Many municipalities are working to become more sustainable, including steps towards cleaner energy. With newly available state and federal funding, there are opportunities to jumpstart decarbonization initiatives and projects for the betterment of their communities. By making changes now, communities will reap financial and tangible environmental benefits now and long into the future. The City of Holland has been leading sustainability efforts in our mitten state aimed at benefiting residents first. The City has intentionally involved community members and local nonprofit organizations to crea ..read more

Download the guide: This Used To Be Normal What’s old is new again—and a beloved chapter in architectural history can be a part of our strategy for tackling Michigan’s shortage of homes. To that end, the League offers This Used to be Normal: Pattern Book Homes for 21st Century Michigan, in partnership with MEDC and East Arbor Architects. In beloved traditional neighborhoods around the state you can find homes built in the early 1900s from catalogs by companies like Sears and Aladdin. These homes both addressed the housing needs of a booming economy and established a Great Lakes vernacular re ..read more

Credit: The Detroit Free Press It is estimated that 600,000 businesses open each year in the United States. They vary in size and span, some closing and some remaining in business. Michigan has about 902,000 small businesses that are owned by and employing our fellow Michiganders, our neighbors. Starting a business is an intimidating venture. There are multiple risks that one must consider before making the decision to open your doors to the public. These risks can also be multiplied when the person starting a business has not had the same privileges as others looking to do the same thing. A ..read more

Placemaking has continued to show the importance of creating a quality of life that attracts people to a community. This draw allows for better economic development. Without place, there is no community – no development. The Michigan Municipal League is a firm believer of building community wealth. We have taken placemaking and added an equity lens, resulting in Community Wealth Building. We wanted to highlight a recent Q&A published in Reimagining the Civic Commons: Quality of Life and Place as Economic Development. It features five questions with Amanda Weinstein and John Austin. Weinste ..read more

The Michigan Municipal League’s Dan Gilmartin talked about the importance of community wealth building on a new podcast that was put together by supporters of the City of Caro located in Michigan’s thumb. Gilmartin, the League’s CEO and executive director, appeared on the new Cultivating Community Podcast done by the City of Caro, the Tuscola County Economic Development Corporation, and the Caro Chamber of Commerce. The show discusses “modern economic development in rural America” and is hosted by Matt Lane and Lauren Amella. Lane serves as the City Manager of Caro and Amella is the manager o ..read more

A condensed version of this article was published in the May-June 2022 edition of The Review.   The war in Ukraine has captured global attention, but for Michigan Municipal League Board Member Rebecca Chamberlain-Creanga it is personal. Chamberlain-Creanga, a member of the Troy City Council and who also works at The Kresge Foundation, spent two and a half years in Eastern Europe in the 2000s while earning her doctorate in anthropology from the London School of Economics and Political Science. One of her experiences included working at the U.S. Embassy in Moldova, which neighbors Ukraine ..read more

Written by Morgan Schwanky and posted by Matt Bach The DTE Energy Foundation granted $1 million to The Nature Conservancy to fund a variety of projects that will aid the maintenance of Michigan’s natural resources, help continue to fund a fellowship program, advance urban environmental initiatives, and help educate communities. The projects that this grant will fund are great examples of Community Wealth Building through its sustainability pillar. The Foundation has been funding The Nature Conservancy (TNC) since 2011, which has allowed them to advance a variety of sustainability efforts, with ..read more

Is your community ready to represent Michigan in the Strongest Town competition?  Nominations are open now through February 20 in this international competition hosted by our friends at Strong Towns.  The competition highlights “towns and cities who are doing the hard work of becoming stronger, putting in place the processes, systems, and commitments that build enduring resilience and longterm prosperity.” You can tell from that description that Strong Towns was one of the inspirations the League has drawn from in our work on community wealth building. Their focus on engaging communi ..read more

Last year we released our second “Enabling Better Places” guide with our partners at the Congress for New Urbanism (CNU) and MEDC’s Redevelopment Ready Communities program (RRC). These two guides provide a strategy for communities of all sizes to examine their zoning and development codes, finding and removing common barriers to good development. This work grew out of our placemaking experiences with local communities finding that their own codes prevented them from achieving their goals. We’ve built these resources with our membership in mind, and with thanks to the front-line staff from comm ..read more

The Michigan Municipal League’s 2021 Convention is taking place in person later this month and this year’s focus is around the Community Wealth Building work the MML started last year. The Convention, happening Sept. 22-24 in Grand Rapids during ArtPrize, centers on helping our local leaders spark a community revival by building trust and belonging. All of our planned general sessions, breakouts, and local tours are carefully crafted to foster Community Wealth Building and leave attendees feeling optimistic, empowered, courageous, and open-minded. Registration is still open by clicking here, a ..read more