The City of Detroit’s effort to raise $9M to invest in skilled trades just got a major push. The City is making a concerted effort to improve its public school system and expand programs that offer jobs training for adults. City officials led by Mayor Mike Duggan have turned to Detroit’s business community to help raise funds for these programs. Dan Gilbert, head of Quicken Loans and Bedrock Real Estate, announced that his companies will be committing $1M to the skilled trades program. 

Quicken Loans, based in downtown Detroit, is now the largest mortgage originator in the country. And Bedrock LLC is Gilbert’s real estate and construction company which now owns several dozen buildings in downtown. The investment will go towards improving the Breithaupt Career and Technical School on the west side. According to Crains Detroit, Mayor Mike Duggan reacted to the announcement saying: “I'm not having trouble getting businesses to come [to Detroit].” "We have 5,000 vacant jobs in Detroit and we need to get Detroiters to fill those." This is another step in the right direction for Detroit, where the unemployment rate is back in the single digits according to the Federal Labor Bureau.