--quoted from an article by Katherine Yung for The Detroit Free Press on December 29, 2011
"The Purpose Prize®, now in its sixth year, is the nation's only large-scale investment in people over 60 who are combining their passion and experience for social good. The Prize awards up to $100,000 each to five people in encore careers creating new ways to solve tough social problems."
Randal Charlton jokes with NBC's Jane Pauley after receiving a Purpose Prize at a ceremony this month in Sausalito, Calif. Pauley was one of the judges for the prizes. | copyright Civic Ventures, used with permission
©2011-2012 BOOM!TheNewEconomy. All Rights Reserved. | BOOM! The New Economy at TechTown | 440 Burroughs, Detroit, MI 48202
“I am humbled and honored to have been selected to receive the Purpose Prize award, which I owe to the entrepreneurial spirit of the people of Detroit and the team I have worked with at TechTown,” said Charlton. “Purpose is that underlying motivation that gives our lives meaning. With this prize, I hope to inspire baby boomers across America to embrace the encore career as an opportunity to redefine their purpose in life and, in the process, change the world.”
Today, 250 start-up companies inhabit the renovated building, which is the centerpiece of a business incubator called TechTown. Jackson’s venture, Con/Vida—in Spanish, “with life”—sells indigenous art from Latin America and curates exhibitions for galleries and museums. Jackson, 70, retired as an art-history professor at Detroit’s Wayne State University last year and applied her knowledge of northeastern Brazil to the pursuit of a second career as Con/Vida’s codirector.
Read all about this new chapter in Mame's work life click here
An ‘Encore’ Life Beckons … on the Far Side of Midlife
--an excerpt from an article by Marc Freedman for The National Journal on December 15, 2011
Marion Jackson’s airy, light-filled studio is filled with Brazilian art and sculpture. It sits on the third floor of a five-story, 100,000-square-foot industrial building in downtown Detroit that opened in 1927 to house the service department for Pontiac. The Corvette was later designed there. But that was before the U.S. auto industry declined, and the neighborhood became a wasteland of abandoned buildings.
Not anymore.
--an excerpt from an article by Dennis Archambault for METROMODE
Thursday, December 8, 2011
As executive director of TechTown, Randal Charlton observed something intriguing: a third of TechTown start-ups were created by seasoned professionals, many over 50. When you think of new economy innovation, you think of post-grad techies, not retired engineers and executives. That observation gave the 71-year old entrepreneur an idea.
In November, Charlton left TechTown to create Boom! The New Economy, a start-up that promotes entrepreneurial development among the 50-plus segment. Boom! was initiated through a grant from the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan. He got a boost when Civic Ventures awarded Charlton the 2011 Purpose Prize -- a $100,000 grant given to entrepreneurs over 60 who use their experience and passion to address social issues.
Randal Charlton up on the roof at TechTown -- PHOTO BY DAVID LEWINSKI
"From our perspective, Randal was literally the flintlock, the catalytic agent (for TechTown)," says Lesa Mitchell, a vice president with the Kauffman Foundation, which promotes entrepreneurial development. Kauffman, based in Kansas City, works with the New Economy Initiative in Southeast Michigan. TechTown, Mitchell says, "needed to be energized, needed to have hope, needed to have opportunities clarified for the community." Charlton was the "right person (at the) right place, right time. ... click here to read more about BOOMer entrepreneurs as part of the solution for SE Michigan.
A 50+ Entrepreneur & THRIVE + A Marketer & SHIFTING GEARS = a new business for Detroit
-quoted from a broadcast news feature by ROOP RAJ | WJBK | myFOXDetroit.com Friday, 06 January, 2012
"Two strangers, a bad economy and a contraption that was the perfect way to extinguish unemployment for both of them. It's just one of the stories of success at Tech Town in Detroit.
'20 some years ago, I started developing different products and working on different projects basically in a wide variety of fields,' said Gerald Flood. He calls himself a serial entrepreneur. He had a lot of great ideas, but his company went bankrupt. So, at the age of 72, he went through a program called THRIVE in Tech Town. He's now introducing a new invention perhaps coming to a laundry room near you.
It's called OnGard, an automatic fire suppression device that attaches to any dryer. If the dryer sparks and heats up, OnGuard releases fire repellent right away dousing any flames. He had the know-how, but not the marketing. That's where Jim Milford comes in.
'I had wandered around for about a year looking for a job and going about it all incorrectly,' he said.
After years of working in corporate marketing, he was laid off for a year. Then he joined a program run by the state helping people get back in the job market."
click here for the rest of Gerald's and Jim's story
A Table for Four at the Great Lakes Showcase!
an event for Detroit start-ups and the media to come together
Written by Herb Drayton, Entrepreneur Champion, TechTown, Detroit (pictured at the top left)
Yesterday I attended the inaugural Great Lakes Showcase event hosted by Jason Brown with PublicCityPR and Boost Media. The event was designed to create an opportunity for up and coming companies to get media exposure with various media outlets around the state including radio, TV, internet, social media, and print. TechTown sponsored A Table for 4 of our TechTown clients; Regaingo, Rippld, Rep Your City, and The Chairiot. 30 companies and 25 media outlets that showed up.
I'm a BOOMer and former entrepreneur; I made a career change when I joined TechTown as an Entrepreneur Champion after serving as a mentor there. I have the best of both worlds. I get to spend my time helping start-ups - first timers and those in their second careers - in all sorts of businesses. We learn from each other and help keep the economic engine running here in Detroit.
Matt Roush, the Tech writer for the Local CBS affiliate, WWJ was at the Great Lakes Showcase and wrote an article that featured our 3 Tech Startups – Regaingo, Rippld, and Rep Your City. Here's an excerpt from Matt's article Michigan Entrepreneurs Show Off At ‘Great Lakes Showcase’ . . .
"Several companies also were at a table sponsored by TechTown, the business incubator in midtown Detroit that’s run by Wayne State University. First, there was RegainGo, a daily deal Web site focused on the market of home products and services in southeast Michigan. It’s the brain child of young entrepreneurs Clark Covert, CEO, and Jason Beale, COO. More at regaingo.com
Next, there was Rippld, an online business site for creative professionals like Web designers and photographers who want to stay independent but who also want to get together into a virtual ad agency to pursue opportunities. Its founders are Lander Coronado- Garcia, Adrian Walker, and Wilbert Fobbs III, and their Web site address is www.rippld.com.
Then there was RepYourCity.com, an online news site for local and community happenings. What’s unique about this site is that site users will vote news stories up or down, determining their placement on the site."
For Matt's full account of the Great Lakes Showcase, go to http://cbsloc.al/w14eNV
Randal Charlton Purpose Prize video | copyright Civic Ventures, used with permission
