Focus Detroit aims to bring entrepreneurial U-M students to Detroit

Matt Neagle and a number of other students at the University of Michigan are becoming increasingly intrigued in the city of Detroit, but haven’t been able to find the right way to stake a claim.

“We are interested in Detroit and there really isn’t a way to get involved with it on campus,” says Neagle, a student at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. So Neagle and his classmate, about a dozen so far, are creating their own project called Revitalization & Business: Focus Detroit.

The student-led program hopes to generate interest in the university’s students to do more than participate in a clean-up day or mentor a child. It wants to get more of them to open businesses and plant stakes in a city in need of more educated and entrepreneurial young people.

The group has already recruited a core group of student volunteers, most of which are leaders in other campus organizations. They hope to harness those connections to attract an increasing number of students to bi-weekly meetings this fall, culminating with a conference in January on all the opportunities Detroit offers. The group is aiming for an attendance of 150 students.

Source: Matt Neagle, member of the executive committee for Revitalization & Business: Focus Detroit
Writer: Jon Zemke