Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project

Community Tech Consulting

Free tech training by Detroiters, for Detroiters. Community Tech Consultants (CTCs) are self-taught, tech-savvy Detroiters who offer free one-on-one training to help Detroit entrepreneurs get comfortable using technology to improve their business. Choose a consultant, pick a time that works for you, and meet for 60 minutes in person, on site or on Zoom.

Find a time Looking for accounting help?Student-team classes

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November 2026

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What Community Tech Consultants do

CTCs provide free, one-on-one training in a relaxed, accessible space. There's no limit on appointments, as long as you keep them and we're making progress. Popular things CTCs can teach you to do:

Update websites: change text, add images, improve SEO
Explain what SEO is
Create social media images and automate posts
Set up automated templates in Gmail or other systems
Retrieve and organize data from apps or platforms
Use DocuSign to sign loan documents
Use ChatGPT, Gemini, NotebookLM, or other AI agents

What CTCs don't do

We are not an IT help desk and can't troubleshoot in real time or over the phone.

CTCs don't do design work or update websites for you, but they will teach you (or your team) content creation, website updates, free social media tools, and how to read analytics. The purpose of this program is to empower you to do it on your own. If you need a website but don't have time to research platforms, CTCs can research and make a recommendation.

How it works

Services are grant-funded as part of a larger research project and offered at no cost. Your first meeting is an intake: a business intake form and a diagnostic interview, after which your CTC works with you to set and prioritize a scope of work. Before your second meeting, your CTC researches options and prepares recommendations or how-to materials.

DNEP is the convener of this collaboration between the University of Michigan, Jefferson East, Inc., and Live6 Alliance.

Our Community Tech Consultants

Select a person to read their bio.

Donovan Brown
Community Tech Consultant
For 10 years, I’ve worked with local shops, service providers, creatives, and nonprofits—people who just want their tech to work. I speak your language (not jargon) and make sure you feel supported every step of the way. When our small businesses succeed, our whole community grows stronger.
Email Donovan
Diamond Hatcher
Community Tech Consultant
I’m passionate about empowering small businesses with the tools and strategies they need to thrive. I love all things tech and enjoy turning complex digital solutions into simple, practical wins for the communities I serve.
Email Diamond

Our managers

Our managers run both programs.

Select a person to read their bio.

Siobhan Barrett
Program Manager
As the Program and Business Development Manager for the Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project at the University of Michigan, Siobhan Barrett [sha vawn] is the point of contact for Detroit entrepreneurs who would like to become DNEP clients, working with supervised U-M students to address their financial, legal, technology, or data needs. She also collects, manages and analyzes the data about business demographics and outcomes that DNEP leadership uses to assess program impact. As a former loan officer at ProsperUs Detroit, a Detroit-based CDFI, and a former senior mortgage banker with Rocket Mortgage, Siobhan has leveraged her lending experience to expand DNEP’s accounting program and to create DNEP’s signature CFO Boot Camp, a 9 hour financial capability training that guides business owners from bookkeeping through capital access. Working closely with DNEP’s executives-in-residence, who are retired CPAs, Siobhan mentors DNEP’s student accounting consultants in their professional development. Siobhan has been recognized for her proactive role in Detroit’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, winning NEI’s peer-nominated 2025 Ecosystem Champion award for community building and collaboration. Siobhan is also an entrepreneur herself, as the founder and creative director of Siobhan Barrett Lingerie. Siobhan earned her BFA in Fashion Design from Pratt Institute.
Email Siobhan
Christie Baer
Program Manager
Christie Ayotte Baer is the Co-Founder and Managing Director for the University of Michigan’s Detroit Neighborhood Entrepreneurs Project (U-M DNEP), pronounced [Dee-nep], a program she has led since 2016. DNEP is the University of Michigan’s small business hub for Detroit entrepreneurs, where supervised students gain transformational experience as professional service providers and Detroit entrepreneurs access the wrap-around support they need to build self-reliant anchor businesses. Initially designed as an interdisciplinary clinic, DNEP is the only university-based program in the U.S. to train students from multiple disciplines to work as pro bono consultants, building the organizational spine of a business, providing financial, legal, tech, and data consulting and implementation services. As of 2026, DNEP supports 350 businesses per year, in long-term relationships, providing 130 U-M students per year with the transformational opportunity to contribute to a business owner’s vision for their community while gaining foundational consulting skills. 83% of DNEP’s active clients are minority-owned; 67% are women-owned; 75% have five or fewer staff members. In addition to designing programs, convening partners from U-M and Detroit for collaborative projects, and marshalling resources to keep DNEP’s services free for business owners, Christie occasionally teaches and contributes to research about the needs of microenterprises. She co-designed and taught in DNEP’s summer internship program, Impact Studio for Local Business, which ran for five years, and has taught workshops for the University of Michigan’s Saturdays in the D (adults), Ross School Summer Business Academy (high school students), and Ann Arbor Public Schools (middle schoolers). She also co-designed and secured the initial funding to launch DNEP’s Community Tech Worker project, which trains Detroit residents to provide free 1:1 technology support to small businesses, and taught college students and local residents in that program. She is a co-author of two published papers about the project. Christie is a serial entrepreneur who has owned four businesses and managed dozens of for-profits, non-profits, and political campaigns. Her current hobby business, Restless Resellers, is an eBay store that promotes sustainability. Her previous businesses included a law firm, a small business/political consulting firm, and a real estate venture. Prior to joining the Ross School of Business, Christie served as the assistant director of the Ford School of Public Policy’s Center on Finance, Law & Policy for seven years, where she managed dozens of student researchers, and oversaw research projects related to financial regulation, fintech, and consumer protection. Before coming to Michigan, Christie was an attorney, mediator, and guardian ad litem in private practice in Atlanta and Savannah at a boutique law firm she founded, focused on meeting the needs of modern families. She is licensed to practice law in Georgia (inactive) and in Michigan. Christie’s first career was in local politics. In the early 2000s (pre-marriage equality), she managed Georgia Equality, Inc., a statewide political and advocacy organization that organized, lobbied, endorsed candidates, and advocated for Georgia’s LGBTQ community at the state and local level. Christie’s expertise is in community engagement, entrepreneurship, and leadership. She earned her JD from Emory University School of Law and her BA in Sociology from Smith College.
Email Christie