Summary
Milt Rohwer, Grand Rapids civic leader: "The reaction to the information on the 'state our state" presented that day was of righteous indignation. That has grown with each discussion. The only distressing note is that elected and party leadership on both sides doesn't seem to get it yet."
That original conference - followed by others on Michigan's tax system and on our workforce and human investment policies - persuaded us to launch Michigan's Defining Moment. That has been a a public engagement outreach program designed to set out a "common ground" vision for Michigan, and to develop and suggest strategies and tactics for reaching it.We held 96 "community conversations" all over Michigan, engaging more than 1,500 Michiganders in thinking hard about the future of our state. (The report of that first round is available on The Center's web site, www.thecenterformichigan.net.) The Center's weekly email newsletter, "Fresh Thoughts for Michigan's Transformation," now has 3,500 subscribers. And our efforts to establish a bipartisan, pragmatic beachhead in Lansing are gradually succeeding.Among them were Tom Clay, the highly respected research director of the Citizens' Research Council; Doug Roberts, director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at Michigan State University Jim Duderstadt, former president of the University of Michigan; Lou Glazer, president of Michigan Future, Inc. and Doug Rothwell, CEO of Detroit Renaissance. Paul Hillegonds, former speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives and currently senior vice president of DTEnergy, put it this way: When hundreds of engaged, concerned citizens gathered to discuss our state's challenges, it was an affirmation of the hunger for longer-term, bipartisan problem-solving.See the full content of this document
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Where Michigan Must Go From Here
Two years ago this week, a day-long conference in Ann Arbor marked the start of a citizen movement to transform Michigan from a struggling, fearful, Rust Belt state in decline to something new.
Transform Michigan, that is, into the kind of proud, prosperous place we once were, and could be again...See the full content of this document
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