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Katelyn Abell has a passion for nonprofit organizations. Always looking to make a positive difference in the world, she has long supported causes that she believes in, and imagined founding her own charitable organization one day. In 2018, Abell, who works at Southfield City Centre’s IHS Markit, dragged her brother Bryan Abell to an event for local nonprofit Fleece & Thank You, which provides colorful fleece blankets to children undergoing hospital treatments.

She said he loved the feeling of giving back and recognized the power of helping others.

“My brother was really encouraged to establish his own nonprofit,” says Abell, adding that he had been participating in athletic challenges to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project. “He wanted to do something to help military men and women and he asked me to be a co-founder for a 501(c)(3).” In January 2019, Abell and her brother officially founded the Stronger Warrior Foundation.

The foundation’s flagship initiative is called Mission Resupply. “The program is centered around sending care packages to deployed men and women overseas. They could go to Italy or Afghanistan or Iraq,” Abell says. Each member of the designated platoon will receive a hand-built wood crate filled with wish list items.

Prior to the pandemic, the Stronger Warrior Foundation partnered with companies to get raw supplies to build the crates, and with schools and scouting organizations to decorate and fill the crates with toiletries, hygiene products, photos and other items. As a special item, the Stronger Warrior Foundation adds in a dry fit shirt with its foundation logo. Each crate costs about $40 to create, and individuals can sponsor crates or participate in fundraisers to help fund crates for a platoon.

“The shirts are really nice, and they are the same color as their uniform, so we know they will get good use out of it. It’s one of the small tricks my brother knows from being part of the Army,” Abell says.

A second program of the Stronger Warrior Foundation provides support to disabled veterans right in their own homes. Called the Adaptive Warrior program, this effort focuses on financial support for adaptive living additions to homes or vehicles. “We might put in a wheelchair lift, for example,” Abell says.

In addition, the Stronger Warrior Foundation supports a Health & Wellness program, which provides community members with all the tools needed to live a healthy and active lifestyle. Through exercise and nutritional instruction, the Health & Wellness program serves to support individuals and help them meet their fitness goals.

Even the Stronger Warrior Foundation’s website has supportive resources through its Warrior Journal. This section of the website has inspirational stories and tips for living a healthier life, emotionally, mentally and physically.

Most recently, In response to the coronavirus pandemic, the Stronger Warrior Foundation held a targeted campaign to donate more than 500 face shields to frontline medical workers in local hospitals.

Like many nonprofit organizations, the Stronger Warrior Foundation is able to fulfill its mission through the support of partners and donors. In 2020, the single largest donor to the Stronger Warrior Foundation has been Iknowvate, an IT outsourcing service provider located at One Towne Square in the Southfield City Centre.

“Our organization is so thankful to have local companies like Iknowvate give corporate sponsorships to the organization. Their generous donation has helped us send warrior crates overseas to deployed men and women,” Abell says, adding that a portion of Iknowvate’s  donation helped the Adaptive Warrior Program.

“When a member of the Southfield City Centre business community can fulfill a dream of helping others and then partner with a nearby business for financial support to help make that happen, that’s a testament to the value of leveraging community resources and relationships to build a better world,” says Shelly Freeman, business & economic development director for The City of Southfield. “We’re continually amazed by the great things that come out of the Southfield City Centre business community. We are just looking to see what’s next.”

Learn more about the Stronger Warrior Foundation at strongerwarriorfoundation.org.

Planning ahead for the date when Governor Whitmer’s Executive Orders allow for restaurant barbers, hairstylists, nail salons to once again serve customers, the Southfield City Council passed a resolution that will allow these businesses to expand their services outside.

To streamline the process for businesses, the Southfield Planning and Building Departments are expediting approvals and reducing fees.

“The City of Southfield continually strives to assist local and international businesses by cutting red tape and rolling out the red carpet,” says Terry Croad, Director of Planning for Southfield. “During this difficult time, we are making every effort to support both our businesses and residents while doing so as safely and quickly as possible. This resolution provides residents with much needed services while also helping businesses to get back in operation as soon as is feasible.”

Southfield City Centre businesses that apply for Administrative Site Plan review and approval to expand their businesses outdoor must adhere to specific conditions that will permit social distancing and protect the health, safety and welfare of the public. Eligible businesses will already have an existing business operating on the same property and will comply with all existing state and county Department of Health regulations, as well as the Michigan Building Code. At the time of application, businesses must possess a valid Certificate of Occupancy from the Building Department.

For dining establishments, the provision will allow a 25 to 50% increase in table capacity to be located outside on a hard surface, such as a parking area. For personal services businesses, the provision allows for a 25 to 50% increase in chair or station capacity. The outdoor provision will allow businesses to maintain at minimum six feet between patrons at all times and should be adhered to unless otherwise specified by the State of Michigan. All businesses must comply with Governor Whitmer’s Executive Orders relating to social distancing, party size and occupancy requirements. In addition, operating hours must be consistent with current business operating hours, unless further restricted by state orders.

“The Southfield Chamber welcomes the expansion of the City Centre outside operations,” says Jason Blanks, executive director of the Southfield Area Chamber of Commerce. “During these difficult times, it’s uplifting to see the City of Southfield and City Council coming together to develop changes to local policies and legislation to help support our local businesses in the Southfield community. The COVID-19 pandemic has created many hardships for restaurant and small business owners, and this is a great step forward.”

Here are some additional COVID-19 safety requirements:

• All tables, chairs and stations must be sanitized or disinfected between customer use.
• Face coverings or masks must be worn by patrons, where feasible, and employees within outdoor dining.
• Hand sanitation stations are encouraged and should be made available by the business operators in or near outdoor dining spaces and personal service stations, as feasible.
• Outdoor seating must not occupy any portion of any city sidewalk or right-of-way.

For more information, please call the Southfield Planning Department at 248-796-4150 or visit www.cityofsouthfield.com.

Two pieces of public art will find new homes in the City Centre this year, says Southfield Mayor Kenson Siver. “The City of Southfield,” a steel sculpture by Melvin Leiserowitz and commissioned for the city’s 25th anniversary in 1983, has been tucked away toward the rear of the Southfield Municipal Campus and is ready for a move.

“For years it sat on a hill at the rear of the Civic Center. Recently the piece, which is in need of restoration, had to be moved to storage because a water main break occurred under it,” says Mayor Siver.

Following restoration, the sculpture will have a visible home in a more prominent location. “Our plan is to place ‘The City of Southfield’ to the south of the main entrance circle in front of City Hall,” he says.

A second sculpture is new to the growing collection of public art in the Southfield City Centre.

“Yin Yang,” a steel sculpture by Michigan Modernist sculptor David Barr, was purchased from the private collection of Southfield resident Skip Davis by the Friends of Southfield Public Arts. Davis recently sold his home to downsize and move to another location within the Southfield City Centre. “Obviously, he could not take the piece with him. Rather than see it leave Southfield, the Friends of Southfield Public Arts purchased it,” explains Mayor Siver.

A recommendation to restore and place the unique sculpture in a new location in the Southfield City Centre was proposed to the Southfield City Council by the Southfield Public Arts Commission and the Friends of Southfield Public Arts. This recommendation was approved by the Council and when restoration is complete, the piece will be installed in the large traffic triangle bounded by Evergreen Road, 10 Mile Road and the Northwestern Highway northbound service drive.

The future of vehicles is electric, but one roadblock to the widespread adoption of plug-in electric vehicles is battery cost. An expensive battery drives up the cost of the vehicle, making it unaffordable for the average consumer, and as much as 50% of electric vehicle cost is due to the battery. But one innovative Southfield startup is looking to change all that.

At Intecells, Inc., CEO and cofounder Xiaohong Gayden and her team are working to reduce the cost of batteries through advanced manufacturing techniques and cold plasma technology to make a more energy-dense, safer and more adaptable battery product for vehicles and other large-format applications.

“We are developing a new way of making lithium-ion batteries,” says Gayden, who has more than 20 years of industry leadership and battery manufacturing research experience. “We don’t make batteries, but we provide the manufacturing technology, the equipment, and the process know-how to companies that make batteries.”

Gayden founded and registered Intecells as an LLC in August 2017. Although she had extensive corporate experience in China working for General Motors and in the UK working for BP, she was unsure about the most effective and efficient ways to build a startup. In September 2018, Gayden attended a battery industry conference in Novi, where she met Shelly Freeman, business and economic development director for the City of Southfield. That one connection linked Gayden with the Centrepolis Accelerator and opened a network of support.

“Shelly introduced me to Ross Sanders, [manager of corporate partnerships] at Lawrence Tech, and Ross led me to [Centrepolis Accelerator leadership] Dan [Radomski] and Mark [Brucki], and it just started snowballing after that,” Gayden says. At the time a single entity with no venture capital backing, Gayden consulted with Centrepolis Accelerator expert-in-residence Lee Gorman, to benefit from her decades of automotive industry experience.

This vital connection to the Centrepolis Accelerator helped Intecells capture a grant from the Small Business Administration’s Business Accelerator Fund. “This helps pay for design resources and our website through third-party providers,” says Gayden. “It pays for the work we must do as a company.”

During this time, Dan Radomski and his team were working to open the Centrepolis Accelerator’s physical location on campus at LTU, and celebrated its grand opening in October 2019. To take advantage of the facility’s coworking spaces, conference rooms and on-site networking, Intecells moved in. “This gave us a physical presence, an office to work in,” Gayden says.

For a permanent home, Intecells has specific facility requirements, including necessary space for a testing lab as well as 480-volt three-phase electric power. Following an exhaustive search of several communities in southeast Michigan, including Novi, Sterling Heights, Ann Arbor, Canton and Plymouth, Gayden identified an ideal location for Intecells right in Southfield, at Melrose and Lahser between 8 Mile Road and 9 Mile Road. Intecells plans to move in later this year.

One of the best parts about the new location is its proximity to LTU, says Gayden. “Because of our deep connection and partnership with LTU, we wanted to stay close to the campus,” she says. “I can see next summer having LTU students as summer interns working on-site. I think LTU is doing a fantastic job in terms of creating graduates and the faculty experiences are more applied and more relevant to the industry, versus the theoretical side. The culture of LTU is what I really like.”

As a company at the intersection of research, technology and manufacturing, Intecells is a strong addition to the Southfield business community, says Freeman. “We welcome Dr. Gayden and her team and are thrilled she has such a strong working relationship with the Centrepolis Accelerator and with LTU faculty. Intecells is just the right type of business to contribute to Southfield’s growing base of technology industries at the very top of forward-thinking Michigan businesses,” Freeman says.

Right now, Gayden is working hard to spread the word about Intecells and develop strategic partnerships with like-minded organizations. She says the future of transportation relies on batteries, and Michigan is the right place for this technology to grow and develop. “The more quickly the industry can find the expertise and the resources, the faster we can get to that future. We want people to know we are here and want to work with them. Startups and mature companies — wherever there is mutual interest — we can grow together as part of the manufacturing base,” she says.

From a partnership perspective, Gayden says the Centrepolis Accelerator has been instrumental in making meaningful connections to help establish Intecells here in Michigan.

“The Centrepolis Accelerator has introduced me to so many people,” says Gaden. “Some turn out to be great business partners, help to get funding, or just spread the word about our business.

Entrepreneurs and businesses of all sizes are encouraged to learn more about the Centrepolis Accelerator. Visit www.centrepolisaccelerator.com or call 248-204-2452.