As the demand for tech and innovation talent continues to grow worldwide, Black Tech Saturdays (BTS), Michigan Central, and the University of Michigan are entering into a new partnership rooted in Detroit to ensure that local residents aren’t left behind.
BTS, Detroit’s fast-growing community-driven tech and entrepreneurship movement, has joined forces with the University of Michigan Center for Innovation in Detroit (UMCI) and Michigan Central to launch Bridge to Success, a first-of-its-kind micro-credential initiative aimed at helping Detroiters build critical workforce skills and gain access to new economic opportunities.
The program will provide University of Michigan-backed credentials to entrepreneurs, creatives, professionals, and aspiring innovators across the city, helping participants strengthen their competitiveness in a rapidly changing labor market. Organizers say the initiative was designed specifically to address the widening global skills gap that experts project could leave more than 85 million jobs unfilled worldwide by 2030.
For many communities that are anchored in legacy industrial like automotive and manufacturing like Detroit is, the shift to a more tech-driven workforce has the potential to deepen economic inequality if residents are not equipped with the skills and credentials needed to compete in emerging industries. Organizers of the Bridge to Success program say the partnership is about ensuring Detroiters are positioned to lead in the next era of innovation rather than being excluded from it.
“When a community-rooted organization, one of the nation’s top public universities, and the anchor of Detroit’s innovation district sit at the same table as equals with shared ownership — that is how we win,” Johnnie Turnage, co-founder of Black Tech Saturdays, said in a statement. “That is infrastructure. And infrastructure is how you build a future that doesn’t leave anyone behind.”
Classes begin June 6, 2026, coinciding with the two-year anniversary of The Station at Michigan Central reopening. Courses will be held in person at Newlab at Michigan Central, located at 2050 15th St. in Detroit, on Saturday mornings from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. Applications are now open, and the first 100 participants will attend free of charge.
Each certification track includes nine hours of classroom instruction spread across three weeks, along with independent work between sessions. The program combines BTS’s community-centered approach and tech expertise with UMCI’s academic framework to offer certification badges in five key areas: AI Fluency, Storytelling and Marketing, Problem Solving, Design Thinking, and Leadership.
The AI Fluency course, which launches June 6, will introduce participants to the fundamentals of artificial intelligence, including how AI systems work, how they can be used to generate income and improve productivity, and how to think critically about their impact on society. Organizers emphasized that no technical background is required for enrollment.
Additional courses begin later in the summer. Storytelling and Marketing launches on July 11, and will focus on branding, marketing strategy, analytics, and helping entrepreneurs effectively communicate the purpose behind their businesses and ideas. Other tracks will teach participants how to solve complex business and community challenges, apply design thinking principles to product and business development, and strengthen leadership and organizational planning skills.
Under the terms of the partnership agreement, Black Tech Saturdays and the Regents of the University of Michigan will share ownership of the program, co-design the curriculum, co-brand the credentials, and split revenue evenly. Organizers describe the collaboration as one of the first partnerships of its kind between a Black-founded community tech organization and a major public research university at this scale.
Michigan Central will serve as the founding location sponsor and host every class during the pilot phase of the initiative.
The U-M Center for Innovation in Detroit, currently under development as part of a $250 million investment in downtown Detroit, says the partnership aligns with its mission to create more inclusive pathways into innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship for Detroit residents.
“At U-M Center for Innovation in Detroit, we are working to ensure the future of innovation in Detroit belongs to everyone who lives here,” said Lutalo Sanifu, Director of Community Engagement at U-M Center for Innovation in Detroit.
“Black Tech Saturdays is exactly the kind of partner making programs like Bridge to Success possible – a trusted, community-rooted organization with the reach and relationships to connect groundbreaking opportunities to the people who will pursue and benefit from them.”
Michigan Central leaders say the collaboration reflects the broader vision for Detroit’s innovation district as a hub where institutions, businesses, and community organizations work together to create opportunity.
“Michigan Central is a place where big ideas are built in genuine partnership with ecosystem members and the community,” said Carolina Pluszczynski, acting CEO of Michigan Central. “Bridge to Success represents exactly the kind of inclusive, opportunity-building programming our platform was designed to foster. We’re thrilled to host Black Tech Saturdays and UMCI as they equip Detroiters to lead the next innovation economy.”
The partnership is supported through a foundational investment from the Knight Foundation, which provided funding to help BTS build the organizational infrastructure necessary to expand programs at scale while strengthening the organization’s broader ecosystem of services and initiatives.
“Knight believes Detroit’s future will be shaped by the people leading its transformation,” said LaTrice McClendon, Knight Foundation’s Detroit Program Director. “Black Tech Saturdays is a model of what place-based, community-rooted investment looks like when it is done right. Bridge to Success is the kind of partnership that shows how equity, education, and economic mobility can be built together – and built to last.”
For Black Tech Saturdays, the program represents the next phase of an organization that has rapidly grown since its launch in 2023 by Johnnie and Alexa Turnage. Over the last three years, BTS has engaged more than 30,000 community members, raised more than $5 million in grants and funding, distributed nearly 1,000 devices, and hosted more than 1,000 workshops in Detroit and beyond.
Alexa Turnage say Bridge to Success is a direct response to what participants have consistently requested: credentials that carry institutional weight while remaining accessible and immediately useful.
“Every single person we have served over these last three years has told us the same thing: they are ready to work. Ready to build. Ready to lead,” said Alexa Turnage, President and Co-Founder of Black Tech Saturdays.
“What they’ve been missing is the credential that opens the door. Bridge to Success is that credential — University of Michigan-backed, community-designed, and built for people who need to put it to use right away. That is what our community has always deserved.”
