expanding minds at hope house

We hosted the Community and Economic Development Clinic (CEDC) from the University of Michigan for a tour of Hope House and discussion of VEJ's work in Detroit. The CEDC provides transactional legal services to non-profit and community based organizations in underserved and urban areas in Michigan. They selected Hope House as one of their tour sites for an introduction to Detroit, as the student attorneys prepare for working with local organizations.

​The tour covered a history of VEJ and Hope House, a walk through the property, and discussion about composting, food cultivation, and the rain garden. We talked about how "there is no such thing as away"; meaning when we create waste and throw things out we really just create problems for ourselves and someone else later. We also discussed food culture, how what we eat affects how we live, and how land and water rights are essential to food sovereignty. We closed out with discussion of the rain garden, and how benefits the city by diverting thousands of gallons of water from entering the sewage systems as well as provides food and habitat for wildlife!