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Tag: Poverty

What Happens If You Get Caught With a Fake ID at a Bar?

Using Eviction Data to Inform City Housing Policy in Michigan

Using Eviction Data to Inform City Housing Policy in MI flyer

At our final event of the semester, housing experts will discuss the use of housing data to inform city policy. Robert Goodspeed will present eviction data from Michigan, highlight limitations of eviction data, and propose improvement mechanisms for data analysis to help create data-driven policy. April Faith-Slaker will discuss Detroit’s new Right to Counsel program and the role of evaluation in future eviction prevention efforts in Detroit. Libby Benton will moderate a Q&A with both speakers at the end.

Speakers:

• Robert Goodspeed, Associate Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, UM Taubman School of Architecture and Urban Planning
• April Faith-Slaker, Executive Director, Office of Eviction Defense, City of Detroit
• Libby Benton, Associate Counsel to National Initiatives, Center for Community Progress

Registration link

​Creating Opportunities to Succeed for Families Experiencing Homelessness in Detroit

​"Creating Opportunities to Succeed for Families Experiencing Homelessness in Detroit” Panelists

This event will focus on describing common elements of family trajectories into family homelessness and housing instability, including Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), intergenerational trauma and poverty, and institutional and structural barriers to recovery from housing instability. Partners from COTS will share their current innovative approaches to supporting families to break the cycle of instability.

Registration link

PSC Brownbag Series: The Unemployment Institution

PSC Brownbag Series: The Unemployment Institution

In the Tolls of Uncertainty, Sarah Damaske argues unemployment is an institution—like workplaces, families, or schools—that both generates and reproduces inequalities. Like other fundamental parts of American society that are central to adult life, unemployment is governed by state and federal laws and bureaucracies, structured by organizations, and shaped by shared language & customs. And, like other institutions, unemployment differentially shapes people’s resources and has far-reaching consequences beyond the realm of the unemployed. Both the state and the federal government wield enormous influence over the process, from determining whether someone is considered unemployed, to whether they are eligible for unemployment insurance, to how much support they will receive and for how long a duration. The way people access the unemployment system is dependent on their own social location prior to coming into the unemployment system and their experience throughout their unemployment journey is shaped by the resources the unemployed have available when they lose their job. The state unemployment system provides both direct benefits (via unemployment insurance) and acts as a broker to additional resources (through career center services). Unemployment not only generates and reproduces inequalities between the employed and the unemployed, but also amongst the unemployed. Ultimately, the unemployment institution normalizes and legitimates both employment precarity and the resulting inequalities of the new economy.

Join us in person at ISR (Thompson Street) Room 1430.

Or online: Join Zoom Meeting
https://umich.zoom.us/j/95418610585?pwd=Z0cvdkF1T0R2cG1lRDEvVmlnbVdlZz09

What policymakers need to know about the criminal justice system

Laurel Beatty Blunt

Join Judge Laurel Beatty Blunt and Dean Celeste Watkins-Hayes for a conversation at the intersection of law, policy, and the criminal justice system.

As a 10th District Court of Appeals Judge for the State of Ohio, Judge Laurel Beatty Blunt will offer her perspective on what policymakers need to know about the criminal justice system.

Judge Beatty Blunt will offer firsthand knowledge about the criminal justice system, focusing on the inner workings of the local and national court systems, as well as the role of a judge as both a policy implementer and policy interpreter. Together, Dean Watkins-Hayes and Judge Beatty Blunt will discuss how social context–including race, gender, poverty, and education–shapes criminal justice pathways and outcomes.

Registration link

The local impact of safety nets on communities of color

COVID-19 reflections panelists

COVID-19 reflections panelists The first event in this three-part COVID-19 reflections series will feature a panel discussion on the local impact of safety nets on communities of color during the COVID-19 pandemic. The discussion will be moderated by Mara Ostfeld, associate faculty director of U-M Poverty Solutions. Panelists include:
– William Lopez; clinical assistant professor at U-M School of Public Health;
– Kat Stafford, national investigative reporter at the Associated Press; and
– Charles E. Williams, pastor of the Historic King Solomon Baptist Church in Detroit.

The Center for Racial Justice is partnering with Poverty Solutions and the National Center for Institutional Diversity to co-host a virtual event series that reflects on the local and state-level policies that have been instrumental in responding to the racialized health and economic disparities stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. The series brings together a diverse group of changemakers, including national and local policymakers, journalists, researchers, and community leaders, to (1) meditate on the past and current racial dynamics of COVID-19 in Michigan and Detroit, and to (2) discuss the policies, programs, and practices that have successfully responded to the needs of communities of color disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

Events will be held on April 1, May 6, and June 10.

Registration link

The local impact of safety nets on communities of color

COVID-19 reflections panelists

COVID-19 reflections panelists The first event in this three-part COVID-19 reflections series will feature a panel discussion on the local impact of safety nets on communities of color during the COVID-19 pandemic. The discussion will be moderated by Mara Ostfeld, associate faculty director of U-M Poverty Solutions. Panelists include:
– William Lopez; clinical assistant professor at U-M School of Public Health;
– Kat Stafford, national investigative reporter at the Associated Press; and
– Charles E. Williams, pastor of the Historic King Solomon Baptist Church in Detroit.

The Center for Racial Justice is partnering with Poverty Solutions and the National Center for Institutional Diversity to co-host a virtual event series that reflects on the local and state-level policies that have been instrumental in responding to the racialized health and economic disparities stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. The series brings together a diverse group of changemakers, including national and local policymakers, journalists, researchers, and community leaders, to (1) meditate on the past and current racial dynamics of COVID-19 in Michigan and Detroit, and to (2) discuss the policies, programs, and practices that have successfully responded to the needs of communities of color disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

Events will be held on April 1, May 6, and June 10.

Registration link

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Social Enterprise Spotlight: ePesos

Last year Business+Impact introduced a new series on U-M alumni who have created social enterprises and continue the work of entrepreneurship after graduation. Previous Social Enterprise Spotlights included Thawra and FoodFinder; now we focus our spotlight on ePesos, a tech platform expanding economic inclusion to the population least affiliated with the banking system in Mexico.
Ariel Olaiz, BBA ’07, has come full circle — from studying business at the base of the pyramid at the Ross School of Business to fostering economic inclusion in Mexico. Olaiz says his U-M education comes into play every day in his role as co-founder and chief financial officer at ePesos. We caught up with Ariel to learn more about his experience running a company in the FinTech space.
  • Describe your business.

ePesos is a FinTech that gives workers in Mexico early access to their wages. We’ve found that there are three huge problems we are solving for:

    • Wages are extremely low. 80% of workers make less than $1,000 USD a month. Families living paycheck-to-paycheck don’t have the savings required to face financial emergencies.
    • Wages can be very volatile, especially for workers in Hospitality and Manufacturing. There is unpredictability in the amount a worker will receive because of tips, productivity pay, bonuses, etc. If you don’t know how much you’ll make next month, how can you plan your finances?!
    • Timing of pay is beneficial for the company but not for the employee. Why do workers need to wait to get paid? Employers have funds tied up for no good reason. We let the employee access his/her entire wage whenever it’s convenient for the employee.

When an employee decides to access his/her payroll before payday, they pay a small commission ($1.5 USD) and their employer will automatically deduct the appropriate amount in their next paycheck.

  • What is your biggest recent discovery about founding a fintech company?

One of the great things about entrepreneurship is that you have to build everything from scratch. It’s sometimes painful, but the reality is that in large companies, someone, at some point, had to go through the effort of building a lot of the things (e.g. processes, products, structures, customer portfolios, etc.) that existing employees take for granted. And so, there are several insights that I have picked up along the way. Here are a few:

    • In entrepreneurship being a generalist is critical to scaling a company. When I started my career in asset management, I remember the concept of a “T” — start broad and then pick an area where you want to focus, which makes a ton of sense for some careers. However, building a company requires a different approach. As a startup, you must first get to Product-Market-Fit. To get to that stage you must learn to draw from a diverse collection of knowledge (e.g. finance, ops, marketing, etc.) in order to see connections and correlations that others might miss.
    • There is no substitute for hard work. Entrepreneurship is a world in which the highs are very high, but the lows can feel extremely profound. What I have found over the years is that one of the few things that will get you over a tough period is simply focusing on the task at hand — whatever the most important thing is at that moment — and powering through. Focusing on the process and on little details will help you deliver small wins consistently over time, and in order to do this you need to rely on good ol’ fashion hard work!
    • Customers have no idea what they want! The conventional wisdom is that you need to listen to your customers in order to deliver great products and services. It turns out that customers have absolutely no idea what they want! If you just ask a user what they would like to see in new features/functionality you are likely to get a standard answer. The true magic in product development and innovation comes from deriving insights from your users without them knowing. This is super hard to do! It requires a special skill set to tease out these nuggets of insight. Check out “The Mom Test” by Rob Fitzpatrick if you want to learn more about this.
  • How has the landscape of fintech changed since you started your business?

Everything has changed after COVID-19. I’ve been on the entrepreneurial journey for 5 years and it is crazy to see how fast the industry has changed in such a short timespan. I’ve basically seen changes in the following areas:

    • Investment. Global venture funds are much more comfortable making investments around the world. LatAm is a great example of this — before 2020, investments from funds such as Softbank, Tiger Global, and a16z were extremely rare. Today, I see deals like this being done every month!
    • Geographic expansion. One area that I am super excited for is that country borders are also becoming less relevant from an operational standpoint. I’ve seen so many tech companies expand beyond their home market at a super early stage — that was something only large companies did prior to COVID.
    • Talent Acquisition. With work-from-home becoming the standard, the traditional way of thinking about hiring has totally changed. Where you are based has become less relevant than what you are working on and what your skills are. Hiring people in other cities or other countries is now easier than ever before.
  • What from your Base of the Pyramid studies or instructors has been the most valuable to you?

There is a misconception in the business world that businesses can not be profitable when they serve low-income customers. In fact, most traditional financial institutions will avoid this segment altogether because it’s higher risk and because margins are lower. To be frank, this sounds logical — why would you serve a riskier segment that hurts your bottom line when there are plenty of other customers out there that need your products?

What we have found is that those institutions are asking the wrong questions. Instead of asking, who is most likely to pay me back? Or, how can we extract the most economic value from a particular user segment today? What we ask ourselves at ePesos is, what happens when you introduce new technology that can lower your cost structure — would that allow us to serve a wider group of people? Can we adjust our business model in order to reduce consumer credit risk? How can we serve “unattractive” customers today but grow with them over time so that our lifetime value is optimized? This requires a mindset shift that is not easily made by companies that have built their success on mitigating risk.

My academic journey of Business at the Base of the Pyramid has taught me to challenge assumptions and to ask better questions.

  • Ariel Olaiz with ePesos co-founder Oscar Robles
    What advice would you have for current or future Ross students?

Learning to slow down is a skill. We live in a world where everyone wants something right away. People want their products delivered the same day. People have access to information on a live basis. People want to see ridiculous results YR1 (think about VC valuations and growth expectations). The reality is that there is tremendous power in slowing down. Slowing things down allows you to make better decisions…unsure about a certain decision? Sleep on it and let time give you more clarity of thought. Slowing things down allows you to nurture relationships in a better way. Slowing things down allows you to put your head above the water and think 2, 3, 4, 5 years from now. Slow and steady wins the race.

Think Big, Start Small, Act Now. Students and professionals in general, need to have a bias for action. Whatever it is – launching a new product, starting a new company, learning a new skill. We need to have the confidence to think big and the courage to start with a simple action, whatever it is. I’ve seen this a bunch, what starts out as an idea, can morph over time into something amazing with small and consistent effort, but you have to start! 

 

Read another Social Enterprise Spotlight:
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2018 Shared Prosperity Conference

 

Business+Impact at the Ross School of Business is proud to collaborate with the Aspen Institute Business & Society Program for a conference at the University of Michigan, Oct. 24-26, 2018, entitled, “Working Towards a Shared Prosperity: An Academic-Executive Dialogue.” With fewer opportunities for upward mobility and growing economic inequality, the American Dream is under threat. It is hard to imagine a return to the 1950s style social contract, but it is often overlooked that today’s firms – and their leaders – have choices.  

The purposes of the conference are to:

  • map the “choice points” available to firms—actions that are within business control—that contribute to broadly held prosperity.  What management practices positively effect employees—their development, well-being and productivity—and the labor market more broadly? What new business models do the same?
  • explore the incentives and constraints that are influencing business decisions about hiring, compensation, training, and job quality. What conversations are happening within firms—and in capital markets—around these issues? What are the narratives, assumptions and frameworks that result in less than desirable outcomes for low-wage workers? What conditions allow for “better” decisions?
  • examine recent and on-the-horizon changes in labor, capital and product markets, including the ascendance of AI. What are the effects of all these changes on economic inequality? Importantly, how do managerial choices feed back into these markets?
  • determine leverage points of change both in practice and academia to bring these “choice points” to light.  What would it take to establish new narratives and introduce new decision-making frameworks? What stakeholders need to be engaged?  What research needs to be highlighted and what questions need to be further investigated?

Watch Sessions & Speakers:

 

Program Line-up

Wednesday, October 26th

6:00 – 7:30 PM
Opening Cocktail Reception
Featuring The Secret Society of Twisted Storytellers

 

Thursday, October 25th

8:15 – 9:00 AM
Breakfast & Registration

9:00 – 9:45 AM
Welcome (Plenary)
Why are we examining managerial “choice points”? Does the issue of inequality all come down to profit and power? Or are there assumptions and frameworks that influence corporate decisions that have 2nd and 3rd order effects on the ladders of economic opportunity?
Gerald Davis, University of Michigan Ross School of Business
Scott DeRue, University of Michigan Ross School of Business
Judith Samuelson, Aspen Institute Business & Society Program

9:45 – 10:45 AM
Session 1—What is the Value of Work? (Plenary)
What are our aspirations for the “social contract” between employers, workers and society? How do firms, workers, and society at large view the obligations of employers? How do we recognize and highlight the inherent dignity in the concept of work, at all levels, and not just the professional or skilled class?
Elizabeth Anderson, University of Michigan
Laphonza Butler, SEIU Local 2015
Peter Cappelli, University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School
Scott Tong, Marketplace (Moderator)

10:45 – 11:15 AM
Break

11:15 – 12:30 PM
Session 2—The COO’s Dilemma: Choice Points in Operational Design (Breakouts)
How do COOs make decisions about the ways firms operate and—and how do these influence the health of employees and society?

a) The Gig Economy and Precarious Work
We’ve seen a rise in temporary, contract and part-time workers. What are the effects of this “plug & play” employment model on inequality and long-term business results?
Lindsey Cameron, University of Michigan Ross School of Business
Steven Hatfield and Jeff Schwartz, Deloitte
Allison Pugh, University of Virginia
Maureen Conway, Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program (Moderator)

b) Who Gets the Job?
As industries and sectors grow, what kinds of hiring practices help or hurt economic inequality? How can talent pipelines be developed in a way that brings the opportunity for good jobs to those that are being marginalized?
Daisy Auger-Dominguez, (formerly) Viacom
Malaika Myers, Hyatt
Nicole Sherard-Freeman, Detroit Employment Solutions Corporation
Branden Snyder, GoodJobsNow
Dror Etzion, McGill University (Moderator)

c) Labor at the Base of the Pyramid
How do corporations create environments that promote quality employment at their supply and distribution partners?
Ach Adhvaryu, University of Michigan Ross School of Business
Sean Ansett, At Stake Advisors
Vik Khanna, University of Michigan Law School
Regina Abrami, University of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School (Moderator)

d) Whose Responsibility is it to Create a Skilled Workforce?
What roles have business, government and individual employees played in the past—and what does the future look like?
Teddy DeWitt, University of Michigan Ross School of Business
Chioke Mose-Telesford, City of Detroit Office of Workforce Development
Andrea Wood, Best Buy
Lavea Brachman, Ralph C. Wilson Foundation (Moderator)

12:30 – 1:45 PM
Lunch—Presentation of Accenture/Aspen Research
Eva Sage Gavin, Accenture
Nicholas Whittall, Accenture
Miguel Padro, Aspen Institute Business & Society Program (Moderator)

2:00 – 3:15 PM
Session 3—The CFO’s Dilemma: Capital vs. Labor—Changing Tides (Breakouts)
Rewarding capital has taken precedent over rewarding labor in recent years. What are the drivers in this change? What frameworks and perspectives allow CFOs to make decisions that build healthy, long-standing organizations?

a) Work, Wages and Inequality
Are pay rates truly set by the market? How might we think of wages like we do stock prices–a measurement of the future value of an employee? And how has the provision of benefits shifted over time—and how might it change in the future?
Sue Dynarski, University of Michigan Ford School of Public Policy
Kyle Handley, University of Michigan Ross School of Business
David Rolf, SEUI Seattle
Ida Rademacher, The Aspen Institute (Moderator)

b) Standing Up to Investor Pressure
What skills are needed by IR personnel and CFOs to make a case for a reinvestment of profits into human capital?
Adam Cobb, University of Texas
Martin Schmalz, University of Michigan Ross School of Business
Steve Sleigh, Sleigh Strategy LLC
Judith Samuelson, Aspen Institute Business & Society Program (Moderator)

c) Humans vs. Robots
How might the ascendancy of AI effect the balance between capital and labor? How are growth, efficiency and quality weighted when firms are making decisions about automation?
Adam Litwin, Cornell University Industrial and Labor Relations School
Kentaro Toyama, University of Michigan School of Information
Nicholas Whittall, Accenture

 

3:15 – 3:45 PM

Break

3:45 – 4:45 PM
Session 4—Teaching Immersions (Workshops)
How are innovative faculty challenging the traditional business school view of employment and labor?
a) Economic Inequality and Social Mobility
b) Technological Change at Work
c) Human Capital Sustainability
d) MIT (tentative)

5:00 – 6:15
Session 5—What is the Value of Sharing Prosperity? (Plenary)
Watch the entire presentation here
To the degree that workers are currently viewed as costs to be managed, how do we change the narrative for boards, executives and especially shareholders? How do we utilize the desire for purpose-driven work to combat distrust in capitalism and corporations and tell a different story about how corporations create value for society?
Carl Camden, IPSE US-The Association of Independent Workers and former CEO, Kelly Services, interviewed by Rick Wartzman, Drucker Institute KH Moon Center for a Functioning Society
Joined by John Denniston, Shared X, Joel Rogers, University of Wisconsin Law School and Carmen Rojas, CEO, Workers Lab

6:15 – 7:00 PM
Cocktails

7:00 – 9:00 PM
Dinner and Presentation of Ideas Worth Teaching Awards

 

Friday, October 26th

8:15 – 9:00 AM
Breakfast

9:00 – 10:15 AM
Session 6—Envisioning the Future: Business as Creators (Plenary)
Watch the entire presentation here
Business is not an innocent bystander when it comes to forces such as technology and market shifts. Why then is the current narrative about how business can “cope” with the future of work instead of recognizing the deep influence business has in building that future? What could a more just version of work look like and how do we get there?
Jim Keane, CEO, Steelcase interviewed by Joe Nocera, Bloomberg
Joined by Maureen Conway, Aspen Institute; and Tom Kochan, MIT Sloan School of Management

10:30 – 11:45 AM
Session 7—The CEO’s Dilemma: Workers and the DNA of a Company (Breakouts)
The culture of a company often comes from the top and enforced by actions by the CEO. What strategies are organizations using to create a symbiotic relationship between employer and employee?

a. Re-designing the Employment Relationship
What makes for a good job—now and in the future? How are market conditions driving decisions about quality work? How do firms choose “good job strategies” and how are these executed—across organizations?
Talia Aharoni, Coller School of Management (Moderator)
Julie Gherki, WalMart
Arne Kalleberg, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Zeynep Ton, MIT Sloan School of Management

b. Reopening Lines of Communication: The Worker Voice
In business and business schools, how do we break the “management v. labor” binary?
Katie Corrigan, AFL-CIO
Debra Plousha Moore, Former Chief of Staff, Atrium Health
Patrick McHugh, George Washington University

c. Ownership: Alternative Structures that Change the Employer – Employee Dynamic
As fewer companies go public, and co-ops and other employee ownership programs are becoming more popular business models, what are the benefits and challenges to these new models and are they being addressed in business schools?
Joseph Blasi, Rutgers University
Kate Cooney, Yale School of Management (Moderator)
David Drews, former CFO for Project WorldWide
Marjorie Kelly, The Democracy Collaborative

d. The Rise of the Activist CEO
We’ve seen more and more business leaders speak out on political issues. What place does the business community have in advocating for policy changes that effect the market and in turn their employees?
David Bach, Yale School of Management
Gerald Davis, University of Michigan Ross School of Business (Moderator)
Rebecca Henderson, Harvard University
Zachary Savas, Cranbrook Partners

11:45 – 12:15 PM
Break

12:15 – 1:15 PM
Session 8—Worker Voice in Business Schools (Workshops)
Issues in labor are rarely addressed inside the halls of the business school. Meanwhile, graduates will go on to start companies, manage teams, and lead organizations without understanding the effects of their decisions. How might we integrate new thinking into traditional management education?

1:15 – 2:15 PM
Lunch and Closing

 

 

 

Highlights

Conference sponsors:

    
 

 

See a complete gallery of photos from the event

 

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October 2018 Newsletter

B+I and the Aspen Institute Team up for “Shared Prosperity” Conference, Keynote Events

On October 25 and 26, the Ross School’s Business+Impact is partnering with the Aspen Institute to host an academic-executive dialogue on the future of work and prosperity. Two of these events are open to the public:

Restoring Worker Power in an Age of Shareholder Primacy
(Thursday, Oct. 25, 5:00-6:15, Robertson Auditorium)

Many businesses, pressured by Wall Street, view workers as a cost to be managed. How can boards, executives, and especially shareholders change that narrative? How do we utilize the desire for purpose-driven work to combat distrust in capitalism and corporations and tell a different story about how corporations create value for society? Join Carl Camden (founder of IPSE US and former CEO of Kelly Services), John Denniston (chairman of SharedX and former senior partner at Kleiner Perkins), Rick Wartzman (founding director of the Drucker Institute and author of The End of Loyalty), Joel Rogers (U of Wisconsin law school labor scholar), and Carmen Rojas (CEO of Workers Lab) for a lively discussion.

Envisioning the Future: Business as Creators
(Friday, Oct. 26, 9:00-10:15, Robertson Auditorium)

Business is not an innocent bystander when it comes to forces such as technology and market shifts. Why then is the current narrative about how business can “cope” with the future of work instead of recognizing the deep influence business has in building that future? What could a more just version of work look like and how do we get there? This session includes Jim Keane (CEO of Steelcase), Joe Nocera (NY Times and Bloomberg Business columnist), Maureen Conway (The Aspen Institute), and Tom Kochan (MIT, author of Shaping the Future of Work).

Free Accounting Fridays in Detroit

Every Friday, 11 am – 3 pm
Schedule an appointment online
@ U-M Detroit Center
3663 Woodward Ave, #150, Detroit

Every Friday, Ross students working with B+I and the Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project provide free accounting and business finance consultations for small business owners and entrepreneurs in the city of Detroit. The goal is to take some of the stress out of owning a business and provide some peace of mind at no cost. Watch the video above to hear from Detroit business owners that have received consultations.

SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENT

2018-19 Board Fellows Program Kicks Off

Welcome to our 2018-19 Board Fellowship participants! This year’s Board Fellowship Program brings together a record 30 partner organizations and 38 fellows from six U-M schools who will serve on the respective governing boards.

Check out the photo album from the orientation.

2018-19 Board Fellowship participants:

  • Tim Bier (MBA) – SOS Community Services
  • Carrie Boyle (MBA) – Community Action Network
  • Emmeline Cardozo (MBA) – 5 Healthy Towns Foundation
  • Georgia Cassady (MBA) – Kiwanis Club of Ann Arbor
  • Selene Ceja (MPP) – Community Action Network
  • Nicole Crosby (MBA) – Ten Thousand Villages
  • Jillian Crowley (MBA) – Sweet Dreamzzz
  • Erin Finn (MPH) – Ann Arbor Track Club
  • Kevin Finnegan (MPP) – Ponyride
  • Jenna Fiore (MSW) – The Salvation Army – Eastern Michigan Division
  • Karen Goldburg (MS) – The Treeline Conservancy
  • Daniel Heckman (MBA) – The Salvation Army – Eastern Michigan Division
  • Hannah Heebner (MSW) – Alternatives for Girls
  • Alexandra Husted (MBA/MPP) – Arts & Scraps
  • Gunjan Jain (MBA) – Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living
  • Carly Kadlec (MBA/MS) – EcoWorks
  • Daniel Kaplan (MSW) – Michigan Abolitionist Project
  • Grace Kendra (MM) – Old Newsboys’ Goodfellow Fund
  • Daniel Kurzner (MBA) – Jewish Family Services of Washtenaw County
  • Yuwei Li (MBA) – Foundations Preschool of Washtenaw County
  • Jessica McClain (MBA) – Corner Health Center
  • Baylee Miller (MSCM) – Common Ground
  • Katherine Nagley (MBA) – Ele’s Place
  • Cepha Nixon (MBA) – United Way of Washtenaw County
  • Taylor Pahl (MSW) – Ann Arbor Center for Independent Living
  • Torre Palermino (MBA) – Detroit Horse Power
  • Avril Prakash (MPP) – Alternatives for Girls
  • Theo Pu (MBA) – Kiwanis Club of Ann Arbor
  • Amrit Rathi (MBA) – Ten Thousand Villages
  • Alex Reinthal (MBA) – NEW
  • Jodi Richard (MBA) – Arts & Scraps
  • Jonathan Rodriguez (MBA/MPP) – NEW
  • Rodion Stolyar (MBA) – Neutral Zone
  • Vishnu Suresh (MBA) – Matrix Human Services
  • Timothy Trollope (MPP/MAE) – Eastern Market Development Corporation
  • Hridya Turlapti (MBA) – National Network of Depression Centers
  • Jennifer Wiener (MBA) – Family Learning Institute
  • Hanna Zlotnick (MPP) – Rudolf Steiner School of Ann Arbor

Four Winners of $5000 Scholarships

Business+Impact is proud to announce four winners of the Skip & Carrie Gordon Scholarship this year. Each scholarship is $5000, and all of these MBA students have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to making an impact in their career and while at Ross. The four scholarship recipients are Tim Carter, Apoorva Kanneganti, Christopher Owen, and Nathan Stevens.

More Info

Michigan Business Challenge – Seigle Impact Track

Application Deadline: Mon, Nov. 5, 8 am

Do you have an idea for a mission-driven business? Are you developing a social venture or interested in working with one?

Info Session
Tues, Oct. 30, 5 – 6 pm
Room B1580 Blau
Ross School of Business

The Michigan Business Challenge Seigle Impact Track, with prizes totaling over $26,000, recognizes the business plan that best pursues a mission-driven goal. This award aims to stimulate new businesses, products or services that prioritize social and/or environmental considerations. This track of the competition is sponsored by the Mark and Robin Seigle Entrepreneurial Innovation Fund and co-managed by Business+Impact, the Erb Institute, and the Zell Lurie Institute.

More info

ROSS OPEN ROAD INFO SESSIONS

Wed, Nov. 14, 6 – 7 pm
@ Ross B3580

Tues, Dec. 4, 5 – 6 pm
@ Ross B1580
 

MBAs are invited to learn about Ross Open Road with last year’s teams, as they speak about their experiences. Now in its fifth year, this student-organized program is focused on social entrepreneurship and takes place in the month of May. Ross Open Road is co-sponsored by Business+Impact, the Sanger Leadership Center, the Erb Institute, and the Zell Lurie Institute.

Community News and Events

Below are a few upcoming impact events. For a complete list of all impact events across U-M and the region, check out the Impact Gateway.

TechArb Mingle ‘n’ Match

WED, OCT. 24, 5 – 7 PM
@TECHARB
500 E. WASHINGTON
ANN ARBOR

Interested in the Michigan Business Challenge or other entrepreneurial activities on campus? Find team members or mingle with other entrepreneurial-minded students. The evening begins with a mini info session for the upcoming Michigan Business Challenge, followed by a series of one-minute pitches by parties interested in finding team members. Pizza will be provided. If you are interested in attending please sign up here.

 

UM’s Nonprofit Board Forum

SAT, OCT. 27, 8:30 AM – 2:30 PM
@ MICHIGAN ROSS

The Nonprofit Board Forum is a great program for anyone exploring or currently serving on a nonprofit board. The Forum is focused on improving the governance of nonprofit institutions. It aims to be a resource for sharing opportunities & information on best practices and introducing qualified, interested board candidates to outstanding organizations. Non-alumni and students are welcome to attend. U-M students: Part of the registration fee can be reimbursed through B+I. Write to businessimpact@umich.edufor more info.

Register here now!

U-M Detroit Center Engagement

UMDC ENGAGEMENT TRAINING WORKSHOP
SAT, OCT. 27, 8:30 AM – 4 PM
@ U-M DETROIT CENTER

If you are interested in volunteerism, organizational capacity building, problem solving, research, project development or working in the City of Detroit, the U-M Detroit Centerhas two offerings for you. Their tour on Oct. 12th will show you a Detroit you most likely have never seen. Meet community leaders and learn first hand about the challenges and opportunities the city faces. Their engagement training workshop will teach you the best practices of engagement, volunteering, and the history of Detroit.

Workshop Info

 

D-Prize

REGULAR DEADLINE: NOV, 4
EXTENSION DEADLINE: NOV. 25

The world has already invented ways to end poverty, yet the best interventions are not being distributed at mass-scale. Can you design a business or NGO that solves one of the common distribution challenges? If selected, you would get $20,000 from D-Prize to launch a pilot in any region where extreme poverty exists.

Info & Application

 

Soulfull Project

INFO SESSION
WED, NOV. 7, 7 – 8 PM
1040 DANA BUILDING

The Soulfull Project is a subsidiary of the Campbell Soup Company that works to deliver nourishing food to all Americans by using the buy-one, give-one model. Megan Shea and Chip Heim, Co-Founders of The Soulfull project, will share their perspectives on food security. The event is free and welcomes all majors and schools as well as the public. This event is presented by Net Impact Undergrad in conjunction with the Net Impact Graduate chapter.

Event Info

 

Real-World Perspective on Poverty Solutions – Speaker Series

THE INCLUSIVE ECONOMY: HOW TO BRING WEALTH TO AMERICA’S POOR
MICHAEL D. TANNER
NOV. 14, 4 PM – 6PM
@ ROOM 2427, MASON HALL

Real World Perspectives on Poverty Solutions introduces the key issues regarding the causes and consequences of poverty through a lecture series featuring experts in policy and practice from across the nation. Lectures will be recorded and made available online,and lectures are free and open to the public.

In the Nov. 14 session, Michael Tanner, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, will discuss research on domestic policies, including social welfare, healthcare reform, and Social Security.

More info

M2Gate

PITCH EVENT: WED, NOV. 14, 3 – 4:30 PM
@ ROSS COLLOQUIUM

Twelve college students from the MENA region will travel to U-M to join up with their Michigan-based peers to participate in a pitch competition to cap off William Davidson Institute‘s M2GATE program. Over the span of eight weeks, several teams worked virtually to find solutions to real problems in the MENA region. The three best teams were chosen to come to Ann Arbor for the final pitch competition.

Pitch Event Info

EndPoverty Virtual Summit 2018

NOV 16, 9 AM – 2 PM EST – ONLINE

Featuring speakers from across venture capital, on the ground and around the world, this virtual summit will feature roundtable discussions as well as keynote speakers who will address the challenges of rolling out poverty solutions globally, looking to business for help, and helping with infrastructure.

Event Info


University of Michigan
700 E. University St., K3510 West
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1234
Phone  734.763.4214
Email  businessimpact@umich.edu

 

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