Features

Feature Story windmill-AB

Powering the Mitten: Where will Michigan's energy come from in 20 years?

This fall, legislators in Lansing will take up the question of where Michigan should get its energy in the future. Nina Ignaczak spoke to experts across the sector to find out what they think Michigan's energy landscape will look like in 20 years.

Feature Story Nathan Voght

What a 21st-Century Washtenaw Ave. should look like

Ann Arbor's most congested corridor, Washtenaw Avenue, is now geared to sprawling strip malls and parking lots. It's the antithesis of a community-building, pedestrian-friendly space. Nathan Voght, an economic development specialist with Washtenaw County, opines on why creating "places" is key to transforming the corridor and its local economy.

Feature Story Evan Dayringer and Britten Stringwell at The Yellow Barn

The Yellow Barn: The challenge of maintaining a community space in Ann Arbor

For the last seven years the Yellow Barn has provided a much-needed venue for Ann Arbor's creative community, giving small groups and organizations an inexpensive space to gather and perform. But maintaining it has proved difficult in a city that offers few other similar options.

Feature Story beer-ab

From the IMG network: How local is your beer?

Despite our love of local brews, many of the ingredients in our favorite beers are not sourced locally. Yet that's changing as brewers tap into the local farming movement in their communities to add more fresh ingredients. 

Was the Big House game a turning point for soccer in the U.S.?

The sports media was abuzz with the fact that the Real Madrid-Manchester United soccer game played at U-M Big House brought in 109,318 spectators. With tickets going for $100 and more, that's an economic event worth sitting upright for? But was it a one time fan event or a harbinger of things to come? Some believe it was more the former than the latter. Excerpt: "Among the major outlet process coverage of the match and the rest of European soccer’s American summer vacation, there have been think pieces of questioning the value of these European tours—whether they are a detriment to the growth of MLS, a ‘problem’ for American soccer as a whole, or merely a vapid commercial exercise. All of these things are potentially true, but they represent an ever-present insecurity that forms a divide within American soccer culture—that there is a right way to be an American soccer fan, that there is a right way to grow the sport in the United States, that these friendlies are fake." Read the rest here.

Affordable housing and eco redevelopment in Ann Arbor

A pair of Ann Arbor affordable housing projects are under the microscope as WEMU looks at where green redevelopment and housing for lower income residents dovetail. Excerpt: "To 'better serve both its residents and our communities' public housing in Ann Arbor will become “greener,” healthier, more comfortable and more energy efficient, thanks to a project under way that includes significant involvement from the Ecology Center. Jason Bing, healthy buildings director at the Ecology Center, is working with the Ann Arbor Housing Commission and Norstar Development on two new affordable housing projects that are intended to be models of green and healthy residential construction. When complete, the housing units should lower utility costs, as well as provide homes that are more comfortable and healthier for their residents." Read/listen to the rest here.

U-M's struggle to adopt data-driven learning

Transitioning from traditional educational methods to our technology-aided, data-driven culture is a much more complicated and unwieldy than you might think. Excerpt: "But things were beginning to change. That same year, Michigan created a central data warehouse that has become a giant digital filing cabinet for all of the data collected by the university’s 19 schools and colleges. And soon universitywide management software vastly increased the amount of data flowing into that central warehouse. More recently, Michigan has piped in data from its learning-management system that not only identify students and the courses they are taking, but also indicate how frequently they log in to the system, download digital course materials, and submit online assignments." Read the rest here.

HomeGrown Festival kicks off September Bookfest

The HomeGrown Festival, which features, shockingly enough, local food, music, and drink, will be held at the Kerrytown Farmer's Market the night before the Kerrytown Bookfest - making the weekend a two-fer of community fun. There's a HomeBrew competitionso how bad could it be? Visit the HomegRown Festival's site here. Check out their event brochure here. Info on Bookfest can be found here.

Pearl Yoga and Massage to open in Ypsilanti

With her mother and sister in the bodywork business, massage therapy was nothing new for Monica Boch by the time she began working in the field full-time in 2012. But when she broke her hand in late 2013 and couldn't do any bodywork for seven months, she decided it was time to expand her operation into new territory by opening her own studio.  "I realized I needed to expand my vision of what I was doing as a business owner, and have a more diversified offering," Boch says. "I realized that there is this total picture of health stuff that I feel is valuable." Boch plans to open Pearl Yoga & Massage in early September on Pearl St. in Ypsilanti, adding yoga, Pilates and dance instruction to her offerings. The historic, 1,200 square foot space proved to be exactly what she needed to bring her vision to life - exactly where she was hoping to open the business.  "I wanted to offer this in Ypsi because most people have to to Ann Arbor for this," she says. "Most of our massage will be based in Swedish, therapeutic massage, but we'll also be bring in people who do Thai massage." Boch says her focus at Pearl Yoga & Massage will be to provide quality, personalized services to clients, as well as pay her therapists and instructors livable wages. She anticipates hiring 6-10 specialists and plans to work to pair each client with the best instructor or therapist for their needs and skill level.  Source: Monica Boch, Pearl Yoga & Massage Writer: Natalie Burg

Ballet Chelsea moves into new, 8,000 sq ft. studio

Ballet Chelsea has a brand new home and with it will come new classes and offerings for people of all ages. The non-profit, which began as the performance arm of Dance Arts of Chelsea in 1995 has grown into quite the entity in and of itself - which eventually led to the need for its own space.  "We were expanding our ideas of programs we wanted to add and other things we wanted to do, and we felt we needed more space," says Ballet Chelsea manager Brenda Stevens. "We didn't want to take advantage of the other organization, so we decided to strike out on our own."  The non-profit found just the right place to do so on S. Main St. in Chelsea. The 8,000 square foot studio allows Ballet Chelsea space for three dance studios, the largest of which is the size of their performance stage.  "It has done is allowed us to have more control over the training of our dancers, and we can establish the class offerings ourselves," Stevens says. " It's allowed us to open up different types of dance to the community. We're offering Scottish Highland step, and we're going to have ballroom dancing, yoga and Pilates."  Ballet Chelsea opened in their new space three weeks ago after first locating the space in February. As the space was a white box at that time, the organization built their studio from the ground up with the financial assistance of many local supporters.  The non-profit currently serves about 50 to 60 dancers during their summer programming, but Stevens expects that number to climb to more than 300 people weekly in the fall. The increase in class offerings has spurred the hire of two new instructors, brining their total to 14.  Source: Brenda Stevens, Ballet Chelsea Writer: Natalie Burg

Authentic Greek street food coming to S. University

Dimitri and Aphrodite Roumanis have grown up around Greek food, visiting Greece every year with their family. Now, the brother and sister team, along with their father, will bring the cuisine to N. University with Mezes Greek Grill.  "What we eat there is what we wanted to bring here and introduce people to authentic Greek street food," says Dimitri Roumanis. "The amount of foot traffic and student traffic that is here every day is perfect. People will come in between classes, and there are a lot of faculty that come to the around for lunch." Included on the menu will be gyro meat served on a stick, a recent trend Roumanis has experienced in Greece, egg lemon soup, as well as a salad made from dried bread, tomatoes and olive oil - and, of course, the traditional chicken, beef and lamb gyros.  "Our food is not typical to what that location has," says Roumanis. "There's Greek food around here, but you have to sit down and order. We're trying to add the quickness of street food." Roumanis plans to open Mezes Greek Grill next week with a staff of about eight after more than three months of renovations. The restaurant will be located in the former Sushi.com location, and will sit between 50 and 60 diners.  Source: Dimitri Roumanis, Mezes Greek Grill Writer: Natalie Burg

Dynamic Edge adds 11 new IT hires in Ann Arbor

Dynamic Edge growth has spiked over the last year. The Ann Arbor-based IT firm's revenue is up about 35 percent and it has hired 11 new people over the last 12 months, expanding the company’s staff to 49 employees and one intern. Prompting that growth is the popularity of its Fixed IT program, which helps head off IT problems before they crash the system or even before they begin. Dynamic Edge has attracted a number of new customers, particularly in the healthcare sector. "We see a number of opportunities coming from regulatory pressure and new HIPPA laws," says Bruce McCully, CEO of Dynamic Edge. "People are thinking twice about running that in-house." Accounting firms are also flocking to Dynamic Edge's Fixed IT program. The regulatory pressure isn't as intense in that industry. In fact, McCully is not exactly sure what is driving CPAs to use his company’s platform. "I'm not really sure why," McCully says. "It might be because the software they use is becoming more and more complicated." Dynamic Edge has been on a growth streak like this for the last few years, but McCully wants to throttle back on some of that expansion this year and next. He would like to put more focus on refining the basics of Dynamic Edge’s business plan and execution of it. "This year our theme has been sharpening the edge," McCully says. "We have put a lot of resources into improving delivery of our services to our customers." Source: Bruce McCully, CEO of Dynamic Edge Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Park n Party's tailgating services start to go mainstream

Park n Party launched a couple of year’s ago with a novel idea, enabling tailgaters to reserve a parking spot online for University of Michigan home football games. The business has really started to gain traction since then. "Last year what we saw is people definitely told their friends," says Jason Kapica, partner with Park n Party. "The pinnacle was last year’s Winter Classic hockey game. We sold 3,000 reservations. We sold every spot we had access to." The big one-off events have proven as popular as the home football games. Park n Party has done well with annual events like Ann Arbor Art Fair and the Manchester United soccer game at Michigan Stadium. Park n Party has also been able to expand into South Bend, Indiana, for Notre Dame home football games and is eyeing Madison, Wisconsin, for University of Wisconsin football games. "I'd really like to get to Columbus for Ohio State," Kapica says. "Madison is definitely something we're looking at for football." Park n Party’s software allows people attending big events to reserve parking spots online, saving them the trouble of driving around searching for a place to park their car. The four-person team has refined the system so it covers more than 3,000 parking spots around Michigan Stadium. Those have proven popular with large groups of friends attending Michigan football games and corporate events. "We get a lot of calls for large tailgate parties," Kapica says. Source: Jason Kapica, partner of Park n Party Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

300 Decisions fills out Ann Arbor office with new employees

Last year 300 Decision spent a lot of its time opening up a new office in Chicago. This year the Ann Arbor-based relocation-service firm has spent most of its time filling out its two offices. "We have stayed about as busy as you can be at those two locations," Helen Dennis, president of 300 Decisions. The 2-year-old company has hired three people (project managers) over the last year. It now employs a staff of seven people, which serves the likes of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Rossetti (an architecture firm), the city of Chicago, Chicago Public Schools, and U.S. Cellular "We are really busy and having a lot of fun helping our clients make difficult transitions," Dennis says. That includes everything from internal communications at the client business to streamline the move to helping facilitate change management for the move. Dennis named the business 300 Decisions as a reference to her guesstimate of how many questions a company must ask itself when executing an office move. This is Dennis's second relocation services business. Her first was acquired in 2006. This time she is taking a more measured approach to growth. "I want to grow within reason," Dennis says. "By reason I mean growth that makes sense. I also want to stay involved in the culture of the company." Source: Helen Dennis, president of 300 Decisions Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

TorranceLearning grows revenue, profitability in Chelsea

TorranceLearning grew its revenue last year (by 20 percent) but the story that makes the 8-year-old business’s leadership smile is how net income spiked. "Profitability went way up last year," says Megan Torrance, CEO of TorranceLearning. That is due to a couple of different factors for the education company that got its start providing e-learning solutions. It won an award for an employee education project is did with Denso last year and has been pushing its boundaries by helping create a STEM education exhibit for elementary school students at the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum. "We're making interactive, personalized exhibits that track the education of students for teachers," Torrance says. TorranceLearning is also renting out part of its workspace in the Clocktower in downtown Chelsea. The company created a brainstorming space that measures out to about 2,300 square feet. It has been renting it out to local corporations, like Johnson & Johnson and Trinity Health. "We realized this space was too awesome to keep to ourselves," Torrance says. That extra income has allowed the company to expand its staff. It has hired two people over the last year (e-learning developers) and now has a staff of 11 employees and one intern. Source: Megan Torrance, CEO of TorranceLearning Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

The Inovo Group sees 30-50% revenue spike in each of last 3 years

The Inovo Group's growth rate is something to take notice of. The downtown Ann Arbor-based consulting firm has watched its revenue jump 30 percent to 50 percent in each of the last three years. This last year the firm added four new clients. That work has enabled the innovation-consulting office to hire two people (analysts), expanding its staff to 13 employees and one intern. "We are on a steady growth path," says Larry Schmitt, CEO of The Inovo Group. The Inovo Group has made its way helping large corporations find new, more-efficient ways of doing things. That could range from finding new opportunities to discovering new technology for it to harness. The bottomline is The Inovo Group's clientele recognize that innovation is critical to their growth. "When we get involved with a company we do it when they want to do something big," Schmitt says. "It's when they want to push their own boundaries." The Inovo Group also made the moved to new office in January next to the Downtown Home & Garden. The 5-year-old company has now smoothly moved into the new space and used it to help grow its talent base. "It has energized our environment," Schmitt says. "It's an attractive place for the people we want to recruit." Source: Larry Schmitt, CEO of The Inovo Group Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

NVIDIA staffs up Ann Arbor office thanks to auto industry contracts

NVIDIA opened a technology center in Ann Arbor last year. The good news is the Silicon Valley-based tech firm has been hiring people (10 so far) for it. The better news is it still has plenty more hiring to do to hit its employment goal. "It's designed to support up to 20 employees," says Danny Shapiro, senior director of automotive for NVIDIA. "We're still staffing up. We’re about halfway there." NVIDIA's Ann Arbor tech office specializes in making software for the automotive industry. Think navigation and infotainment applications. Ann Arbor turned out to be the perfect place for the company because of its proximity to Metro Detroit’s automotive base and Ann Arbor’s tech startup scene. NVIDIA got its start making graphics for the video game industry in 1993. It eventually evolved into offering graphic solutions for a variety of sectors. It has been focused on automotive for about the last decade. It does work with the like of BMW, Audi, and Tesla. Shapiro estimated NVIDIA’s products are in 6.2 million cars today. Source: Danny Shapiro, senior director of automotive for NVIDIA Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Feature Story Deborah Katz conducting the Scarlett Summer Music Academy

Keeping music education within reach

Taking the summer off can mean a loss of ability for young musicians. But not everyone can afford to have their parents send them to band camp. Longtime Ann Arbor teacher Deborah Katz established the Scarlett Summer Music Academy to make music education available to kids who might miss out.

Feature Story Sharon Que in her violin restoration shop

Cool Jobs: Sharon Que, sculptor and violin restorer

Vibrant communities allow for creative reinvention. Case in point: Ann Arborite Sharon Que. A former model-maker at General Motors, Que decided to leave the auto industry and learn the art of violin restoration. Seven years later she's got her own studio, and a reputation as both a top notch restorer and sculptor.

Hasini and Harshini Anand are members of Corner Health Center's Youth Leadership Council and mental health advocates.

 


   Voices of Youth
Concentrate's Voices of Youth series features content created by Washtenaw County youth in partnership with Concentrate mentors, as well as feature stories by adult writers that examine issues of importance to local youth. Click here for a full list of the latest content from this series.