The Collaborative Group, a group of Metro Detroiters focused on improving the city of Detroit, plans to give out 30 grants to young, innovative people with entrepreneurial aspirations this summer as part of its Challenge Detroit program.
Challenge Detroit will offer 30 grants to young people that will cover living expenses (a $500 per month stipend), employment (a job with a local company), social experience (coordinated activities within the group and the communities the grant recipients live in) and giving back through monthly team challenges. The idea is to bring in dynamic young people that will live, work, play and give in the city's greater downtown area.
"If we don't attract more professionals to live in our cities we wont have enough brain power for our next generation," says Deirdre Greene Groves, director of
The Collaborative Group.
The three-phase application process starts with a March 16 deadline for applications that include a written and video component. The videos of the top 100 semi-finalist will be posted on Challenge Detroit's website so the public can vote for the best one. The top 50 finalists will interview for the 30 grants, which will be awarded this summer. Applicants need a bachelor's degree but don't necessarily have to be fresh college graduates. Any young people with innovative, entrepreneurial ambitions for Detroit that want to sink roots in the city should apply.
"What we're really looking for is innovative and entrepreneurial thinkers," Greene Groves says.
For information on applying, click
here.
Source: Deirdre Greene Groves, director of The Collaborative Group
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at
SEMichiganStartup.com.
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