Friday Adventures: DEGC & UM Detroit Center

Final Four partying for some, apartment hunting for others... It was a busy Friday afternoon in the city of Detroit. After dropping Atiya back off to SmithGroup, I enjoyed my Tim Hortons lunch in the beautiful lobby of the Guardian Building. While there, I thought to visit another one of the building's clients: the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation (http://www.degc.org/).

DEGC: Simply put, I would like nothing more than to be a volunteer researcher for the DEGC as they are the organization most responsible for retaining and attracting new businesses to Detroit. I was able to speak with a DEGC employee and I expressed my interest to her. Her response: "If you did my job for free, I would lose my job." So much for taking any help they can get. Folks, the reality in the city is that we have to break down some barriers, and apparently fear is one of them. That said, I will e-mail the HR lady at the DEGC this week in hopes of becoming a part-time intern of sorts.

Next stop: University of Michigan Detroit Center. http://www.michigandaily.com/content/2009-03-31/viewpoint-semester-detroit-uplifts-students-and-city. This is a spot on Woodward where UM houses all of its Detroit operations (outreach, services, collaborations, recruiting, etc.). I specifically wanted to see what my alma mater was doing with regards to urban planning in the city. As it turns out, there is a full-time faculty member who works there, Eric Dueweke, and I will soon contact him to learn more.

The Message: We must stop waiting to contact the right organizations and find out what's out there. I urge you all to go knock on doors and tell us what you find. Some will be good, some won't. But we need to know what is behind each door to make the sum of the parts better. Stay tuned.