Data Driven Detroit has a new temporary home in TechTown as the research organization begins to look for a permanent space to accommodate its future growth in the greater downtown Detroit area.
The 3-year-old organization called the Barden Building next to Comerica Park in downtown Detroit home until Grand Valley State University bought it this spring. While the university moved to expand its charter school operation in the structure, Data Driven Detroit put a call out for a new home. Leslie Smith, TechTown's CEO, volunteered free space at the TechOne incubator for this summer.
"She said she would love to have us and did everything she could to set up the space," says Kurt Metzger, executive director of
Data Driven Detroit. "She saw this as a great addition to the services
TechTown offers."
Data Driven Detroit specializes in community data collection, evaluation, and research meant to inform positive change in Detroit and the region as a whole. It currently employs 22 people and plans to bring a couple of interns on this summer. It has hired six people over the last year and expects to add more people once it finds a permanent home.
"Somebody said we're ready to be a second-stage company," Metzger says.
Source: Kurt Metzger, executive director of Data Driven Detroit
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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