NEIdeas challenge returns for second year of grants to Detroit businesses with ideas for growth

Last year, the New Economy Initiative and the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation teamed up to award 32 existing small businesses in Detroit, Hamtramck, and Highland Park a combined total of over $500,000 for their ideas for growth.

Instead of focusing on startups like other Detroit business competitions, NEIdeas is designed specifically for small businesses that are at least three years old and have had a lasting impact on their neighborhoods — established businesses like Touch of Class Restoration, a Brightmoor-based construction and remediation company that used its 2014 NEIdeas award to buy new equipment and hire a marketing manager, and G + C Style, a 50-year-old storefront barber shop that used its award to expand its services to repairing and sharpening clippers for other barber shops.

Read the full write-up on Model D