The University of Michigan’s Center on Finance, Law, and Policy (CFLP) is pleased to announce the launch of a new website specifically for the Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project (DNEP). The new site showcases the full breadth of programming DNEP offers year-round and aggregates a number of free digital resources for entrepreneurs. It better describes how small businesses and students can get involved in semester-long consulting courses, an internship program, free 1:1 accounting services, and free 1:1 technology training and support.
“The Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project is the CFLP’s largest educational program,” CFLP assistant director Christie Baer said. “As our collaborations across campus have grown, it was time to bring everything under one umbrella. This new site will make it easier for students to identify DNEP classes, and easier for business owners to find the support they need from the University. I am grateful to DNEP Impact Studio for Local Business faculty director Chris Mueller, Ford School staff Chris Myers and Liz Smith, and the many student research assistants who worked on this project over the last two years.”
Detroit small businesses that wish to become DNEP clients can now see upcoming opportunities and apply online. In between program offerings, the new website features a new Free Digital Resources Page that businesses can access to get unbiased, free resources for everyday business challenges.
“The Free Digital Resources Page gathers together all the non-proprietary tools, calculators, and guides DNEP students have created over the years,” Aaron Jackson, DNEP program manager, explained. “From video tutorials on how to set prices to a social media guide, business owners can find industry-specific help in areas ranging from marketing to operations to branding to technology. Even I was surprised by how much was there once we put it all together.”
With the launch of the new site, sign-ups for DNEP’s free accounting services will move from UMaccountinghelp.com to the new site.
Students who contributed to the development of the new site include Jay Glass (Stamps ‘20), Mercy Kaskorkis (Stamps ‘24), Allison Wei (Ross ‘25), Faiqa Alam (Ross ‘24), Victor Garcia (Stamps ‘24), and Samantha Lang (Ford ‘24).
Access the Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project website here: detroitsmallbusiness.umich.edu.