Beginning in late 2011, we are going once again to travel the state holding Community Conversations to gather and amplify the voices of Michigan citizens to make sure what’s going on in Lansing reflects the views of Michigan people.
This time out, we’re going to focus our attention on pre-K – 12 education in Michigan. What’s working in your community? What needs reform? What ideas can you bring to the table? We’re especially interested in talking with the CUSTOMERS of our education system: students, parents and families, and employers. They’ve largely been left out of the high pitched debates now going on over education policy. Yet, in important ways, their voices are the most important.
We are looking for Conveners: Community leaders who can bring together 30-50 people for an in-depth, non-partisan look at education.
If you are interested in hosting a Community Conversation, please send us an email. One of our Outreach Coordinators will be in touch to get you on the schedule.
We will be announcing all the details of our latest public engagement campaign in Bridge, so if you haven’t signed up, click here to subscribe. It’s free!
A Short History of Community Conversations
Since its founding in 2006, The Center for Michigan has sought to engage Michigan citizens statewide in small, informal town hall meetings we call Community Conversations. To date, we have engaged in this process more than 10,000 citizens, whose demographics – gender, race, geography, age – looks like the face of Michigan. This is the largest public engagement project in Michigan history.
Motivated by our deeply challenged state economy and a hyper-partisan political culture, we launched the Center with the following mission statement: “Conducting research into public policy issues affecting the people of the state of Michigan, developing public policy initiatives for the improvement of civic leadership in Michigan and educating civic leaders and concerned citizens in Michigan as to more effective approaches to public policy and governance through dissemination of written materials and sponsorship of conferences or forums.”
Our initial effort, Michigan’s Defining Moment Public Engagement Campaign, quickly became the Center’s central project. We launched “MDM” in 2007 in partnership with Public Sector Consultants, Inc. and the more than 100 statewide “Founding Champions”. We sought in-depth citizen deliberation rather than the standard telephone polls that allow brief and shallow comments to shape public policy. We worked to collect and disseminate detailed non-partisan information about Michigan’s challenges and, in turn, gathered pragmatic, grass-roots ideas to build a better future.
