Resources for Businesses and Growth in Detroit

In recent years, local institutions have been pursuing a range of strategies to promote small business, entrepreneurship, and the revitalization of the city. A groundswell of interest has emerged to expand the economic vision of Detroit to include a more diverse business environment. The CDPS Detroit Project, "Resources for Businesses and Growth in Detroit," aims to do the following:

• Produce and disseminate research that adds to our understanding of the key issues affecting the investments, small businesses development, and access to capital in Detroit.
• Document and publish key findings, innovations, trends on practices and community resources that enhance access for credit and networks for small businesses.
• Conduct outreach activities to business owners and other stakeholders, and provide forums where bankers, policymakers, researchers, advocates and other interested parties can share ideas, best practices and innovative approaches to overcoming barriers to investment and financial access in Detroit.

Features

• Document and publish key findings, innovations, trends on practices and community resources that enhance access for credit and networks for small businesses.
• Redefining Rustbelt: Cross-City Perspectives on Connecting Health and Community Development. Read more...
• Lessons learned from the Urban Entrepreneurship Symposium held in October 2015 in Detroit. Read more...
• Highlights of research and practices presented at the Revisiting the Promise and Problems of Inner City Economic Development conference in September 2015 in Detroit. Read more...
• Minority Capital Access Forum, October 22, 2014. This forum brings together bankers, community development practitioners, and business owners to highlight strategies that help funders connect with minority business owners. Read more...
• Financial Financial Infrastructure and Small Business Funding in Low- and Moderate-Income Neighborhoods in Detroit. Read more...

This section features presentations, meetings and conferences related to the "Resources for Small Businesses and Growth in Detroit" project and related studies.

Conferences

September 15-16, 2015, Revisiting the Promise and Problems of Inner City Economic Development. The summit was sponsored by the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, Economic Development Quarterly and Sage, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC). The summit featured a keynote address by Harvard Business School Professor Michael Porter, as well as a number of sessions highlighting new research and discussion practitioner experiences on various aspects of inner city business development.  

October 22, 2014, Minority Capital Access Forum. This forum brought together bankers, community development practitioners, and business owners to highlight strategies that help funders connect with minority business owners.

November 19, 2013, Investing in Detroit’s Future: Resources for Businesses and Community Development. The goal of this meeting was to broaden the number of investors and organizations who understand how to access federal and state programs to leverage private capital, credit and other resources to support entrepreneurship and community development in Detroit. View conference agenda here and keynote speech by Thomas Sugrue.

June, 18, 2013, Redefining Rust Belt: An Exchange of Strategies by the Cities of Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia. This videoconference series brings together community leaders in all four cities to participate in a robust exchange about experiences developing and implementing strategies to attract new residents and investments. The first session took place in June 2013, the second took place in October 2013, and the third took place in February 2014. The fourth and final discussion took place on May 13, 2014 at the Reinventing Older Communities national conference in Philadelphia.

October 16, 2012, Developing Small Business and Leveraging Resources in Detroit Conference - Chicago Fed, Michigan Bankers Association and New Economy Initiative Conference, Chicago Fed - Detroit Branch Presented by Maude Toussaint-Comeau View agenda here.

Outreach and Presentations

July 11, 2013, Ann Arbor Ypsilanti Black Chamber of Commerce Presented by Maude Toussaint-Comeau, December 10, 2013.
Redefining RustBelt: The Role of Anchor Institutions and the Arts Audioconference

May 17, 2013, Black, Hispanic, Arab-American, African-Caribbean Chambers of Commerce, Chicago Fed-Detroit Branch Presented by Robin Newberger and Maude Toussaint-Comeau.
Black Owned Businesses in Detroit, Ypsilanti Chamber of Commerce

May 17, 2013, CDPS Detroit Small Business Project, Presented by Maude Toussaint-Comeau and Robin Newberger.
Legislative Day at the Chicago Fed - Detroit Branch

April 11-12, 2013, Presented by Robin G. Newberger and Maude Toussaint-Comeau.
Resilience and Rebuilding for Low-Income Communities Conference, Federal Reserve Community Affairs System Conference

2012, Presented by Maude Toussaint-Comeau.
Board of Directors, Chicago Fed-Detroit Branch