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By Donna Robertson
When challenges arise in a neighborhood, some residents decide it is time to move. Loretta Powell has chosen a different path - stay, invest and help make her community better.
Powell, a member of the Harding Block Club, has spent years working to bring beauty, pride and positive spaces to her east side Detroit neighborhood. She recently received awards of recognition from Detroit City Council and the Detroit Land bank for the Little Detroit Community Garden, Little Detroit Gazebo and Little Detroit Children’s Network, community projects located on Montclair Street.
For Powell, however, improving the neighborhood is about more than appearances. Her projects demonstrate what can happen when longtime residents take an active role in strengthening the blocks where they live.
Rather than abandoning a neighborhood because of vacant properties, blight or other challenges, Powell has focused on what she can help change. The Little Detroit Community Garden transforms neighborhood space into something residents can enjoy and take pride in, while the Little Detroit Gazebo, an outdoor gathering space established during Covid, provides another visible sign of investment in the community. Powell, a long time educator, has also extended that community-building effort to neighborhood youth, through the Little Detroit Children’s Network, which remains under development.
Powell’s work reflects a simple philosophy: Detroit neighborhoods can become stronger when the people who call them home decide they are worth investing in.
That commitment also extends beyond Powell's individual projects. As a member of the Harding Block Club, she is part of a broader grassroots effort by residents working to improve the neighborhood and encourage others to become involved.
The Detroit Land Bank Authority recognition puts a spotlight on work that often happens one property, one garden and one block at a time.
For Powell, the answer to neighborhood challenges hasn't been to leave Detroit behind.
It's been to help build the kind of Detroit neighborhood she wants to live in.
In an interview, Powell discussed the origins of her projects, the recognition, and why she believes vacant land can become an asset to a community.
From flooding to a butterfly garden
Powell's work with green spaces began before she purchased the vacant lots.
She says flooding in her basement prompted her to participate in a program that taught residents about rain gardens. After completing a five-week course and receiving an $800 grant, Powell designed a rain garden using Michigan native plants.
But hers would not look like a typical rain garden.
Q: How did you decide what your rain garden would look like?
Powell: They gave us a piece of paper so we could start creating our own rain garden. I started making circles, and I said, "No, I don't like that." I tried something else and didn't like that.
Then what popped into my head was the shape of a butterfly.
So I made my rain garden in the shape of a butterfly.
The project was what helped change the way she viewed her neighborhood.
Choosing to invest instead of leave
Powell said another turning point came after a woman associated with a Wayne Metro program visited her home and encouraged her to purchase property in her neighborhood.
Q: What inspired you to start investing in the vacant property around you?
Powell: A lady from Wayne Metro Community Action Agency came to my house and told me, "You need to start buying property over here because people out of state are buying property in Michigan."
She inspired me to invest in my neighborhood. I wish I could find her today so she could come back and see how she inspired me.
Powell subsequently purchased vacant land through the Detroit Land Bank Authority. She described the transaction as relatively simple and said acquiring the property gave her an opportunity to imagine something different for the vacant space.
Interviewer: You have several projects in the neighborhood. What are they?
Powell: I have the community garden, and I have the gazebo with a garden. I was inspired to do the gazebo during COVID-19 because I wanted an environment for block club meetings, neighborhood events, and gatherings.
Then across the street, I have two lots that I'm working on for my children's project (Little Detroit Children’s Network). I want to have an outdoor musical park and more things where children will be able to socialize and play with other children.
It's important that children learn social-emotional skills. Those skills help them with getting ready for school, getting ready for the work world, the community, family and friends.
Powell said her vision for the garden includes making sure residents with different physical abilities can participate.
Q: How are you making the community garden accessible?
Powell: I'm making it handicap accessible. I'm almost finished with that. That way everybody can come to the garden, whether they're in a wheelchair, using a walker, have a stroller or whatever it is.
I have a handicapped picnic table there too, so they'll be able to come and sit down and eat with their family. I have the high-raised garden bed containers if they want to plant something. I have the tools available for them if they want to come.
Powell said she does not sell the food she grows to neighborhood residents. Instead, she views gardening as another way to serve the community.
Q: What would you tell someone who is considering doing something similar?
Powell: Go buy some land and invest in it. Grow your own food because it's healthy to do that. Learn how to sustain your household because, regardless of what's going on in this world, you will have survival skills.
That philosophy, Powell said, has roots in her own family. She recalled her father growing vegetables on vacant land and her family preserving enough food to help feed a household of nine.
Today, she sees her own gardens as a continuation of that tradition — but also as something she can leave behind.
For Powell, transforming a vacant lot is not simply about flowers, vegetables or landscaping. It is about creating something that lasts.
"When you create something, that's a legacy," Powell said.
Visit Loretta Powell’s online community garden at https://nextdoor.com/g/