DBusiness Daily Update: The John Shippen National Invitational Golf Series Sets 2023 Schedule, and More

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.
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Photo of John Shippen statue on a golf course
The John Shippen has hosted 76 Black golfers, awarded nine playing opportunities on the PGA Tour and LPGA, and donated $320,000 to local charities, scholarships, and fellowships. // Photo courtesy of The John Shippen

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.

The John Shippen National Invitational Golf Series Sets 2023 Schedule

Detroit-based Intersport has announced the 2023 schedule for The John Shippen National Invitational, a series of competitions created to provide playing opportunities on the PGA Tour and LPGA for the nation’s top Black men and women golfers.

The John Shippen Sports Business Summit will be conducted for the third time to address the lack of representation in business and leadership roles within the business of sports for people of color.

Now in its third year, The John Shippen has hosted 76 Black golfers, awarded nine playing opportunities on the PGA Tour and LPGA, and donated $320,000 to local charities, scholarships, and fellowships.

In 2022, Shippen alumni Sadena Parks and Anita Uwadia made the cut and finished T-36 at the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational, and Willie Mack III and Tim O’Neal earned respective memberships on the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour Champions via the fall qualifying school (Q-School).

The events are named after John Shippen Jr., who was both the first American-born golf professional and the country’s first Black golf professional.

The John Shippen Cognizant Cup has a new name and location, taking place May 8 at Upper Montclair Country Club in Clifton, N.J. The women’s contest of The John Shippen National Invitational will be played June 6-7 at Blythefield Country Club in Grand Rapids. The men’s competition will be played June 24-25 at Detroit Golf Club.

The winner of the Grand Rapids event will earn an exemption into the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give (June 15-18), as well as an exemption into the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational, the LPGA tournament scheduled for July 19–-22 in Midland. The Shippen winner will choose a partner to compete alongside them in the Dow GLBI, which is a two-player team event.

The winner of the men’s event will once again be awarded an exemption into the PGA Tour’s Rocket Mortgage Classic June 29-July 2 in Detroit.

The John Shippen also was created to address the lack of representation in business and leadership roles in golf and across professional sports for people of color. In 2022, The John Shippen Sports Business Summit paired 350 high school and college students of color with sports industry leaders including representatives from CDW, the Detroit Pistons, the Detroit Lions, Trap Golf, and Pensole Lewis College for a day of educational programming centered around the business of sports. Dates and details surrounding The John Shippen Sports Business Summit in Detroit will be announced in the near future.

For more information, visit thejohnshippen.com.

Former Rep. Brenda Lawrence Joins Spill the Honey as Executive Director

Spill the Honey, a Detroit-based nonprofit organization whose mission is to highlight the historic alliances between the African American and Jewish communities, has named former U.S. Rep. Brenda Lawrence as its executive director.

Lawrence served four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and nearly five decades of dedicating herself as a public servant – including 30 years at the United States Postal Service, a Southfield councilwoman, and the first African American and woman to serve as mayor of the Southfield.

Founded in 2012, Spill the Honey was inspired by the wisdom of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Eliezer Ayalon, a protégé of Eli Wiesel. A Holocaust survivor like Wiesel, Ayalon was gifted a cup of honey from his mother the final day she would see him before being sent by the Nazis to five concentration camps. The honey symbolized a sense of hope and survival and is the inspiration of the organization’s name.

“I’m deeply honored to lead this very important organization in terms of educating, shepherding, and raising the mantle on the significance of the historic alliance between Blacks and Jews during the Civil Rights Movement and beyond,” says Lawrence. “Serving in this capacity was the next right step, as I’ve spent over 20 years building bridges within the Black and Jewish communities – from my tenure as the mayor of Southfield, serving one of the largest Jewish populations in the U.S. and serving as the founder and co-chair for the Congressional Caucus on Black and Jewish Relations. The work that lies ahead for the next generation cements this move.”

For more information, visit spillthehoney.com.

Zekelman Holocaust Center Announces Renovation Core Exhibit

The Zekelman Holocaust Center in Farmington Hills is closing its core exhibit at the end of May to begin a complete renovation of the area that has been in place since 2008.

The exhibit will be completely updated with new interactive galleries and spaces for visitors to reflect on their learning.

During construction, the center will remain open and feature a series of public programs, events, and temporary exhibits. Virtual learning experiences will continue for teachers, students, and adult groups, with the center’s Education Department available for virtual and in-person teaching statewide. Public and scheduled tours will resume in early 2024.

The new exhibit will center Michigan survivor voices within one of the most horrific events in world history by utilizing up-to-date historical information, world-renowned exhibit designers, and cutting-edge museum technology. Tours will align with best practices in museum education as the galleries, beginning with pre-war Jewish life and through liberation, summon inquiry and contemplation, to help visitors draw meaning from their visit.

“Over the past few years, we’ve come to realize the core exhibit needs to change to meet the needs of current and future generations,” says Rabbi Eli Mayerfeld, CEO of the Zekelman Holocaust Center. “As the population of survivors dwindles, most future visitors to the center will not be able to meet a Holocaust survivor face-to-face and hear them speak. Our job is to give people an opportunity to connect with these individuals and their stories throughout time. We believe our new core exhibit will do just that.”

To view a short video on the core exhibit renovation, visit here.

TrialAssure in Canton Township Unveils Improved Disclosure Website 

TrialAssure, a Canton Township-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider advancing clinical trial disclosure, data sharing, and transparency, has released a new trial results disclosure solution, TrialResults.com.

The new site is designed to provide improved navigation, improved search capabilities, and a richer user experience.

TrialResults.com is an application for sponsors to post clinical trial results, and it is connected within TrialAssure LINK, an SaaS application that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help efficiently develop, translate, and publish plain language summaries in half the time.

Key updates for TrialResults.com and its interoperability with LINK include:

  • Improved navigation and searchability, allowing visitors to access studies of interest more easily.
  • A new direct publish feature in TrialAssure LINK, allowing a plain language summary (PLS) writer to seamlessly post completed documents, eliminating multiple administrative steps.
  • Easy upload for documents created outside of LINK, providing flexibility to sponsors.
  • An updated, modern aesthetic for a more accessible and effortless user experience.

“We are on a mission to facilitate transparency for the entire pharmaceutical industry, and TrialResults.com plays a key role in patient engagement and satisfaction to make this happen on a global scale,” says Zach Weingarden, director of product solutions at TrialAssure. “Sponsors are often overextended and trying to meet increasing compliance requirements and the growing public demand for non-technical clinical trial information can be difficult without the use of new technologies, like artificial intelligence. We want to enable Sponsors to meet and exceed pharmaceutical transparency compliance goals at a quicker pace to give them more time to focus on what’s next.”

Clinical trial participants, their caregivers, and all those interested in clinical trials results will be able to access plain language summaries publicly on TrialResults.com, improving transparency and patient engagement.

Designer Brands Joins Pensole Lewis College for Opening of JEMS by Pensole

Designer Brands Inc., one of the world’s largest designers, producers, and retailers of footwear and accessories, and Detroit’s Pensole Lewis College of Business and Design (PLC) Monday opened one of the first Black-owned footwear factories in the United States in Somersworth, N.H.

The development and opening of the factory represents the culmination of Designer Brands’ $2 million investment into advancing action-oriented diversity, equity and inclusion through its partnership with Detroit-based PLC, the first and only Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in Michigan and the first HBCU with a focus on design.

D’Wayne Edwards, president of PLC, will serve as the first designer to create a collection of shoes to be released by the factory. LeCrown Shoes Industry Co., Ltd. also has invested $1 million.

“JEMS by Pensole is a firm step for promising careers for Black leaders in footwear, who as a group represent less than 5 percent across all design industries,” Edwards says. “With our factory now open, we’ll quickly advance PLC graduates to training for product pre-production all the way to creation of our first sneakers. Our partnership with Designer Brands and DSW makes all this possible and celebrates Black business innovators in important and meaningful ways.”

JEMS stands for “Jan Ernst Matzeliger Studio,” named in honor of the Black footwear pioneer who in 1883 received a patent that revolutionized footwear manufacturing, a process that inspired methods the industry still uses today.

Macomb Community College Offering No-cost Semester for Current EMTs

Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) interesting in becoming paramedics can start their training at Macomb Community College at a reduced cost.

Through a grant from the state of Michigan, Macomb is able to offer the first semester of its paramedic program at no cost — including tuition and expenses — to as many as 30 students for the upcoming fall semester, which begins August 2023.

“This is a unique opportunity for those EMTs interested in advancing their careers and becoming a paramedic,” says Mike Lopez, director of the Public Service Institute at MCC. “This grant reduces the student’s overall cost of a paramedic education by approximately $4,500 and opens the door to many people who otherwise may have a financial obstacle to entering the program.”

The grant allows Macomb to cover first semester costs, including tuition, books, uniforms, and other fees, for as many as 30 students for the first semester of the Paramedic program. Students must be registered students at Macomb and successfully apply and be offered admittance to the program through the selective admissions process.

Macomb’s two-year paramedic program is a combination of classroom instruction and hands-on courses utilizing state-of-the-art simulation laboratories, as well as extended time in area hospitals doing clinical rotations in which students practice their skills. In the final semester of the program, students participate in an externship, riding in the field with an ambulance service. The program prepares students for state and national licensing exams.

For more information, visit here.

The Fillmore Detroit to Host Job Fair April 18

The Fillmore Detroit theater on Woodward Avenue in downtown Detroit is hosting a job fair 10 a.m.-2 p.m. and 4-8 p.m. on April 18.

Several of the open positions are said to be ideal for college students, retirees, individuals with full-time jobs who want to earn extra money, and others.

There are openings in guest services, venue operations, and as ticket scanners, box office staff, VIP cocktail server, bartenders/barbacks, VIP host, door host, ID checker, coat check, and ushers.

Applicants must be 18 years or older and a background check is required for all positions. Resumes can be sent by email to fillmorejobs@livenation.com or apply online here.

Rediscovering Detroit through City Institute’s April Learning Journey

On April 6, City Institute will have an immersive tour experience around the city for residents, community members, and business leaders in Detroit.

The “Learning Journey” is an immersive full-day experience that will focus on “Detroit as a classroom” and will include expert guides with local insight about the city. Breakfast, lunch, and motorcoach transportation will be provided by City Institute.

“People need access and understanding of the histories and cultures shaping our ever-evolving cities,” says Jeanette Pierce, founder of City Institute. “It is easy to miss a city’s full story, and I care deeply about my city. When we have a deeper understanding of where we’re from, we understand how where we live shapes our everyday lives.”

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit thecityinstitute.com.

March 22 is Red Cross Giving Day

Red Cross Giving Day is Wednesday, March 22, and anyone can contribute to the organization’s lifesaving humanitarian mission.

There are three ways to contribute:

Donate Lifesaving Blood — Schedule an appointment to give lifesaving blood at redcrossblood.org. All who come to give blood, platelets, or plasma through the end of March will receive a $10 Visa Prepaid Card by email. Plus, all donors will be automatically entered for a chance to win a $3,000 Visa Prepaid card. Five winners will be randomly drawn.

Volunteer — Ninety percent of the Red Cross workforce are volunteers. Your time and talent can make a real difference in people’s lives. Find out about volunteer opportunities near you at redcross.org/volunteer.

Make a Financial Gift — A donation at redcross.org/givingday will help provide shelter, food, relief items, emotional support, and other assistance for people affected by disasters big and small. You can even make your contribution to the Red Cross from your annual state income tax return. Simply complete Form 4642 and include it with your other tax documents.

Community Financial CU Awards $800K to Michigan Organizations

Plymouth Township-based Community Financial Credit Union (CFCU) awarded nearly $800,000 in donations to 289 organizations across Michigan during 2022.

The donations included $80,000 toward tornado relief for the city of Gaylord, $45,000 in grants to 12 area public school districts, $60,000 to local food pantries via Thankful Thursdays and $40,000 toward its Warming Hearts and Homes initiative.

“Community is more than our name, it’s at the core of all we do,” says Tansley Stearns, president and CEO & CFCU. “Supporting the organizations and institutions that work tirelessly to strengthen our communities is part of our identity and a key focus for us 24/7, 365. These institutions are addressing the most pressing needs in Michigan, and we’re proud to walk alongside them.”

CFCU also was instrumental in partnering with the Michigan Credit Union League’s Blue Ox Chapter to coordinate tornado grant relief efforts. CFCU housed the grant application on its website to process applications and evaluate documentation to work with other Gaylord credit unions. In total, $47,100 was given to area credit union members to assist in the crisis.

In addition to its financial contributions, CFCU employees volunteered 4,758 hours in 2022 and launched its partnership with Art Foundation, the nonprofit established by local Detroit artist Tony Roko, to support the second phase of the Plymouth ArtWalk program.

Life Directions Planning Spark of Hope Gala May 6

Life Directions, a Detroit-based organization that addresses the cycle of hunger homelessness, addiction, and violence, before they begin, is planning its May 6 Spark of Hope tribute gala.

The evening begins at 6 p.m. on the 16th floor of One Campus Martius in downtown Detroit and will include live and silent auctions, dinner, and networking.

The event’s honorary chairperson is Ed Peper, vice president of General Motors Fleet. Patrick A. Rugiero, executive director of the Roman Village Restaurant Group, is the gala chairperson.

Among those to be honored during the gale are the Hathaway family as lifetime achievement honorees and Mary Kosch of the Dearborn Sausage Co. will be the Guiding Light honoree.

For more information and for ways to become an event sponsor, visit here.