FJP Community Network Grant Winner: Graham Media Group

Empower Detroit residents to work with journalists on a data-gathering, “citizen science” community project about plant and tree health across the city.

$25,000

We'll create a citizen science community project in partnership with a network of 1,600 community gardens, an environmental newsletter and a local TV station to collect and analyze data about plant and tree health across Detroit.

Our ideal outcome is a network of volunteer citizen scientists working with journalists to build a public, citywide data set on plant health that fuels deep reporting on the city's environment. Possible stories include the health of Detroit's tree canopy, which we know is disappearing faster than organizations can replant, and insight into soil conditions at community gardens, which feed thousands of people in the region. We'll pursue solutions-based environmental stories rooted in scientific data to inform and empower the public.

We'll organize contributors through meetups at community gardens to train volunteers on how to use the MultispeQ devices created by PhotosynQ at Michigan State University. Through the meetups, we'll train citizen scientists and community garden volunteers to collect data and analyze the results.

WDIV and Graham Media Group are committed to building new collaboration skills to deepen relationships with audiences.

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