U-M students boost Motor City Revitalization & Business: Focus Detroit group

Wednesday, September 8, 2010 | Source: Concentrate

Students from the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business and other corners of the university are gearing up to play a bigger role in the retooling of the Motor City's economy with Revitalization & Business: Focus Detroit.

The student-led program doesn't want volunteer interest level to stop at participating in a clean-up day or mentoring a child. The goal is to get more students to open businesses and plant stakes in a city in desperate need of more educated and entrepreneurial young people.

"We want to showcase Detroit from another perspective," says Matt Neagle, a U-M student and member of the executive committee for Revitalization & Business: Focus Detroit. "Not the here are all the problems perspective, but here are all the opportunities point of view."

The group has already recruited a core group of student volunteers, most of whom are leaders in other campus organizations. The hope is to harness those connections to raise attendance at bi-weekly meetings this fall, culminating with a conference on all the opportunities Detroit offers in January. The group is aiming to have 150 students participating.

"We plan on promoting it heavily," Neagle says.

Source: Matt Neagle, member of the executive committee for Revitalization & Business: Focus Detroit
Writer: Jon Zemke