Volunteers + Persistence + Sunlight = Energy Independence. In five short years Solar Ypsi has gone from a cool idea to an inspiring bit of reality. With panels mounted on Ypsi's City Hall, the local Food Co-op and its River Street Bakery, this dedicated group is teaching others about the benefits of solar energy.
Growing Hope is spreading new volunteer seeds across Ypsilanti and Washtenaw County. It's a practice that has helped the non-profit grow exponentially over the last few years.Excerpt:Members of the community ready to put their spare time to good use met at the Growing Hope office to attend volunteer orientation Tuesday.The meeting that lasted a little more than an hour began at 1 p.m., focusing on the upcoming events that Growing Hope is gearing up for. Growing Hope, which fosters learning, improves nutrition, encourages self-reliance, and promotes positive community futures, is set to hold the two main events which are high priority for the non-profit organization.Read the rest of the story here.
Women's Exchange of Washtenaw is making room on its shelf for a new award and room in its ranks for a new chapter or two.The U.S. Small Business Administration will present the non-profit's co-founders, Carrie Hensel and Debra Power, with the "U.S. Small Business Administration’s Michigan Women in Business Champion of the Year for 2010" award later this week. That will come as the duo make preparations to grow the organization across the state in the near future."We think we have found something very unique and special and we want to share it," Power says.Women's Exchange of Washtenaw was founded two years ago as a place for businesswomen to network and create new business opportunities, generate referrals and find work. It now has a database of 800 women who partake in the organization. Women's Exchange of Washtenaw is not a membership organization, which allows participants the freedom to pay as they go.Hensel and Powers have enjoyed quite a bit of success with this model, creating an open and engaging environment for entrepreneurs without a Y chromosome. They expect to try and spread this model into the Lansing market later this year.Women's Exchange of Washtenaw will host the Women's Exchange of Washtenaw Forum 10 on May 21 at Kensington Court, 610 Hilton Blvd in Ann Arbor. The all-day event will feature regional speakers, workshops, breakout sessions and networking activities to engage the business community and work through the common issues women business leaders face in their efforts to grow and improve their companies. The event costs $75 before May 1 and $95 after. For information, click here.Source: Debra Power, co-founder of Women's Exchange of WashtenawWriter: Jon Zemke
Why go out for a great meal when you can create one yourself? Why eavesdrop on strangers at the next table when you can sit next to them and strike up a conversation? Underground breakfast salons, supper clubs, and soup making meet-ups are using locally produced foods to create great meals ...and a sense of community.
Shoot the moon! There are over 900 non-profit organizations in Washtenaw County, and most are headed up by women. Concentrate talks to a quartet of young women about the personal and professional rewards of non-profit leadership.
Growing Hope is taking root and flourishing in downtown Ypsilanti as it expands it budget and gets ready to go on a hiring spree.The non-profit has cultivated its budget from nothing in 2003 to a little more than $300,000 this year. That has allowed it to grow it staff to 11 people (nine full-time and two part-time) and it expects to fill another eight positions this spring. Those jobs are the equivalent of 10-week summer internships that pay about $900 a month and come with a $1,200 education tax credit."The growth has been tremendous," says Amanda Maria Edmonds, executive director of Growing Hope. And its not just staff wise. The non-profit has helped grow downtown Ypsilanti's Farmer's market from $20,000 in sales a few years ago to $108,000 in sales last year. That includes about $20,000 in sales that came from seniors or economically disadvantage people utilizing government programs like Bridge Cards. It expects to grow the farmer's market even more this year.Another growth area that is attracting attention to Growing Hope is its hoop house. That has allowed the non-profit to raise crops year round and attract hundreds of volunteers. Those volunteers range from people donating one day of their time to one day a week during the growing season."The hoop house has been the biggest attraction," Edmonds says. "It continues to draw people to us. It's pretty amazing to see people harvesting spinach in February when there is snow outside."The hoop house is next to Growing Hope's new home, a house on Michigan Avenue in the midst of restoration. The donated Tudor has benefited from a number of organizations, including Washtenaw Community College's construction program, the local plumbers union which roughed in $7,500 worth of kitchen plumbing and the generosity of the Next Generation Philanthropy, which works out of the Ann Arbor-based Community Foundation.Source: Amanda Maria Edmonds, executive director of Growing HopeWriter: Jon Zemke
Change and growth are becoming two key words for Ann Arbor-based Internet2.The network-providing non-profit has expanded to 96 people, adding nearly a dozen people since we checked in last late in 2008. It has made two executive team additions, including a new CTO. It also plans to replace its retiring CEO, Doug Van Houweling, soon."Doug will continue to lead the organization, as he has for the past twelve years, until the new CEO is selected and transitioned into the role," Beth Miller, marketing communications manager for Internet2, wrote in an email. "The search effort is underway."For now Internet2 has a number of positions it is trying to fill. Those openings include director for international relations, a director of network services and business operations and a network software engineer. More positions are set to open up later this year. Internet2 got its start in 1996 of providing high-performance networks for higher education and research labs. That was with a team of four people in Ann Arbor. Today it has an office in Washington, D.C., and several employees working remotely across the country.Source: Beth Miller, marketing communications manager for Internet2Writer: Jon Zemke
It took a bit of bouncing around but Ann Arbor native Neel Hajra finally found a home at NEW Center, where he's the CEO of the nonprofit that lends a hand to other nonprofits. Combining entrepreneurship, organizational guidance, and technological support, NEW has proven to be an invaluable asset for local boards and organizations.
With nearly 10K people a day encountering its paintings and sculptures U-M's hospitals might just be the biggest arts audience in the state. From patients to visitors to staff, its Gifts Of Art program provides music and culture to an amazingly diverse audience on a minuscule budget.
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