Featured News

Exhibition co-sponsored by the Americana Foundation explores an untold chapter in American history

Oct/2023 Featured News

A landmark exhibition co-organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art will focus on the work of Black potters in the 19th-century American South. The exhibition presents approximately 60 ceramic objects from Old Edgefield District, South Carolina, a center of stoneware production in the…

MIFARMLINK: Cultivating Connections

Oct/2023 Featured News

A new web-based program is moving across the state to preserve Michigan farms and farming communities by shepherding land to the next generation of stewards. When you think of Michigan's largest economic drivers, what comes to mind? Automotive has topped the list for decades, but agriculture is an important second.…

Building a Place in the Soo for Children to Create, Learn, and Play

Jun/2023 Featured News

Since 2016, the Soo Locks Children's Museum, a registered 501(c)(3) organization, has been working with community partners to create a museum to serve nearly 4,000 children in a rural three-county region in the Eastern Upper Peninsula. The area features tremendous natural resources but has a nearly 30% child poverty rate…

The Place to Bee: Detroit Hives and the GO GREEN Botanical Garden

Apr/2023 Featured News

Detroit has long been home to a vibrant urban farming community, and many Detroiters and neighborhood associations have created green spaces to make their neighborhoods more attractive, healthier, and more sustainable. Still, many of the vacant lots in Detroit remain overgrown and neglected. According to Detroit Future City, Detroit has…

Fostering a Regional Food System in Northeast Michigan

Mar/2023 Featured News

A recent Americana grant will help to expand and stabilize the food system in Northeast Michigan - in the words of the grant recipient, to create "a region where local food and farming are an avenue for wealth creation and economic development, where healthy-fresh food is available to all residents…

Historic New England: Expanding the Traditional Historical Narratives of New England Life

Jan/2023 Featured News

For more than a century, Historic New England (HNE) has engaged audiences to develop a deeper understanding and enjoyment of New England home life. HNE's 38 historic homes, farms, and landscapes across Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island span four centuries and feature a variety of architectural styles,…

Americana Next Gen Cohort Selects Three 2022 Grantees

Sep/2022 Featured News

In the spring and summer of 2022, the "next generation" of Americana's founding family participated in the second year of a program designed to introduce them to Americana's mission, program areas, and priorities. The Next Gen cohort includes Jessie Harper, Kyle Harper, Ashley Thomas, Jennifer Thomas, and Nathan Thomas, all…

Coleman Yoakum, founder and Executive Director of Micah 6 Community, came to Pontiac in 2012 hoping to serve a neighborhood that had high crime, high foreclosure, and high unemployment. He and a group of equally passionate and capable friends bought a house in Pontiac, formed Micah 6 Community, and became part of the neighborhood. The group’s initial activities included meeting neighbors, fixing bikes for kids, attending community meetings, and grilling out for the neighborhood. By getting to know their neighbors, the Micah 6 team learned that one of the community’s most pressing needs was access to fresh food. The nearest grocery store is 1.5 miles away and one-third of the community lacks reliable transportation. Health issues like high blood pressure, heart disease, and diabetes were too common. In 2013, with a lot of help from neighbors, Micah 6 responded to this need by planting its first vegetable garden on a vacant lot. In the years since, the Webster Gardens (as they are now called) have grown from one vacant lot to over 1.25 acres of gardens and 4,000 sq ft of hoop house space. The gardens produce over 5,000 pounds of fresh food each year, most of which is shared with people in the neighborhood or sold at Micah 6’s year-round Sprout Fresh Food Store. In 2020, Micah 6 received an Impact 100 Metro Detroit grant to purchase and erect a state-of-the-art greenhouse facility at Webster Gardens. Micah 6 purchased the greenhouse, but pandemic-induced supply shortages, tumultuous staffing, and price increases on even basic construction delayed delivery and raised the price of construction beyond what was estimated. For more than a year, the structural components of the greenhouse remained in storage while Micah 6 used Impact 100 grant dollars to complete improvements to other physical aspects of the growing operation. A May 2022 grant from Americana will enable Micah 6 to construct the greenhouse, establish the necessary utility connections, and bring the greenhouse on-line. The plan for the greenhouse includes growing and producing food in the off-season, teaching food growing techniques, and encouraging entrepreneurship in Pontiac’s urban farming sector. With the planned completion of the Webster Community Center in 2023, a food hub that provides indoor food growing space and a commercial and teaching kitchen will complement Webster Gardens activities and further serve local growers, food entrepreneurs, and the public. The Webster Community Center will be housed in the 100-year-old former Webster Elementary School building, which includes 26 classrooms, a gymnasium/auditorium, and 5 acres of land. In addition to the food hub, the center will house a small business incubator, arts and athletics facilities, and spaces for other community activities. Americana is proud to support Micah 6 Community as it works side-by-side with neighbors to grow healthy food and “build the neighborhood that Pontiac deserves.” More information about Micah 6 Community is available on the Micah 6 website.

Micah 6 Community: Building the Neighborhood that Pontiac Deserves

Jun/2022 Featured News

Coleman Yoakum, founder and Executive Director of Micah 6 Community, came to Pontiac in 2012 hoping to serve a neighborhood that had high crime, high foreclosure, and high unemployment. He and a group of equally passionate and capable friends bought a house in Pontiac, formed Micah 6 Community, and became…

The Alliance of Leadership Fellows (ALF) will use a recent grant from Americana to develop a series of Climate Crisis Dialogues that will enable climate advocates to share perspectives about how differing forms of evidence and impact---while they converge in painting a devastating picture---must be understood and integrated in building new connections and fostering alliances to stimulate collective action. ALF asserts that scientific consensus and public awareness have now come together to the point that many people, and especially young people, describe climate change as the most significant issue facing the world today. ALF cites a 2020 Pew Research Center survey that found that most Americans believe too little is being done to reduce the effects of climate change. ALF believes that while “public awareness is high and public understanding is growing, public commitment and action is at best uneven and differs by age, location, racial identity and political affiliation.” ALF asserts that, The [climate crisis] touches on virtually every sector of our society and many aspects of our daily lives. While many forms of evidence point to a significant if very complex reality, both evidence and solutions have the effect of dividing people even when the challenge of a climate crisis confronts us in a collective way. Some concerns focus on the disproportionate impact a climate crisis would have on the poor and disenfranchised. Others center on environmental degradation around the world pointing to species extinction, glacial melt, floods, and droughts. Still others point to social and economic impacts of wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes, and other weather extremes. Some see the solution in changing what we eat, or in what, where and how we travel, or in international agreements, or in a social movement. This series of Climate Crisis Dialogues will highlight the analyses, concerns, and interests of a diverse group of climate advocates to help them find common ground across their respective analyses and concerns and stimulate commitment and collective action. Ultimately, ALF intends the series to challenge assumptions underlying various approaches to climate mitigation to reduce the obstacles that are preventing widespread recognition from translating into widespread commitment and the broadly endorsed actions that are necessary to confront the climate crisis. The Climate Crisis Dialogues, a part of ALF’s “Talk that Walks” initiative, will take place quarterly throughout 2022 and will include at least four webinars followed by podcasts and other communications and outreach designed to share information and expand audiences. Topics covered will include the impact of climate change on ecosystems, the most vulnerable, the healthcare system, global food security and production, and environmental justice. ALF’s mission is to help leaders working for equitable and sustainable human flourishing to become more effective individually and in collaboration with one another. ALF represents transformational leaders in communities, institutions and across societies and has three broad goals: Inform and promote action to bring collective leadership to shaping social justice and equity issues and conditions Promote and expand an intergenerational and global leadership community Build a national and international presence through recognition of courageous leadership. More information about ALF is available on the ALF website.

A Minute Before Midnight: The Alliance of Leadership Fellows Develops Dialogues to Spark Action on the Global Climate Crisis

Mar/2022 Featured News

The Alliance of Leadership Fellows (ALF) will use a recent grant from Americana to develop a series of Climate Crisis Dialogues that will enable climate advocates to share perspectives about how differing forms of evidence and impact---while they converge in painting a devastating picture---must be understood and integrated in building…

From May 2020 through August 2021, five “next generation” members of Americana’s founding family participated in a program that introduced them to Americana’s mission, program areas, trustees, and staff. The Next Gen cohort included Jessie Harper, Kyle Harper, Ashley Thomas, Jennifer Thomas, and Nathan Thomas, all of whom are great-grandchildren of Adolph and Ginger Meyer, Americana’s founders. The program included workshops presented by Americana’s trustees and staff. Workshop topics included the history and mission of the Foundation; trends, challenges, and opportunities in philanthropy; a focus on Americana’s grantees and grant relationships; and the “nuts and bolts” of foundation operations. At the end of the program, the Next Gen cohort participated in a special grants program that enabled them to review concept letters, evaluate applications, and make recommendations for grant awards in Americana’s three program areas (agriculture and natural resources, American heritage, and support for Tollgate Farm in Novi). The Next Gen recommended three grants under the Next Gen program, all of which were approved by the Board of Trustees: For Love of Water (Traverse City, MI): FLOW received a $7,500 grant to develop a communications and outreach plan for engaging young people in understanding environmental threats to the Great Lakes and taking meaningful action to protect them. The Henry Ford (Dearborn, MI): The Henry Ford’s $10,000 grant will support the development, creation, and presentation of a new dramatic program to activate the Detroit Central Farmers Market, which is being reconstructed and installed at The Henry Ford’s Greenfield Village. The market will serve as a learning laboratory to share important stories of historical innovations in agriculture and connect them to issues surrounding foodways, sustainability and the environment. The I-Collective (Detroit, MI): The I-Collective will use its $5,000 grant to address issues relating to food sovereignty within the Indigenous community in Detroit by increasing access to culturally relevant foods, creating educational materials, and introducing programming geared towards cultivated relationships between the land and one another. Funding for the Next Gen grants was provided as part of Americana’s memorial gift in honor of Barbara Livy, Adolph and Ginger Meyers’ daughter and the Next Gen’s grandmother, who passed away in 2019. Americana is grateful to the organizations who participated in the Next Gen grantmaking program and to the members of the Next Gen cohort for their enthusiasm, engagement, and commitment to the Foundation and its mission.

The Next Generation of the Adolph and Ginger Meyer Family Selects The Henry Ford, For Love of Water, and the I-Collective as Grant Recipients

Sep/2021 Featured News

From May 2020 through August 2021, five "next generation" members of Americana's founding family participated in a program that introduced them to Americana's mission, program areas, trustees, and staff. The Next Gen cohort included Jessie Harper, Kyle Harper, Ashley Thomas, Jennifer Thomas, and Nathan Thomas, all of whom are great-grandchildren…

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