GLS Team at Hack Michigan: Building Bridges Between Nature, Community, and Technology

GLS participated in Hack Michigan’s Small Business AI Adoption Challenge, a 48-hour event focused on creating affordable, resource-conscious solutions for Michigan small business owners.

The experience gave our team a chance to reflect on our own work and the challenges faced by the people who help make it happen. Much of our work is outside, hands-on, and deskless, and many of our partners, volunteers, and team members do not typically need to use a computer to complete their work.

Still, the desk work has to happen in the background. When we’re juggling multiple projects, effective project management tools are essential for keeping work organized. Even small, agile organizations like ours rely on tracking progress and collecting measurable data for grant reporting, program evaluation, and demonstrating impact.

When our team works at Unity House, in the garden, out in the community, or at home, we rely heavily on one-to-one texting, because it's fast, familiar, and feels the most efficient. But important updates can easily get buried, and information has to be gathered manually, with one person responsible for collecting reports and entering the data into a system. The hackathon inspired us to think about simple, low-cost tools that could sync with common texting apps, make task communication clearer, and capture progress as work happens.

The team developed and pitched an AI-powered project management and task delegation tool designed to support deskless workers. We plan to continue developing and prototyping the solution with the hope that it can eventually help other gardens and outdoor spaces across Detroit streamline communication, coordinate projects, and grow their impact.