by Kate Abbey-Lambertz, Huffington Post, originally published 11/13/12
When the group that runs a robot supply store announced plans to expand to Detroit next year, it had nothing to do with the upcoming “Robocop” remake, or even the city’s growing tech scene. Instead, it’s the writing and tutoring nonprofit tucked behind that Ann Arbor shop that will bring its services to Detroit students.
826Michigan, the local offshoot of a network of nonprofit tutoring centers founded 10 years ago in San Francisco by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Dave Eggers (A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius), will expand with help from a $100,000 DTE Energy grant. They’ve long wanted to bring the student-focused programs to the city, said Amanda Uhle, executive director of the Michigan chapter.
“From the outset, certainly since I started in 2006, we have aspired to do more in Detroit and serve students in a really significant way,” Uhle said. “In the meantime, the economy has been challenging and we’ve had enough to do to stabilize our organization.”
826 Michigan has run some programs for Detroit students and schools, but Uhle said the challenge has been that their volunteers are primarily Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti-based. “That’s really not our model … we recruit volunteers who are from a certain community and allow students to be inspired by and learn from adult members of their community,” she explained.
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