Partnering for transformation: Get ready, Detroit

 

Model D’s parent company, Issue Media Group, is leading the unique partnership of participating media and community organizations, with funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

“Detroiters are blending entrepreneurship, creative pursuit, and civic action in imaginative ways. But the growth and success of this social innovation movement is too often left to chance,” says Rishi Jaitly, program director for Knight Foundation Detroit. “The Urban Innovation Exchange will provide Detroiters the information, learning and networks needed to engage in the city as part of this movement.”  

 
Media partners who will help customize and publish the information include DETROIT LIVES!, Detroit Free Press, Huffington Post Huffington Post, Model D, New Michigan Media, Thrive Detroit and I Am Young Detroit.

 
“The Urban Innovation Exchange provides the Detroit Free Press an opportunity to better understand where small-scale transformation and social change are happening,” says Editorial Page Editor Stephen Henderson. “This insight will help inform our editorial efforts moving forward.”
 
“I’m delighted that the Urban Innovation Exchange will be partnering with HuffPost Detroit to tell the story of transformation going on in Detroit at the moment,” says Arianna Huffington, president and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group. “There’s no better time than now to double down on our coverage of those who are rising to meet Detroit’s many challenges. The Urban Innovation Exchange will help those stories reach even more people — not only those who live in Detroit, but all those who care deeply about this great city’s future.”

 
“Detroit’s transformation will not result from one or two significant events but from literally thousands of small-scale efforts,” says Brian Boyle, co-founder of Issue Media Group. “Model D has been profiling these people and projects for the last half-decade, and we look forward to going one step further to create a network for learning and engagement.”
 
All of the data and information captured as part of the program will be analyzed by Data Driven Detroit to study characteristics and trends about this small-scale movement. “This initiative represents an opportunity to better understand the little things and individual leaders that play an important role in our city’s future,” says Kurt Metzger, Data Driven Detroit Executive Director.