The nonprofit organization Jefferson East Inc. grew out of a grassroots effort in the early 1990s to bring retail development to Detroit's Jefferson-Chalmers neighborhood.
The organization is still working today to support residents and...
Three research teams with Ford School affiliations have been selected among eight programs across the U-M campus to participate in the first cycle of the Bold Challenges Initiative's newly-launched Boost program.
The Boost program supports new...
Detroit Free Press: A unique free program that pairs college students and professionals with Detroit small business owners in need of digital and other skills is getting results. Since the start of the Community Tech Workers program, 135 micro...
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...
The Center on Finance, Law & Policy (CFLP) welcomes international economist Kathryn Dominguez as its new co-faculty director. Professor Dominguez joins Ross School of Business assistant professor Jeremy Kress as co-director. She replaces CFLP...
Each summer many students scramble for the chance to gain work experience through an internship, happy to get even one company or business to bite. But for Samantha Lang, a junior in the Ford School of Public Policy, the summer was rich with...
Students from the University of Michigan's Penny Stamps School of Art and Design spent a part of their summer in the city of Detroit, gaining valuable experience as interns in the Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project (DNEP) + Impact Studio for...
Throughout my life, I never thought of myself as a numbers person. Yet, with my goal being to pursue consulting after I receive my Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy from the Ford School, I knew I wanted (and needed) to improve that “not a numbers...
Weills’ new gift will fund another three graduate fellowships
A new $5 million gift from Joan and Sanford “Sandy” I. Weill and the Weill Family Foundation provides endowed support for three graduate fellowships in perpetuity. The gift brings to...
The Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project (DNEP), which brings together small businesses with University of Michigan students, faculty and staff to solve business owners’ legal, financial, marketing, operational, and design challenges, was...
An interdisciplinary team from the University of Michigan was awarded $300,000 from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to train local residents and U-M students to provide one-on-one technology support to Detroit entrepreneurs. The project aims to...
Working through a pandemic has been stressful enough for Detroit’s small-business community. Finding enough time, energy and talent to expand their companies through innovative programs, social media or new strategy has been doubly difficult. But a...
This article was written by Michael Willard, BBA Ross School of Business/BA LSA ’23
This summer, I am one of 31 interns working in the University of Michigan Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project +Impact Studio for Local Business.
The...
Small businesses in Detroit, as across the country, have had to make major adjustments to survive the COVID-19 pandemic economic downturn. A cadre of students from U-M have been able to work with many of these businesses through an internship...
The Center on Finance, Law & Policy (CFLP) has expanded its leadership structure by naming Adrienne Harris and Jeremy Kress as Co-Faculty Directors to serve alongside Dean Michael S. Barr, who co-founded the center in 2013. Professors Harris and...
The Detroit Land Bank Authority’s (DLBA) Rehabbed & Ready program received good news recently in the form of a joint $5M new investment from the Rocket Community Fund, the philanthropic arm of Quicken Loans' Rocket Mortgage, and the City of Detroit....
Throughout his career in academia and in government, Ford School Dean Michael S. Barr has sought ways to help low-income people get better access to the financial system, and to change the financial system to work better for low-income...
The economic havoc caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has been especially disruptive to small businesses, which often depend on foot traffic and operate on smaller profit margins than their larger counterparts. As Michigan prepares to reopen its...
Hundreds of billions of dollars have been allocated to help small businesses and individuals in response to the COVID-19 financial crisis. Yet for low-income households and small businesses, accessing those funds has proved to be a challenge,...
Collaborations between Detroit entrepreneurs and U-M faculty, staff, and students are featured in a news story written for the University by Karen Dybis.
The Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project (DNEP) pairs Detroit business owners with...
Under the high ceilings of a University of Michigan Stamps School of Art & Design classroom, surrounded by a semi-circle of design, accounting, and law students from U-M, entrepreneur and lifelong Detroiter Achsha Jones is reviewing dozens of sticky...
Michael S. Barr, Joan and Sanford Weill Dean of Public Policy at the Ford School, participated in a roundtable discussion at Detroit’s Gem Theater this morning, during which JP Morgan Chase, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Ralph C. Wilson Jr....
Students interview a pop-up restaurateur in Detroit as part of the Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project.Photo credit: Abigail DeHart '19LThe Center on Finance, Law, and Policy, run by faculty director Michael Barr, has received a $125,000...
While small businesses have always been a critical engine of growth for urban economies, new business startups have slowed nationwide in the wake of the Great Recession. In the city of Detroit, expanding small businesses means confronting the...
Detroit business owners, as the University makes plans to develop a new University of Michigan Center for Innovation in Detroit, what kinds of incubator spaces would be helpful to you?
University of Michigan Detroit Center
3663 Woodward Ave, Detroit, MI 48201
The University of Michigan's Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project is hosting its first Small Business Showcase. Meet some of the 30 Detroit small business owners who are working with University of Michigan marketing, communications, law, design, and accounting students this fall -- and a few of our superstar alumni businesses, too!
Learn how the Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project is an interdisciplinary, action-based learning experience that pairs U-M students with entrepreneurs as they open or are in the early days of operating neighborhood-based small businesses.