The Skillman Foundation and the Campaign for Black Male Achievement have launched their second Detroit Innovation Challenge, which will invest $500,000 in programs to improve life outcomes for youth of color in Detroit.

“Detroit has a unique opportunity to become a model of an inclusive city, where all citizens are acknowledged as assets,” says Tonya Allen, president & CEO of the Skillman Foundation. “We must be intentional about including people along with economic recovery. We can’t leave it to chance, for the lucky few. We must invest in people, youth in particular, if our city and our country are to regain prosperity and influence.”

Anyone can enter the challenge. You don’t have to have an established program or organization.

For example, Anise Hayes, a 2016-17 Innovation Challenge winner, used the experience to launch Our Town, a program that trains youth to guide city tours, helping them build public speaking skills as well as their historical knowledge of their hometown. Since becoming an awardee, Hayes has engaged 130 high school students in her program and attracted additional funding to her organization.

“We worked in collaboration with students to ensure we were connecting to relevant topics in their lives,” she says, crediting Innovation Challenge’s focus on including young people in project development. “College, career, and community: these were areas of great concern to our students, and they often lacked exposure to places in Detroit connected to these themes.”

Your idea must fit one of these goals:

• Ensure all youth of color are ready for school
• All youth of color are engaged and progressing in school
• All youth of color are prepared for career success
• All youth of color are participating in the new economy
• All youth of color are supported in our community

Ideas should be submitted online at MBKDetroit.org by April 30.

Twenty ideas will be awarded $5,000 each and provided a suite of professional supports to develop pilot programs. Six top programs will then receive $50,000 each and continued coaching to support their full launch.

Professional supports may include mentorship from established business/nonprofit leaders, invitation to the Campaign for Black Male Achievement Social Innovator Retreat, and pro-bono services such as graphic design, marketing, legal support and more.

“The growth and impact shown by our first cohort has been extraordinary,” says Shawn Dove, CEO of the Campaign for Black Male Achievement. “There is no cavalry coming to save our communities. The leaders we’re waiting for are already here among us. I am so proud to support their development through CBMA and the Detroit Innovation Challenge.”

More information about the MBK/MSK Detroit Innovation Challenge can be found at www.MBKDetroit.org.

Four information sessions will be held in mid-April; details will be posted on MBKDetroit.org.

The Innovation Challenge is part of the My Brother’s Keeper Detroit initiative. In its second iteration, the Innovation Challenge has added a My Sister’s Keeper track. The MBK/MSK Detroit Innovation Challenge seeks to foster individuals and organizations that are committed to closing the opportunity gaps faced by Detroit’s youth of color.

  Anise Hayes, Campaign for Black Male Achievement, Detroit Innovation Challenge, My Brother’s Keeper, My Sister’s Keeper, Our Town, programs to help youth of color in Detroit, Shawn Dove, Skillman Foundation, Tonya Allen, tours of Detroit