Calling Dan Gilbert: Our Solution to Detroit's youth unemployment issue

Nearly a quarter of youth in the United States are unemployed:

High youth unemployment multiplied by a high unemployment area yields a 59% youth unemployment rate, according to Data Driven Detroit.

Kids graduating from Michigan State and the University of Michigan are leaving the state to find jobs elsewhere. 

Yet companies like Grand Circus, part of Detroit Venture Partners, exist to train world-class technologists. Quicken Loans relocated most of their staff to Detroit– with 9,200 working downtown now.  Bizdom is a startup accelerator that is ranked one of the nation’s 10 best.

And though the city of Detroit filed the largest municipal bankruptcy ever in July, at $18 billion dollars, the area is ranked #3 in the nation for finding a tech job.

Dan Gilbert, the outspoken billionaire who is behind many of the initiatives to rebuild Detroit, says Detroit’s best days are to come.

We visited with a few of the portfolio companies this past week to witness first-hand the entrepreneurial energy.

We met some of the folks at Detroit Venture Partners, the head of training and development at Quicken Loans, the CEO of OneReverseMortgage,

the social team at Quicken Loans, an independent film studio, Tom Silverman of Tommy Boy, and a few others. 

We saw downtown revitalized, and safe. A picture from the rooftop pool of our hotel:

Yet many still are misinformed. Witness opinions on what it’s like to be in Detroit.

Here is a good example:

And at the end of this trip, we found ourselves saying that we’d actually consider moving our company to Detroit.  

Why?

• Strong labor pool– more loyal than in San Francisco and at a lower cost.
• Tight community– a network of companies that supports one another, unlike New York City.
• Vision– We’ve drunk Dan Gilbert’s Kool-Aid, as we believe strongly in teaching young graduates and creating employment.

Dan– if you’re reading this.

Put some money in our company and we’ll move folks to Detroit to grow our business here, plus train and recruit locally. Let me show you our plan for Detroit.

My cell is (817) 913-0780.

We want to achieve greatness in creating MASSIVE employment in the tech sector– doesn’t matter if it’s lead generation for Quicken Loans or driving sales for the local mold remediation company.

The principles are the same and highly scalable with gamification techniques, which those of all ages understand.

We are relentless to find a way.

And we expect to hear a YES before a NO.

This post was edited and posted by Drake Grey, an analyst on his very first day with our company. He’s 21 and would be excited to move to Detroit.

What do you say?

Dennis Yu

Dennis Yu is co-author of the #1 best selling book on Amazon in social media, The Definitive Guide to TikTok Ads. He has spent a billion dollars on Facebook ads across his agencies and agencies he advises. Mr. Yu is the "million jobs" guy-- on a mission to create one million jobs via hands-on social media training, partnering with universities and professional organizations. You can find him quoted in major publications and on television such as CNN, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, NPR, and LA Times. Clients have included Nike, Red Bull, the Golden State Warriors, Ashley Furniture, Quiznos-- down to local service businesses like real estate agents and dentists. He's spoken at over 750 conferences in 20 countries, having flown over 6 million miles in the last 30 years to train up young adults and business owners. He speaks for free as long as the organization believes in the job-creation mission and covers business class travel. You can find him hiking tall mountains, eating chicken wings, and taking Kaqun oxygen baths-- likely in a city near you.

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