One year of Warrior Impact: 80+ students worked nearly 10,000 hours at 50 local employers

In early 2025, a team of leaders from around Wayne State set out to achieve three things: expand career-engaged learning, strengthen ties to Detroit's entrepreneurial ecosystem and increase the university's use of Federal Work-Study. They realized it might be possible to achieve all three goals through a single innovative program: Warrior Impact.

Twelve months later, the program has evolved from pilot to pioneer.

In its first year, Warrior Impact connected 83 Wayne State students with 50 local employer partners, leveraging nearly $200,000 in Federal Work-Study funding to support more than 9,700 hours of paid work within Detroit startups, nonprofits and civic organizations.

The program, administered through the Division of Entrepreneurship and Economic Development (DEED), offered paid 60- and 200-hour internships as well as team-based strategist experiences. All employer partners were sourced through TechTown, Wayne State's entrepreneurship hub, as well as Michigan Central, connecting students with startups and emerging ventures across Detroit.

But Warrior Impact's story goes beyond internships. It shows how communities can connect talented young people with meaningful local opportunities, and how universities can expand access to paid experiential learning while helping local organizations access talent and capacity they might not otherwise be able to afford.

Opening doors to career-engaged learning

Experiential learning changes lives. Internships serve as a bridge between classroom learning and career success. Data from the National Association of Colleges and Employers has consistently found that students who participate in internships demonstrate stronger career readiness and employment outcomes.

The problem is that access to experiential learning opportunities is not equal. Many students - especially low-income, first-generation, transfer, and working students - balance coursework with jobs, family responsibilities and financial pressures. For some, the work of simply finding and landing an internship is a significant barrier. And for many, unpaid experiences are not feasible.

Warrior Impact was designed to eliminate barriers like these. By leveraging Federal Work-Study funding in an innovative way for off-campus internships, the program works well for both students and employers. Students can participate in local internships that pay $20 an hour - more than many on-campus jobs and just below the region's MIT living wage of $22.18. And because Federal Work-Study covers participating students' wages, local employers gain talent and organizational capacity at no cost.

This helps strengthen Detroit's talent and innovation ecosystem.

"One of the early questions we asked was, 'Who gets access to career-building experiences, and who doesn't?'" said DEED senior project administrator Kristin Johnston, who manages Warrior Impact. "Time and finances are significant barriers for many students. The fact that Warrior Impact provides paid opportunities means more students can gain professional experience without having to choose between building their résumés and doing life."

Connecting talent to opportunity

To be effective, Warrior Impact had to be flexible. Its three-path model - spanning 200-hour traditional internships, 60-hour "micro-internships," and a competitive 60-hour "strategist experience" - ensured it could best serve an array of students and employers.

For repeat participant Sadiya Omima - who was also a member of the winning team in Warrior Impact's inaugural strategist experience showcase - this flexibility and accessibility was key.

"It's hard as a student to balance classes, work and everything else that comes up throughout the year," Omima said. "What made Warrior Impact great was that it allowed me not just to gain experience, but to get paid for it and participate in experiences that worked for my skills and schedule. It made everything about the internship hunt so much easier and more accessible."

The first year of Warrior Impact also coincided with momentum across Detroit's innovation economy. In 2025 alone, TechTown, Wayne State's entrepreneurship hub, served more than 1,200 entrepreneurs, helped create and sustain more than 2,000 jobs, and supported clients in generating $49 million in revenue. Other ecosystem organizations, such as Michigan Central and Newlab Detroit, are also helping entrepreneurs and emerging companies access the resources, networks and support they need to grow.

As organizations within these districts and incubators grow, so does their need for talent.

"Detroit's innovation ecosystem is growing rapidly, and what these organizations need, in part, is talent," said DEED's Emily Thompson, assistant vice president of regional competitiveness and impact. "Warrior Impact creates a bridge between ambitious students and employers doing important work throughout the city."

Moreover, because many Warrior Impact employer partners are startups and small organizations, students often gain experience beyond a single discipline.

"One of the hallmarks of working in a small organization is the ability to wear many hats," Thompson continued. "In this program, students who specialize in engineering, for example, get to do much more than engineering. That kind of experience is a massive early-career differentiator."

The connection between talent and opportunity sits at the center of a broader conversation taking place across Michigan. By introducing students to local employers and networks before graduation, Warrior Impact strengthens those connections within Detroit and across Southeast Michigan.

"Most conversations about Michigan's future come back to talent," Thompson said. "If we want students to build their careers and lives here, they need opportunities to engage with the region before they graduate. Warrior Impact makes those connections early and shows students that Southeast Michigan is a place where they can grow and thrive long-term."

Creating value for employers, communities and the region

Warrior Impact is also a testament to the university's connection and collaboration with local organizations. Many employer partners are startups, nonprofits and small organizations operating with limited resources. Through the program, they gain access to talented students who provide additional capacity and bring fresh perspectives to important work.

"Working with local organizations has helped me better understand what opportunities exist here and the importance of the work they're doing around Detroit," Omima said. "Participating in Warrior Impact has made me feel more connected to the city and really showed me how these founders and organizations work not just internally, but as a network."

The program also reflects Wayne State's role as an anchor institution, connecting student success with broader regional economic development goals, Thompson said.

"Universities have a unique, important role to play in regional competitiveness. We educate talent, conduct research and serve as conveners, but we also have a duty to connect people to opportunity. Warrior Impact is one example of what that can look like when a university aligns student success with its regional economic development goals."

One year of impact, a future of possibility

For those who helped launch Warrior Impact, the program's first year demonstrated what Wayne State and the Detroit community can accomplish together.

"This program became a reality and a success because people across Wayne State came together to try something new, community partners opened their doors and students stepped into opportunities with enthusiasm. It was an all-around effort," Thompson said.

The program also demonstrates the power of relationships, community and a shared vision.

"When I look back on the program's first year, I'm just floored at the number of new, meaningful connections that it helped create," Johnston said. "Behind every statistic is a student who learned something new, an employer who received support and a relationship that would not have happened otherwise. That's what Warrior Impact is all about, and we are so proud of and grateful for everyone who helped bring this to life."

As Wayne State looks to the future of Warrior Impact, the program's leaders see opportunities for both local and national growth. In the coming year, the team plans to expand employer participation in Detroit to include more nonprofit and civic organizations advancing community and economic development. And beyond Detroit, Thompson and Johnston continue to field inquiries from other universities interested in adapting the Warrior Impact model following Thompson's presentation at a June 2026 national meeting of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities.

That growing interest reinforces the idea that the Warrior Impact blueprint could extend well beyond Detroit.

"Universities and communities across the country are asking many of the same questions we are: How do we prepare students for successful careers? How do we help employers access talent? How do we strengthen the communities we serve?" Thompson said. "Warrior Impact offers a blueprint, because while its details may look different from place to place, the program is adaptable, replicable and scalable."

Learn more about Warrior Impact.

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