After my first week participating in Duke Engage Detroit, I feel extremely excited to be able to work with a community partner like TechTown Detroit. In this time of economic crisis, TechTown has taken on a new program called 313 Strong centered around assisting small businesses that have been seriously affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. This is very important for Detroit’s economy and staying committed to addressing the needs of a growing economy is vital. While my role is currently a bit limited, it will start to become more clear as the program continues to grow and interact with the Detroit community. I am both intrigued and motivated by being able to work with individuals combating such a devastating economic circumstance and learn more about Detroit’s community through the scope of these small businesses.
In addition, I will be working with all the programs of TechTown in a comprehensive study to identify internal improvements. During this time, I will be able to learn more about the different pathways for economic assistance. This makes it such that I will not only be able to learn about the various strategies, programs and resources implemented to help the local economy in the past, but also how they have transitioned to apply them to the current situation. Social enterprise work is something I have always been interested in. I feel that I will now be able to have a concrete understanding of how to go about making meaningful economic change within a community. Overall, I am extremely excited to begin working with TechTown to learn more about the ways to stimulate economic growth and learn more about the Detroit community.