DETROIT, Mich. — A $13 million equestrian center built for Detroit kids is on track to open by January in the Hope Village neighborhood on the city west side, and Mayor Mary Sheffield got an early look this week.
The 26,395-square-foot building sits on 14 acres at Fenkell and Linwood. It will hold stalls for 17 horses, an indoor arena, outdoor riding areas, grazing paddocks, classrooms and space the neighborhood can use.
The nonprofit Detroit Horse Power will run free after-school sessions, summer camps and field trips there for young people ages 11 to 18. Its after-school program is expected to open with 250 students and later double to 500.
David Silver, a former Detroit elementary school teacher, started the group in 2015 to teach city students to ride and care for horses as a way to build skills for school, work and life. It has worked with more than 1,000 kids at stables around the region.
The group has long planned for its center to sit on repurposed vacant land and to serve as a year-round community hub, and Silver said students will be able to reach it by bus or along the Joe Louis Greenway.
Filed under: Detroit MI Neighborhood News