The Friends of the Detroit River, Inc.
Jeannine Ansley, FDR Executive Director
-or- Don Griffin
P.O. Box 3099
Melvindale, MI 48122
(313) 381-2835 E-mail: Ansley@Melvindale.org
-or - E-mail: dgriffin1@ameritech.net
www.detroitriver.org
The Friends of the Detroit
River (FDR) was formed in 1993 and received its first
grant from the Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat Network and
Fund in 1998. This grant helped FDR inform the public
of threats to Humbug Marsh, a threatened natural treasure
along the Detroit River. This focused campaign created
a ten-fold growth in the FDR membership, and the organization’s
income jumped from less than $5,000 per year to $50,000
during the period of the grant. FDR has no paid employees;
all work is accomplished through volunteers. Our main
resource has been people willing to donate their time,
energy, talents, and money to protection efforts along
the Detroit River.
A GLAHNF grant in 2000
helped FDR think collaboratively, forming a coalition
group, Help Uncover the Gem (HUG), to provide restoration
and cleanup on Belle Isle (an island in the Detroit River).
At the same time, FDR worked with three other watershed
groups, bringing awareness to needs of the Rouge River,
the Clinton River, and the Huron River. These and other
GLAHNF grants have helped FDR move their work forward
on many fronts. In 1998, the Detroit River was declared
one of only fourteen National Heritage Rivers, and in
2001 a Canadian Heritage River, encouraging examples of
two countries working together to protect the same resource.
The most recent feather
in FDR’s cap was the formation, on December 21, 2001,
of the first-ever international wildlife refuge, the Detroit
River International Wildlife Refuge, which now protects
18 miles of the lower Detroit River. Those on our mailing
list received a newsletter that detailed the unchecked
pollution problems in a summary of a 36-page document,
Dereliction of Duty. In another newsletter we highlighted
the Wildlife Refuge bill. FDR holds workshops for Board
Members and meetings for the general membership. These
have been well attended and enthusiastically received.
The Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat Network and Fund and the
U.S. Park Service awarded grants to FDR which assisted
us in building our organization, publicizing open hearings,
publishing newsletters, and increasing our membership
from 35 members to over 500 dues-paying members. Also,
because of these grants, we were better able to play an
efficient and effective advocacy role.
What do you consider
the key to your success?
The keys to our successes
have been tenacious persistence and continued effort.
How would you outline
the steps you took to organize your project in order to
advise another group working on a similar project?
1. Call open meetings, issue
news releases, distribute flyers to members and those
on your mailing list.
2. Present the problems
and possibilities.
3. Conduct fundraisers,
not only for the funds they raise, but also for the publicity
generated.
4. Conduct awareness-raising
activities and have displays at public activities (such
as River Day, River Walk, and Waterfest).
5. Increase membership by
appointing a dedicated, well-organized member to head
up the membership committee, and budget for several mass
mailings.
What have the effects
of this effort been on your organization’s work?
We are ecstatic, energized,
becoming more knowledgeable about water issues, and working
even harder and better. We now have 15 board members and
5 advisors who are all willing to pitch in and help.
How has the project affected
your community?
Community and environmental
groups have come to respect Friends of the Detroit River.
They have seen that we listen to the needs and actively
engage in proactive activities to investigate, educate,
and call for support. More and more, the communities need
to be a part of what happens next.
What particular stumbling
blocks, challenges, or defeats did you encounter?
Backlashes against environmental
causes will be expected. Refuges do not pay taxes and
there are many government officials and others for whom
that is all that matters.
How many people were
involved?
Initially: There were 35
original members.
Finally: FDR now has 609
dues-paying members and 5,000 people who have shown an
interest in one or more environmental activities and who
are now on our mailing list.
FDR has at least six board
members who work the equivalent hours to be considered
full-time, all for no compensation. Other board members
do not devote as much time, but are available as needed.
The number of people-hours spent on the various Detroit
River projects over the years is huge.
How was public involvement
motivated and facilitated?
Motivation was developed
through newsletters, task force meetings, our annual meetings,
phone calls, e-mail, and a wide variety of contacts with
people who expressed an interest in the environment.
How was public education
a component of your program?
Newsletters were sent to
all schools in Wayne County in addition to 4,000 selected
from our mailing list.
What was the primary
means of communications?
Our major forms of communications
are newsletters, flyers, and e-mail; however, we do a
good deal of networking face-to-face.
What resources were available/acquired/tapped
into?
Over the last few years,
FDR has been awarded about $8,000 in various grants. We
received no grants from anywhere in 2001. Our finances
for 2000-2001 came from memberships, donations, and FDR-conducted
fundraisers: a pasta dinner, a Detroit River Cruise, and
a 50/50 raffle.
What level and types
of media exposure were you able to obtain and how did
it affect/assist your efforts?
The local bi-weekly papers
as well as the Detroit papers have given FDR excellent
coverage of our activities. The Great Lakes Aquatic Habitat
Network and Fund included FDR in its publication of success
stories in 2001 and also published periodic stories on
our successes in their bi-monthly newsletter, The Great
Lakes Aquatic Habitat News.
Other comments that you
feel would be helpful to other grassroots organizations
working on similar projects.
Don’t quit! Keep the pressure
on the corporations to clean up their acts. Show your
support for regulations and legislation that are pro-environment
by writing letters and e-mailing the appropriate officials.
Network with groups of similar interest.
The Friends of the Detroit River, Inc.
Jeannine Ansley, FDR Executive Director
-or- Don Griffin
P.O. Box 3099
Melvindale, MI 48122
(313) 381-2835 E-mail: Ansley@Melvindale.org
-or - E-mail: dgriffin1@ameritech.net
www.detroitriver.org
