Detroit, Michigan
Teaching Kids to Care for Dogs Teaches Them to Care for Each Other.
Detroit Hearts & Hounds is a K–12 program building empathy, responsibility, and community: one classroom, one shelter, one child at a time.
- K–12
- All grade levels
- 5
- Program phases
- Detroit
- Where we work
- Empathy
- At the core
Detroit's kids and Detroit's dogs need each other.
Detroit has one of the highest concentrations of stray and abandoned dogs of any major U.S. city. Many students encounter dogs every day, as pets, strays, or neighbors' animals, yet have little structured guidance on how to interact with them safely and compassionately.
Detroit Hearts & Hounds changes that. By learning to read a dog's body language, care for shelter animals, and advocate for animal welfare, students develop the same skills of empathy, patience, and responsibility that strengthen families, neighborhoods, and futures.
What students gain
Skills that go far beyond the shelter.
Understanding another creature's feelings is the foundation of every meaningful relationship.
Weekly shelter shifts teach students what it means to show up: a skill every employer depends on.
Students learn to see Detroit's animal welfare challenges as their own, and to act.
Students explore real careers and graduate with credentials recognized by Detroit CTE pathways.
Every dollar builds empathy.
Your gift funds enrichment supplies, program materials, and the coordinators who make it all happen.
Donate now