In a few days, Alexandra and I will take part in the first ever BUILD Social course, a spinoff of D:Hive’s popular BUILD program for entrepreneurs. The 10-week class will give us a chance to learn from and develop a business plan alongside the social entrepreneurs making waves in Detroit. To be accepted to the program, we had to submit a brief pitch verifying our intent to create a company with a double or triple bottom line. Here’s a taste:

“Think community center meets Great Lakes Coffee Roasting Company meets SOUP meets Grand Circus Co. Beanstalk will be Detroit’s first crowd-funding coffee house, bar, and workplace, providing a collaborative space for the free flow of ideas and people and a means for generating revenues to reinvest in the people, places, and ideas that are revitalizing our community.

To achieve this fundamental aim of financing the city’s makers and shakers, the company will be structured as an L3C, with an undetermined percentage of profit each month going towards a partner organization in the area of education, economic development, environmental responsibility, and/or arts and culture.”

It’s rough around the edges, but satisfies my love of smart people doing inspiring things and my favoritest rabble rousing substance in the whole-wide-world: coffee. It will be interesting to see how the concept evolves as we learn more about social entrepreneurship in practice and as my partner-in-crime chimes in on behalf of my blind spots***.

The timing for all this couldn’t be better. Our last leadership development day ended with an ultimatum from the higher-ups to “take step one” towards some big picture goal and, besides the experiences we’ll be afforded through the course, the theme of our next 5-week Challenge Detroit project is social entrepreneurship and community innovation.

The stars appear to be aligning so stay tuned for what’s next!

***a recent workshop with Deloitte confirmed that Alexandra’s two leadership strengths are my leadership weaknesses.