Newsroom

Search News: 

Six men and women posing with a shovel and construction hat at a construction site

DEGC sets priorities for a transformational 2019

Jan 3, 2019

From Kevin Johnson, President and CEO

Happy New Year and welcome to 2019. As an optimist who truly enjoys his work, I always look forward to starting a New Year. Don’t get me wrong, I love spending time with family and friends but I’m equally excited to dive into what will be DEGC’s 41st year in business.

This year, the DEGC will focus on three priorities:

  1. Prepare Detroit for investment opportunities
  2. Attract new businesses to Detroit
  3. Drive neighborhood growth

Prepare Detroit: As you’ve heard me say, if you stay ready, you never have to get ready. First and foremost, that means assembling the land companies need to build and grow. Our Real Estate team is working with the City to assemble attractive and salable parcels of land for developers and identify facilities and other assets that can be repurposed.

We’re also working on our procedural readiness – streamlining and simplifying our processes, and helping companies get the resources they need to bring business to Detroit.

Attracting New Business: Our Business Development team is doubling down on bringing new investors to Detroit. Our city is bursting with competitive advantages – our proximity to global markets, mobility leadership, talent pipeline, competitive cost of living, cultural attractions and swagger, to name just a few. Our team will be circling the globe to find companies that will bring the right opportunities to Detroit in terms of quality jobs, community partnerships and industry cluster alignment.

Driving Neighborhood Growth: Our Small Business Services team is having great success adding retail density to our commercial corridors. They will continue to help build and retain small and medium-sized businesses that add jobs, high-demand goods and services, and neighborhood stabilization which will help balance growth in our city.

Having spent 2018 getting to know the DEGC staff and the members of our Board, I am confident that we’ll achieve these goals and more. Working together with Mayor Mike Duggan and his staff, our Board Chair Jerry Norcia, our regional partners and all the economic development advocates in the city, I am certain DEGC is positioned to make 2019 a truly transformative year for Detroit.

Five things you should know about the DEGC:

  1. Motor City Match Round 15 and Motor City Re-store Round 7 applications are open through Jan. 4.
  2. Kevin Johnson will serve as speaker at the Detroit Economic Club’s 2019 Economic Outlook Meeting on Jan. 8.
  3. On Jan. 15, DEGC in partnership with Chemical Bank will host a Pre-Rehabilitation Opportunity Session (PROS) for Detroit-based contractors seeking construction opportunities in the city.
  4. MCM Awardee, Dymond Designs Beauty School is now accepting applications for full-time and part-time cosmetology classes. Apply here.
  5. Our partners at the Detroit Development Fund were recently featured in Fortune Magazine: How Detroit Became a Model for Urban Renewal.

Recent Headlines

A halal-culinary adventure: Motor City Match winner, with deep community ties, celebrates restaurant opening ahead of Ramadan

A Detroit restaurant, bakery and catering service specializing in healthy, organic, and halal-friendly food, celebrated its grand opening with Mayor Mike Duggan, city leaders and community members just in time for Ramadan – a holy observance for Muslims where followers abstain from eating between sunrise and sunset. Supreme Café Founder, Jamaal Muhammad, was joined by Mayor Duggan, city officials and community members at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for his establishment, marking the 146th brick-and-mortar business opened by Motor City Match.

More than just a place to wash clothes: Motor City Match winner opens laundromat that doubles as a community resource center

Our Community Laundromat, LLC is more than a place to wash clothes. The facility in Detroit’s Bethune Community neighborhood aspires to become a beloved space where residents can receive clean clothing and valuable community resources. Mayor Mike Duggan and city leaders today held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the laundromat, marking the 145th brick-and-mortar opened by Motor City Match.