Five People in a Room Became a Blueprint the Whole Country Is Copying

Black Tech Saturdays started with five people in a room. Johnnie and Alexa Turnage, a Detroit couple, wanted a space where Black founders, technologists, and creatives could gather without having to explain themselves, so in 2023 they made one. It did not stay small.

Today it is a movement. Black Tech Saturdays has engaged tens of thousands of Detroiters, raised millions to expand its programming and hand out devices, and grown into a network that Crain's called a blueprint for other cities. What began as a monthly meetup in Corktown now spans more than a dozen cities.

And it keeps building real ladders. In 2026, the Turnages partnered with the University of Michigan to launch Bridge to Success, a credential program of short, stackable badges based at Newlab, with the first 100 spots free. It is the kind of on-ramp that turns showing up to a meetup into an actual career.

The reason it works is that it started from community, not a business plan. The Turnages built the room they wished existed, kept it free and welcoming, and let it grow into infrastructure. That is how you change who gets into an industry, one Saturday at a time.

This is the ecosystem work ANF loves to spotlight. Build the room you wish existed, keep the door open, and let it become the thing that changes an industry.

Five people became a movement. Detroit built the blueprint.