Nick Tobier Leads Social Entrepreneurship Workshop at FocusHope

On June 9, 2011, A&D Associate Professor Nick Tobier and colleagues Moses Lee and Lorelle Meadows from U of M College of Engineering’s Center for Entrepreneurship led a workshop on Social Entrepreneurship for FocusHope’s executive leadership. 

In 1968, Father William Cunningham (1930 — 1997) and Eleanor Josaitis co-founded Focus: HOPE, an organization dedicated to intelligent and practical solutions to the problems of hunger, economic disparity, inadequate education, and racial divisiveness. Today FocusHope is a nationally renowned civil and human rights organization diligently working to bridge the racial divide in southeast Michigan through Food programs, Career training programs, and HOPE Village Initiative. Since the mid-1990s, Focus: HOPE’s community development and community arts programs have improved the quality of life for residents in its surrounding neighborhood. These efforts were expanded in 2009 with the launch of the new HOPE Village Initiative which is committed to supporting academic achievement of children living in the neighborhoods around the campus. Inspired by the Harlem Children’s Zone, the HOPE Village Initiative aims to make this area of the city a desirable place to live, work and raise a family.