When people talk about paving the way for the next generation of community leaders and activists they're talking about someone like D'Real Graham. Born and raised in Ypsilanti, Graham ran for his local school board, serves on the city's Recreation Commission, taught science at Ann Arbor's Hands On Museum and is the program coordinator for 826Michigan. And he's only 26.
Accent Reduction Institute could have moved wherever it wanted last year when Menlo Innovations, which it shared office space with, relocated from its Kerrytown headquarters closer to the University of Michigan's campus. Instead, the 7-year-old company found another office in downtown Ann Arbor. "This is home to us even though north of 98 percent of our clients are outside of southeast Michigan," says Judy Ravin, president & founder of Accent Reduction Institute. She adds that she and her executive team "love Ann Arbor. We are three University of Michigan graduates. We feel really connected to the community. It's a wonderfully business community." Accent Reduction Institute's close ties to U-M were a major reason for it staying nearby. The university serves a pipeline of talent for the company, mostly in the form of interns. Accent Reduction Institute has hired three of its former interns over the last year, expanding its staff to 20 people and 3-4 interns each year. "Our interns provide a wonderful pipeline for other interns," Ravin says. We get fantastic people to work with." The Accent Reduction Institute provides accent reduction training programs for non-native English speakers so they can carry on communication seamlessly. It also develops English pronunciation software to help people eliminate language barriers while maintaining their unique cultural identity. Menlo Associates, the holding company for Menlo Innovations, is still a major investor. Ravin points out that the talent gap for major companies is driving the Accent Reduction Institute's recent growth. She explains that as more baby boomers retire the company's are scrambling to find their best talent to replace them in the workforce. That in turn is prompting Accent Reduction Institute to add to its staff. It is currently looking for up to two more linguistics professionals. Source: Judy Ravin, president & founder of Accent Reduction Institutue Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
Backyard Brains insect neuroscience kits can not only be found across the U.S. this year, but also on the other side of the world. The Ann Arbor-base company is now exporting its products to a number of South American countries, thanks to an entrepreneurship program in Chile. Chile is going through an economic boom thanks to exports of natural resources. The government is using these good times to help spur more entrepreneurship through things like its StartupChile program, which brings in entrepreneurs from around the world to help inspire more business creation. Backyard Brains won one of the start-up grants and used it as a bridge to help spread its product sales to Chile and several other South American countries. "It's been great," says Tim Marzullo, co-founder of Backyard Brains. "We have actually received another round of funding from the Startup Chile program. We have been going back and forth from Chile for the last year." Marzullo and his partner Greg Gage, both neuroscientists, started Backyard Brains three years ago as a way to provide a cost-effective product that teaches grade-school students the workings of neurons in the brain. Its Robo Roach allows them to control insects via antennas. Since then the company has expanded to a team of nine and the occasional intern after adding five new positions in the last year. Backyard Brains initially received a National Institute of Health grant for start-up funding. It is now angling for a second round grant from the National Institute of Health and otherwise using sales of its products to fund its growth. Backyard Brains' products can now be found in all 50 states and on all seven continents after sales from its Chile distribution made it ways to Antarctica. "We are pretty well-known as the go-to company in the neuroscience equipment field," Marzullo says. Source: Tim Marzullo, co-founder of Backyard Brains Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
For those of you who have been living in a cave (or don't have children), Minecraft is a game that lets players do and build essentially anything they want. It also offers educators a unique opportunity to create programs that simultaneously teach and engage kids. What a concept! The A2 Public Library already recognizies how Minecraft is more than just the latest substitution for Mario Brothers, offering programs and events. Watch why here. And take a tour of Ann Arbor in Minecraft here.
Last month, A2 Ethics held their third annual Big Ethical Question Slam. Concentrate's Tanya Muzumdar talks with the winners about the community's questions, the team's answers and what strategies are involved when a competition asks you to tackle the weightiest of issues.
Last week, Concentrate's speaker event asked 826Michigan's executive director Amanda Uhle how her organization attracts and activates so many volunteers and what a robot repair store has to do with teaching kids to write. If you missed the event you can still learn the answers in our video.
As any non-profit organization will tell you, much of their efforts are powered by ordinary folks donating their time. That couldn't be truer for 826Michigan, a hip Ann Arbor-based tutoring and literacy nonprofit that mobilizes hundreds of dedicated volunteers every year. Concentrate's Speaker Series has invited executive director Amanda Uhle to explain the methods and challenges of attracting energetic volunteers and how 826 leverages their unique identity to thrive. Sign up now for this Feb. 28 event!
Business leaders call them "human capital," economists call them educated people. Either way you slice the tomato, both consider it a key factor in regional growth and development. Richard Florida takes a look at what human capital in suburban vs urban settings looks like. Excerpt: "Perhaps not surprisingly, college towns predominate when we add smaller metros (with populations of less than one million) to the list. With nearly 70 percent of adults holding bachelor degrees, Ann Arbor comes in first, followed by State College, Pennsylvania (69.2 percent), Iowa City (55.9 percent), Bloomington, Indiana (54.8 percent), Corvallis, Oregon (53.1 percent), Boulder, Colorado (50.9 percent), Columbia, Missouri (50.4 percent), Madison, Wisconsin (48.1 percent), Lawrence, Kansas (47.6 percent) and Champaign-Urbana, Illinois (47.4 percent)." Read the rest here.
The recent morphing of a garage into an art classroom is another coup for the arts community in the village of Chelsea. And it's certainly what aspiring potters and sculptors have been waiting for. Next week, the Chelsea Center for the Arts will begin holding classes in the new room, converted from the garage portion of its circa-1923 brick building at 400 Congdon St.. New plumbing, heating, air conditioning, walls and ceiling, electrical, and lighting were installed. A windowed garage door lights the space. "What makes it so nice is that it can be open. We have a garage door... that can be fully opened up to our secured garden area in the rear of the building," says Lisa Baylis Gonzalez, the center's executive director. "It's going to be a great open space, a great open studio, in the summer months, in the nice months." The $30,000 project was funded with a grant from the Worthington Family Foundation. The center now has a pottery wheel and kiln in the classroom addition – amenities it lacked before. Open studio time will be available, and Baylis Gonzalez anticipates class sizes of about eight students each. "This is certainly a project that we needed to add classes and hopefully add programs like crazy, which will hopefully lead to more staff time as we build the program," Baylis Gonzalez says. Source: Lisa Baylis Gonzales, executive director, Chelsea Center for the Arts Writer: Tanya Muzumdar
Echo360, a Virginia-based educational technology company, has acquired LectureTools and plans to continue growing the start-up in Ann Arbor. LectureTools' technology is working to reinvent the software programs used for educational materials, such as course packs, handouts and quizzes. It was originally developed at the University of Michigan and spun out of the university two years ago. The company now employs five people and an intern. Details of its acquisition were not released but it does appear the start-up will stay rooted in its downtown Ann Arbor office. Echo360 specializes in educational learning tools and plans to use LectureTools' technology not only in its own software but also to build up the brand independently. "One of the reasons we were acquired is so we can build it out to our true vision quickly," says Jason Aubrey, co-founder of LectureTools. "We're also building it out with Echo360s products." Aubrey expects to begin really scaling LectureTools technology in January. The company recently hired one person in customer development and is looking to hire two more people in design and user-experience. Source: Jason Aubrey, co-founder of LectureTools Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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