Downtown : News from Detroit

A recent article in the Detroit News details the increase in minority owned businesses downtown. But a few caveats remain. 

In this week's jobs news roundup, check out stories on the Michigan-China Innovation Center in downtown Detroit and two growing companies in the auto industry. 

Votes have been cast and the totals have been tallied as the top ten contestants in the 2016 Comerica Hatch Detroit Contest have been whittled down to the final four.

According to the Detroit News, a new "pink zone" pilot program, meant to ease zoning restrictions, could be on the way next summer.

Thousands of affordable housing and community development professionals are convening in Detroit this week for the NeighborWorks Training Institute, a symposium that's expected to generate $3.3 million in local investment.

In the program's first year, Motor City Match has awarded $2 million in grants to 40 small businesses, leveraging over $13 million in total investment in the city.

Last week Berg Muirhead and Associates was one of Detroit's most recognizable boutique public relations agencies. This week it has a new name, Van Dyke Horn Public Relations, and new owners.

A recent article in City Lab explores the way cities, including Detroit, are creatively rethinking use of the alley.

Titled "Strait Outta Downtown," the article profiles apartments and houses in The Jeffersonian, "a 30-story, 410-unit midcentury masterpiece," and the Joseph Berry Subdivision.

The Detroit Creative Corridor Center wants to help figure out how best to harness the Motor City's flair for design to improve its local economy. It's launching the Detroit City of Design initiative to make that happen.

Two buildings in Old Redford will be saved by converting them into a police precinct headquarters and community outreach center. 

Public art is fast becoming part of Detroit's redevelopment. According to artist Nicole MacDonald, it's "all about empowerment."

The Detroit Conservation Corps provides unemployed residents in Detroit, Hamtramck, and Highland Park job training and certification in the landscape industry.

Build Institute is hosting a number of Build Bazaars pop-up marketplaces and Open City small business forums across the city this summer.

The small business competition awards grant funding, design and technical support, and landlord-tenant match-making assistance.