People
The Motor City is becoming a manufacturing home for some specialty denim. With the exception of a few places, the apparel industry has largely left the United States. But on the second floor of a former letter graphics printing company in Corktown, Eric Yelsma is at work. He’s the founder of Detroit Denim Company–and he makes hand cut, handcrafted blue… Read more »
Dan Gilbert’s Rock Ventures today added building number 16 to its downtown Detroit real estate portfolio with the acquisition of the 1001 Woodward office tower. The building is located at the corner of Woodward and Michigan Avenues, across from Campus Martius Park. The 23-story 1001 Woodward features 275,000 square-feet of Class-A office space. The building was designed by Detroit-based SmithGroup, and… Read more »
The Mercy Education Project has been opening the door to a brighter future for women and girls for more than twenty years. And its leader is Detroit 2020’s Person of the Week.
From wxyz.com: Michigan Governor Rick Snyder named Kevyn Orr as his choice for Detroit’s emergency financial manager during a news conference Thursday. The Local Financial Emergency Assistance Board has approved attorney Kevyn Orr as Detroit’s emergency financial manager. The board’s approval is the final step in the process of appointing an EFM. “There were three key attributes,” Snyder said, in… Read more »
A federal judge has ordered former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick and his friend, contractor Bobby Ferguson, to go to jail while the two await sentencing. A federal jury today found Kilpatrick and Ferguson guilty on multiple counts including racketeering and extortion. However, the jury could not come to a decision on the racketeering charges against Kilpatrick’s father, Bernard Kilpatrick. The federal… Read more »
Detroit’s entrepreneurial spirit is at work in Corktown. Inside one of the century old buildings on Michigan Avenue a new business is slowly taking shape—Detroit’s first nano-brewery. Steve Roginson and Anthony O’Donnell are partners in the venture. Roginson explained what a nano-brewery is, “The kind of agreed-upon terminology is four barrels or less per batch, so every time I brew,… Read more »
The Detroit School of Music will be getting eight new portable pianos, thanks to a fundraiser spearheaded by two young women. In January, we honored Christina Bartson and Florence Rivkin, students at Greenhills School in Ann Arbor, as Detroit 2020′s Persons of the Week. The two organized a benefit concert in Ann Arbor for the Detroit School of Music. The… Read more »
Many of us are concerned about blight because it’s ugly, it’s depressing, and it destroys neighborhoods. But there’s something else that concerns at least one member of the newly announced Detroit Blight Authority. Second generation firefighter James Hill Harris knows how dangerous empty, blighted buildings can be. He knows the opportunity for arson is incredible here because of these vacant… Read more »
It’s the type of painstaking and detailed work that likely has never been done in the U.S., certainly not in Detroit–until now. Movement assembly is taking place for high end watches– watches built in Detroit. Heath Carr, C.O.O of Shinola told us, “By and large, all watches are made either in Switzerland or in Asia, specifically China, and Made in… Read more »
This is national mentoring month, so we thought it would be the perfect time to honor someone who’s helping to lead a young man in the right direction. He’s a Big Brother. And he’s our Detroit 2020 person of the week. Lawrence Robinson knows how important it is to have mentors in your life. Growing up, he had mentors help… Read more »
