We finish our new report, “A path to good-paying careers for all Michiganders: Creating places across Michigan where people want to live and work,” and this blog series, with a deep dive into transportation. Transportation is at the epicenter of…
As the tragedy of Flint reminded us all, up to date infrastructure is an essential ingredient to livable communities. Transportation, water, energy and digital communications systems need to be world class for Michigan communities to compete for talent. Our new…
Just as talent––the asset that matters most to future economic growth––comes in all human varieties, talented people are looking for a wide variety of quality of place features in where they want to live and work. Probably most importantly, some…
The state must do its part to ensure that no talented workers are turned off and turned away by Michigan’s communities. That means a legal framework that prohibits all forms of discrimination, and access to the resources necessary for social…
Over two decades of research has taught us one fundamental lesson: Talent = economic growth. The key to retaining and attracting talent is creating places where people want to live, work and play. Then-New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg got…
Last week a friend forwarded me an article from Slate about the students at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School who have emerged as new leaders of a pro-gun control movement. I had remarked that I was struck by their poise,…
Last week I heard a sad but important interview with Matthew Desmond, Pulitzer prize-winning author of Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City and now founder of The Eviction Lab, an effort to compile and analyze eviction data nationally.…
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about why middle class life feels increasingly unstable over these last several years—especially in Michigan. Frequent readers of MFI know that we often cite the Michigan Association of United Way’s ALICE report, and its…
Reading the guest commentary Governor Snyder penned for Bridge Magazine explaining the ideas behind his Marshall Plan for Talent was like riding a roller coaster. It’s clear Governor Snyder understands that the world of work has fundamentally changed and that…
A few weeks ago, Amazon announced that neither of Michigan’s major metros, Detroit and Grand Rapids, are finalists for the location of HQ2. Lou wrote about why we at Michigan Future were not at all surprised. For years, MFI has…