The Center for Michigan :: A Forum for Our State's Future


Conact Us
Newsletter
About the Center
Michigan's Defining Moment
Donate
The Center at Work

Quality of Place

GUEST COLUMN: Kurt Metzger looks to U-Haul rates to measure MI's health

February 4, 2010 – 11:50 am

By Kurt Metzger
The stories of out-migration: From Michigan, from metro Detroit, and from the City of Detroit – have dominated the headlines since the early part of the last decade.
United Van Lines reported that their Michigan activity was dominated by outbound trips – 68 percent of all Michigan-related moves. This was the highest outbound share [...]

By The Center for Michigan | Also posted in Fresh Thoughts | Comments (0)

SPECIAL REPORT: Benchmarking the economies in "Big Ten" college towns

December 17, 2009 – 8:24 am

By Melissa Preddy
Nine months ago, Tera Johnson officially launched a dream, presiding over the first shift at her new $14 million Wisconsin Specialty Protein whey-processing plant in Reedsburg near the University of Wisconsin.
Next month, Johnson’s "Teraswhey" brand of protein supplements will hit the shelves in 200 Whole Foods markets nationwide, and her factory will produce [...]

By The Center for Michigan | Also posted in Economic Development, Fresh Thoughts, K-16 Education | Comments (2)

SUCCESS STORY: Michigan agriculture continues to grow

December 17, 2009 – 8:24 am

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the latest in our continuing series of stories about what's working well in Michigan and its economy.
As a boy growing up on an Isabella County farm, Randy Recker knew he wanted the same life for himself as an adult.
"It gets in your blood," said Recker, 57, talking on his cell phone [...]

By The Center for Michigan | Also posted in Fresh Thoughts | Comments (4)

MichiganNow gets a new look

December 17, 2009 – 8:22 am

Imagine. Create. Prosper.
That's the slogan for Michigan radio journalism ace Chris McCarus and his new MichiganNow.org web site.
Chris is a journalism pioneer who lives to tell the rest of us about Michgian pioneers.
Check out his new site to hear and see compelling stories on Bill Milliken, Jr.'s efforts to make real estate thrive in Ann [...]

By John Bebow | Also posted in Fresh Thoughts | Comments (0)

New momentum for Michigan arts

December 3, 2009 – 11:52 am

After suffering years of state funding cuts, Michigan's arts and culture sector is rallying for a comeback.
ArtServe Michigan, the state's leading arts advocacy voice, is hailing a new ticket tax bill introduced in the State House last month by Rep. George Cushingberry, chair of the House Appropriations Committee.
Cush's bill would create a 2 percent tax [...]

By John Bebow | Also posted in Fresh Thoughts | Comments (5)

SPECIAL REPORT: Other states find answers to arts funding woes

November 13, 2009 – 11:05 am

By John Foren
A holiday production of Jacob Marley's Christmas Carol has been scrapped, but the spectre of Scrooge still seems to hang over the BoarsHead Theatre in downtown Lansing.
It is a day after BoarsHead's board cited battered finances in deciding to cancel the play, lay off all employees and hopefully re-open next year. The theater [...]

By John Bebow | Also posted in Fresh Thoughts | Comments (3)

GUEST COLUMN: A call for in-depth Michigan journalism

October 29, 2009 – 10:03 am

Editor's Note: The Center for Michigan recently convened a panel of about a dozen former Michigan journalists who've left the profession. Our topic: ways to reinvigorate civics-minded journalism in an era when it is growing more and more difficult to make a living by working for the traditional media outlets. The panel we convened certainly [...]

By The Center for Michigan | Also posted in Fresh Thoughts, The Center at Work | Comments (2)

SPECIAL REPORT: AN INSIDE LOOK AT MICHIGAN'S REGIONAL ECONOMIES

October 15, 2009 – 1:09 pm

Beyond the dismal unemployment numbers, what's happening in Michigan's economy? Are there spots of growth? Are some regions healthier than others? How do Michigan's distinct regional economies compare to others in the Great Lakes and across the nation?
New numbers from the feds provide fascinating and provocative answers to those questions.
At the end of September, the [...]

By John Bebow | Also posted in Economic Development, Fresh Thoughts, Papers, The Center at Work | Comments (6)

ArtPrize shows Michigan the value of arts investment

September 30, 2009 – 6:06 pm

The launch of ArtPrize, west Michigan's brand new interactive arts competition, was, by all accounts, a huge success last weekend.
More than 28,000 people registered to vote in the competition and a thousand people an hour or more were streaming through the ArtPrize headquarters over the weekend.
Already, stories are brewing about the spin-off business from the [...]

By John Bebow | Also posted in Fresh Thoughts, The Center at Work | Comments (3)

Visionaries thinking out loud

September 10, 2009 – 10:25 am

What better time than now for Michigan-built inspiration?
In celebration of its 80th anniversary, The Henry Ford is launching a wonderful online collection of oral histories this fall. At www.OnInnovation.com, you will be able to see oral histories from some of the greatest inventors and change agents in the recent history of our state and our [...]

By John Bebow | Also posted in Fresh Thoughts, The Center at Work | Comments (0)

   © 2007 The Center for Michigan. Site Map | Credits | Terms Of Use | Privacy Statement | Contact | Home