The city’s first-ever director of urban agriculture will head the mayor’s neighborhood solar initiative as she transitions to a new role leading Detroit sustainability efforts.
Tepfirah Rushdan will become director of the Office of Sustainability effective April 12. She replaces Jack Akinlosotu, who is leaving for a new opportunity in climate change and sustainability work, Mayor Mike Duggan announced Wednesday.
Rushdan, who was appointed as agriculture leader in September, will have a “major immediate focus” on the implementation of Detroit’s controversial solar neighborhood project as well as other Detroit Climate Strategy initiatives, the city noted in a news release.
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In her short time at the helm of agriculture efforts in Detroit, the long-time community farming advocate and Green Acres resident, has worked to encourage farming by improving city policies and processes and reducing red tape. Rushdan will assist the city in identifying a new urban agriculture leader, who will report to her.
“Tepfirah’s life’s work has been environmental stewardship and with her outstanding leadership skills, she is the perfect person to lead our sustainability office forward,” Mayor Mike Duggan said in a Wednesday news release. “She already had become deeply engaged in our solar initiative, exploring potential agricultural uses of land within the solar arrays.”
There are currently eight Detroit neighborhoods being considered to host the 250 acres of solar installations required to offset energy consumption in 127 municipal buildings. Over the last several months, one potential community, Grixdale Farms, was nixed from the city’s list as a possible site after residents there and elsewhere raised concerns over the prospect, arguing it could harm property values and raising worries over the use of herbicides. Others have been supportive, saying the effort would clear out blight and give residents who opt to sell their homes to make way for the project an economic windfall.
The city is in the process of selecting the final solar array areas and Rushdan will work closely with residents in those neighborhoods as well as the vendors selected for the project, the city noted.
“Detroiters are creative and resilient, and I believe we have real potential to become a national leader in municipal sustainability,” said Rushdan, who formerly served as a co-director of Keep Growing Detroit, an organization that supports urban farming as well as roles with The Detroit Food Policy Council and The Greening of Detroit.
“I’m humbled to have the opportunity to steward our city’s efforts at a very exciting time in this journey,” Rushdan added. “Mayor Duggan has made sustainability and climate action a priority in his administration, and I appreciate the confidence he has shown in me.”
As Detroit’s sustainability leader, Rushdan will be the point person for Detroit’s transition to clean energy, sustainable mobility, reducing waste, reducing flood risks, improving air quality and more.
Akinlosotu, in his time with the city, completed the first Detroit Climate Strategy, and worked closely with the Detroit City Council on the development of the city’s new Benchmarking Ordinance, which requires all municipal buildings and commercial and multifamily residential buildings larger than 100,000 square feet to annually report their energy and water usage by the end of 2024. Smaller buildings will be subject to the requirement in 2025.
“Jack has helped lay the foundation for the work that will continue for years to come,” Chief Strategy Officer Trisha Stein, who leads Duggan’s sustainability efforts, said. “We greatly appreciate his contributions to creating a more sustainable Detroit.”