The Center for Michigan is "on a roll," Detroit News ace business columnist Daniel Howes proclaimed this week.

If we’re on a roll, it’s because of the enthusiastic engagement of hundreds and hundreds of Michigan residents who are joining together in the Center’s efforts to work for a brighter Michigan future. Consider Center member George Kuper, who recently forwarded this newsletter to seventy-eight friends and business associates urging them to sign up! Thanks to those “pass it on” messages from George and others, the Center is within reach of 3,000 members and newsletter subscribers. We’d be thrilled if you could help us get there by the end of the year by passing on this newsletter to a few of your friends and associates.

We’re also amazed and grateful by weekly contributions to our online donations system. In the past month, two Center members have contributed $1,000 each! We are so grateful for your support! Corporate support this fall has reached deep into the six figures and helps tremendously as we march forward in the Michigan’s Defining Moment Public Engagement Campaign. Our deepest thanks go to the Stryker Corp., Meijer Corp., the DTE Energy Foundation, AT&T, Davenport University, and the Richard C. and Barbara C. Van Dusen Family Fund.

Our 93rd and 94th Community Conversations take place today. Altogether, more than 1,400 people have participated in the first round of this statewide dialogue designed to develop a “common ground” agenda for Michigan’s future. We’ll issue brief conclusions to all of you right after the new year and gear up for Round 2, beginning in mid-February.

Entries are flowing in daily for the EnvisionMichigan story competition. Check out the latest entries from a balloonist who loves Michigan from above and a Michigan State University student who refuses to buy into defeatism.

Ten legislators and several dozen Center for Michigan members have attended our first three legislative dinners in Lansing. The purpose of the dinners is to explore ways to enhance bipartisan action in the Capitol. The dinners will continue in January. To add your name to the invitation lists to upcoming dinners, just drop us a line.