It was two years ago that a day-long conference in Ann Arbor marked the start of a citizen movement to transform Michigan from a struggling, fearful Rust Belt state into the kind of proud, prosperous place we’re all longing for.

Participants at "Where Do We Go From Here?" considered Michigan’s financial picture, tax structure, workforce and competitive advantages. Speakers amounted to a hit parade of Michigan’s best. Among them were Tom Clay, then the Research Director of the Citizens Research Council; Doug Roberts, Director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at MSU; Jim Duderstadt, former President of the U of M; Lou Glazer, President the Michigan’s Future; Doug Rothwell, CEO of Detroit Renaissance.

Former Governor Bill Milliken contributed a recorded greeting, and former Congressman Joe Schwarz delivered the keynote. Something like 300 people spent the entire jam-packed day listening to the presentations, questioning speakers and mulling over were do we go from here in breakout groups.

The conference concluded Michigan faced a profound crisis. The auto industry itself was (and still is) undergoing a wrenching restructuring. The state faced (and still does) an enormous chronic structural budget deficit, an ineffective and deeply unpopular tax system and a politics both fiercely partisan and deeply ineffective. The conference called for nothing less than a transformational agenda to wrench Michigan back from the brink of disaster and lay the foundation for a prosperous future.

The sponsor was The Center for Michigan, a non-profit organization I founded six months before. I had sold my newspaper company, HomeTown Communications Network, to the Gannett Company back in 2004. But I was damned if I was going to sit back in retirement with my hands in my pockets while my state was going to hell. So, together with some old friends, I started The Center to see if we could develop a common ground agenda for a transformed Michigan.

Some of those friends recently reminded me of what that first conference was like.

Paul Hillegonds, former Speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives and currently Senior Vice President of DTEnergy: "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. I look back on that March day as an important step toward rebuilding the political foundation – a practical, progressive center – that has served Michigan so well in the past."

Milt Rhower, Grand Rapids civic leader: "The reaction to the information on the state of our state presented that day was one of righteous indignation. That has grown with each succeeding discussion. The only distressing note is that elected and party leadership on both sides doesn’t seem to get it yet."

Jack Lessenberry, columnist and radio and TV personality: "What struck me was how many people, from so many backgrounds and perspectives, had come to very similar views about what was wrong with Michigan."

Larry Good, Chairman of the Corporation for a Skilled Workforce: "What struck me is the hunger I saw in the room – transcending parties – for a place to work meaningfully on impacting the systemic changes facing Michigan and how responsive they were to being in a setting that created the space for some of that to occur."

That original conference – and others on Michigan’s tax system and on our workforce and human investment policies – persuaded us to launch Michigan's Defining Moment, a public engagement outreach program designed set out a common ground vision for Michigan and suggest strategies and tactics for reaching it.

Over the past six months, that campaign succeeded beyond anything we expected. We held 96 "community conversations" in places 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 gaining momentum.

We're working to ignite and fan a broad-based, bipartisan citizen movement for fundamental change in our state. We hope to make a citizens' agenda for Michigan's future the main subject of politics over the next two years. And we believe this can call forth a new, responsible, practical group of civic leaders to make it happen. We're not interested in founding a third party – that just doesn’t work here in America. And it's not a stalking horse for anybody's personal political ambition.

The dream that appeared so fresh but distant at that conference in Ann Arbor two years ago is fast becoming a reality. To those who despair at how difficult it will be to transform our state, I offer these words from the famous anthropologist, Margaret Mead:

"Never doubt that a small group of dedicated people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."