The Born and Raised Detroit Foundation is a marvelous group of native Detroiters who, living locally but also in other US cities and abroad, have remained committed to supporting initiatives that contribute to building a stronger community and positive way of life throughout Detroit. Their idea to begin a foundation to invest in positive, impactful Detroit projects came about amongst a group of friends in 2010 and to date, the BARD Foundation has funded grants of more than $225,000 to nonprofits in the city.
Delightedly, 826michigan’s Detroit-based programs benefit from the generosity of the BARD Foundation. In 2017 alone, we were granted $7,500 to support our creative writing Field Trips for six classrooms, reaching 150 Detroit public and charter school students. Our field trips are quite special and we’re always interested in the ways we can share the experience with even more young writers.
Each field trip guides students on an engaging and surprise-filled journey designed to build students’ confidence in writing. In many of them, not only is there an opportunity for students to solve a mystery or defeat our cranky publisher Dr. Blotch, every student writes and illustrate their own books in one morning—and leaves with a copy of said book in hand.
Now that we’re embarking on a new school year in just a few days, there was little to consider when choosing who to recognize as we prepare to welcome an entirely new group of students into TWO fully-functional writing and tutoring labs for the 2017-18 school year. We are tremendously grateful for the support from each of our donors, but space this month is specifically set aside to appreciate the Born and Raised Detroit Foundation. Thank you, BARD, for investing in our students!