But don’t count Detroit out yet.

The people of Detroit are proud and resourceful. They love their city and want to see it bounce back and be even better than before. We believe in Detroit’s future, and we’re helping its recovery be green.  

Parks With Purpose

We’ve taken on several projects with the intent to support green businesses and restore Detroit’s green spaces. This includes helping to restore Rouge Park as part of our Parks With Purpose program. We created this program to address the specific challenges facing urban conservation efforts. Parks With Purpose is about much more than protecting urban green space and parks. For each project, we work with the local community to identify, protect and restore the very best land that creates safer places for children to play and families to gather.

Rouge Park

Staffers help out at planting in Rouge Park.Established in 1920, Rouge Park is one of America’s biggest urban green spaces, covering more than 1,100 acres. The park, on Detroit’s west side, is home to the city’s only remaining riverside forest, where a variety of wildlife, including bald eagles, make their home. Two miles of the Rouge River flow through the park, supporting an abundance of fish such as sturgeon, silver and green bass, salmon and walleye.

For years Rouge Park was a gathering place for the community. Families came to picnic, swim and play outdoors. There is a golf course and driving range, baseball diamonds, tennis courts, playgrounds, bike trails, camp sites and swimming pools. Today it is owned by the city, but is essentially cared for by local groups, including Friends of Rouge Park and The Greening of Detroit. They hope to restore the park, turning it once more into a popular destination for residents. 

Donations from U-Haul and its customers supported the planting of 1,600 trees at Rouge Park, in partnership with The Greening of Detroit. This effort is the result of a seven-year partnership between U-Haul and the Fund to protect and restore wild areas. U-Haul purchased and revitalized the historic seven-story NBC-Nabisco Building in New Center—reopening it as a self-storage facility this year, and the company continues  to help restore Detroit through a variety of initiatives. 

Growing Detroit’s Green Economy Fund

Communities depend on the growing green economy to help ensure there will be local jobs, and restored forests, clean streams, healthy food and safe, accessible parks in the future. Established by U-Haul and The Conservation Fund, Growing Detroit’s Green Economy Fund will provide small grants to nonprofit organizations throughout the city that provide financial assistance to the most promising entrepreneurs and organizations that need a leg up to leverage and scale their efforts. 

Many green entrepreneurs have a hard time finding the technical and financial resources they need to grow their enterprises. With limited personal resources and banks reluctant to lend money, it can be hard for these small businesses and organizations to flourish, no matter how bright their future may be. Growing Detroit’s Green Economy Fund is there to help. 

Learn More

• Parks With Purpose
• Greening of Detroit
• Friends of Rouge Park

Face of this Place

The Fund's own Wendy Sams, a native of Detroit, talks about what the city means to her and how she feels about our efforts to restore her hometown. Read her story >>