While we know a great deal about President-elect Trump’s EPA nominee, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt, Barry Rabe writes for the Brookings Institution that it is highly unclear "just what he will do in his role.” The article, titled “What...
Over a quarter of local officials from Michigan jurisdictions that provide shared water infrastructure believe funding levels are not sufficient to maintain those systems, according to the latest Michigan Public Policy Survey (MPPS), "Local...
Sarah Mills of the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy surveyed more than 1,200 farm landowners throughout 14 townships in Michigan to find out how farmers are impacted by wind energy turbines on their land. Mills found landowners with wind...
Findings from the most recent Michigan Public Policy Survey (MPPS), published by the Ford School’s Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP), reveal broad concern by local leaders and administrators over property tax appeals.
The survey...
An article by Sarah Mills and Christopher Gore, “Public and local government leader opinions on environmental federalism: Comparing issues and national contexts,” was published in the September 2016 issue of State and Local Government...
Michigan State University’s Institute for Public Policy and Social Research (IPPSR) and the University of Michigan's Center for Local, State and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) are launching a new public policy survey designed to tap the attitudes and...
Nearly two-thirds of Michigan’s local leaders believe that the state’s system of funding local government is broken and in need of reform. This belief is shared by a majority of local leaders from jurisdictions large and small, from every region of...
Wisconsin Public Radio’s John Munson interviewed Barry Rabe for "A look at the Dakota Access Oil Pipeline," about the controversy over the multi-state Dakota Access Oil Pipeline on September 6. Rabe provided extensive background information and...
Michigan Radio’s Cynthia Canty interviews Tom Ivacko (MPP ’93), CLOSUP program administrator, for the segment “Declining fiscal health “an early warning sign” for local governments, report says.”
The program focuses on CLOSUP's latest Michigan...
The Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy’s (CLOSUP) most recent Michigan Public Policy Survey finds a reversal in the trend of improving fiscal health among Michigan local governments.Despite an improving economy, fewer local governments say...
Sarah Mills spoke with the Christian Science Monitor about results from the latest National Survey on Energy and Environment (NSEE), which found that only 15 percent of Americans now deny that there is solid evidence of climate change, in contrast...
The latest Michigan Public Policy Survey (MPPS), published by the Ford School's Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP), finds that local leaders are less optimistic about the state’s direction.Statewide, only 44 percent of local leaders...
One of the core functions of Michigan’s local governments is ensuring public safety. As such, the Ford School’s Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) focused its latest Michigan Public Policy Survey on police, fire, and emergency...
The Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) is offering a new undergraduate course for students looking for opportunities to work with survey research...
CLOSUP’s latest policy report, released today, examines Michigan local government leaders’ opinions on fire protection services in their communities, including satisfaction with fire services and funding of fire protection at the local...
ANN ARBOR—Nearly half, or 47 percent, of local leaders from the largest jurisdictions in Michigan say they lack sufficient funding to fight crime in their areas, according to the latest Michigan Public Policy Survey (MPPS), "Most local officials are...
CLOSUP program manager Tom Ivacko’s “What is lost when a state takes over a city,” was published on April 13 by Governing.com. The piece, which ran in "Voices of the Governing Institute," describes Michigan’s restrictive local government finance...
An independent panel convened by Gov. Rick Snyder in the wake of the Flint water crisis concluded that government disregard for low-income residents and people of color contributed to the delay in action, according to a recent New York Times...
Want to use your data skills to develop solutions to social challenges facing the city of Detroit? The Detroit Data Fellows Program is a two-year, full-time post-graduate fellowship during which participants work with city agencies to analyze...
Last month, CLOSUP Program Manager Sarah Mills received an $80,000 award from the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation to investigate community attitudes about wind energy in Michigan. Mills will work in collaboration with CLOSUP Director Barry Rabe...
On Friday March 11, 23 Ford School master’s students traveled to the University of Toronto’s School of Public Policy and Governance for "Ford + SPPG," our annual student-led policy conference and case competition. Each year, the event brings...
Barry Rabe’s latest blog for Brookings explores how President Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau might leverage their new relationship to make progress on climate, water and infrastructure.
“Methane may offer some real opportunity for...
Last week, Brian Jacob, Susan Dynarski and two colleagues from Michigan State released a new paper, "Are expectations alone enough? Estimating the effect of a mandatory college-prep curriculum in Michigan." The paper examines the effect of the 2006...
On Monday, February 22, the Ford School hosted “21st Century Policing: Lessons from Cincinnati,” as part of the University of Michigan's 2016 Martin Luther King Jr. Symposium. The event brought together a roundtable of community leaders to talk...
While local leaders say police forces across Michigan have good overall relations with their communities, those in larger cities worry about the possibility of civil unrest after well-publicized incidents in Ferguson, Missouri, and Baltimore.In...
A majority of Americans (54 percent) want their state to submit an implementation plan to comply with the Clean Power Plan, according to CLOSUP’s latest survey. Another 22 percent would prefer their state not submit a plan and instead allow the...
The fall 2015 issue of State & Hill magazine was mailed to alumni and friends of the Ford School on November 18, 2015.
This edition of the magazine, titled “Motor City Remix,” highlighted stories about some of the work Ford School faculty,...
As the Michigan economy improves, some local leaders are facing the welcome task of deciding how to allocate funds from budget surpluses. A University of Michigan Ford School survey, "Responding to budget surplus vs. deficit: the preferences of...
I had to really drum up interest a decade ago; nobody gave a rip,” says David Thacher of his course, “Thinking about Crime.” These days, there’s a lot more interest in public safety—at the Ford School and elsewhere.
Reflecting those concerns, the...
According to “How Poor Single Moms Survive,” an article by Alana Semuels for The Atlantic, the number of single-parent households in the US has soared since 1960, just as the amount of government assistance available to these largely female-headed...