Social Entrepreneurship Challenge aims to help unemployable

Unemployment is often seen as a monolithic thing, normally as a statistic for people who can't find work at that time. The reality is more nuanced.

Those with more skills are generally seen as more employable and are normally the first to emerge into the labor market. The people with fewer skills often have a harder time finding a job. The people at the lower end of the unemployment ladder are referred to as the structurally unemployed. They are often characterized as people who are low-income, have a criminal history, at-risk youth, high school drop outs, functionally illiterate or have been unemployed for long periods of time.

How to get these people working is a question that has been befuddling economic development officials for a long time. Answer it and see results everyone wants to see.

"It helps alleviate poverty and bring down the crime rate," says Jim Durian, director of Community Ventures, which is part of the Michigan Economic Development Corp.

The Pure Michigan Social Entrepreneurship Challenge is taking on structural unemployment problem. Community Ventures is sponsoring a $25,000 prize for social entrepreneurial startups that help encourage the hiring of structurally unemployed individuals. The idea is to help create businesses that solve the problem by linking them to it.

"We want to make sure the training is linked to the job," Durian says. "We want to link the employer to the program."

The Pure Michigan Social Entrepreneurship Challenge is a statewide competition designed to advance ideas and solutions that address social challenges. The competition is looking for startups with an emerging entrepreneurial idea or replicable model from an existing organization for sustainable social change in a wide range of areas including but not limited to urban revitalization, environment, health, and education. It is being organized by the Midtown-based Michigan Corps and the Ann Arbor-based Great Lakes Entrepreneur's Quest.

The deadline to applying to the company is Wednesday. For information, click here.

Source: Jim Durian, director of Community Ventures
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.