Ford Helps Students Serve Communities

A project with roots in the island of Haiti is improving life in a food desert in Daytona Beach, Florida, thanks to a five-year, productive partnership with Ford.

This spring, Embry-Riddle students installed 18 solar panels in the community garden at Derbyshire Place in north Daytona Beach. This faith-based community center offers enrichment programs, recreational activities, support groups, free meals and job training.

The 16.9 kilowatts generated by the new solar array will allow the garden to spend $1,000 less a year on electricity, which translates to 60 more meals a month for residents in need. That is the mathematics of compassion, according to Embry-Riddle student Marcella Smith, whose technical savvy and heart to help were first committed to an earlier university initiative, Project Haiti.

The new solar panel installation is something of a hybrid – an outgrowth of a five-year joint effort of student engineers, an Honors Program initiative and a Ford College Community Challenge grant. The initial funding from Ford supported water filtration projects in Haiti that incorporated solar purification technology.

When the pandemic made continued work in Haiti impossible, the Ford C3 Foundation allowed students to split the grant between international and local initiatives. They used half to design, construct and ship a solar-powered water purifier to a malnutrition center in Haiti and half for the solar array at Derbyshire Place.

The shift from water filtration in Haiti to sustainable agriculture locally was encouraged by Dr. Marc Compere, associate professor of Mechanical Engineering, working with Dr. Geoffrey Kain, Honors Program director and professor of Humanities and Communication.

Ford Motor Company established the Ford College Community Challenge to encourage students to work with nonprofit partners to design and implement solutions to critical needs. The grant defines its challenge as creating “community projects that address critical local needs in new ways, with a focus on helping the community become a more sustainable place to work and live.”

Compere appreciates Ford’s flexibility in supporting the solar panel installation in Daytona Beach, which he sees as consistent with the goals of community service and hands-on experience for students. “The focus on improving community health and stimulating the local economy is identical to Project Haiti’s mission.” Students also gained direct experience with site planning, permitting, installation and working alongside other community volunteers, including local philanthropy and service organizations.

Students from the Honors Program work in the garden and operate a farmer’s market every Saturday. Proceeds from the sale of fresh produce benefit Hope Place, which helps displaced families and young adults who have aged out of foster care. Halifax Urban Ministries operates this nonprofit.

For two years, Honors student Grace Robertson (’22) coordinated student participation at the garden. Committing her engineering skills to community service was a factor that led to Robertson’s selection as one of Aviation Week Network’s 20 Twenties class, which recognizes emerging leaders in aerospace. Now a systems engineer on the Dream Chaser spaceplane for Sierra Space, Robertson credits the overall culture of Embry-Riddle with her success. She points to the Derbyshire Garden as a powerful influence.

“The culture at Embry-Riddle, of students and faculty doing whatever it takes, together, to make their dreams a reality, is what’s special. The goal was to break down equity disparities in race, gender, nationality and wealth. This experience will live with me always, as I learned I am nothing if not a servant to my community.”

In addition to the Ford grant, the solar panel installation earned additional support from The United Way Social Innovation Fund, local philanthropists Andrea and Larry Frank, and Halifax Urban Ministries.