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There are terrific things happening at the corner of Trumbull and Grand River. Kids from the Woodbridge neighborhood and others close by are learning to become entrepreneurs … do their homework and become good global citizens.

The place is the Barnabas Youth Opportunities Center where between 25 and 35 children, ages 7-17, come after school for the Worldwide Youth Entrepreneurship Program. The first words they hear when they walk in the door are “Do you have homework? Go sit down and get it done. Do you need help?” I was a witness. These kids head right for a table and get out the books.

High school friends Ryan Wyche, 25, and Byron Parks, 24, started the program to help transform the lives of at risk children in some of Detroit’s challenged areas by showing them positive role models, teaching them to be innovative and creative thinkers and giving them a sense of purpose in themselves and in their neighborhoods.

“Woodbridge is one of the hurting communities,” says Ryan. “Lots of families are barely making it. We want to help teach these young people to succeed in the world and learn the value of the global marketplace.”

Homework comes first

The stats are overwhelming. In the area they targeted there are about 3,300 children between the ages of 0-19, according to zipskinny.com. Furthermore, 10 percent of the adults are unemployed, 30 percent live at or near the poverty level and 1,954 households are single parent homes. These kids need a boost up. Ryan and Byron wanted to give it to them but needed a place to house their program.

Enter Stanley Edwards, co-founder and executive director of the Barnabas Center, who opened that building to them. Their vision fit perfectly with the Center’s … “encourage and promote development of youth … create positive, meaningful work, learning and recreational opportunities … provide a positive image and service, which leads to the development of strong social and individual responsibility as a deterrent and alternative to crime, substance abuse and destructive behavior.”

Their focus on education and homework is already paying off. In one case their mentoring helped a student jump from second grade reading to fifth grade reading capability since last September. Besides increasing their learning skills these children are part of the Worldwide Youth Entrepreneurship Program. It’s like a mini-Junior Achievement or 4-H program. In the back shop they build make wooden book cases, work benches, signs and typewriter desks with an optional computer cabinet, which may be ordered. All are for sale. Their work is outstanding.

Ryan and Byron are driven by a passion for volunteering. Ryan told me in his case it was instilled as a child. At seven his mom took him with her to work at the Capuchin Soup Kitchen … he’s never stopped volunteering. He went to Eastern Michigan University to study to be an entertainment lawyer … a career that offers big bucks … but as he worked toward that goal he realized his calling was to be in the community, giving back.

“I am changing 40 kids’ lives every day,” he says. “I want to make sure each and everyone goes on to college.”

Dominic Lane, a well-spoken 15-year-old, says he’s been coming to the Center “all my life.” His mom is a friend of Stanley’s and he was one of the first students. He wants to pursue a career in culinary arts. Lakia Torbert, 11, comes to the Center with her brother and two sisters. She wants to be a chef or a writer but first she’d like to learn to dance. Her dream is to have a dance studio at the Center.

There’s a place for that. The building has a wonderful upstairs. It just needs a little renovation. Stanley, Ryan and Byron have been working on it with other volunteers.

Ryan is keen on making sure the students he is mentoring have the same commitment.  This past Christmas they launched their first annual Christmas Wishes for Kids fundraising event to help fulfill the wishes of children whose parents cannot make those wishes come true. They wrapped 250 donated gifts for 57 families.

“Kids need to see what it means to give back,” Ryan says. “I want to plant that seed just like my mom did.”

They do all this all on a shoestring … without federal dollars. Everything is done through fundraisers or donations from computers to food to games and so on. The games and computers are getting old. They also need a van. About 15 kids want to be part of the program but they don’t have transportation. If you have something you’d like to donate please reach out to Ryan at 313-831-4488. You can also follow them on Facebook and Twitter@WorldwideYouth.

Pictures by Karpov the Wrecked Train

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You’re probably used to hearing the zap, zing, zoop of the latest video game after the presents are opened on Christmas morning. Still, no matter how much technology we bring into this world, a kid … and many adults … still want a brand new bike under that tree.

If you shop in Downtown Detroit it’s easy to get that bike. Wheelhouse Detroit Bike Shop owners Karen Gage and Kelli Kavanaugh have opened a Downtown pop-up shop at the Compuware Building, across from Campus Martius. It’ll be open straight through to Christmas Eve.

The store carries bikes from Kona, Origin8 and Sun – including hybrids, cruisers, folding bikes and adult tricycles – and bike accessories ranging from stocking stuffers like bells to more substantial gifts like a messenger bag or a rack for a car. You’ll find quality brands like Bell, Giro, Planet Bike, Dimension, Kryptonite, Jandd, Timbuk2, Topeak, Saris, Park, Continental and Michelin. Local hand-made goods include basket-liners and t-shirts from Wound, Bikes & Murder and Detroit Bicycle Company.

I asked Kelli what opening this pop-up means to her business, which is open on the RiverFront during biking season. “Being open year-round is our ultimate goal,” she says. “A holiday pop-up shop at least helps us carry on some of the momentum we build up during the peak season. It also lets Downtown workers see what we have to offer in terms of variety, quality and prices. Hopefully, they’ll patronize our RiverFront location next year.”

Opening this business in the Compuware Building helps realize the city’s ultimate goal to bring more retail Downtown.

“The more retail the better for Downtown — and all of Detroit,” she says. “The more options, the more we can re-evolve into a shopping destination. The city’s come a long way residentially and recreationally — now there needs to be a focus on retail.”

Why did they choose the Compuware Building?

“A couple of reasons,” Kavanaugh says. “First off, we were familiar with the location because we participated in a group pop-up there last year. It is Class A, lots of traffic, and everyone there is really helpful and supportive. We looked at numerous locations in Midtown and Downtown, and the Compuware team was ultimately the most responsive, and the space was accessible and affordable.

“There might be a lot of vacant retail spaces Downtown, but property owners do not always act eager to fill them. It’s really too bad that there is not more creative thinking about the value of filling a space, even temporarily, as a value enhancer to a vacant property,” she says.

So get in gear and head to the pop-up Wheelhouse Detroit Bike Shop.

Location: Compuware Building, 1 Campus Martius
Hours: Open Thanksgiving Day through Christmas Eve, Wednesday through Friday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. & Saturday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Products: Full range of bicycle retail, including major brands such as Kryptonite, Pedro, Planet Bike, Park, Lazer, Bell, Giro, Timbuk2, Master, Topeak, Wald, Knog, and much more. New bikes from Kona, Origin8 and Sun, including cruisers, single speeds, folding, adult trikes and hybrids, starting at just $250

Gift certificates are available at the shop and on-line.

More information is available at Wheelhouse’s website and Facebook page. Contact Wheelhouse at info@wheelhousedetroit.com.

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Last Friday morning I received an email that went…

Dear Valued Member,

You’ve been selected to participate in a member satisfaction survey for Lake Trust Credit Union.  As a member owned financial services institution, it’s extremely important to us to obtain feedback from you on your recent interaction. Your input will help us identify where we excel and where we can make improvements.

Image from EMSI

Oh the irony. Because as my friends, family and coworkers have by now heard on Thursday I had a very bad experience with my credit union.

The bottom line is that I left feeling anything but valued and I found myself feeling discriminated against. Because I am a member of the 1099 economy I am technically not on anyone’s payroll and thus do not receive a traditional paycheck.  I am also deeply disappointed that a lovely nearly 20 year relationship had soured so badly.

I used to be a raving fan of my credit union. Now I am just raving mad.

I had 30 minutes before my acupuncture appointment so I decided to stop by to make a deposit – thank you Nora at Detroit Community Acupuncture for being so understanding and for listening to my tale of woe upon my very tardy arrival!

My daughter was buying her very first new car, a Chevy Cruze, and I needed to deposit my paycheck (the check I receive every two weeks for work I do albeit on contract) so that I could transfer some money right away to help her out a bit with some of the extra fees.

After parking my car, holding the door for a very pleasant fellow Lake Trust member, I smiled at the others in line and waited patiently for my turn.  A couple other times this branch had held this check because it was not a “payroll” check. After the last go round that ended pleasantly enough, I did not think it would be an issue again. Same issuing bank account deposited by the same person more than 20 times this year to the same account I have had for nearly 20 years.

A very courteous teller took my ID and check. The snag occurred when she said that the money would be available to me in two days.  I asked her very nicely to please check with a manager and note that this is a check that I deposit at pretty regular two week intervals, that in fact it is my version of a paycheck and two days would cause a hardship.

She went away. Came back and said that because this check was deposited the last two times at the Credit Union Family Service Center instead of this branch, they had to hold the check.

I said that answer did not make sense to me since it should matter who issues the check and whether the check cleared, not where it was deposited that determined the hold. I asked her to please look to see how many times I have deposited a similar check and see how it has cleared each time. She went away again. Came back and said they had to hold the check because they had never heard of the Downtown Detroit Partnership, to which I said that too shouldn’t matter and then added that we must not being doing our job very well if she had not heard of it since this branch is right in downtown Detroit. I then politely asked to speak to a manager.

I waited for more than 15 minutes – feeling guilty as the line grew and one less teller was available as this young lady went looking high and low for a manager.

Finally nearly 20 minutes later I was led into an office by a manager. His attitude while controlled and soft spoken was supercilious. Usually I can find some common ground, some point of humor to help make my point and my complaint.

The bottom line?

He told me he had the power to hold any check he wanted to and that he had no clue what the Downtown Detroit Partnership was nor cared to and that he did not know me — so much for being a valued member.

I asked him why the reason for holding my check kept changing. He said it was their policy and that I should get direct deposit or checks that say payroll (maybe I should have run the check through my printer to put that on it?).  To which I asked doesn’t this seem like an out of date policy in an increasingly 1099 economy? And furthermore, since this is a member owned institution and I am nearly a 20 year member, that I was going to not only blog about my experience, I was going to work very hard to get this policy changed.

What I really wanted was an apology for the inconvenience and assurance that two weeks from now when a similar check gets deposited I won’t go through this same exercise again.

The final rub?  After making a scrawl on the check and stopping me from actually exiting the building in my by now flustered state, he mentioned to a teller that there should be no hold and then showed me to the back of the line where I waited again to deposit my check.

What do you think?  Have you had similar experiences? Do you feel discriminated against because you file a 1099 rather than a W2?

Thank you for letting me rant Detroit Unspun friends. Now that my blog is written and survey filled out, my next step is to contact the board and find out how to change the policy at this credit union that values me so highly not.

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Jim Gibbons was the only starter on his fifth and sixth grade football team. Midway through the season he was “fired.” The coach simply told him, “You aren’t starting anymore.” Gibbons quit.

Jim Gibbons, president of Goodwill Industries International

That night his dad sat him down and talked to him. “You are losing your vision. We don’t know if it is going to stop deteriorating or if you will become totally blind. You are going to have to work harder and become more creative to get half as much as the next guy.”

But “quitters never win and winner’s never quit.” That was the lesson he learned. He went on to study industrial engineering at Purdue and got good grades. He sent letters to the big recruiters from Detroit and Flint and got 50 ding letters while his friends were getting two and three offers. It was hard to work through, he says, but winners never quit. He went to work for AT&T and later went to Harvard Business School and became the first blind person to graduate from its MBA program.

Gibbons may be blind but he’s a winner and is helping many others become winners. He is president of Goodwill Industries International and is committed to making his life better and the lives of the people in his life better.

The people in his life are often those who too many look down on as “nothing.” Those with disabilities. Those with issues. Those whose disabilities and issues make them truly miracles. Those who want to show the whole world they are somebody. Those who believe winners never quit

I had the pleasure of talking to Gibbons a short time ago as he was getting ready to speak to the Detroit Economic Club on November 30. In that speech he will discuss Goodwill’s complex social enterprise and how for-profit companies can use Goodwill’s philosophy to not only be customer-focused and market-driven but also socially responsible.

“Our model has a market that insures long-term viability,” Gibbons says. “It is a culture of entrepreneurism and community service. The power of the Goodwill model is that decisions are made at local level. We have more than 100,000 entrepreneurs today and that will double over next few years.”

Almost all of us know about Goodwill and the good work it does. We’ve dropped off truckloads of clothes, old furniture, appliances, knick knacks and odds and ends to one of their 2600 stores nationwide. However, many of us aren’t fully aware of the breadth of programs and services Goodwill provides.

It trains people for careers in fields such as financial services, computer programming, manufacturing and emerging industries, including technology and health care. It provides support services, such as transportation, childcare or financial literacy courses.

Goodwill also has a partnership with Dell, known as Reconnect, which is a free drop-off program for consumers who want to responsibly recycle unwanted computer equipment. That partnership keeps used computers out of landfills and preserves the environment. By repairing and rebuilding computers, participants learn to be computer technicians. If you’re looking to drop off a computer contact Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit.

Goodwill Industries of Greater Detroit creates jobs and training opportunities for people in Detroit and other communities.

“Nationally and locally I see nothing but additional human need, which sparks our interest in growth … creating an employment platform to use as a training and employment engine … a social service,” he says.

This year alone Goodwill International will serve 2.4 million people and it grew its employment numbers from 91,000 to 98,000. Those were new jobs created by local Goodwill operations.

“Our goal is to continue to grow at that clip and we need to do that,” Gibbons says. “People we serve are knocking on our doors at a clip of 20-30 percent more a year.”

Some of those jobs are created by your local Goodwill resale store. There is a new one opening in Canton. The resale model is one Gibbons says Goodwill is re-engaging across the nation. It’s no wonder. Resale is a multi-billion dollar a year industry. Goodwill Industries alone generated $2.69 billion in retail sales from more than 2,500 not for profit resale stores across America in 2010, according to the Association of Resale Professionals. (Just a quick aside — my kids found some of their coolest finds at the Goodwill store in high school.)

So how do we get that Goodwill model to work? It takes three parts humming together, Gibbons says. Individual accountability. Community support. Employer investment in the workplace.

“Goodwill is an organization filled with passion and every day innovates for their communities,” he says. “We don’t think of innovation as the next iPhone but the next idea to help people in the communities we serve.”

Gibbons and his accomplishments are truly miracles, but I doubt he would ever put it that way. His commitment is to Goodwill and the people it serves and to helping others overcome adversity … to re-engineer themselves and take the world by storm.

Gibbons’ favorite movie says it all. It’s For Once in My Life. It’s an awesome and inspiring true story about a special group of people and their dream to make music. It’s a look at the Spirit of Goodwill® band, a unique assembly of 28 singers and musicians, all with disabilities — ranging from autism and behavioral disorders to cerebral palsy, Down syndrome and visual impairments — who share an uncanny gift for music, joy and friendship. It’s a celebration of overcoming the odds.

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With Detroit’s struggles well-documented it’s easy to overlook the positives right in our own back yard … Detroit’s Midtown, the home to Wayne State University and its playoff- bound football team.

Playoff bound you say. You bet … and hardly anybody knows about it.

One of the best kept sports secrets in the city is the Warrior’s football program, which has evolved from a ho-hum performer over the past several decades into a serious regional power that’s knocking on the door of national prominence.

For the first time in Wayne's history the Warriors will play in NCAA Division ll Football Championship playoffs.

For the first time in the school’s history the football team was selected to participate in the NCAA Division ll Football Championship playoffs.  This Saturday afternoon Wayne State will face St. Cloud State in a first round playoff game.  Over the past four years the football team has won 70 percent of its games and has had eight wins or more in three of the past four seasons. Not only is the team a national contender, 33 of its players achieved All-Academic honors.

Football isn’t Wayne’s only claim to fame. It recently recorded a first in program history with all five spring sports teams qualifying for the NCAA tournaments in 2010. This unprecedented accomplishment saw five of its men’s and women’s sports teams in post-season tournament action in the same year.

Not to overlook the university’s other sports teams. Success for Wayne State athletics is widespread.  When combining the winning performances of Warrior athletic teams they have finished in the top 10 percent of all Division ll programs eight of the last nine years. Couple WSU team successes with student athlete performance in the classroom and that results in 13 of the school’s 15 athletic teams achieving Dean’s List grade point status.

To attract and retain high-caliber, well-rounded, career-oriented student athletes speak volumes for university leaders, the athletic department and coaches. Clearly, the university is favorably attracting, influencing and changing the views of its students, their families and friends as well as alumni to make Detroit a place to experience and enjoy.

So, what does an 8-3 football team have in common with a revitalized midtown neighborhood, a dynamic business incubator and a nationally recognized research university?

They are all part of the “place to be” in the heart of Detroit’s Midtown district, which is also home to world-class museums, theatres, libraries, concert halls and professional sports venues.  They are part of Wayne State, which offers students and visitors a “want to keep coming back” campus experience over 210 acres of unique architecture, landscaped walkways, green spaces and very relaxing gathering spots.

For Detroiters it’s important to recognize that Wayne State is Detroit’s oldest anchor institution and one of its largest employers playing a significant role in the educational, social, cultural and economic life of Detroit.  In addition it’s a really picturesque and vibrant main campus in the heart of the city.  Its national reputation attracts the most diverse student body among Michigan’s public universities. Over the past decade the university has spent nearly $700 million dollars on projects that have changed Midtown’s landscape and ambience.

The university’s commitment to revitalize Midtown has resulted in its participation in two major initiatives. The first is to grow Midtown by 15,000 young professionals by 2015 … an initiative of the Hudson-Webber Foundation. The second is to ensure public safety, provide local transportation, boost economic development and beautify the area.

Both seem to be working. Midtown is in the midst of a successful renaissance drawing hundreds of young professionals into the neighborhood with more likely to follow as additional apartments, lofts and condos now under construction come on the market.

Only a few blocks north of the main campus is the university’s TechTown business incubator. It has developed into an epicenter of high-tech business creation by equipping new companies with the services, support and resources they need to grow and thrive. The 12-block technical park is becoming a critical source of job growth in Michigan and is home to Michigan’s first stem cell commercialization lab.

The business incubator facility, now hosts more than 250 growing companies providing more than 500 jobs. Ongoing networking events and business start-up training programs are annually introducing thousands of Southeast Michigan residents to downtown Detroit and a culture of entrepreneurship development critical to growing the area’s business and economic base.

Hopefully, many of you will make it a point to come down to Midtown, experience a fun afternoon or evening on campus and grab dinner at one of the neighborhood restaurants in the area.  While you’re on campus plan to attend a Warrior game and root on these outstanding student-athletes and help them in a little way to reach their potential both on and off the field.

As the saying goes “success breeds success.”

Photos credit: Karpov the Wrecked Train

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Screen capture from "Born of Fire"

A major part of combating a national fixation on ruins and the “bad” side of Detroit is showing images and creating storylines that are just as compelling and show the rest of the city.

In one fell swoop and on a national stage, Chrysler has embraced the city with its new “Imported from Detroit” brand tagline. So much so they’re using it as their tagline for the new Chrysler 200 luxury vehicle.

The spot, called “Born of Fire,” was an instant hit on social media sites like Twitter, vaulting the lesser talked about car brand to trending status … which means one of the Top 10 things talked about on the site … in Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle as well as here in Detroit. The video had more than 5,200 likes on YouTube within hours of airing. That’s rare to see with one commercial having so much force, so quickly … and the entire thing was shot in the city of Detroit with Detroit- based crew members.

As part of their comeback spirit they selected internationally known Detroiter Eminem for the commercial and his track “Lose Yourself” as the music bed. The song talks about how failure is not an option.

“The Chrysler brand, the company and its employees have adopted the principle that failure is not an option,” said Olivier Francois, president and CEO, Chrysler Brand and lead executive for marketing, Chrysler Group LLC.

Personally, I was very moved by the commercial. It was great to see the city that I’m sure many readers of this blog love front and center and painted in a light that shows the rest of the story … that there’s a lot going on here and Detroit is a place to be proud of.

The words in the spot “Now we’re from America, but this isn’t New York City nor the Windy City nor Sin City and we’re certainly no one’s Emerald City” seemed to hit a chord with me. Part of it I’m sure is that during the speech I gave earlier this year at the 140 Characters conference I talked about how we should own who we are … that “Detroit will never be New York, Chicago or L.A. Detroit should be beautifully, uniquely, creatively, Detroit.”

There are many people doing many excellent things in this city and in this region. They deserve to be highlighted and appreciated from the assembly line worker to the urban gardener to the developer to the bus driver. We’re a place like no other but also like any other. It was good to see Detroit shine on a national stage.

So are you imported from Detroit? Tell us in the comments.

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I’ve lived and worked in the Metro Detroit area since the mid-70s and have seen numerous scandals come and go. And  in the months ahead we will be watching the difficult but positive change necessary to end an era of cultural corruption that at times seemed to be pervasive throughout the area.  In other words, there truly is light at the end of the tunnel and we are experiencing the beginning of Detroit’s comeback.

It’s not going to be easy, but the stars seem to be starting to align and life as we knew it is being addressed by community leaders and elected officials that really do give a damn about all of us.  And for the first time in my adult life it actually feels like better days are ahead for the City of Detroit and that people are working together to take control of their destiny to build a city we all can enjoy.

From my perspective, the good news about the bad news to be replayed by local media is that it will bring significant change and positive energy throughout the area for people to join together and fight to make Detroit a place to enjoy, visit and experience for its vibrant social and cultural diversity.  That change is starting to happen today in many small corners of the city and the region as we start a new year with significant cultural, social and economic challenges.  But the old, corrupt Detroit we’ve see on local TV and read about in the local papers doesn’t exist anymore and isn’t getting top billing in the national news like it had in the not too distant past.  And that is another positive sign for our collective future.

Heck, I spent some of my Christmas holiday visiting family and friends in a semi-warm climate in one of the country’s premier vacation cities and I saw or heard nothing negative on national or local news about the Big D.  And guess what, the local news there covered at least a half dozen different local murder stories and more than a fair number of snow-bound street stories in the Big Apple.  In fact, the only coverage I saw or heard about Detroit while in Southern Florida was about a new reality TV show for a local pawn shop.  And, oh yea – the local football fans down here are really upset about losing to the Lions – who are finally showing signs of competitiveness.  Can you believe it—Detroit’s Lions are making a run at competitiveness and bad news about Detroit isn’t on the radar of the local Florida media!

And I’ll bet that my holiday travel experience isn’t unique — how many others reading this post traveled  for the holidays, visited family and friends and didn’t come across negative news about Detroit?  Please drop a quick note in the comments and share your experience.  Being under the news radar is not a bad thing for Detroit.  It tells me we are getting a little bit of a breather to do what is necessary to prove to our critics that Detroit Works and that we can make a difference and make Detroit a Comeback City to be proud of once again.

So, let’s not blow this once in a lifetime chance and pitch in to make Detroit a better place.  Like the lyrics from Michael Jackson’s song   “If you want to make, the world a better place, take a look at yourself, then make the change!

Let’s work together in the new year to help make positive change for Detroit’s comeback.

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Living in and around Detroit makes you philosophize more than the average city resident. The old adage, “Live and let live,” seems the most appropriate given the city’s current state, but that approach is cold at best and cruel at worst.

So you’ve got to take a more active, meaningful approach. And that means participation. Getting involved. Putting yourself out there. And that is what so many people are trying to do for Detroit. Sure, you get slapped down – a lot. But you’ve got to at least try.

One example of the changes people are trying to make is in Detroit’s schools. On the surface, there is the kind of effort offered by the television show “School Pride,” which will air tonight on NBC. But there also is a deeper meaning to the show’s work here…fixing up what’s broken. Making what’s wrong right. Simple platitudes, changing attitudes.

I hope through this new blogging spot to highlight those making the big changes. And to highlight the changes in me, my family, my friends and the city. Some might say Detroit is outta TIME…I’d say the clock just started ticking on our fresh beginning.

Back to “School Pride.” I had a chance to talk this past week with Jacob Soboroff, co-host of NBC’s new reality show that improves distressed school districts. He also is Executive Director of Why Tuesday, a nonpartisan group working to increase voter participation. (You’ll see him on the show tonight: the cute, nerdy looking one. Yowza.)

Q: What did you learn about Detroit from working here?

A: Detroiters have extraordinary resilience. It is no secret that times are tough for Detroit and for the Detroit Public Schools (DPS). Parents, students and teachers are leaving the district, and there are scores of schools being closed. The school we were working at, Communication and Media Arts High School (CMA), was on the DPS list of schools planned to close for the third time. Twice before the community had fought to save it from closing, and this community and this city was not going to take no for an answer.

Q: What lasting impression did the city leave on you?

A: Detroit is a city with character, class and compassion (and great food). It’s a city that isn’t going to go through struggles – or solutions – quietly or passively. When we first arrived I think some of the CMA community was skeptical as to whether or not “School Pride” could make a difference, and they let us know. By the time we left, we felt welcomed with open arms, whether it was when I was sitting at the desk of Emergency Financial Manager Robert Bobb in his office, or working on laying down carpeting in CMA’s new library.

Q:  How does “School Pride” fit into Detroit’s recovery?

A: “School Pride” certainly isn’t the silver bullet to fix every school in DPS or problem in Detroit, but it’s a powerful megaphone to show how powerful and passionate the people of Detroit are. And how important it is that the powers that be listen to the people of this city. Friday, when the show airs, there will be millions of people across the country watching Detroit very closely. We brought with us some friends in the form of financial and material donations from national corporations, but much of the work was done by local skilled labor, businesses and grassroots volunteers. It was because of them, not because of our TV show, that Robert Bobb decided to take it off the cut list, in his words, “forever.”

Q: What do you want people to know about this show and its potential?

A: The message of the show, and the potential for it to do good, starts and ends with its ability to show the power of community involvement and volunteerism. We are saying that we all, as individuals, small groups or as part of giant service projects, can take part in do-it-yourself education reform. We had over 15,000 volunteers come out this summer at seven schools across the country. It was truly extraordinary. The messages I’ve received since “School Pride” started on Facebook and through e-mail and Twitter about people being inspired to volunteer, or organize service days, or let us know about their schools are amazing. NBC has given us a powerful gift: a prime-time slot for a reality TV show with a good message. Now we just need people to tune in.

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Kelley is a teacher from Inkster, and for her, driving over an hour to Operation: Kid Equip’s (OKE) Teacher’s Annex in Troy is well worth the trip.

Most of the kids in her first grade classroom come from families that qualify for free or reduced school lunches, which usually means that the family cannot provide school supplies for the kids either. Many of her students cry on half days because the students know they won’t be getting their lunch, which is often their last meal of the day.

So she, like more than 500 other teachers, takes it upon herself to make sure items like healthy snacks are provided and needed school supplies are in her classroom. When she first heard that OKE would provide those resources to teachers at no charge, she couldn’t believe it.

“A co-worker mentioned OKE to me at a wedding and I was in complete disbelief at first,” she recalled. “I kept saying, ‘No. That can’t be possible.’’

But, like what many call impossible in this town, it is possible and it is happening.

Now that OKE has been approved as an affiliate of the Kids In Need Foundation (KINF), which helps supply a national network of free teacher resource centers, even more resources will be coming for teachers like Kelley. Membership in KINF’s network enables OKE to participate in available product distributions from corporate donors.

Even though OKE will continue to operate independently, being part of a larger group offers an opportunity to network, share best practices and increase group purchasing power.

“Operation: Kid Equip is an asset to our National Network of Resource Centers, aligning well with our mission to provide free school supplies to students most in need,” said David Smith, Executive Director of KINF. “We congratulate them for their good work and welcome them as a partner.”

OKE currently serves 38,000 children across 90 schools in Macomb, Oakland and parts of Wayne County. They work with schools where 70% or more of the students are eligible for the free/reduced-price lunch program, and the need for their services is increasing.

“All things considered, we’re finding that for some families, basic school supplies have become like luxury purchases compared to the ongoing struggle to provide for the family’s food and other bare necessities. Our schools are also going through their own financial struggles in this economy. Each is turning to the other to enhance the education of our local students,” said Michael (Menachem) Kniespeck, OKE’s founder and director.

During the first two months of this school year, OKE provided over $220,000 worth of supplies to approximately 500 teachers. Since teachers from public schools cannot require families to provide school supplies, teachers turn to OKE to ensure their students have the things they need to succeed in the classroom.

“Our kids do not lack the desire, motivation or capability to succeed. Many simply lack sufficient supplies. We’re passionate about making futures happen,” Kniespeck professed.

Note: Detroit Public Schools are currently served by another school-supply resource provider.

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This Is A Reprint of blog by Marge Sorge for Wayne County Edge

The media coverage of Detroit is that old chicken and egg argument. Do the media come here to do stories on Detroit because it is a stereotype of demise or is Detroit a stereotype of demise because of what the media write about Detroit?

With that in mind, the Detroit Regional News Hub wondered how reporters who live here, those who have visited Detroit and those who have never set foot here view the Detroit region. So a few weeks ago we asked Intellitrends to conduct a study and asked journalists in Detroit, Michigan, and across the U.S. for their assessment. The results were enlightening and not as grim and focused on demise as many of the stories we’ve seen would have us believe.

In fact, the majority of the journalists interviewed felt the media do not provide a balanced story about the region and pointed out that journalists often report what is easily and readily available crime, negative news stories and government scandal. That influences other reporters as well. Here’s a case in point:  Several reporters who viewed Detroit as a poor place to live had never been to the city.

Nearly all those interviewed agreed Detroit is portrayed more negatively in the media than other cities and feel negative news tends to “stick to Detroit” more so than other cities such as L.A. or Chicago. Many believe those who live here must take some responsibility for that. They said Michigan and Detroit residents let the city be defined by crime and safety data rather than promoting the things that are going right. According to a Detroit-based reporter, Detroit people are too hard on themselves. They need to promote themselves in a brighter light and not rely on the media to do it.

There was an overall concern from external media that Detroit has “given up,” but these same media see Detroit as a city with many strong and unique features. Some suggestions were to celebrate its rich history and heritage, promote its architecture and cultural center, and play up its identity with the auto industry and Motown. Detroit’s theater and arts center is a wonderful asset to the city and should be promoted more.

According to nearly all interviewed, the opportunities are endless for the Detroit region and journalists see a bright future for the Detroit economy if the city can control its crime rates and get city government under control.

Journalists also overwhelmingly see the auto industry as Detroit’s primary industry and said the area should embrace and promote the industry rather than be embarrassed by or step back from. Using the resources and technology within the auto industry to discover new modes of transportation such as light rail, mass transit and electric/battery powered cars was the most second common answer from both internal and external viewpoints.

With a strong engineering base and large number of universities, many believe Detroit could very well become the center of advancements for green technology.

“Detroit could be a hub for green technology,” said one journalist.

That said there is a lot of work to do to get journalists outside of the region to see Detroit’s diversification beyond the auto industry. Very few reporters outside Michigan could name any other industry in Detroit. Healthcare, technology and education were mentioned by internal journalists only.

Local journalists also were extremely aware of revitalization efforts in the city and those based in Michigan see efforts in attracting new business, creating green space and attracting young people into the city. Unfortunately, half of the journalists we talked to outside Michigan were unaware of any revitalization efforts.

Internally, most journalists see revitalization efforts moving forward because elected leaders are working together effectively. They see Detroit and its suburbs slowly coming together, but all agree there is a long road ahead. “Everybody now realizes all of our fortunes are tied together,” said one journalist.

The overall feeling from those outside of Michigan is that Detroit and Michigan are very important places. The rich history, beautiful architecture and manufacturing capabilities are an asset to the entire country. Detroit needs to re-imagine itself and take pride in its history.

As two reporters said:

“Detroit is a city worth saving.”

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We’ve been getting questions asking, “Why is the 140 Characters Conference important to the Detroit region?” So we went right to one of the people that brought it here, Christopher Barger, Director of Global Social Media for General Motors.

After the success of the second 140 Characters Conference in New York City, Barger approached the organizer about doing his conference in Detroit.  He looked at is as a way for GM to be involved in a unique exchange of ideas while being a good corporate citizen.

Barger pulled together a few friends in Detroit’s social media community and invited Jeff Keni Pulver, founder of 140 Characters Conference, to talk about the possibility of having the event here.  Dinner turned out to be pretty enlightening that evening.

“It wasn’t here is what the city is doing or here is what GM is doing,” Barger recalls.  “We all gravitated to those small, individual stories of success.  I think what he liked was that it (the conversation) wasn’t just a whole bunch of grandiose visions.  This was a collection of small success stories building on top of each other that paint a much broader picture.”

What Barger thinks sold Pulver on the idea of having a 140 Characters Conference in Detroit was that sense of community.  There are examples of big corporations doing things well in social media from Detroit, yet the focus was on the apartment community that uses Facebook and Twitter exclusively to fill apartment vacancies.  Or the flower shop with locations in Ferndale and Detroit that is active on Facebook and has experienced a big increase in business.  Those stories that relate to small business owners and the sense of community piqued Pulver’s interest.

And those stories are what Barger is hoping people walk away from the conference with.  At most conferences, there are plenty of opportunities to learn from consultants and people from large companies, yet the small business owner is left to decipher if there is anything valuable for them.  With the 140 Character Conference, the mix of speakers include several small business owners giving real-world examples of how social media can work.

“It’s not going to be the standard set of leading social media thinkers talking about how powerful Facebook is or how powerful Twitter is or what you can do with a corporate blog. There will certainly be a couple of folks like that,” mused Barger.  “But there’s also going to be the corner business or the teacher who’s finding ways to empower inner-city school kids to improve their math skills through the use of the online tools.”

“Out of the broad swath of speakers that will be there, you’ll find somebody you can relate to, someone who is facing similar challenges or somebody that’s taking a new approach to something you’re dealing with,”  he continued.

Fans of the 140 Characters Conference are already accustomed to big ideas coming out of New York, Los Angeles and Tel Aviv.  Detroit will soon be added to that list, thanks to the strength of our community.  And that community is what drives the Motor City.

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One thing about the Detroit region is that it continues to surprise people. With its resilience, its music scene, and its innovation, this area has never been short on ideas. Anyone who says that “Detroit is dead” has clearly never looked under the hood of their Motor City “rust belt” assumptions.

Quietly tucked away in an unassuming garage in Royal Oak is a grassroots, community-run hotbed of invention, innovation, and interesting, creative projects called i3Detroit – the region’s only hackerspace.

While the term may evoke visions of unshaven, Mountain Dew-drinking nerds mercilessly typing away Matrix-like code in dark basements, “A ‘hackerspace’ is the idea of bringing back the original word ‘hacker,’ which meant someone who tinkers — someone who takes something apart and makes it for a better purpose,” explained Russ Wolfe, founder and current president of i3Detroit, “so the idea of a hackerspace is to bring a bunch of different people from the community together to actually tinker, hack, and build things together out of old parts . . . but at the same time socialize and collaborate in a single environment to see what happens with all the different ideas.”

Long term, however, i3Detroit hopes to help unemployed or underemployed workers develop new skills for future employment, and also facilitate innovation of new products and start up businesses in the area.

i3Detroit — the three i’s standing for Imagine, Innovate, and Inspire, was the brainchild of Wolfe, who knew people in other cities that were involved in hackerspaces. “I loved the concept and thought Detroit’s the perfect place for something like this — we’ve got all kinds of creative people; we need to bring people together.” So he put up a website in April of 2009 explaining what he’d like to do and found like-minded people online. They first met in coffee shops, and by September of 2009, found the space they’re in now.

[SEE VIDEO: What Is A Hackerspace?]

But at 27 members and countless projects, the i3Detroit community has quickly outgrown their current facility. On April 1, they will be moving into an 8,000 square foot facility in Ferndale — almost eight times the size of their current space. The cost of moving has already been covered, but they are doing a fundraising project through KickStarter.com to allow the purchase of new materials, equipment, and other resources to have on hand for their members and to the community. To help spread the word of the project, entitled i3Detroit Version 2.0, a few of the creative minds made a hilarious viral video that was recently featured on the very popular blog Boing Boing.

Walking into the current i3Detroit facility feels like walking back into high school shop class, only instead of the typical soapbox derby cars and birdhouses, you’re surrounded by projects most people would never dream of. There’s the famous cupcake car, which was so popular that the City of Royal Oak asked them if they’d drive it in a parade. Suspended from the ceiling is a canoe-in-progress, and in the next room is an old-fashioned player piano that will soon run on a dot-matrix printer and use scrap hard drives as hammers. Across the room, a few students are learning how to fuse electronics with a soldering iron. Upstairs are a half-dozen people discussing plans for a top-secret project, while someone in the soundproof studio is recording a podcast.

This isn’t your mother’s arts and crafts.

Or maybe.. it is.

Partnering with Handmade Detroit, i3Detroit also offers classes for those who aren’t quite comfortable with the thought of holding a soldering iron.

“There’s something for everybody,” explains Nick Britsky, founding member and Director at Large, “A popular event we have is our Bob Ross paint-a-longs, where we put [famous PBS painter] Bob Ross up on the big screen, give people the materials they need, and everybody tries to follow along . . . it’s hilarious.”

[SEE VIDEO: Nick Britzky talks about i3Detroit Classes and the Bob Ross Paint-a-long]

If painting isn’t quite your thing, there are also classes in screen printing, jewelry-making, cross stitching, computer programming, and more.

Membership to i3Detroit comes in different levels, depending on financial situation and tools used, and the space is always welcome to guests so long as there are paying members there. For more information on i3Detroit, including classes and how to become a member, visit the i3Detroit website.

i3Detroit is only one of about 120 hackerspaces around the country, and there are plans to interconnect them into a network of reciprocity, sharing resources, teachers, and knowledge. For more information on other hackerspaces, visit hackerspaces.org.

[UPDATE: i3Detroit met and surpassed their fundraising goal of $5,000 on March 31, three days before their deadline. More information can be found on the i3Detroit blog. Congrats to the hackers and thank you, Metro Detroit, for making it happen!]

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Welcome to our new blog! This post is to test categories.

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