Community Engagement : Features

Declare Detroit's Brad Frost gets inspired by the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr. and calls for a year of action in the city. It begins with circling dates for 2013 elections. We can definitely get on with that idea. 

Michael Forsyth, Business Development Manager of the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, heads up the DEGC's recently-launched REVOLVE program. REVOLVE works with growing neighborhoods, aspiring entrepreneurs, and building owners in need of tenants to address Detroit's threefold issue of neighborhood needs, excessive storefront vacancies, and lack of retail density head-on via pop-up. Here he shares with UIX Detroit the short- and long-term visions for REVOLVE.

Students, teachers, administrators, and Model D partners from foundations and media jammed into Youthville for our speaker series on innovation in education. Walter Wasacz took the notes, Tony Eggert and Marvin Shaouni the pictures. 

Working out of the Furniture Factory in the Cass Corridor, Allied Media Projects is all about innovation, interaction and collaboration. Matthew Piper takes us behind the scenes.

You’re going to fail...and that's great! If you're out there innovating and DOING things - trying to add value, generate opportunity, hire employees, build communities, develop talent, create wealth or start something new to move Detroit forward - you're not going to succeed every time. So how do we turn failure into a badge of honor rather than a mark of shame?

Who doesn't love a "design on a dime" makeover show? You know the ones, where a homeowner is given an impossible budget and deadline to totally transform a space, then through sheer creativity and resourcefulness (and maybe some clever editing), the place comes to life - huzzah! Well, the same is possible with public spaces. Urban designer-types call this "tactical urbanism." What they really mean is activating places quickly & cheaply. How can we do more of this in Detroit?