Farm to Head Start Pilot Program Launches at Care Village
Not always having enough to eat can impair reading, math and social skills in children. In 
addition, not having access to the right kinds of foods can make children more vulnerable to obesity. This is especially true for food insecure and low-income people, which are the predominant families in the national Head Start program. How can we give our children the best possible start?
With a generous grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Detroit Eastside Community Collaborative (DECC) and CDI Head Start are partnering with organizations such as Eastern Market Corporation and the Greening of Detroit to launch Detroit’s first Farm to Head Start program, on the City’s eastside, at Care Village, located on Harper, near Conner.
The program will work to identify ways to engage Head Start children, families and staff through the development of an innovative curriculum and onsite gardening, as well as coordinating with Head Start purchasing to procure locally-sourced produce, so that a higher percentage of fruits and vegetables are fresh and come from the region.
One of the first activities of the program was a fall trip to Eastern Market for Head Start parents and staff. Christine Quane, Wholesale Market Coordinator at Eastern Market Corporation, offered parents a guided tour of the market, as well as a welcome bag that included “Double up Food Bucks”, which matches up to $20 dollars for shoppers who use their Bridge Card, as long as the purchase is used for Michigan grown fruits and vegetables.
Earn-a-Bike Program Concludes
The Osborn’s Earn-a-Bike program concluded with a “pop-up” bike shop on the Millbank Greenway. Over the course of four weeks, more than 20 participants have learned bike safety and maintenance, done group bike rides and performed community service along the Conner Creek Greenway.
The Program operated in partnership between DECC, The HUB, IMPACT, St. John Health, and the Detroit Greenways Coalition and is sponsored by the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy and the Coca-Cola Foundation.
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Summer Events for Everyone Along the Conner Creek Greenway Make sure to check out the calendar of events to the right for Summer Happenings along the Conner Creek Greenway. Are you looking for activities for youth? Check out 
the Earn a Bike program, Camp Greenway with the Greening of Detroit, Nortown’s Olympian “U,” and Free Tuskegee Airmen Flights with Friends of City Airport. Are you looking for ways to get out and active in Detroit? Check out Kayak trips on the Detroit River with Riverside Kayak Connection and Wheelhouse Detroit Bike Tours. Call DECC at (313) 571-2800 x3495 for more information. The Conner Creek GreenwayThe Conner Creek Greenway will stretch from 8 Mile Road south to the Detroit River, tracing the original Conner Creek. It will link people, parks, greenspaces, neighborhoods, schools and shops. The Conner Creek Greenway will improve Detroit’s eastside by creating: pedestrian and bike paths, beautification with plants and flowers, historical signage, spin-off business opportunities and a better environment. The new trail system will connect the eastside communities with greenways along the Detroit River and across Southeast Michigan. The Conner Creek Greenway unites the eastside in celebrating the past and welcoming the future.
The Conner Creek Greenway was initiated by the Detroit Eastside Community Collaborative (DECC) to connect eastside residents and visitors to the Detroit River. DECC has completed almost five of the nine planned miles of path to date. The first phase of the Conner Creek Greenway is the delightful little Milbank Greenway, passing through the abandoned Milbank right-of-way between Van Dyke and Conner near 8 Mile Road. Other completed sections include a mixed-use biking and walking path beginning at Conner Playfield at Conner & Harper and ending at Coleman A. Young International Airport, bike lanes along St. Jean from Mack to Jefferson, and a mixed-use biking and walking path along Conner and Clairpointe south of Jefferson, improving Maheras Gentry Park. The next improvements will begin Summer 2012 between 6 and 8 mile Roads along Outer Drive and Conner St. The vision for the Conner Creek Greenway is to eventually link all the eastside communities, social agencies, schools, recreation areas and businesses. For example, a student at Osborn High School could meet her friends at the Lipke Recreational Center, stop at the Warren Conner Shopping District and continue on to a family picnic at Maheras Gentry Park.