Petition Title:
🚀 Detroit’s Future is Tech—Let’s Fund It! Demand $500K for Homegrown Innovation

 
Petition Language:
Detroit has always been a city of builders. A city of resilience. A city where people take what they have, no matter how little, and turn it into something extraordinary. Black Tech Saturdays was born nearly two years ago with just five people sitting around a table, determined to help each other get further, faster—together.

What started as five has grown into a movement of 20,000 people and counting—founders, engineers, creatives, and lifelong learners who believe in Detroit’s future as a tech powerhouse. We’ve helped aspiring entrepreneurs find funding, helped job seekers break into tech careers, and created a space where people who never thought tech was for them have found belonging and opportunity. We've built this—without millions in investment, without huge government contracts, without waiting for permission.

But even with all that we’ve done, it’s not enough.

The City of Detroit’s current budget proposes a $200,000 pilot tech grant program—a critical first step in ensuring Detroit-based tech companies have opportunities to provide solutions for the city, open doors for more government contracts, and be considered as key players in Detroit’s economic future. We are asking that this funding be increased to $500,000—matching similar first-year investments like the Detroit Legacy Business Fund.

We know $500,000 isn’t everything. We know we deserve more. But we also know that the first step in growing the resources Detroit founders need is creating the pot in the first place. Right now, Detroit’s tech entrepreneurs don’t just need to be invited to the table—they need capital to build the table themselves.

This is about more than just funding. This is about Detroit leading. It’s about making sure that our talent, our ideas, and our solutions aren’t overlooked. That the next wave of innovation doesn’t happen in someone else’s city—it happens here.

Signing this petition means standing in solidarity with a movement that is working to build generational wealth, economic mobility, and representation in spaces where we have historically been shut out. We know that success in this space is about how many swings at bat you get. And you can’t take a swing if you don’t have capital.

This is just the beginning. The City Council has the power to tell Detroit—and the world—that they believe in a tech-enabled future for this city. Let’s make sure they hear us loud and clear.

✍🏽 Sign this petition today. Because Detroit’s future is tech—and Detroit’s tech entrepreneurs deserve a shot.

#BlackTechSaturdays #Togetherwecan #Keepgoing #BeBold #BuildDetroitTech #InvestInDetroit #InnovationForAll #BudgetPriorities