- [Zosette] Coming up on "One Detroit," we're looking at interesting places to visit in Southeast Michigan.

We'll take you to a family owned farm that's been turned into a sanctuary for rescued farm animals.

Plus, we'll tell you about the history behind Pewabic Pottery, a business that is truly Detroit.

Also ahead, we'll show you how a couple is helping to revitalize their Southwest Detroit community, and we'll share the story of an East African refugee from our "Destination Detroit" series.

It's all coming up next on "One Detroit."

- [Presenter] From Delta faucets to Behr Paint, MASCO Corporation is proud to deliver products that enhance the way consumers all over the world experience and enjoy their living spaces.

MASCO, serving Michigan communities since 1929.

Support also provided by the Cynthia and Edsel Ford Fund for Journalism at Detroit PBS.

- [Announcer] The DTE Foundation is a proud sponsor of Detroit PBS.

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Learn more at DTEFoundation.com.

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(bright music) - [Zosette] Just ahead on "One Detroit," a truly Detroit story about a popular pottery business that's been around for more than a hundred years.

Plus, we'll see how a Southwest Detroit neighborhood is getting new life thanks to a local couple.

And our "Destination Detroit" project introduces us to a man who found success in Detroit after fleeing East Africa.

But first up, we're taking you to The Barn Sanctuary in Washtenaw County.

It's a place where farm animals live out their lives.

The owners repurposed their family farm in Chelsea to become a refuge for rescued cows, pigs, goats, chickens, and ducks.

"One Detroit's" Bill Kubota visited the sanctuary and saw how the farm animals are cared for like family pets.

(bright music) - [Bill] Animals on the farm just off the freeway, west of Ann Arbor.

At Barn Sanctuary, there are residents called persons here, just like the caregivers that see to their needs.

- We do everything that farming is except for the last part, taking the animals to the market.

- [Bill] Dan McKernan and his father, Tom, they started Barn Sanctuary eight years ago.

- Yeah, well, people just aren't exposed to farm animals.

Unless you grew up on a farm, you don't really have the experience of seeing them and that's what we hope to do is let people see that our pigs and cows are more like your experience you have with your dogs and cats.

- You had yours, sorry, that's it.

- [Bill] Caregiver Casey Fry, a popular sight in the pig barn this morning.

- So it's turmeric paste and LubriSyn, which helps with their joints.

- [Bill] Is that all they eat?

- [Tom] No, they get a lot more than that.

- They get a lot more, this is just supplements.

- [Bill] Can you tell if they're happy?

- We can tell if they're upset and we can tell if they're happy because they wanna interact with each other, ourselves.

They get up, they're able to get up and eat.

They're interested in playing around and they can be little stinkers with each other.

- [Bill] Around 140 farm animals and rescue stories come with each of them.

- We rescued June in 2017 and she was rescued as a piglet.

She was found in a kind of a metal trashcan and was left there with a crazy eye infection and was malnourished.

And a local dog rescuer founder and then gave us a call.

(pig grunting) - [Tom] Yeah, yeah.

(pig grunting) - [Bill] Before all this, Dan, a plant-based diet advocate, he was a tech expert in Texas, specializing in fundraising for nonprofits.

Tom, a pharmacist and local township supervisor, their farm had been owned by the family for nearly a century and a half.

- And all of a sudden, I realized that this is a property, is potentially gonna be developed commercially.

I didn't really want us to be the next McDonald's, the next gas station, whatever you find along the exit ramps and stuff along the expressway.

- And out of the blue, my dad gave me a call and asked, "What should we do with this family farm that we've got?"

So I told my dad, "How about starting a farm animal rescue on the family farm?"

And he asked, "How are we gonna pay for the feed?"

And I told him I would take care of that and figure out a way.

- [Bill] Dan barnstormed social media.

His messaging was a hit.

- One bale of hay, it's $5 and we're trying to raise $15,000 in order to get 3,000 bales of hay.

- And so Dan came up with this idea and I said, "Really, people give you money for this?

This is how this works?"

- I just wanted to give y'all an update on the chicken coop fundraiser.

We made our goal.

- And then over time, the sanctuary became my dream, too.

So I am all in on this and this is what I do.

This is my life now.

She likes to have her neck rubbed, yes.

Yes, you do.

- Mabel was rescued from a dairy farm and she was born, her front legs look a little wonky still, but they were completely contracted.

She couldn't use them.

- [Bill] Mabel, also infertile, can't produce milk.

Useless on a dairy farm, but thriving here, thanks in large part to extensive treatments to her legs at Michigan State University.

Uncommon veterinary care paid for by Barn's Sanctuary supporters.

- We are so open to trying everything under the sun that doesn't compromise the quality of life.

So we can give them a great quality of life and extend the quantity of life.

Then feel like we're doing the right things.

Come on, buddy.

Augustus.

Hey, dude.

He can't see me.

Augustus, come on.

Come on, buddy.

- [Bill] Augustus, the friendly rooster.

Not just the caregivers, he gets along well with the hens, too.

- When we talk about the breeds that are raised for meat, unfortunately, they're killed in the industry at six weeks of age.

But we do things very specifically here and we've had one of those hens last six years, which is phenomenal.

- [Bill] Goats named Steve, Martin, and Chevy, the three amigos.

They arrived seven years ago after a harrowing excursion aboard an animal transport that made the news.

- [Reporter] The Pennsylvania SPCA spent most of the day unloading these goats and sheep from this truck onto these vehicles.

The animals had a wild ride.

- [Bill] The animals' owner fled police, bike strips reportedly involved.

- So with all these animals in a trailer and tow, there was a high speed chase.

Unfortunately, he crashed a lot of the animals in the trailer and perished.

- [Bill] The three amigos came through it okay.

The driver and his passenger on the lam, apprehended.

- [Reporter] They face more than 80.

- [Bill] Barn Sanctuary now at capacity.

The countless other less fortunate farm animals, what about sanctuary for them?

- That's just something that we have to accept to just say, "If I can't save them all, what's the point in saving one or five or 10?"

So one step at a time and we're just doing the best that we can.

- But I'd much rather do this because when I'm 95, I don't really want to be talking about, "Did you see that ordinance I helped right?"

Or, "How many flu shots did I give?"

No, I wanna be talking about how we can make the world a better place for our kids and our grandkids by reducing animal cruelty that occurs in factory farms by reducing climate change that agriculture causes, and then also by increasing people's personal health by just eating healthier.

- [Zosette] Pewabic Pottery has been a mainstay in Detroit's East Village neighborhood for more than a century.

The distinctive tiles and other ceramic art produced at the pottery are a huge part of the city's history.

"One Detroit's" Bill Kubota has the story.

(upbeat music) - [Bill] A fixture on Detroit's east side on Jefferson and East Village, Pewabic Pottery, where you'll see a really old clay mixing machine.

- It was made very well back in 1912 and it's still operating today like a charm.

- [Bill] Pewabic Pottery turning out ceramic vases, decorative and architectural tiles, a Detroit legacy that goes back to the turn of the last century.

- Well, I think that's kind of the beauty of Pewabic is we started at a time, where this was really popular throughout the United States, but we are really one of the oldest continuously operating historic pottery, so not many more left like us.

- [Bill] Pewabic was thriving in the 1920s, part of the Arts and Crafts Movement.

A reaction to the industrialization sweeping the nation, especially places like Detroit, how to bring some humanity, art, and beauty amongst all these machine made things.

Meanwhile, dental equipment supplier, Horace Caulkins, created a kiln to fire enamel for porcelain teeth.

- Horace was a really good business person.

And so kind of realizing that there was this entire new art trend growing within the city of Detroit known as China painting, he expanded his line of kilns into kilns for the firing of pottery.

- [Bill] Caulkins began working with a China painter, Mary Chase Perry.

- Our founder, Mary Chase Perry, later Mary Chase Perry Stratton, was born in Hancock, Michigan.

- [Bill] Hancock in the upper peninsula with its copper mines, including a mine called the Pewabic.

Stratton liked that name.

- Mary was really the artistic vision of the organization and that was something that was fully supported by her business partner.

- [Bill] Education director, Annie Dennis, has been discovering Pewabic's history, doing a deep dig into the archives.

- We are finding that she had connections to the Detroit suffrage movement and I think it was really inspiring for women artists to find a woman-run organization.

And that's no different today.

I think the coolest and best part about Pewabic, and not just today, but just historically, are the people that continue to be drawn to this place and care for it.

- [Bill] Back in the clay mixing room, Cameron Hodge runs the machine that removes excess water.

- 'Cause it's still one of the best ways that you can produce clay.

My last major position was as a distiller and it was actually a very similar process of mixing a batch of whiskey and then mixing a batch of clay.

So that's actually how I got hired on in fabrication.

- [Bill] The molds that shaped the clay for a lot of projects, the process?

Pretty much the same as it's always been.

- Take the slug, put it into the mold, use my arbor press to press it into all the corners.

I like when the public comes around 'cause it's a nice reminder of like how special this job actually is that we to make these tiles that, you know, some of 'em are about a hundred years old as far as the design goes.

And we're just continuing the legacy and being a part of the history of Detroit.

It's pretty cool.

- [Bill] After the shaping, some get a spray cone.

These tiles and original Stratton design, hand-painted by glaze technician, Cassidy Downs.

Then comes the firing, but the process isn't all old school.

Brett Gray's in the kiln room.

- I have a degree from CCS and ceramics.

Before that, I made custom surfboards.

And then I ended up here, working in the vessel department.

(tiles clinking) The biggest difference between historic kilns and these kilns are these are all computer-controlled, and we do about five different glazes in here right now.

So as I'm pulling these out, I'm kind of looking over them to make sure everything looks good.

There's no imperfections.

This came out perfect.

99% of the time, they do.

- It's hard to talk about Pewabic glazes without starting with iridescent glazes because it's really what essentially helped to put Pewabic on the map well over 100 years ago.

- [Bill] Glazes with an iridescent finish.

- [Brett] So this is a before and after, before it goes into iridescent.

This one has the iridescent on it, which is also a third firing.

- [Bill] Here's where art and science converge.

In the old days, elements like lead and uranium gave these works, which you can see at the museum here, that remarkable luster.

These finishes replaced with far less hazardous materials now.

Stratton's work brought together other creatives, who established modern Detroit's legacy of art and design.

- I really think it was this network of designers and architects and artists that kind of helped to form the path of Pewabic Pottery.

And this group, you know, not only influenced the aesthetics of the city of Detroit and kind of this visual landscape, but also the educational communities.

For example, the Detroit Society of Arts and Crafts is still alive and well in Detroit.

It's now known as the College for Creative Studies.

They also had ties to the University of Michigan.

In fact, Mary helped to found the art program at U of M. The first Wayne State University ceramics classes for the first 15 years existed here at Pewabic.

- [Bill] Pewabic tiles abound around Detroit, projects old and new.

The Guardian Building, the Detroit Institute of Arts, Comerica Park.

And now, right now, renewed interest about what's going on at Pewabic.

- You know, the digital age that we're in right now had people refocus on things that celebrate things made by the human hand.

And so we're actually seeing this really incredible resurgence of people, you know, understanding, now more than ever, why it's important to have artists work and create things by hand.

- [Zosette] Now let's turn to a truly Detroit story from Southwest Detroit, a community known for its Latino history and culture.

The area is also seeing a lot of growth in redevelopment.

"One Detroit's" Bill Kubota has a story of a couple, helping to revitalize the neighborhood where they grew up.

- Duck work.

(bright music) - Southwest Detroit is vibrant and always has been vibrant even in the downturn because people have a certain tenacity and a certain grit.

- [Bill] Southwest Detroit, like the construction boom town here, billions being spent.

The Gordie Howe International Bridge, Ford's Michigan Central, the Greenway Southwest, connecting to the Joe Louis.

That's the big stuff.

Plus, we forget those working the smaller projects.

- So AGI Construction is AGI.

It's All God Inspired.

- [Bill] AGI, that's Tanya Saldivar-Ali and Luis Ali, life and business partners, showing "One Detroit" one of their interior renovations at the Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation Building, a hub for the Latino community, where students learn about and build robots, get quality computer time, do some 3D printing.

- This is the first and the largest teen tech lab.

So we were super excited to be able to build out this space for our community.

- [Bill] Tanya and Luis started AGI in 2008.

The project that changed their lives?

A basement renovation at Cristo Rey High School.

- The basement was an old cafeteria from the 1940s and '50s, and they just used it for storage.

Our mentor, Frank Venegas, with the Ideal Group, really set that project aside for us and said, "Hey, guys, I've seen you, guys.

I know what you guys are capable of.

I have this project."

- [Bill] Frank Venegas, industrialist, supporter of the students at Cristo Rey.

- He was the guy.

- He's the guy.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, Frank Venegas is the godfather of Southwest Detroit.

- Yeah.

- He's the guy - [Bill] For AGI, a major undertaking.

Before the renovation, students ate lunch, sprawled across the gymnasium.

- And now they have this beautiful space and it really changed the trajectory of what type of projects that we decided to prioritize.

- [Bill] The projects they'd focus on, churches, schools, nonprofits, and small businesses like theirs here in Southwest, where their prospects didn't seem so bright, coming out of high school 30 years ago.

- Especially when the gangs came through in the '90s, I got into a lot of trouble.

You're a product of your environment.

And so my best friends that I grew up with from a very young age joined gangs.

I've considered myself a pretty good kid, but I had a little rap sheet.

- [Bill] Luis and Tanya first got together in high school.

Luis got out of town, joined the military, learning project management in his more than two decades in the Air Force.

Tanya got into business administration, finding her way, thanks to a Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation Anti-Gang Program.

Years later, the two out on their own, with their construction company.

- When we came back, obviously, we could have chose to move anywhere, but as the economy started to change from recession to everybody talking about the revitalization of Detroit and what's happening, we wanted to make sure we were part of that.

- [Bill] On Scotten Street, the relocated First Latin American Baptist Church.

- As a group of Mexican came to Detroit and were looking for a Baptist church that spoke Spanish, they were instrumental in starting our church in 1930.

- [Bill] A congregation displaced when the Gordie Howe Bridge Project needed their property down in the Delray neighborhood.

That left Pastor Kevin Casillas looking for a new home.

- We saw a long list of properties, many in Detroit and many outside of Detroit.

- We were looking at building a new building for them, and you know, the budget was getting up there.

- [Bill] Then another church closing down, gifted First Latin American their historic building.

- We're able to move into the building and with the settlement money, we're able to remodel the downstairs basement area and then construct a community gym that we call the Victory Activity Center.

- Run back, there's your man.

- [Bill] A gym like Pastor Cassillas had in Delray.

Youth basketball, indoor soccer, community events, weddings, baby showers.

- We understood that our value on that project was not just building something.

We were fighting for a church to be able to be made whole and still have an existing space here in the community.

They needed to be here.

- Come on, let's go, kids.

Let's go, let's go.

- Are you okay?

- One thing that we saw that was important to us as a church in the community that's been here for more than 90 years, was the heart that Luis and Tanya had to contract people from the community.

Not just Detroiters, but people that live here in Southwest Detroit.

- [Bill] On West Burner, another restaurant renovation and upgrade.

But these days, there's even more work to do.

- Up above, we have second story apartments.

- [Bill] Space is not viable as rentals for years.

Now, building owner see opportunity.

- So we've got housing stock above all the commercial corridors, and most of them need a lot of work.

- [Bill] One block over, new residential going up.

"Not an AGI project, but significant," Tanya says.

- So in my lifetime, this is the first time I've seen ground up development in our neighborhood.

It's exciting to see, but what we're doing is we're advocating for as many local contractors to be on these jobs.

It's important that we have representation from our communities working on these type of projects.

How does that development impact our neighborhoods?

Especially when we think about preserving neighborhood culture and history in the face of rapid development.

- [Bill] Tanya and Luis thought local contractors and tradespeople needed to get together to take part in all of this, have a place to meet.

- We have pretty much gutted everything down to the studs and have restructured the foundation of it.

- [Bill] In the heart of southwest Hubbard Richard Neighborhood, just north of the historic St. Anne's Church, AGI sets up shop.

Built 120 years ago, survivor of floods, a sinking foundation fixed now, the former residents of the Lozano family, and famed educator and musician, Frank Panchito Lozano, now to be called the Design-Build Green Hub.

- Because of some of the struggles and barriers that we've had as a construction company and wanting to help others kind of not have to go through some of those struggles.

We are in the middle of this development to be able to train kind of construction 101, and it's not just for skilled trades, but for entrepreneurs and other small businesses like ourselves.

- [Bill] A rehab with historic preservation in mind, even saving the chimney from collapse with the steel frame lending support, the building has green environmentally conscious features.

So this is a demonstration project, too.

- We were told that the house was used as a safe house, so when Mexicans would come from work, they would come here and get something to drink and eat, and then they would go and find work.

I was actually told that my father came through this house because he came in the late '50s, early '60s for road work.

♪ Lady - [Bill] September 2024, the Design-Build Green Hub, ready to go with an open house for the neighbors to see.

- Our next step is to start focusing on programming and what program is gonna look like around estimating and blueprint reading, and how can we engage more people in the development process.

- Our end goal is not for AGI to be this huge, you know, conglomerate making all this money.

Yeah, that's nice.

But the goal is to see our community come up.

And so we just want to engage people where they're at and make sure everybody has the opportunity to go to the next level.

- We are part of the fabric and the thread of Detroit, and our Southwest community has a rich legacy, but we want people to remember that contribution to the city as a whole as well.

- [Zosette] Over the next year, Detroit PBS is celebrating America's 250th birthday by sharing stories from our "Destination Detroit" series.

We've collected interviews and family accounts from the people who moved to the Detroit region and helped shape its rich history.

Today, we hear from Hamissi Mamba, co-owner of the Detroit restaurant, Baobab Fare.

He talks about his experience arriving in the city as an East African refugee.

- I am the first generation here in United States, straight to Detroit.

I've been here since November, 2015.

(gentle music) We came from somewhere else, but we have the responsibility and the homework to build this country as outsiders.

We can be more tolerate.

We can give people grace and we can understand others.

I am the first generation here in United States, straight to Detroit.

I've been here since November, 2015.

I came as a refugee from Burundi.

At that time, my wife, she came before me, two years before me, and we live in a shelter called Freedom House, not far from here.

It's a shelter for all the asylum seekers around the world, all refugees around the world.

They come and they seek asylum.

Came to Detroit, the community was amazing.

I felt very, very accepted in the community.

As I say, it's like I was confused with the culture here.

And then by asking question, by having more friends, they did a great job to guide me.

I won't be here and be successful business, to build a successful business without the community that we have, you know?

And especially restaurants, right?

Restaurants is something that's, you have to trust people before you go to eat at their restaurant.

Our slogan, it's called Detroit Ni Nyumbani, is in Swahili.

So it means Detroit is home.

It's a privilege for me to be in this situation because I can speak as a Detroiter, I can speak as a Burundian, so I can understand both sides, yeah.

(gentle music) - [Zosette] For more "Destination Detroit" stories, go to onedetroitpbs.org/destinationde.

That'll do it for this week's "One Detroit."

Thanks for watching.

Head to the one Detroit website for all the stories we're working on.

Follow us on social media and sign up for a weekly newsletter.

(bright music) - [Presenter] This program is made possible in part by Timothy Bogert, Comprehensive Planning Strategies.

From Delta faucets to Behr Paint, MASCO Corporation is proud to deliver products that enhance the way consumers all over the world experience and enjoy their living spaces.

MASCO, serving Michigan communities since 1929.

Support also provided by the Cynthia and Edsel Ford Fund for Journalism at Detroit PBS.

- [Announcer] The DTE Foundation is a proud sponsor of Detroit PBS.

Through our giving, we are committed to meeting the needs of the communities we serve statewide, to help ensure a bright and thriving future for all.

Learn more at dtefoundation.com.

- [Presenter] Nissan Foundation, and viewers like you.

(upbeat music) (gentle music)