News

Translating people and place from Detroit to Bilbao, Spain, and back

Knight Foundation Friday, August 01, 2014

Excerpt:

I just returned from the German Marshall Fund’s BUILD event in Bilbao, Spain. For three days, 100 Americans and Europeans on the front lines of urban innovation gathered to exchange ideas. This transatlantic engagement enables civic leaders to share best practices for cities and facilitates collaboration that improves them. As a native Michigander with limited overseas travel experience, I continue to marvel at how the language of loving cities and place translates in other countries.

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America's Most Creative Cities

Forbes Friday, August 01, 2014

Forbes names Detroit among America's most creative cities.

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Announcing the Director's Fellows Second Cohort

MIT Media Lab Friday, August 01, 2014

UIX innovator Pashon Murray is among this year's MIT Media Lab Director's Fellows cohort.

Excerpt:

Each year, the Media Lab selects a group of extraordinary individuals from different industries and geographies as Director’s Fellows. These people become conduits for unlikely collaborations between the Lab and the world. The first group included prison activist Shaka Senghor, comedian Baratunde Thurston, and open education expert Philipp Schmidt, among others. (These Fellows officially started in July 2013 and will continue on for a second year.) Today, I’m excited to announce nine new members of the Director’s Fellows program who will be joining us this month.

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Detroit's rising with investment

Detroit News Friday, August 01, 2014

Excerpt:

While many on the outside are still lamenting Detroit’s fall, the city is quietly rising higher.

Entrepreneurs, philanthropists and scholars have coalesced around community projects that are forming the scaffolding for a newly-remodeled Detroit: a rejuvenated metropolitan center repairing the cracks in its social and economic structure.

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Black-Owned Businesses Are Quietly Powering Detroit's Resurgence

Huffington Post Friday, August 01, 2014

The full title reads, "Black-Owned Businesses Are Quietly Powering Detroit's Resurgence, But No One's Talking About It."

Actually, we've been talking about it for years.

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Location, Location, Location: Why Place Matters for a Small Business

Mashable Friday, August 01, 2014

Mashable speaks with Batch Brewing Co. owner Stephen Roginson in this video on finding the right location for your small business and how the city can help or hinder you in the process.

Excerpt:

Permits. Contracts. Licensing. Zoning.

As if starting your own business and projecting sales weren't hard enough already, setting up shop in major cities also calls for an abundance of paperwork and bureaucratic hurdles, often unforeseen and potentially detrimental.

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How to Hire the Homeless--Without Exploiting Them

Inc. Friday, August 01, 2014

UIX innovator Veronika Scott of The Empowerment Plan gets a nod in this Inc. article on how to hire the homeless.

Excerpt:

It's the kind of topic that makes many business owners uneasy: How do you hire someone who's homeless without feeling like a sleaze?

Plenty of companies and nonprofits have already gone through the process, and more are expected to follow now that states such as Utah provide tax credits to businesses that employ people who are homeless. But there are certain things to keep in mind.

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Terry Blackhawk teaches Detroit kids the power of poetry through the InsideOut Literary Arts Project

Creative Exchange Friday, July 18, 2014

Excerpt:

InsideOut Literary Arts Project started out as so many other well-intended projects do: as an idea that didn't quite seem realistic enough to become reality. Until it did.

It is worth quoting InsideOut founder and director Terry Blackhawk at length here, when she explained the origins of InsideOut in an op-ed for Huffington Post Detroit...

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Detroit corner grocer keeps tradition fresh

Detroit News Friday, July 18, 2014

Excerpt:

David Kirby and Caitlin James are out to prove there’s still a place for the traditional corner grocer.

Walk through the door of their Parker Street Market in Detroit’s West Village and you’re almost transported back in time. A wooden crate of organic apples — 85 cents each — sits on a windowsill next to a similar crate of $1.25 sweet potatoes.Standing across the 800-square-foot space, a hand-made shelf holds a plate of fresh peppers, oranges and eggplants, arranged like a painter’s still life.

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Meet the Detroit Knight Arts Challenge finalists

Knight Arts Friday, July 18, 2014

Excerpt:

Thank you, Detroit. For the second year of the Knight Arts Challenge, we received close to 1,000 thoughtful ideas for how the arts can play a role in engaging people in creative play, in the development of new and innovative artistic forms and in the importance of building a supportive community for artists, to name a few.

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2014 Kresge Artist Fellows

Kresge Arts in Detroit Friday, July 18, 2014

Excerpt:

Kresge Arts in Detroit is honored to announce the 18 recipients of the 2014 Kresge Artist Fellowships, including eight artists and one collaborative group selected in Dance/Music and, for the first time, nine artists selected in Film/Theatre. The Fellowships, funded by The Kresge Foundation and each consisting of a $25,000 prize and professional practice opportunities, are awarded annually to metropolitan Detroit artists for their exceptional commitment to artistic achievement and strong contributions to their respective communities.

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Made in Detroit: Hackers, builders, inventors and artists 'reinvent the wheel' at Red Bull Creation

MLive Friday, July 18, 2014

Excerpt:

In the middle of the Recycle Here! workshop hangs a giant clock counting down the hours left during the Red Bull Creation challenge.

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Detroit's Got Talent

Pure Michigan Friday, July 18, 2014

Excerpt:

The secret’s out. Entrepreneurs, engineers and investors – even those without any prior connections to the city – are packing up and moving to Detroit to be a part of the magic that’s happening here. I frequently have the opportunity to chat about the city’s appeal, the state of the business environment, and why so many entrepreneurs and investors have decided Detroit was the place to be.

Why Detroit?

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New CIO Beth Niblock starts from scratch to overhaul Detroit's 'fundamentally broken' IT system

Crain's Detroit Business Friday, July 18, 2014

Excerpt:

First things first: Beth Niblock has no control over the parking meters.

And yes, the city's new chief information officer has received her share of parking tickets since moving to Detroit from Louisville, Ky., in February. More than half the city's meters are broken, which made paying for parking in the middle of the polar vortex a challenge.

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Group gains traction by recycling leftover tires from city's ruin

Detroit News Friday, July 18, 2014

Excerpt:

A few miles north of the Shinola Midtown store, where Detroit grit is polished, assembled and sold at breathtaking premiums, the Rev. Faith Fowler is pioneering her own authentic take on Detroit retail.

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