Policy Topics

Public and nonprofit management

Showing 301 - 330 of 718 results

State & Hill

IPAers, IPPSters, and Fordies: Catch up with fellow alums via spring 2016 "Class Notes"

May 4, 2016

Peter F. Lydens (MPA ’58) provides pro bono management consulting services to the city of Mount Airy, NC. He was Mount Airy’s first city manager (1961–63), and retired there in 2007. Frank Spence (MPA ’60) was appointed planning commissioner for...

Photo of Andrew Bracken and Jimmy Schneidewind

Police funding reportedly lags behind in Michigan’s big jurisdictions, CLOSUP survey

Apr 29, 2016

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...

The dawn of public policy, 45th anniversary of first MPPs (continued from State & Hill)

Mar 31, 2016

The protests started in earnest in the spring of 1965. Operation “Rolling Thunder,” spearheaded by Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, commenced on March 2, with massive and near-continuous air strikes of Vietnam. The first U.S. combat troops were...

News

Apply now to inaugural Detroit Data Fellowship and use stats for social impact

Mar 30, 2016

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...

News

In Brookings, Barry Rabe sees policy potential in renewed U.S.-Canada relations

Mar 10, 2016

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...

News

Former White House Deputy Director James Kvaal is next Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence

Mar 10, 2016

The Ford School community will welcome former Deputy Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council James Kvaal as a Towsley Foundation Policymaker in Residence this fall. The White House announced Mr. Kvaal's departure this morning,...

President Barack Obama and James Kvaal in the Oval Office

CLOSUP MPPS survey, officials in large Michigan cities worried about potential unrest

Feb 24, 2016

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...

Students team up with Red Cross to distribute water, filters, and information in Flint

Feb 15, 2016

On Saturday February 6, nineteen Ford School MPPs volunteered with the Flint Red Cross to help with water delivery and outreach efforts in the wake of Flint’s water crisis. Students went door-to-door delivering water filters and cases of water and...

News

Farley proposes long-term fix to MI’s flawed emergency management system

Feb 8, 2016

In a February 5 guest column for Bridge Magazine, a publication of The Center for Michigan, Reynolds Farley discusses Michigan’s controversial emergency management system and proposes solutions to help underfunded localities. Farley's...

Photo of Ren Farley speaking into a megaphone as he leads a tour of U-M students in downtown Detroit

Paul Courant to organize bicentennial colloquium on the social compact with universities

Jan 29, 2016

Presidential Bicentennial Professors Paul Courant and Susan Alcock have been tapped to organize and oversee a bicentennial colloquium on "The Future of the Social Compact with Universities."U-M President Mark Schlissel will sponsor three such...

In Michigan Daily, Hills inspires students to ‘make a difference’ through public service

Jan 20, 2016

A January 7 Michigan Daily article, “’U’ classes help inspire careers in government,” highlights the involvement of recent U-M alumni in local government. The article identifies the skills and inspiration students have gained from U-M faculty and...

News

Massive policy simulation explores regional cooperation, economic development, green energy

Jan 5, 2016

It’s hardly uncommon for University of Michigan faculty to invite in an outside expert or two to share their perspectives with students in a course. Still, it’s safe to say that Elisabeth Gerber, the Jack L. Walker Professor of Public Policy, has...

News

Alum Steve Tobocman of Global Detroit, disrupting urban poverty, one new American at a time

Dec 4, 2015

Steve Tobocman (MPP/JD '97) is the director of Global Detroit, a non-profit that seeks to revitalize Michigan’s economy by making the region more attractive and welcoming to immigrants, international students, businesses, and investors. He speaks...

State & Hill

Reclaimed pine and river views: Mark Wallace is putting old Detroit to its highest and best use

Nov 30, 2015

A couple years ago, Mark Wallace (MPP ’04) built two electric guitars. A long-time musician, he had recently taken up woodworking and thought he might give guitar-making a try. He built two, he says, because he was afraid that one might not work...

State & Hill

In the mayor's office and after: Serving, staying, and making a home in Detroit

Nov 26, 2015

Serving, staying, and making a home in the City of Detroit Jennifer Niggemeier was surprised when she attended the fifth annual Worldwide Ford School Spirit Day gathering in Detroit this summer. “When we first did a Detroit event in 2011, there...

State & Hill

Next-gen Detroit Area Study, informing policy in the greater Detroit area

Nov 25, 2015

Building a data infrastructure to inform policy in the greater Detroit area Starting in 1951 and running for more than 50 years, U-M’s annual Detroit Area Study (DAS) helped social scientists better understand the attitudes, views, and lives of...

Ford School alum to publish plant-able coloring book, highlighting water security

Nov 20, 2015

Ford School alum Kathryn Curtis (MPA ’15), recently spent 12 months in Brazil as a Boren Fellow. In the process, she learned about water scarcity and security concerns, and has launched an indiegogo crowd-funding campaign for a plant-able coloring...

Rabe comments on new U.S. climate and security task force in VOA

Nov 12, 2015

In the lead up to the UN Climate Change Conference in December, the U.S. will organize a task force to incorporate climate and security analysis into its foreign policy agenda. Secretary of State John Kerry announced the new group at a speech in...

U Record spotlights Luke Shaefer, “Associate professor studies extreme poverty in America”

Nov 11, 2015

When living in extreme poverty, people make use of whatever assets they have as a means of survival, whether it means selling plasma, junk yard scrapping, food stamps or sex just to get by."It's both depressing and uplifting," Luke Shaefer says of...

Newsweek features Barry Rabe, CLOSUP survey on climate change acceptance

Nov 9, 2015

Barry Rabe is quoted in a November 7 Newsweek article on climate politics. The article by Emily Cadei, “After Keystone rejection, climate politics are just heating up,” focuses on political reactions—left and right—in the wake of President Obama’s...

Rabe and Mills discuss “the Francis effect” on global warming beliefs

Nov 3, 2015

According to a new CLOSUP report, more Americans than ever have accepted global warming, influenced in part by Pope Francis’ recent Papal Encyclical on climate change.American acceptance of global warming is at its highest level since 2008, with the...

Barry Rabe analyzes Republican Presidential candidates’ views on climate change

Oct 30, 2015

Public policy professor Barry Rabe penned a blog post for the Brookings Institution, titled "Some GOP candidates are warming to climate change", on October 29. In the piece, Rabe comments on “the wide range of positions on climate change,” of GOP...

News

Local leaders worry about retiree health care benefits, says latest CLOSUP MPPS report

Oct 29, 2015

ANN ARBOR—Health care benefits for retirees of Michigan's local governmental units are presenting significant fiscal challenges, and more than half of local officials surveyed indicate they are concerned they won't be able to fulfill their...

Gov. Snyder appoints Dr. Matthew Davis to new Flint water crisis-response task force

Oct 22, 2015

In a press release on Wednesday Gov. Rick Snyder appointed a task force to review "actions regarding water use and testing in Flint" and to make recommendations for future guidelines. Among those appointed is the Ford School's own Dr. Matthew...

CLOSUP climate belief poll results covered by a number of global news outlets

Oct 16, 2015

Only 16 percent of Americans currently believe that there is not solid evidence of global warming, according to the latest CLOSUP survey on energy and the environment released earlier this week. This is one percentage point less than the previous...

ACLU's Kary Moss petitions EPA calling for immediate action on Flint’s water crisis

Oct 8, 2015

Kary Moss, a lecturer at the Ford School and executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan, worked with a coalition of groups behind the Flint Water Study to petition the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to take...

ACLU's Kary Moss renews call for civil asset forfeiture reform - content image

Alumni-in-Residence program connects students with alumni in policy careers

Sep 15, 2015

Want to meet with alumni working in government, consulting, education policy and other fields? Join us for this fall’s Alumni-in-Residence program, where students will have the opportunity to engage with Ford School alumni through career...

Internship field report, Luis de la Cruz @ Facebook's data center site selection team

Aug 10, 2015

When I graduated college, I decided to start my own consulting practice because I could not find an organization that carried out a mission that I believed in or identified with. Partnering with public and non-profit organizations, I worked to help...

Rabe speaks with NPR about changing attitudes on climate action and Obama’s Clean Power Plan

Aug 8, 2015

In “Obama's Climate Plan Faces Huge Political Challenges,” which ran on Monday, NPR reporter Scott Horsley outlined the President’s “ambitious new climate regulations” and the political opposition to them. He turned to Barry Rabe to provide insight...

News

Internship field report, Grace Evans @ Detroit's Office of the Deputy Mayor for Economic Policy, Planning, and Strategy

Jul 30, 2015

Second year MPP candidate Grace Evans is spending her summer in the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Economic Policy, Planning, and Strategy in the City of Detroit. This new office was created by Mayor Mike Duggan in late 2014 as an effort to raise...