![]() ![]() They loved the idea,” she says.įlint SOUP, now in its fifth year, is funded by the Ruth Mott and Charles Stewart Mott foundations. So it was the event as a physical art piece. “Pulling the community together over a shared meal is an artistic expression of what is happening in the community. Montague started with a grant from the Greater Flint Arts Council. “I approached the Detroit group and they gave me the blessing to launch.” “I want this in my own community,” she thought. Montague worked for Detroit Soup for five years before bringing it to Flint. “We want to highlight, to draw out, and honor the innovators within the flint community that want to use entrepreneurism to raise themselves out of poverty to change their situation, to change the broken systems they are a part of.”īeyond the microgrants themselves, winners also receive mentorship from Montague and Shuttleworth. Shuttleworth made three batches of the soup for this evening, Montague supplied two, and Shuttleworth’s mother contributed another-all of which is paired with salad, bread, and business sales pitches.Īccording to Shuttleworth, Flint SOUP is designed to launch creative ideas to advance individual business owners but to also benefit the Flint community. The origin of the “SOUP” label is unknown-but it does inspire the homemade dishes that always greet attendees. It was brought here by Montague and follows the format of the Detroit organization of a similar name. Related story: Inside Flint SOUP: $800 win funds kitchen, licensing for Chef Tellyįlint SOUP is a name that causes the unfamiliar to pause from lack of understanding. There are so many people with dreams but they are just on auto pilot.” ![]() It’s really devastating for me to see dreams die, because I’m a dreamer. I love dreams and I love seeing dreams come to reality. “This is a way I can serve the community. “Originally, I just saw the need,” says founder Adrian Montague. Former winners have taken home anywhere from a few hundred dollars to well over $1000. Typically, four or five pre-selected presenters offer a sales pitch of their business and the winner takes home that evening’s donations. In return for their meal, everyone tosses $5 into the “taco bowl of fate” that is passed through the crowd and votes for their favorite business presentation. Once a month or so, Flint SOUP hosts an event that gives entrepreneurs the chance to pitch their business idea and potentially win funding for it. Tonight, like all other meeting nights, someone will walk away with a cash prize and new fuel for their business dreams. This is the first Flint SOUP of 2018.īecause of this event-and many others like it over the last five years-there are new businesses growing in Flint, businesses that otherwise might not have ever gotten a chance.įlint SOUP is a full-time, but grassroots, organization that has given out more than $25,000 in microgrants. The crowd is filing into The Church of the Harvest International on Dartmouth Street in Flint and a heavy snowfall is complicating a normally precision-run evening. FLINT, Michigan-James Shuttleworth is hustling to organize the tables lined with electric slow cookers filled with hot soup. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |