Life skills cultivated in Pontiac garden

Child gardeners in Pontiac are cultivating not only land, but life skills as well. The program is part of the Cities of Promise that is aimed to curb poverty in blighted areas with decreasing population.

Excerpt:

The project began this spring after the Oakland Livingston Human Service Agency and Lighthouse of Oakland County -- both based in Pontiac -- received a $10,000 grant from the Cities of Promise initiative.

Officials from both organizations also contributed a combined $6,000.

Employees of the human service agency supervise eight children taking care of a garden on North Johnson Street, and Lighthouse has 20 children maintaining a garden in the middle of the city's Unity Park neighborhood.

The children are receiving help from Michigan State University Extension volunteers to create 4-H clubs and business plans for how they will sell the produce. The children will use the proceeds to reinvest in their gardens.

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