https://www.michiganbusiness.org/press-releases/2023/05/main-street-vibrancy-grants/

Atlantic Impact, founded in 2012, is a leader in workforce development and globally immersive travel for students. They design experiences that span neighborhood boundaries, deepen students’ network, and spark educational curiosity. We believe every person deserves the opportunity to learn about and access stable and rewarding employment, and we’re working to make that a reality.

About the Founder

Anise Hayes, co-founder and Executive Director launched Atlantic Impact in 2012 after several years of working in global affairs and youth development. Her motivation was to design experiences that span neighborhood boundaries, deepen students’ networks, and spark educational curiosity. They believe that experimental learning is a transformative means of igniting a student’s academic, economic, and professional mobility.

Why the Historic North End?

The Historic North End was the ideal spot for our training school and centrally located to the participants that we serve. Erica Hicks, the community engagement associate at Atlantic Impact, says “What I like the most about running business in the Historic North End is there are small to medium businesses, affluently talented artists, churches of different denominations, community engagement group opportunities in the area and local urban eats.”

What does Atlantic Impact Offer? 

1. Workforce development for individuals re-entering the workforce

2. Skilled Trades Training

3. They offer Pre-Apprenticeship Exposure Field Trips to High School Students

4. Community Engagement

5. Employing Growing Detroit Youth Talent during the summer.

They have recurring workforce development classes at their business two days per week.

Another cohort will be graduating with certificates in heavy equipment. This summer, they will also be taking a group of students to Barbados!

Contact Information

Address: 3408 Woodward Ave Ste. #221, Detroit, MI 48201

North End Training Site (North End Community Campus): 2791 E. Grand Blvd. Detroit MI

Phone Number: (313) 757-5437

Email: info@atlanticimpact.org

Website: https://www.atlanticimpact.org/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/atlanticimpact/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/atlanticimpact

Detroit People’s Food Co-op is a full-service community-owned grocery store, open to the general public. It will create more than 45 jobs for community residents when it opens in 2023!

Malik Yakini (pictured to the left) is co-founder and executive director of the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network (DBCFSN), the organization that initiated and provides support to the Detroit People’s Food Co-op.  

Food Co-ops are a way to increase access to healthy, sustainably grown food, and this co-op is in our very own historic North End.

CONTACT

———————————————-

Website: ​​https://detroitpeoplesfoodcoop.com/

Phone: (833) DPFC313 (833) 373-2313

Address: 11000 W. McNichols Road, Suite 103, Detroit, MI 48221

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/detroitpeoplesfoodcoop

Throwback Fact: Did you know the “8 Mile movie” was filmed in this factory?

New Center Stamping’s vision is “to achieve excellence in the metal stamping and assembly industry in the fabrication of products by exceeding customer expectations, providing a highly desirable and safe workplace, generating outstanding returns for investors, and exemplary community support.” 

HISTORY 

“Eleven years after the Model-T was produced two blocks away on Piquette street, the Fisher Body Company built our plant in Detroit’s Milwaukee Junction in 1919. This area was the heart of the City’s automotive industry and the hub of autobody and stamping plants. Born as Fisher Body #37, the factory produced body sides for Chevrolet, Cadillac, Oldsmobile, Chrysler, and Ford. The plant was full of 20-foot presses stamping out these world renown automobile bodies.”

“For the next 50-years, the plant continued to produce large body side stampings for various GM brands and models. Building #37 may not have a glamourous title but the contribution to this Industry, Michigan and the United States is amazing. Millions of automotive components came from ol’ “Plant #37” and its legacy lives on today.”

CHECK OUT THEIR NEW WEBSITE: https://www.newcenter.net. 

They are still hiring! If you are interested in a job at New Center Stamping, contact Danielle Reeves at dreeves@newcenter.net or 313-480-7883. 

CONTACT

——————-

New Center Stamping, Inc.

950 E. Milwaukee

Detroit, MI 48211

(313) 872-3500

“At New Center Stamping, We stand for equality, justice and respect for all.

We believe in diversity and inclusion and condemn hatred, racism, prejudice and violence. Working together we can drive meaningful lasting positive change!”

Method Development is a real estate development business started in 2017 that repurposes existing buildings in neighborhoods and helps bring them back to life while keeping the historical integrity of the building. 

How did your business start? 

My business partner and I grew up in the Metro Detroit area. We both moved away and met in Grad School. We wanted to be part of the revitalization of Detroit and help restore Detroit neighborhoods. We love the history, the community and creativity of the neighborhood. 

Why the North End?

The passion of Detroit and doing our part to bring back a great city; you feel the love and passion the neighborhood brings. It makes you want to plant roots in the neighborhood. We love bringing buildings back to life and talking to the community to get their insight for the development plan.

Our tenant Vault of Midnight (https://www.vaultofmidnight.com) is having their Free comic day. We’ve heard this is a massive event and really brings the neighborhood together and other people to come check out the neighborhood!

CONTACT

rocky@methodevelop.com

methodevelop.com

6540 St. Antoine Street 

Instagram: @Md_detroit

Hour Detroit’s first issue of 2022 shines a light on “Hour Detroiters” who are making extraordinary strides to create a better, more interesting and fun Detroit. This feature highlights 13 individuals, including Vanguard’s very own president and CEO, Pamela Martin Turner…”The Revitalizer”. Congratulations Pamela! #TheRevitalizer#HourDetroit

https://issuu.com/hour_media/docs/hd0122_digital_v1/40

Welcoming Freya & Dragonfly to the Neighborhood! 

Freya & Dragonfly is opening in November 2021! Freya & Dragonfly is a unique restaurant and bar offering a fine dining restaurant for the 99% at Freya and a casual cocktail bar featuring low alcohol and non-alcoholic cocktails at Dragonfly. We are so excited to be in this neighborhood and looking forward to opening. 

We are all about food and beverages made with quality ingredients and warm, gracious hospitality. We want our guests to taste the quality in everything we make and serve and to feel at home when they enter our doors. 

We were influenced to open in the Historic North End because of its rich history of art, music, and incredible people. We love how welcoming and gracious this neighborhood has been. Besides the fantastic community we are opening in, the inspiration behind Freya was from trips to world-class restaurants such as Eleven Madison Park in NYC, El Bulli in Spain, and Smyth in Chicago. We wanted to make the quality and flavor of these restaurants accessible to all. Our world travels brought us to the Sherry bodegas in Southern Spain, contributing to the inspiration behind Dragonfly. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

We are so excited to open to the public because we have been greeted with enthusiasm and encouragement from patrons before even opening! This experience will be unique to this market with a tasting menu restaurant with a vegan option that caters specifically to regular folks rather than only the extremely wealthy. Our talented staff is continually inspiring, and we can’t wait to meet the residents! Even better, we will have a happy hour at Dragonfly that you can’t miss! 

Visit our new restaurant and bar for a wonderful night out in the North End/Milwaukee Junction. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

If you are looking for a job and feel that this environment would suit you, we have one server position and one bartender position to fill (experience is required for both). We could also use servers at our sister restaurant Chartreuse. Contact sandynlevine@gmail.com if you are interested in applying! 

Meet The Owner: Sandy Levine 

Contact Freya & Dragonfly! 

• Email Address: sandynlevine@gmail.com
• Websites: www.freyadetroit.com, www.dragonflydetroit.com
• Address: 2929 E. Grand Blvd
• Instagram: @freyadetroit @dragonflydetroit

https://www.crainsdetroit.com/technology/750000-knight-foundation-grant-expand-pilot-wi-fi-initiative-detroits-north-end

A grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation will help expand high-speed Wi-Fi access in Detroit’s North End neighborhood.

The $750,000 grant to the the Equitable Internet Initiative will support EII’s efforts to connect 1,000 North End households with free high-speed Internet connections over the next three years.

Those efforts will expand on EII’s pilot project using wireless technology to provide free high-speed Internet to 215 homes in the neighborhood and nearby areas where more than 40 percent of households do not have access, the organizations said in a release.

The estimated annual operations and maintenance costs for EII to serve 1,000 households is $30 per household, per month — about a third of what major providers charge, EII said.

Knight’s investment will support the training of 18 community members as “digital stewards” who will be taught the engineering skills to set up neighborhood-governed networks and serve as local tech support.

EII also plans to pilot low-cost and tiered-payment model for participating households to begin establishing a self-sustaining model for the program.

“The digital divide can be detrimental to career and education opportunities for residents in underserved areas,” Nate Wallace, Knight’s Detroit program director, said in an email announcing the grant. “This project in Detroit serves as a model for other cities working to ensure equal internet access for all neighborhoods.”

EII is a collaboration of multiple organizations, including Detroit Community Technology Project, Grace in Action in Southwest, Church of the Messiah in Islandview, the North End Woodward Community Coalition in the North End and Highland Park and Community Tech New York.

The Rev. Joan Ross, operating director of the North End Woodward Community Coalition, shared EII’s efforts during a White House listening session about the digital divide in May.