The Climate Leader With a Big Vision for Detroit’s Future

At the end of 2024, Dream.Org launched the Make It Real photojournalism series to highlight the challenges and triumphs of those fighting for a more sustainable and equitable future. We're collaborating on a series of TriplePundit articles to share the stories of the people and communities on the frontlines of climate equity in the United States.

From the rise, fall and resurgence of the automobile industry to depopulation and white flight, Detroit is no stranger to change. Now, it’s happening again with a wave of grassroots green revitalization. Could the city soon transform into a climate haven? Jeffrey Jones thinks so — and he’s putting in the work to bring that vision to fruition.

Jones is the executive director of Hope Village Revitalization, a nonprofit community action organization focused on turning the Hope Village neighborhood of Detroit into a healthy, sustainable community with access to affordable housing and farm-fresh foods. His work earned him recognition in Dream.Org’s Make it Real campaign, which features climate action leaders making a difference in their local areas.

Hope Village Revitalization operates out of the La Salle Eco-Demonstration Home, which is the first rehabbed house in Michigan to be certified as LEED Platinum, Jones told TriplePundit. LEED certifications are awarded to buildings that meet a variety of sustainability requirements like energy efficiency, reduced carbon emissions and creating healthier spaces. But like Detroit and the Hope Village neighborhood, the house endured a lot before that achievement — including a fire, acts of violence and foreclosures. Yet the nearly 100-year-old building serves as an example of the level of sustainability the city can reach.

The start of a transformation

Detroit’s transformation hasn’t been easy or quick. Local efforts are finally receiving good press and government funding, but it took years of hard work and commitment from regular people to get there, Jones said.

“The Hope Village community was dying, for the sake of a better word,” Jones said. “People who had the means to do so moved out. We had compounding issues of crime, under-employment, poverty, it was just a very depressing situation. And on top of that, we lived in a city that did not have the resources to address it.”

Instead of leaving the neighborhood, Jones dug his heels in — forming the building blocks for the climate haven he hoped to see emerge. He started with a house that had caught fire on his street. When the city never showed up to board it up, he took matters into his own hands, gathering boards, nails, hammers and neighbors to take care of it. Other communities around the city were coming together to do the same, he said.

“In Detroit, we even patched our own potholes,” Jones said. “This one street, they filled them with dirt and planted flowers in them. It was a way to challenge the city like, “Hey, come do something about it.” And it was a way for the residents to stand up and claim victory that it's our community.”

Scaling the La Salle Home concept

With the same grassroots commitment, Hope Village Revitalization upgrades housing in the neighborhood with the same solar and energy-efficient framework used in the La Salle Eco-Demonstration Home. The organization recently received funding through the Department of Energy’s Buildings Up challenge, which it will use to install rooftop solar, solar water heaters and heat pumps in 25 homes, Jones said.

It’s just the start on the way to a larger goal. “We have this sustainable community builders project, where we want to take the La Salle House concept to scale,” he said.

Since the purpose isn’t to turn a profit, it’s been tough to find a bank that is interested in sponsoring such projects, Jones said. “It doesn't make financial sense, the numbers don't pencil out, but we want to do it because it's the right thing to do,” he said. “We're going to be successful, and who's going to benefit is our residents here in Hope Village.” 

Along with government funding, the nonprofit accepts donations and partnered with groups like the Ford Foundation and the United Way of Southeastern Michigan to bring more sustainable and affordable housing to the community. 

Improvements come with benefits and risks

While property values rose nationwide for decades, they were decreasing in Hope Village until just a couple of years ago, Jones said. He expects the recent turnaround to continue, with property values increasing dramatically as the Joe Louis Greenway — a pedestrian and cyclist beltline connecting parks and neighborhoods around the city — is completed.

Those increases will give residents the home equity they need to begin installing solar, which is where Hope Village Revitalization and the La Salle Home come in, he said. “By bringing this technology online, we're hoping to be able to demonstrate its energy efficiency.”

Rising property values and urban renewal tied to the greenway also come with the potential downside of gentrification, but Jones and Hope Village Revitalization are proactive about preventing this risk. Part of that means educating homeowners on how to plan ahead for increases in property taxes and the importance of holding onto their properties. There is also the need to keep speculators, who purchase assets like property for a short time in hopes of turning a big profit, interested in the historically vacant lots and homes along the Greenway at bay.

“The city [is] not selling any property along the greenway because they understand about the speculators coming in,” Jones said. “They've also been good partners with [Hope Village Revitalization] to try to help us acquire some of the legacy vacant multi-families in this community, to try to stave that off … because they know the type of developers that we are.”

The city’s anti-gentrification plan could further the nonprofit’s sustainable and affordable housing goals, but Jones recognizes there’s no guarantee. “Reality and execution can be something totally different,” he said.

Bringing neighbors together 

Hope Village Revitalization also operates a farmers market on Wednesdays from June through September. But it’s not just about making locally produced, fresh foods available, it’s about bringing the community together.

“We're the most culturally-relevant farmers market in the city of Detroit,” Jones said. “It's kind of like the town center for our neighborhood because it's where everybody congregates on Wednesdays during the summer.”

The farmers market meets in Cool Cities Park, a space that used to house a defunct gas station and a tool shop but was renovated by Hope Village Revitalization before Jones’ tenure. The market hosts hot food vendors, fresh produce sellers and local resource providers, including the city’s workforce development agency and nutrition services from local Wayne State University, he said. It’s a far cry from the area’s “food swamp,” as he described it, which includes far more fast-food purveyors than grocery stores selling fresh food.

The market is considering bringing in food trucks, but as a community hub dedicated to health and inclusion, one thing it won’t consider is selling alcohol. “We've been very careful to curate this safe space,” Jones said in reference to suggestions that the market could fundraise through alcohol sales.

“Right across the street is the neighborhood services organization. They have 145 residents there who are formerly unhoused, who deal with substance use issues,” he said. “I don't want to contribute to something that’s not necessarily the highest and the best that this community deserves.”

That outlook shows how important neighbors are to Jones and Hope Village Revitalization. Everyone is included in his vision for Detroit. 

“You can't wait on somebody to come in and help you or save your community,” Jones said. “You have to do it yourself.”