8 | AUGUST 1 • 2024 
J
N

OUR COMMUNITY
ON THE COVER

H

orses have always been a big 
part of David Silver’s life. The 
Detroit resident, who moved to 
Detroit from New York in 2012 for Teach 
for America and has taught fourth and 
fifth grades at Detroit’s Burns Elementary 
school, is now sharing his equine passion 
with others through Detroit Horse Power, 
a nonprofit he started to connect Detroit 
youth ages 11-18 with horses to build 
social-emotional skills. 
“I think what I feel grateful for is that 
I’ve been able to put two things that are 

really important to me, which are edu-
cation and Detroit’s future, together with 
horses at the center of both of those,” 
explains Silver a 2018 Jewish 
News “36 under 36.”
As a former Detroit elemen-
tary school teacher who cares 
about land use and vibrant 
communities in the city, he 
says he believes the 501(c)(3) 
organization can help instill 
PERCS skills — Perseverance, Empathy, 
Responsible risk-taking, Confidence and 

Self-control — in kids and contribute to 
the reimagining of Detroit in the 21st cen-
tury. 
“I can fully credit my experience with 
horses to building those skills within 
myself, and I know they can bring the 
same level of benefit to young people in 
Detroit growing up today,” he says. 
Since 2015, Detroit Horse Power has 
been bringing kids from Detroit to horse 
barns outside the city that let them use 
their spaces and horses for camps and 
afterschool programs. They, at present, 
have six partner locations in the summer 
months alone, where they offer eight 
weeks of summer horse camp.

BUILDING A HOME BASE
Currently serving more than 100 students 
annually, Detroit Horse Power is on its way 
to establishing its own 26,395-square-foot 
urban equestrian center, he says. It’ll be 
home to stables for up to 17 horses and 
also have an indoor riding arena, outdoor 
riding spaces, paddocks for the horses to 
graze, classrooms and community space, 
Silver says. They’re set to start construc-
tion on a new facility in 2024 and open a 
year later, in 2025.
“The goal all along has been to find the 

David Silver teaches kids life lessons using 
horses. Now he’s building a “ranch” in the 
middle of Detroit.

KAREN SCHWARTZ CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Coming to the
-borhood

David 
Silver

A rendering of 
the arena at the 
new facility

