Challenge #5 with Detroit Regional Partnership
1701 marks the start year, the beginning of a beautiful and at times dark story that we will never truly know the end of. Although this story started over 321 years ago it will continue on for much longer than that. This is the story of Detroit, and it is not told by one person, event, religion, or creed. Co-writing a story means understanding that you bring value to the conversation but knowing there should be other voices sharing their perspectives on the topic. What legacy will you leave behind for family or yourself, but possibly more interesting is how will you contribute to the bigger story in the process.
Founded in 2019 by a group of business and philanthropic CEOs, Detroit Regional Partnership is laser-focused on marketing the region to out-of-state and international companies to attract investments and jobs. It is a single point-of-contact to companies as they explore and invest in the Detroit region.
Though Detroit Regional Partnership is new to cowriting the Detroit story, they understand the stewardship of the position. They work in an eleven- county region* that brings as much diversity of people as it does regional assets. Detroit Regional Partnership adds fuel to the fire to elevate the already great story into the national and international stages to attract both investment and talent.
Our Challenge Detroit team, Adit Ahmed, Kaitlin Lapka, Maleeha Ayub, and myself (Chad Slider) focused around aiding Detroit Regional Partnership elevate stories and conversations from around the eleven-county region. Our design question was “How might we digitally engage, educate, and communicate with local, national, and international Detroit Regional Partnership stakeholders, especially in response to COVID-19?”
During our project, we were able to interview amazing leaders in the community. From those experiences and our time with Detroit Regional Partnership, we put some tips together on how to be a better co-writer of a regional story.
- Value diverse perspectives: As mentioned a good co-writer knows they add value but should have other voices represented. Don’t be afraid to let your voice be heard but try not to have it overshadow other valid perspectives. There likely wouldn’t be much of a story to tell if we were all the same.
- Don’t be afraid to innovate: Now more than ever we need to be creative, agile, and flexible. How might you innovate while adding to the story?
- The human element: With technology evolving in capability, and social distancing increasing our need to stay connected, we should remember there is another human on the other side of the web. Be kind and patient to one another, the human element is the story.
Our final project has come to an end, which means our time with Challenge Detroit is also near. Speaking for our team, we have enjoyed co-creating with Detroit Regional partnership, Challenge Detroit, and the many other partners throughout the year. We look forward to co-writing the next chapter of Detroit with you.
*List of counties left to right, top to bottom: Shiawasee, Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Livingston, Oakland, Macomb, Washtenaw, Wayne, Lenawee, Monroe