Detroit’s Young & Restless Talk Up Motor City
By Carol Cain Senior Producer and Host WWJ-TV CBS Detroit “Michigan Matters”
Phil Cooley is among those on “Michigan Matters” talking about the creative class helping Detroit. (credit: Greg Shattuck of WWJ-TV CBS Detroit)
If you want to know what’s really going on in the Motor City, don’t believe what you read in “Time Magazine” or other national media more intent on showing the underbelly of problems. Watch Michigan Matters online.
If you want to know, get out and talk to those working behind the scenes to improve the tidings of Detroit, the region and state. Growingly, it is young people at the forefront of these efforts.
“It’s sort of like what took place here 100 years ago when Henry Ford and others created the auto industry when it didn’t exist,” said Phil Cooley, 33-year-old model turned successful restaurant owner working to improve Southwest Detroit.
“Detroit is all about innovation,” said Cooley, co-owner of Slows BAR B Q which has gained a huge following in the few years it has been opened. Located on Michigan Avenue across the street from the idled train station it might not have been an attractive spot on paper for a successful enterprise.
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Rishi Jaitley, who worked for Google in India and other places, just moved to Detroit with his wife and daughter.
“The momentum in Detroit these days is palpable,” said Jaitly.
“A sure way to sustain progress is to create easy opportunities for all Detroiters – young and old, new and settled – to concretely participate in and lead these efforts going forward,” he added.
Jaitly led Knight Foundation to recently launch Kiva Detroit, which empowers Detroiters to lend to and champion small businesses in their own community.
And this coming Monday, Jaitly said the Knight Foundation will launch BME , an effort to celebrate, support, and connect unsung heroes among Detroit’s black men and teens.
About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Knight Foundation supports transformational ideas that promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. We believe that democracy thrives when people and communities are informed and engaged. For more, visit www.knightfoundation.org.