D:hive was always hard to describe. As Amy Haimerl reports in Crain's Detroit Business, it has served as a welcome center, a job connector, a home-finder, a small-business developer and tour guide.
But after three years of funding from the Hudson Webber Foundation in partnership with the Downtown Detroit Partnership, D:hive is splitting into two organizations: the Detroit Experience Factory and the Build Institute.
"It's really terrific and evidence of its success that the three-year trial has expanded into something more permanent," said Eric Larson, CEO of the Downtown Detroit Partnership.
The new Detroit Experience Factory brings Jeanette Pierce, in photo, full circle. When D:hive was founded, it enveloped her existing nonprofit, Inside Detroit, to handle tours and connections, which she grew from 8,000 people on tours in 2012 to nearly 15,000 this year.
"The Experience Factory will continue to offer connections to jobs and residential, plus more tours," Pierce said.
