The Pure Michigan Social Entrepreneurship Challenge is taking on one of the toughest challenges of unemployment, the structurally unemployed.
The structurally unemployed are characterized as people who are low-income, have a criminal history, at risk youth, high school drop outs, functionally illiterate or have been unemployed for long periods of time.
"They're people who have difficulty finding a job even when jobs are plentiful," says Jim Durian, director of
Community Ventures, which is part of the Michigan Economic Development Corp. "They have barriers to finding employment."
To help solve this conundrum, Community Ventures is sponsoring a $25,000 prize at the Pure Michigan Social Entrepreneurship Challenge for socially entrepreneurial start-ups that help encourage the hiring of structurally unemployed individuals.
The
Pure Michigan Social Entrepreneurship Challenge is a statewide competition designed to advance ideas and solutions that address social challenges. The competition is looking for start-ups with an emerging entrepreneurial idea or replicable model from an existing organization for sustainable social change in a wide range of areas including but not limited to urban revitalization, environment, health, and education. It is being organized by the
Michigan Corps and
Great Lakes Entrepreneur's Quest, two organizations that have roots in the Ann Arbor area.
The deadline to applying to the company is March 27. For information, click
here.
Source: Jim Durian, director of Community Ventures
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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