Garrett Dempsey
Four Hundred years ago Detroit was a landscape connected to vast forests, grasslands, wetlands, and softer edges around a myriad of waterways teeming with life. Detroit today is an extensively developed urban space. Known as the “Arsenal of Democracy” during World War II because of industrial might, it remains the auto maker for the world. Home to over one and a half million people in the mid twentieth century, it is now a city of 700,000 residents.
Detroiters are proud of their home and determined to make their city prosper again. They know the challenges they are up against but that seems to only strengthen their resolve. This spirit is captured well in an often seen slogan, “Detroit Hustles Harder.” Detroit’s resurgence is unfolding on top of and within the existing built and natural environment.
The young people Detroit Inspiring Connections Outdoors (ICO) serve live in a range of neighborhoods, from dense residential areas to ones that are filled with significant numbers of abandoned and vacant properties. The city contains extensive open space, from vacant properties to large parks. Additionally, the State of Michigan abounds with natural resource areas. Many Detroit youth however, live disconnected from these spaces. Detroit ICO works to facilitate a relationship with these spaces so that Detroit youth know better where they came from and what kind of space they call home. This deeper sense of place can then help them imagine how they want their city and other outdoor spaces to look like in the future.
By transforming their relationships with nearby nature, ICO volunteers ready the youth for adventures in new landscapes and new activities. The current Detroit ICO group started about seven years ago with a small group of dedicated volunteers. We currently provide about twelve direct service trips each year which include activities such as canoeing and camping, in addition to regular educational lessons for elementary school age youth. Also, in 2015 we started a free gear library loan program supporting other youth serving organizations, such as Girl Scouts of Southeast Michigan and high school outdoor adventure clubs.
We’ve seen enthusiasm for outdoor activities build over time in the communities we serve. It’s not uncommon for younger kids to approach ICO volunteers and ask when they will get to go camping or on a hike in the woods. Such excursions are outside of the normal routine for a typical Highland Park or Detroit youth, but ICO helps them imagine themselves striking out to new and adventurous territory.
Fostering a connection for young people with the outdoors is often best started in their own backyard because it can transform their sense of home. Walking in neighborhood forested park land, they may start to recognize individual trees that generations of their predecessors have known for hundreds of years. We help them see not simply a river flowing through their neighborhood, but a watershed that they inhabit. They see the historic stables in Rouge Park as not just an old barn, but rather a space occupied and cared for by black veterans carrying on the legacy of the Buffalo Soldiers. The story of the Buffalo Soldiers can be particularly powerful for the youth we serve because it tells them of the contributions made by black soldiers to the conservation of outdoor spaces in our country. It is a story that many youth do not know about despite the significance of this heritage.
Because our efforts connect us with communities of color in Detroit and especially African-American youth, a conversation that Detroit ICO keeps particularly close to mind is that of diversity in the outdoors. We often venture into places where our group stands out from most of the other visitors around us. Some of our youth are from families that remember painful events connected with spaces outside of the familiar environment of Detroit. The relationship we’ve built with our Boys and Girls Club partner agency is critical to helping us create safe and fun activities while exposing students to new experiences and building towards the next adventure.
Our first camping trip with the teen leadership of the Boys and Girls Club took us about an hour outside of Detroit. Shortly after leaving the city, the landscape changed dramatically. We set up camp in a place that was noticeably different from home for the teens culturally, physically, and environmentally. At one point during the trip, the teens joked about the suspicious reception they thought they were likely to receive if they needed to approach a home on the lake to use the bathroom in the case of an emergency. It was a moment of levity but it revealed their cognizance of their unique presence in that space. Fast forward to today, however, and when they tell stories of that trip their tone is a positive one. They recall tying our canoes together on the lake for a floating lunch, or the crazy night hike we made without using our flashlights. These fond memories seem to outweigh whatever anxiety they felt during that venture into the unknown. And that’s how I know our trip was a success. In fact, it inspired us to drive two hours further the following summer for our next camping trip.
We recently made our first Detroit ICO ski trip in partnership with the Jim Dandy Ski Club, the country’s first black ski club. It was amazing to observe our teens, who had hardly imagined themselves ever camping or canoeing a few years ago, let alone skiing, spend the day on a mountain with hundreds of other folks that looked like them. They stood in line next to a man that sailed around the world with the Navy, were connected to the event by a board member of the Tuskegee Airmen National Historical Museum, and they connected with a broader community of African-American outdoor enthusiasts that venture all across the world. Stories of adventure, survival, and stewardship by African-Americans abound but they are seldom shared in history books and mainstream media. Detroit ICO allows us to share these stories with the next generation while also enabling these young people to craft the legacies that they will leave.
Detroit ICO was pleased to bring the national conversation of diversity in the outdoors to a broader cross-section of our city recently with a screening of An American Ascent, which tells the story of the first African-American expedition to attempt North America’s tallest peak, Denali. We were joined for a presentation by film producer and writer James Mills. The story of Expedition Denali resonates powerfully with Detroit ICO because it celebrates both contemporary adventure and the power of illuminating stories that have remained unheralded for much too long. One of the last questions that came up during that evening’s conversations was, “Where do we go from here?”
If you are reading this, then you also probably have a special place in your heart for outdoor exploration, and have thought about the question of where to go next. I invite you to share your love for nature with people in your community that might not know the outdoors in the way you do. Doing so will allow you to see those spaces through the fresh eyes of the participants. We took teens on a service trip to Yosemite and one young man called it “a life changer.” Our campers from last summer still describe in exciting detail the unidentified night visitor around our campground outhouse. (It was a raccoon, maybe a fox, but the teens just remember something wild and unknown in their presence that made their hearts beat faster.) And conversing about the motion of planets and stars with someone who is seeing a full night sky for the first time will remind you of the boundless wonder floating above our heads, and for that matter, all around us.
Detroit ICO will continue moving this conversation forward by connecting more Detroit area youth with the outdoors. If you live in Southeast Michigan, then I invite you to join us! If you are somewhere else, then look up one of the Sierra Club’s 49 other ICO groups to learn more about how you yourself can help facilitate meaningful connections with the outdoors. I also invite you to learn more about the seldom told stories that are a rich part of our American heritage. As we all learn these stories and share them in our communities, we reshape our national identity into a self image that reflects more accurately the contributions of all our communities. For a limited time, you can purchase your own copy of James Mills' book The Adventure Gap and the proceeds will go directly to Detroit ICO programs.
We are fortunate to be a part of very inspiring work. Our moments outdoors with youth connect us to our heritage, ground us in the present, and help us imagine the future we are challenged to create. We invite you to join us and make your own connections!