Detroit Drives Michigan
The press coverage of the likely change from Detroit Renaissance to Michigan Renaissance included quotes from the organization's leadership that they believed that if you fix Michigan, you fix Detroit. We respectfully disagree! Is it Illinois that is driving the Chicago economy or Chicago that is driving the Illinois economy? What about Minneapolis and Minnesota, Seattle and Washington State, Boston…
WILS Interview on Michigan Future, Inc.
Did a radio interview with Walt Sorg of WILS radio recently. Its probably the best summary I've done of what Michigan Future is all about. You can listen by clicking on the link here. The interview previews a presentation I did for a metro Lansing community forum. But its message applies to the entire state. There is no going back.…
Where Do We Want to Go From Here?
Michigan Future started its work with the question "where do we want to go from here?" Because if you don't know where you are going, all roads lead there. To figure out what to work on, you need to know where you are trying to get. Our answer: a high prosperity Michigan. A place with a per capita income above…
A New Agenda For A New Michigan
This is a foundation report that sets the stage for our initiatives to help create a prosperous Michigan. The reality in Michigan is startling - it has experienced six years of employment decline (2000-2006), even during three years of a national economic upturn. Unlike the relative prosperity it enjoyed for most of last century, Michigan is now below the national…
Connecting Urban Poor To Work
Published in 1998 while the Michigan economy was booming, this report addressed the paradoxical issue of connecting the urban poor to work. As we found, even though Michigan had record low unemployment, had income rising for the first time in two decades, and saw employers facing challenges in finding qualified people in the so-called "War for Talent", we did…