On the afternoon of Aug. 12, in a festively decorated room in the lower level of Detroit’s Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Makayla Nellum wore a look of joy on her face while sitting at a table reserved for a special group of young people that have been engaged in an activity with local, national and global implications.
A few minutes later, the 15-year-old's smile widened just a little bit more when it was announced that these young special guests, seated at two tables front and center of the room, would be served lunch first.
Nellum and the others, all sporting vibrant green shirts, were more than deserving of the VIP treatment because they represented the first graduating class from the Eden Park Environmental Justice
Youth Ambassador Program.
The program, provided by the nonprofit Tri-City Community Development Corporation (CDC), brought middle and high school students together from the 48217, 48218 and 48229 ZIP codes for 10 months of training, amounting to 80 hours, that prepared them to become environmental justice advocates and educators in their own communities.
"Doing a project with people from three different cities (southwest Detroit, Ecorse and River Rouge) is something I had never done before," Nellum, a rising junior at Ecorse High School, said. "But we all came together and completed our goal."
To complete their goal of becoming environmental justice youth ambassadors, the 16 girls and boys — ranging in age from 12-19 — that completed the inaugural program under the tutelage of community and environmental organizer Siwatu-Salama Ra, each learned and began to practice the 17 Principles of Environmental Justice, which were drafted and adopted by delegates of the First National People Of Color Environmental Leadership Summit in 1991.
The 17 principles can be viewed as a call to action to bring about environmental equity across the planet, including the 48217 ZIP code in southwest Detroit, which often is cited by researchers as Michigan's most pollution-burdened community due to the cluster of industrial activity in the surrounding area.
The fact that 16 local youths — 80% of whom have been diagnosed with asthma thought to be linked to pollution in their communities — have joined the action to improve their quality of life and the lives of many others also was a reason for the Rev. Dr. Alex Hill to celebrate at the Wright Museum.
"I got involved in environmental issues out of southwest Detroit about 25 years ago and I did not know the extent of the toxins in the air,” said Hill, board chairman for Tri-City CDC, which is an extension of the outreach ministry performed by New Mount Hermon Missionary Baptist Church, where Hill has been pastor for more than 30 years.
“Flint got so much notoriety regarding what was going on with their water. But little did people know that some of the same toxins that plagued the water in Flint also plagues the air in southwest Detroit," he said. "I said to (U.S.) Congresswoman (Rashida) Tlaib (a southwest Detroit native and 1994 graduate of Southwestern High School) some years ago that you can pump in fresh water, but you can’t pump in fresh air.
"That’s why the Eden Park Community Project is so important, because we’re in the process of trying to build a park (where the former Mark Twain Elementary School once stood at 12001 Gleason in Detroit) with air-purifying trees and green spaces to help mitigate the astronomical death rates and other health issues that have been linked to pollution in that area. And that's why the involvement of our young people is so important as well, because from the time they got into the program and did the toxic tour through their community, we have seen their excitement and how troubled they were to find out that they’re living in the midst of all this.
"It’s an issue that is going to require a lot of time and attention, but our young people have embraced this challenge and we’re excited that we have new leaders coming forward.”
Roughly an hour after Hill's statement, the young people that the Reverend spoke of — the same young people who made their views on mental health, housing security and access to medical care known this spring during a community meeting in River Rouge presented by the Sierra Club on the outcome of the EPA's Clean Air Act lawsuit over Zug Island pollution — shared their impressions about the Eden Park Environmental Justice Youth Ambassador Program.
"This program has given us knowledge that we can share with our community and peers," said Noah Burrel, a rising senior at Ecorse High School, where he has excelled in the classroom and as a member of the basketball and baseball teams. "We will never forget this experience and we will take this knowledge and use it to better our community."
Burrel was deserving of extra kudos, given that he took the courageous step to be the first student speaker, which broke the ice for the students that spoke afterward. However, after the ceremony concluded, Dr. Alicia Renee Farris made it crystal clear that she has been equally impressed with all of the Eden Park Environmental Justice Youth Ambassadors.
"I am so grateful to these young people for the amount of energy and passion they put into the work,” said Tri-City CDC executive board member Farris, who worked closely with all of the students that participated in the inaugural program. “They invested 80 hours of their time, and I held them highly accountable for every hour and every activity because leadership requires much.
“In our group we had students that are athletes on sports teams, as well as students that participate in dance competitions, so they came tired after their practices, which demonstrated their perseverance and commitment. And with the training that each young person has received they can advocate for themselves and others who are unable to advocate for themselves.
“We also want them to consider environmental justice as a career path to green jobs, while becoming leaders in the field. Not often have we seen people of color heavily invested in this, but we have certainly suffered from what has taken place in our communities in the past. So, now we have birthed something that will allow our young people to be a part of the solution and lead a life of dedication to their community.”
Farris' sentiment was echoed by Dr. Loretta Gary Smith, who was literally rejoicing for two during the graduation ceremony because of her husband, the late Rev. Dr. William J. Smith, who co-founded Tri-City CDC and was a tireless advocate for young people in southwest Detroit, River Rouge and Ecorse.
"Kids were his (Smith's husband) passion and that came through in all of the after-school and summer programs that he helped to put on," said Loretta Smith, Tri-City CDC's executive director, who, along with Farris and other community activists, also was honored during the ceremony at the Wright museum by Alisha Barnes, president of Just Transition Team MI-River Rouge.
"I know he is smiling down on us because he also spent a lot of time helping us get the plot of land for the community where Eden Park will be constructed. As an organization, we just want to continue working for the community, while also having the flexibility to evolve with the times, and I know our young people will help us to do that."
'Strengthening the family’s quality of life'
What: Tri-City Community Development Corporation (CDC)
Mission: Since 1999, Tri-City CDC, an extension of the outreach ministry performed by New Mount Hermon Missionary Baptist Church and the brainchild of the Rev. Dr. Alex R. Hill and the late Rev. Dr. William J. Smith, has been committed to empowering residents in southwest Detroit, River Rouge and Ecorse. The nonprofit addresses vital human needs through the development and implementation of community initiatives that strengthen families and enrich their quality of life. In addition to providing a host of services for families, Tri-City CDC’s initiatives focus on “seniors, opportunity training and youth programs.”
Recent event: A graduation celebration at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History honoring graduates of the inaugural Eden Park Environmental Justice Youth Ambassador Program. The graduates representing middle and high school students from Ecorse, Detroit and River Rouge, who each completed the 80-hour leadership-development program across 10 months, were: Noah Burrel, DaViona Calhoun, DaZaria Calhoun, Breion DeWitt, Ariya Harrington, Remiya Fowlkes Harrington, Braylin Hill, Nala Lanae Hill, Bethesda Samai Monrroy, Makayla Nellum, Kori Perry, Gabrielle Steele, Amirrah Thomas, Tavarie Warren, Terrence Warren, Treiden Warren.
Learn more: For more information about the Tri-City CDC’s initiatives, including the ongoing Ten Bring $Ten fundraiser, which asks people to give $10 and then recruit 10 other people to donate $10 each to support the Eden Park Community Project, please visit https://tri-citycdc.org and https://edenpark-cdp.org
Scott Talley is a native Detroiter, a proud product of Detroit Public Schools and a lifelong lover of Detroit culture in its diverse forms. In his second tour with the Free Press, which he grew up reading as a child, he is excited and humbled to cover the city’s neighborhoods and the many interesting people who define its various communities. Contact him at stalley@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @STalleyfreep. Read more of Scott's stories at www.freep.com/mosaic/detroit-is/. Please help us grow great community-focused journalism by becoming a subscriber.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Polluted air drove these metro Detroit youths to take historic action
