Source: Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project
Community Tech Worker program expands thanks to a new grant from the National Science Foundation.
Community Tech Worker program expands thanks to a new grant from the National Science Foundation.
The University of Michigan School of Information was awarded a $750,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to expand the Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project’s Community Tech Worker program from the eastside to Detroit’s northwest side by partnering with Live6 Alliance.
The Community Tech Worker program began in 2022 as a partnership between U-M and Jefferson East Inc. Its mission is to bridge the digital divide and provide access to good jobs for local community members. Detroit residents are trained on different business technologies (website platforms, social media, and point of sale systems) to become community tech workers who provide free tech support to Detroit small businesses.
“Our end goal would be making it possible for any organization within and beyond Detroit to take the Community Tech Worker curriculum and apply it to their own neighborhood program,” said Julie Hui, principal investigator for the program and assistant professor at the U-M School of Information.
So far, it’s been remarkably successful: 273 have been served and the program has been integrated into the Detroit Means Business website. Approximately 98% of the businesses served are Black-owned; 70% are women-owned. The majority of businesses served are Black and women-owned.
“We’re really excited about the expansion and to be Detroit’s first westside organization hosting the tech workers,” said Caitlin Murphy, executive director of Live6. “We have a lot of legacy business owners that have been located in our business for decades and could really use an improvement in web presence.”
