Stewards Magazine

An interest in sustainable development led Fai Foen (MLA ’11) to the Peace Corps, where she served as a small business advisor in West Africa. While there, she observed how connected people were to their physical environment. It made her want to foster that same connection back home, and inspired her to pursue landscape architecture at SEAS.

Foen is the director of green infrastructure at The Greening of Detroit, a nonprofit organization that enhances the quality of life for Detroiters by planting trees, repurposing the land to create green spaces, and helping communities rebuild their neighborhoods one lot at a time. She leads the Community Forestry program, which restores Detroit’s urban forest by planting trees in neighborhoods, streets, parks, community-held public spaces, schools and other institutions.

“Our big focus is tree planting,” says Foen, “but what we are doing is providing the equitable distribution of tree resources to underserved neighborhoods, so that everyone can benefit from cooler summer temperatures, improved air quality, stormwater management, pollinators and wildlife, and the seasonal beauty of a maintained forest.”

As a first-generation Chinese American who grew up on Detroit’s west side, Foen says she didn’t have many opportunities to experience nature as a young person. Despite that, she developed a love of the outdoors, which is what The Greening of Detroit helps to cultivate in youth and adults through job training and volunteerism.

“We need everyone to feel and be involved in our natural areas, whether it’s the federal park system or our local regional parks,” says Foen. “And that starts with people knowing that there is access and that it is theirs to participate in.”