Taubman College Master of Urban Planning student Drew Phillips part of Social Impact Challenge winning team
Drew Phillips (M.U.P.’16) collaborated with a team of three University of Michigan peers to win the 2015 Social Impact Challenge hosted by the Center for Social Impact at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.
The winning group, Team Impact, earned the $2,500 first-place prize for its creative proposal to develop a concept for the Fisher Body Plant 21 that engaged with arts and culture, sustainability, community and economic development.
Team Impact’s proposal, “FBP21: A Place for Makers,” aims to transform the Fisher Body Plant 21 into a live-make community in which skilled tradespeople would rehabilitate and reinhabit the building. The Center for Social Impact notes that their proposal would create green jobs while fostering the arts and community culture in Detroit’s North End.
The Social Impact Challenge finals took place on February 18, 2015 and was the culmination of the two-week long challenge where 14 multidisciplinary teams of students from eleven of the university’s top-ranked schools and colleges collaborated to address a pressing social issue for the City of Detroit.
From left to right, the team members are: Drew Phillips (M.U.P.’16), Dannan Hodge (SNRE’16), Arthur Endsley (SNRE’19), not picture – Fulton Breen (MBA/MA Education ’17).
The judging panel included: Eleanore Eveleth, Interim Executive Director, Vanguard Community Development Corporation; David Williams, Senior Advisor on Jobs & Economy, City of Detroit Mayor’s Office; Geraldine Gardner, Director of Urban and Regional Policy, German Marshall Fund of the U.S.; and Taubman College’s own, Dr. Harley Etienne, Assistant Professor of Urban & Regional Planning.
For more information on 2015 Social Impact Challenge and Team Impact’s proposal, visit http://socialimpact.umich.edu/programs-activities/social-impact-challenge/
About the Center for Social Impact:
The Center for Social Impact at the Ross School of Business provides leaders with practical skills and insight to tackle complex social challenges. Through numerous collaborative experiences, the Center enables students to deliver social impact in multidisciplinary and cross-sector settings, and advances the field of social impact and innovation.
