siness
Christians, Jews and businesses work together
to help inner-city children
learn how to succeed in the free market.
RUTH LITTMANN STAFF WRITER
GLENN TREIST PHOTOGRAPHER
ate themselves on
Clifton Morgan, a graduate of CEOs Under Seventeen, and a classmate upd
world financial news.
prayco President Joel Jacob
believes: "If you can't see it,
you can't be it."
But if what you see every
day are street corner drug
deals, crackheads and crime,
it is all too easy to follow suit,
he says.
This is the philosophy — and the concern
— behind the Detroit Business Initiate
(DBI), a program he founded, in part, with
Stacey Crane, a certified public accountant,
Daniel Medow, president of Standard
Distributing Inc. and Barbara Levin, special
project coordinator for Energy Conversion
Devices (who is married to Sen. Carl Levin).
The program, which began in 1990, aims
to help inner city youth become entrepre-
neurs.
During an era when crime is increasing
and the dropout rate among Detroit public
high school students is 25 percent, these
local Jewish business leaders have teamed
up with members of the black and Christian
communities to teach at-risk youngsters
about making money.
"We hope to help Detroit youth get expo-
sure to legal businesses, to boost their confi-
dence and to promote good relations
between the Jewish and black communi-
DE TRO I T J E WIS H NE WS
COINAIPILED
F or the past 20 years,
Japanese and Euro-
pean designers have
reigned as champions in
the International Pearl
Design contest. This year,
Link Wachler joins the
winner's circle with the
highest honor.
Mr. Wachler, grandson
of the late David Wachler,
who founded the company
in 1922, has received
numerous awards in past
years in this contest. This
is his first — and
America's first — grand
prize in the thematic
design category.
His winning design,
called Sticks and Stones,
is a combination of plat-
inum and yellow gold
sticks that connect with
dangling cultured pearls.
Mr. Wachler also won
an honorable mention in
the design rendering divi-
sion.
ENRY DORFMAN,
chairman of the
board of Thorn Apple
H
KINIBIEFIL_If
Valley, got a standing
ovation from students at
Utah State University a
few weeks ago when he
spoke about his experi-
ences living underground
in Nazi-controlled Europe
during World War II.
ugene Applebaum is
making a lot of good
decisions these days. The
company he founded,
Arbor Drugs, recently was
named Pharmacy of the
Year by Drug Topics trade
magazine for its record
E
ties," Ms. Crane said.
DBI volunteers have contributed time and
money to planning business trips, which are
excursions to factories and corporate offices,
like Kmart Headquarters in Troy.
The youngsters then witness the inner
workings of the free market system, and
they can begin to understand the ABCs of
capitalism. Most important, Mr. Jacob says,
the youth see firsthand how a business oper-
ates.
About a year ago, DBI decided' to join
forces with Joy of Jesus Inc., a nonprofit
organization whose members are primarily
black. Joy of Jesus, led by the Rev. Eddie
LIP1r01,1
performance.
The 135-store chain in
Michigan announced a
16.4 percent increase in
net income and 10.5 per-
cent increase in net sales
for the quarter which
ended April 30.
Net sales totaled near-
ly $3.9 million for the
quarter, 24 cents a share,
and up from $3.3 million
in the comparable period
last year, or 21 cents per
share.
Arbor, which watched
from the sidelines as com-
petitors extended mer-
chandise to include every-
thing from pets to boats,
has enjoyed slow growth
and has maintained its
commitment to pharmacy
and standard drug-store
items.
outhfield photographer
David Deutsch is
enjoying his No. 1 status.
Recently, the 32-year-old
professional photographer
earned praise from the
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