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University of Michigan’s DNEP and BoodleBox Partner to Bring AI Tools to Detroit Small Businesses
UMich Students to help 120+ Detroit businesses scale their impact, supported by AI solutions.
Ann Arbor, MI [August 28, 2025] – The Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project (DNEP) at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and BoodleBox, a leading collaborative AI platform, are partnering to provide Detroit’s small businesses with free access to cutting-edge AI tools and training. Together, DNEP and BoodleBox are taking a significant step forward in democratizing access to resources that can help local entrepreneurs thrive.
The partnership will kick off in September with a series of customized workshops called “AI Show & Tell” that are open to … -
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DNEP’s Community Tech Worker Project Expands to Live6 with National Science Foundation Grant
The University of Michigan School of Information was awarded a $750,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to expand the Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project’s Community Tech Worker (CTW) program from the eastside to Detroit’s northwest side by partnering with Live6 Alliance.
Started in 2022 as a partnership between the University of Michigan and Jefferson East Inc. (JEI), the CTW program began with the dual mission of bridging the digital divide and providing access to good jobs for local community members. Detroit residents are trained on different business technologies (website platforms, social media, and point of sale systems) to become community tech … -
U-M students put skills to work through summer internship program, helping Detroit communities
Each summer many students scramble for the chance to gain work experience through an internship, happy to get even one company or business to bite. But for Samantha Lang, a junior in the Ford School of Public Policy, the summer was rich with opportunities. Through her involvement with The Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project she worked with Detroit small businesses like Fit4Life, Sister Pie, Pink Poodle Dress Lounge and Bags to Butterflies, all the while supporting and strengthening the local community.
The Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project connects small businesses with University of Michigan students and staff to help solve the issues they … -
U-M awarded grant to support Detroit entrepreneurs in bridging digital divide
An interdisciplinary team from the University of Michigan was awarded $300,000 from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to train local residents and U-M students to provide one-on-one technology support to Detroit entrepreneurs. The project aims to better understand the types and complexity of technology support that small businesses need, along with preferences around timing and delivery.
The researchers will work with U-M alum Lutalo Sanifu (MURP ‘18) and his colleagues at Jefferson East, Inc, a nonprofit community organization committed to developing work for Detroiters and reducing barriers to small business growth and expansion.
The university project team includes Kristin Seefeldt, associate director … -
Detroit’s small business owners see summer boost through entrepreneurs project
Working through a pandemic has been stressful enough for Detroit’s small-business community. Finding enough time, energy and talent to expand their companies through innovative programs, social media or new strategy has been doubly difficult. But a group of business owners got fresh insights into how to grow thanks to some uniquely talented University of Michigan student consultants.
These students in the Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project, their advisors and community participants recently met on Zoom to outline the work seven student teams did for Detroit small businesses such as Ivy Kitchen + Cocktails, recapping problems Detroit business owners asked students to address … -
Applying academic skills to real-world business challenges
Small businesses in Detroit, as across the country, have had to make major adjustments to survive the COVID-19 pandemic economic downturn. A cadre of students from U-M have been able to work with many of these businesses through an internship program coordinated by the Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project (DNEP) at the Ford School of Public Policy and +Impact Studio for Local Business (ISLB) at the Ross School of Business.
I have been fortunate to be a part of one of the multidisciplinary teams, collaborating with students from Ford and Ross as well as the Stamps School of Art & Design, the … -
New U-M interdisciplinary clinic assists Detroit entrepreneurs
Two weeks ago, 22 students from the Law School, the Ross School of Business, and the Stamps School of Art & Design plus 10 faculty members from those same schools gathered in an unremarkable Ross classroom for what is the beginning of a remarkable experience: the launch of a new interdisciplinary clinic at the University of Michigan known as the Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project (DNEP).
DNEP is a cross-school engaged learning experience that brings together law students, business students, art and design students, and engineering/computer science students into interdisciplinary teams to provide advice and services to selected Detroit entrepreneurs. According to … -
Center on Finance, Law, and Policy secures grant to assist Detroit entrepreneurs
Students interview a pop-up restaurateur in Detroit as part of the Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project.
Photo credit: Abigail DeHart ’19LThe Center on Finance, Law, and Policy, run by faculty director Michael Barr, has received a $125,000 grant from JPMorgan Chase for the Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project.
The project, an interdisciplinary initiative involving the University of Michigan’s Law School, Ross School of Business, and Stamps School of Art & Design, helps Detroit neighborhood-based small businesses navigate a range of growth challenges including incorporation, intellectual property protection, automation, and more.
Student and faculty teams provide individual, direct service to entrepreneurs to address their most pressing …
Stephen M. Ross School of Business
