Our roundup of the latest news from metro Detroit and Michigan businesses as well as announcements from government agencies. To share a business or nonprofit story, please send us a message.
Meijer Earns Top Score in Human Rights Corporate Equality Index
Grand Rapids-based Meijer has received a score of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2023-2024 Corporate Equality Index, a benchmarking survey and report measuring corporate policies and practices related to LGBTQ+ workplace equality.
Also called the CEI Equality 100 Award, this is the retailer’s fourth consecutive year receiving the highest score.
Meijer has grown its team member resource group program by 300 percent in the past year. Those groups include Meijer Pride, Meijer Disability Awareness and Advocacy Group, Women at Meijer, YoPro (young professionals), mVets (veterans), and MOSAIC (diverse backgrounds including cultural and faith traditions).
“This achievement recognizes our ongoing commitment to LGBTQ+ inclusion both at Meijer and in the communities we serve,” says Terry Ledbetter, chief information officer at Meijer and executive sponsor for the company’s Meijer Pride TMRG. “Benchmarking year after year helps ensure access to benefits, policies, resources, and relationships critical for our team members so they too can bring their best selves to work every day.”
The full report is available online.
CCS Students Take Third Place in LG Electronics’ Wonderbox Showcase 2023
Luke Fabricatore, Julian Dalat, and Sam Miller, students at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, took third place in the second annual LG Wonderbox Showcase 2023, a 3-D digital art contest tailored for college-level art students.
The third-place work is titled “Life’s Path,” and features a ball and track design that symbolizes life’s ups and downs and optimistically moving forward throughout good and not so good times.
Fabricatore, a student from Detroit studying communication design at CCS, says he plans to empower creators in the creative space. Dalat, also from Detroit and studying communication design, aims to pursue user experience design, while Miller, studying filmmaking at the New York Film Academy, aspires to make a mark in the film industry.
“The centerpiece of our artwork is a simple yet expressive yellow smiley ball,” said the “Life’s Path” team in a statement. “This cheerful character embarks on a journey through a loop track that symbolizes life’s ups and downs. We have meticulously chosen colors, shapes, and lighting to not only add aesthetic appeal but to convey optimism and resilience. These elements coalesce to highlight the joys and challenges of life while maintaining a positive outlook. Our message is clear and hopeful. Life is full of various experiences, but it’s through these experiences, especially the joyful ones, that life is truly good.”
The theme of this year’s contest centered around the concept of “Life’s Good with Optimism,” encouraging a positive perspective and outlook on life that attracted talented students who submitted their entries for consideration. The winners’ artwork is being prominently displayed on LG’s billboard in the heart of New York City’s Times Square.
Eastern Michigan University Presidential Scholar Earns Gates Scholarship
Honors freshman Anyah Johnson from Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti has become the first EMU student to be awarded The Gates Scholarship.
This scholarship, granted annually to only 300 students nationwide from a pool of more than 35,000 applicants, is a highly selective, last-dollar scholarship designed for exceptional minority students exhibiting outstanding leadership qualities. To qualify, applicants must graduate in the top 10 percent of their high school class and demonstrate exemplary personal success skills.
Johnson also has acquired 10 scholarships on top of her Gates and EMU Presidential Scholarships to aid in funding her venture into the EMU Aviation Flight Technology program.
The EMU Presidential Scholarship is the most prestigious award that the university provides to eligible, incoming, first-year students. Valued up to $100,000, it covers full tuition, fees, and room and board for four years. The Gates Scholarship will cover the additional cost of Johnson’s flight training, estimated at $80,000 over four years.
“Together, the Gates Foundation and Eastern Michigan’s Honors College have given me a chance a majority of economically disadvantaged scholars do not have: a debt-free college degree and, in particular, one that will allow me to become a pilot,” Johnson says. “I am grateful that I will not join the 45 million Americans paying student loans well past the obtention of their degree.”
Families Against Narcotics, Local Organizations Team Up for Free Narcan Training
Families Against Narcotics, a Clinton Township-based nonprofit that assists individuals and families affected by substance use disorder, is teaming up with two Grosse Pointe organizations for Narcan training at a Grosse Pointe bar.
FAN — in partnership with the Healthy Grosse Pointe and Harper Woods Coalition and the Family Center of Grosse Pointe and Harper Woods — will be conducting free Narcan training on 7 p.m. Jan. 22, at Rustic Cabins in Grosse Pointe Park.
Narcan, a brand name naloxone nasal spray, is a safe medication that can save someone’s life by reversing the effects of an opioid overdose caused by drugs like heroin, prescription painkillers, and fentanyl. Everyone attending the one-hour class will receive a free Narcan kit.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control, an average of 300 people die of drug overdoses each and every day in the United States. The vast majority of those deaths involve fentanyl or other synthetic opioids, and many overdoses happen in places where people socialize, like restaurants and bars.
“The reason my husband Bobby and I decided to host the Narcan training at the Rustic Cabins is because we felt we could bring in local businesspeople who have the same concerns about the rise in drug overdoses in our community,” says Michelle Conlan, owner of Rustic Cabins. “We have kids who are in their 20s and both know at least one person who has been affected by an overdose.”
MaryJo Harris, director of programs and administration for the Family Center of Grosse Pointe and Harper Woods and the coordinator of the Healthy Grosse Pointe and Harper Woods Coalition, explained the goal of this training: “The Family Center and Healthy Grosse Pointe and Harper Woods Coalition have partnered with FAN to provide Narcan training in our community at a local college, our libraries, and community centers. The goal of offering Narcan training at a bar is to provide the bar employees and community members with the knowledge of how to help someone who may have had an opioid overdose. This further broadens our outreach to other areas of the community that we have not previously engaged.”
