By Jada Vasser
IMAGE: Deaf and hard-of hearing youth prepare seeds for a new community garden. Image courtesy of Jurmel Mitchell Sr.
Six years ago, the Association for the Advancement of Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing was founded by four mothers who wanted to create change and educational programming for their deaf children and community.
“We are dedicated to improving the educational and occupational outcomes of deaf/hard of hearing youth and young adults by creating more accessible educational and occupational experiences,” co-founder and chief operating officer Toni Cannon-Mitchell told Planet Detroit.
Now, with the support of a $5,000 City of Detroit grant, Cannon-Mitchell is expanding that mission to include climate equity, with a focus on healthy eating and growing one’s own food. The grant supports community projects that advance the city’s climate strategy by creating climate resilience, energy efficiency and food waste reduction.
The project will create a community garden that produces cleaner air and food. Solar panels will power the garden, including a rain garden to reduce flooding and fruits and vegetables for the community to eat.
“We are currently using these funds to teach our community about growing their own vegetables, avoiding harmful chemicals in food and household products and how to be sufficient without damaging the climate,” Cannon-Mitchell said.
The community garden will reinforce the importance of trees and the oxygen they give off. AADHH’s climate project stems from the lack of trees in Detroit communities and the pandemic’s mask mandates creating air and carbon dioxide restrictions, which trees and nature need to thrive and produce oxygen.
Community engagement and adaptation help advance Detroit’s climate strategy. Cannon-Mitchell said that AADHH supports bringing the community together and creating lifelong partnerships that help the city improve.
AADHH creates events for community youth tailored to keep them conscious about everyday life. These include money management, public transportation and how to grow their own food.
Youth and young adult participants learn skills, including learning ASL and how to translate ASL to English and vice versa, to prepare the deaf/hard of hearing community for encounters with someone who is hearing.
“One of my goals for the youth this year is making sure that all the different upcoming resources, programs, extracurricular activities and summer events happening in Detroit are available and accessible for our youth to participate in,” Cannon-Mitchell said. “They have that available for the youth, but it’s not always accessible, and our goal is to make things more accessible and affordable.”
Jada Vasser has an environmental reporting internship under the MSU Knight Center for Environmental Journalism’s diversity reporting partnership with GLISA/National Oceanographic & Atmospheric Administration. This story was produced for Planet Detroit.