• Quicken Loans sponsors upcoming FIRST Championship in Detroit
  • 20 DPSCD elementary and middle school FIRST teams have been created thanks to Quicken Loans, Detroit PAL partnership

DETROIT, April 18, 2018 – Next week, tens of thousands of people will descend upon Detroit to watch as high school teams from all over the country battle robots in the FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Championship, which is sponsored by Quicken Loans as a part of its initiative to train 15,000 students in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). From April 25-28, FIRST Robotics Competition teams from across the nation will duke it out with robots designed, engineered, built and controlled by high school students and their mentors.

Quicken Loans’ support of the world’s largest STEM celebration underscores the company’s longstanding commitment to education and employment in STEM fields in the communities it calls home.

“Quicken Loans thrives on creativity, curiosity and problem solving, which collectively spark the innovation that has grown and sustained our business.” said Laura Grannemann, Vice President of Strategic Investments of the Quicken Loans Community Investment Fund. “We are thrilled about this FIRST partnership because it fosters those same values in a way that inspires fun and builds interest in future STEM career pathways for students.”

Quicken Loans’ support of the FIRST Championship is comprehensive, including website sponsorship, interactive social media initiatives, public space transformation and program expansion.

A section of the company’s popular Thanksgiving Parade float, “Detroit: City of Possibilities!” will be on display in Campus Martius from April 25-28 to welcome visitors and offer a great photo opportunity. The tech-focused float, which features a larger-than-life robot, will be surrounded by street grips featuring STEM-related fun facts and a Snapchat geo-filter.

In addition to sponsoring the FIRST Championship, Quicken Loans is partnering with the Detroit Police Athletic League (PAL), a nonprofit that aligns with schools to facilitate extracurricular activities, to launch 20 FIRST teams in 14 middle and elementary schools within the Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD).

FIRST is just one of the ways that Quicken Loans invests in Detroit students as they build the skills needed to access the jobs of the 21st century. The company is dedicated to growing technical skills in construction, customer service and IT, and has partnered with 50 schools to engage over 7,500 Detroit students since 2016. Quicken Loans team members are passionate about mentoring students in their career development and have dedicated more than 16,000 hours to mentorship.

The 20 elementary and middle school teams created will compete in the FIRST® LEGO® League and FIRST® Tech Challenge tiers. The students will participate in local competitions next month, with their first official season kicking off at the start of school this fall.

The FIRST Championship generates an average of $30 million in revenue for its host city and attracts about 35,000 attendees, including 15,000 students.

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About Quicken Loans

Detroit-based Quicken Loans Inc. is the nation’s largest home mortgage lender. The company closed more than $400 billion of mortgage volume across all 50 states from 2013 through 2017. Quicken Loans moved its headquarters to downtown Detroit in 2010. Today, Quicken Loans and its Family of Companies employ more than 17,000 full-time team members in Detroit’s urban core. The company generates loan production from web centers located in Detroit, Cleveland and Phoenix. Quicken Loans also operates a centralized loan processing facility in Detroit, as well as its San Diego-based One Reverse Mortgage unit. Quicken Loans ranked highest in the country for customer satisfaction for primary mortgage origination by J.D. Power for the past eight consecutive years, 2010 – 2017, and also ranked highest in the country for customer satisfaction among all mortgage servicers the past four consecutive years, 2014 – 2017.

Quicken Loans was once again named to FORTUNE magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For” list in 2018 and has been included in the magazine’s top 1/3rd of companies named to the list for the past 15 consecutive years. The company was also named the #1 place to work in technology in 2017 by Computerworld magazine’s “100 Best Places to Work in IT,” a recognition it has received 8 times in the past 12 years.

For more information and company news visit QuickenLoans.com/press-room.