Made possible by the 2012 JOBS Act, Community Capital fundraising has become an increasingly popular way for small regional businesses and fledgling startups to raise capital while providing investment opportunities to investors at all levels of income and sophistication.  This report analyzes data from Honeycomb Credit, a major crowdfunding platform, to evaluate SEC regulations on crowdfunding, identify gaps in current reporting requirements, and recommend areas for further research. The team looked at comparisons between businesses within two major cities, Pittsburgh and Cleveland, due...

Impact investing is the practice of investing to both seek a financial return and create tangible social or environmental benefits. It is a tool that is emerging in philanthropy providing foundations new ways to use their capital more effectively and create social impact while possibly gaining a financial return or return on capital. The goal of this project was to support the Council of Michigan Foundations’ (CMF) efforts to provide impact investing education and resources for the CMF community of philanthropy. It provides a starting point for foundations that are interested in this emerging...

State Representative Padma Kuppa has been working to pass H.R. 248 – a policy resolution in the state of Michigan that calls for the federal government to quickly enact legislation addressing the backlog in employment–based (EB) green cards, including, but not limited to, H.R. 3648 (the EAGLE Act). The goals of the project were: to research the landscape of EB green cards, including the national backlog and economic impact of the immigrant workforce; to document previous and proposed legislation on the national backlog at the state and federal levels; and to identify and engage with...

The Michigan Economic Development Corporation's Redevelopment Ready Communities Program (RRC) helps Michigan communities build effective zoning ordinances, streamline their development review processes, and design stakeholder engagement practices to incentivize community-driven economic growth. As an RRC fellow, the student helped the City of Lincoln Park obtain RRC certification by updating the city's public participation plan, mapping the city’s development review process, and cultivating a working relationship with Lincoln Park’s Hispanic entrepreneurial community. Through the work,...

Four fellows provided research support for the Michigan League of Conservation Voters and the office of State Senator Rosemary Bayer to improve a bill (SB 429 of 2021) that was introduced in the Michigan Senate to update regulations on the mining of aggregate materials (e.g., sand, gravel, stone, clay). The team conducted case studies of nine states, focusing on the relative authorities of state and local governments in the permitting and restoration processes, as well as topical overviews around soil conservation best practices, the use of recycled aggregate materials, and stakeholder...

The Michigan Action Plan for Fatherhood Involvement was created to explore ways of expanding support for the involvement of fathers in parenting/custody arrangements and to guide the establishment of permanent structures for improving policies and programs that benefit fathers and their families. The project sought to understand 50/50 shared parenting legislation on the state level and ways the organization could advocate and support such initiatives. During the project, the student researcher considered questions such as: how do states define 50/50 shared parenting, are these pieces of...