Macro Connect Hosted the Challenge Detroit Kick-Off Event of their final Season!

First off, what is Challenge Detroit? 

It is a year-long fellowship program providing a full-time, paid job that comes with the unique opportunity to contribute in Detroit, develop leadership and career skills, connect with mentors and build relationships with diverse, innovative, community-minded leaders, thinkers and doers.

Challenge Detroit is just starting it’s 14th and final year. Originally conceived to be a catalyst program for attracting and retaining top talent to Detroit in a time where Detroit was bleeding talent, it has done its job with 14 years of between 25-40 fellows each year living, working, volunteering, promoting, & contributing to a city that needed some love.

The landscape has changed dramatically over a decade and a half. Many areas of Detroit are thriving. It is a more expensive place to live and play. The national perception of Detroit has changed and many people have moved into its big old homes in various neighborhood within the city limits, building neighborhoods, families, and lives. Detroit has been rebuilding. Challenge Detroit has helped it do so, and so with this background, its leaders decided to sunset the organization after what will be a successful final year!

How is Macro Connect connected to Challenge Detroit?

In 2012, Macro Connect was one of the first 30 host companies to come on board. We participated in the interview process and selected a candidate. That first fellow worked on the technical team providing service. While that particular fellow did not end up being a lasting fit, we were back as a host company in year 2 and recruited Miguel Davis to the team. Miguel was the first sales professional outside of the owners. That’s always a tricky spot - to be the first one selling after the owners have been selling for years. Miguel had a background in education, and so had a leg up, since he knew intimately the environment of many of our clients. 

Fast forward to 2025, and Miguel Davis has been the CEO for a few years. After helping owners Matt and Kevin, successfully build the business, honing his skills, and learning every aspect of the business that he could, he recognized an opportunity to lead with the entreprenurial efforts of Matt and Kevin leading them to build and run other businesses. 

This career story is a great success story for both Challenge Detroit and Macro Connect. It doesn’t always work this way. Fellows may love and greatly impact their host company, or it may not be the best fit. They may stay in Detroit, or go, but many at least landed at another company within the city, or started their own companies. 

Miguel isn’t the only former Challenge Detroit fellow working at Macro Connect. Alison Figliomeni’s story is one of studying communication and graphic design, exploring a career change as a fellow, and then being recruited by Macro Connect into a Data role. What? Marketing to Data? None of us knew if it would be a fit. 5 years later, Alison is our Data Compliance Team Lead, loves Pupil Accounting, and has been a tremendous fit. 

For us, investing in a new organization early on proved to be a wise decision. 

Why did we hosting their 2025 Season Kick-Off event?

Executive Director, Deidre Green Groves  called exploring ways we might collaborate in 2025. It didn’t take her long to share that this 2025-2026 season would be Challenge Detroit’s last. We were involved as the beginning and had benefited greatly from the talent of fellow, so it made sense to be involved in some way.

As a Leadership Team at Macro Connect, we’ve been exploring the idea of hosting events and meetings our Hosmer Building location on days when we work remotely. We’re in the office Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays, but that leave 4 days we are not. 

Hosting Challenge Detroit’s 14th season kick-off event on Thursday, September 18, 2025, seemed like a natural fit - testing the model while supporting an organization close to our hearts. 

24 new, eager, fellows arrived along with two staff members. Design thinking projects, conversations, and orientation activities formed the day. We took the fellows on a tour of our campus after lunch, providing the history of Hosmer Building, a tour of the Community Garden, Storage Building, and Fitness area. They got their headshots, and day progressed smoothly. 

Host company representives arrived about 4pm with fellows greeting them at the door, and Deirdre kicked things off on a night that set the stage for the year ahead, but defintely had the feeling of celebration, reflection, and gratitude as many of the host companies and partners also had ties to Challenge Detroit going back many years. 

This was a wonderful way to experiment with hosting in our space, and a wonderful way to connect back to an organization that has made a strong impact on our people and culture at Macro Connect by connecting us to incredible talent. 

Get in touch to plan your event or meeting!

Interested in hosting an event or meeting at our space in Hosmer Building? Contact natalie.bruno@macroconnect.net to coordinate the details.