more than three acres, has three hoop houses and a greenhouse, runs a 4-H program, hosts a weekly summer farmer’s market and supplies produce to regional food banks. Farmers also readily give produce to people who pass by and show interest in a fresh tomato or bundle of greens, a neighborly practice they call “harvest by demand.”

On Wednesday, farmers were harvesting the last of their spring spinach crop.

The farm is inviting, with colorful murals, fragrant flowering trees, pergolas, picnic tables, fire pits and outlets powered by solar panels — an important feature during power outages and for neighbors who live off the grid, Hebron said.

Power outages are a big problem for people who rely on medical equipment or can’t afford to replace a refrigerator’s worth of food, Hebron said. In addition to solar-powered outdoor plugs, Oakland Avenue Farm has a refrigerator people can use to store food.

“We’ve got seniors, we have people who are diabetic, we’ve got people we know are on oxygen,” Hebron said. “How can we be a resource for them?”

Solar panels, backup generator planned for new center

That’s why Northend Christian CDC leaders plan to install solar panels on the roof of their future food and resilience center and will install backup generators so the building can help power the community during grid outages. The building also will offer space where people can store food during power outages, Hebron said.

Hebron is most excited about the commercial kitchen. Farmers can use it to make products like jams and tea blends, and the farm will partner with a local chef who will teach community cooking classes to show people how to turn farm-fresh produce into affordable, healthy and easy meals.

The kitchen also will serve farmers who want to expand their offerings with products like baked goods or canned goods.

“With all the challenges facing farmers nationwide right now, locally produced food is becoming even more essential,” Hebron said. “Detroit is already viewed as a global leader in urban agriculture, so we are excited to take this next leap to expand food security and sustainability for our community.”

Oakland Avenue Urban Farm received a grant from the McGregor Fund to start the initial work, the fund’s Director of Engagement and Communications Nikia Washington said in an email.

Construction should begin this summer and be finished in 2028, said Hebron. Oakland Avenue Urban Farm leaders need approval from city council for the site plans.

More: Detroiter seeks to reduce barriers for urban, Black farmers on new fed panel

ckthompson@detroitnews.com

In the lead-up to the 2026 NFL Draft, NBC Sports’ Chris Simms gave his one and only prediction of who he believes will be selected in the first round on April 23, including where the Detroit Lions go after at the No. 17 overall pick.

Along with several draft boards and experts, the general consensus is that the Lions will prioritize an offensive tackle with their lone first-round pick, given the dire need to replace now-released Taylor Decker at the left tackle position next season.

In his April 20 prediction posted on X, Simms has the Lions addressing that need by selecting 6-foot-7, 352-pound Alabama offensive tackle Kadyn Proctor at their No. 17 overall draft position.

While there are some mock drafts that predict the Lions trading up to grab their desired draft target, the franchise certainly would not be opposed to Proctor, who is ranked as the No. 2 overall offensive tackle by NFL.com, perfectly falling to them at the No. 17 position.

DETROIT (WXYZ) — Michigan has some of the greatest natural resources in the country, and those working to protect them met Tuesday for an annual conference.

The fourth annual MI Healthy Climate Conference happened at Huntington Place in Detroit. I had a chance to see some of the innovative ways they are working to protect our environment.

Watch Glenda Lewis’ video report below:

4th annual MI Healthy Climate Conference held in Detroit

“One thing that brings Michiganders together is understanding the beauty and the importance of the environment around us,” said Jeff Johnston with the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy.

In attendance for the event were 700 speakers and about 50 speakers who are passionate about preserving what’s most precious to the state of Michigan.

“We’re right here on the beautiful Detroit Riverfront, part of the Great Lakes system. We’ve got 3,200 miles of coastline in Michigan on the Great Lakes, 11,000 rivers. I’ve got all these amazing numbers that talk about just how important our relationship with the natural world is,” Johnston said. “To engage in climate action, to mitigate the problems of greenhouse gases and fossil fuels that endanger that environment, endanger our livelihoods and our lives is just some of the most important work we can be doing.”

The conference focuses on green funding and a strong future.

“I worked on a youth magazine to engage young people in conservation,” said Jenny Kalejs, a MI Health Climate fellow in the Upper Peninsula. “So, we do land stewardship protection of ecologically sensitive lands, organizing community partners, so we can better collaborate.”

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Michael Goldman Brown Jr. is an MI Health Climate fellow in Detroit.

“I’m sited at Transportation Riders United right here in Detroit, and I’m working on expanding and advocating for better transit here in Detroit but also the entire state of Michigan,” MI Health Climate fellow Michael Goldman Brown Jr. said.

We caught up with a couple of the more than two dozen people working as fellows with a number of nonprofit organizations and green-focused businesses and municipalities to help create an air of change.

“About a third of pollution comes from transportation, from cars and trucks and planes and everybody getting where they need to go,” said Megan Ownens, the director and Transportation Riders United. “So that’s why we at Transportation United are part of this. We want to make sure people have options other than their car.”

WXYZ

Executive director of Community 2 Me Network Shawna Forbes Henry wants to protect Detroit’s footprint.

“Detroit is an area that is heavily impacted by various climate changes and emergencies, so we are here to ensure that our residents have the training that they need, have the economic resources that they need and the have the ability to feed that pipeline for employment,” Henry said.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer spoke to all the conference attendees by video, announcing a $1.8 million grant competition for industrial decarbonization, where applicants will come up with cost effective ways to reduce greenhouse emissions.