Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy

It is clear that Michigan is in the midst of serious structural economic trouble, perhaps the worst since the Great Depression. Northwest Airlines and Delphi Corp. are already in Chapter 11. There are rumors and real concern about the stability of General Motors, Ford and much of the auto parts industry. There is a real possibility of descent into receivership for both the City of Detroit and the Detroit school system.

Bruce Katz is one of the most prominent commentators on cities and urban policy in America. A former Chief of Staff of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, he heads The Brookings Institution's Metropolitan Policy Program and its varied research agenda on the challenges facing America's metropolitan regions. Katz has been in the trenches of urban policy making in the executive and legislative branches of government, and his informed commentaries are frequently featured on op-ed pages across the country.

On November 12, 2004, alumni, friends and donors attended the ceremonial groundbreaking for the new home of the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, Joan and Sanford Weill Hall (see photo). Construction of the $34 million building is now officially underway – and the promise of a magnificent academic facility is literally coming to life. Over 450 guests attended the groundbreaking, including Ford school alumni from as far back as the Class of 1953, current students, President and Mrs.

Free and open to the public.Pizza lunch provided at 11:25am to the first 100 guests.Sponsored by: The Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP)Co-sponsored by: The Education Policy Initiative (EPI) and the University of Michigan School of EducationFor more information visit www.closup.umich.edu or call 734-647-4091.  Follow on Twitter @closup

Free and Open to the Public. Presenting: Mark Funkhouser, Director, Governing Institute, Former Mayor of Kansas City, MO Abstract "The legitimate object of government is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done, but cannot do at all, or cannot so well do, for themselves in their separate and individual capacities." - Abraham Lincoln Government exists to produce positive outcomes in the community and those outcomes are "co-produced" by government and citizens working together.  Every citizen has p

Free and Open to the Public Frank J. Thompson, Professor, School of Public Affairs and Administration, Rutgers University-Newark. Author of Medicaid Politics: Federalism, Policy Durability, and Health Reform With Commentary provided by: Scott L.

Abstract The case for a national effort to create core standards grows stronger by the day. Currently, 50 states have 50 standards, and most states are setting the bar as low as possible in order to comply with the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) requirements of NCLB. Half the states have set fourth-grade reading benchmarks so low that they fall beneath even the most basic level on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

Join the Ford School's Michigan in Politics and Policy class to hear Randy Liepa, Superintendent of Wayne Regional Educational Service Agency discuss the current state of K-12 education in Michigan.  This lecture is free and open to the public!

Join Daniel Gilmartin, Executive Director of the Michigan Municipal League for an engaging presentation and discussion around why placemaking is so important as an economic development strategy for communities.

The U.S. is in the midst of an energy transition. This path toward decarbonization of the energy sector promises many societal benefits such as reduced greenhouse gas emissions, technological innovation, and reduced air pollution. The costs of this transition such as price spikes or job displacement, however, are not evenly spread across the population, since some individuals and communities are more vulnerable to the adverse impacts than others. In this presentation, I will introduce a framework for conceptualizing vulnerability and then provide an illustration of its potential application using the case of the renewable portfolio standard. I will also present findings from interviews and focus groups with individuals that reside or work within more vulnerable populations. These findings provide insights about the manner in which communities perceive of the energy transition, and how they cope with changes introduced by the transition.

We'll be celebrating this fall! Save the date and join us for the Ford School Reunion!

This webinar on January 29, 2019 was jointly hosted by CLOSUP and the Michigan Municipal League.  The webinar features Professor Manny Teodoro from Texas A&M University, speaking on water and sewer system finance and policy, including how to measure affordability, and policy options for rate structures and related issues.  

The “Michigan’s Municipal Water Infrastructure: Policy Choices and Issues” conference is being sponsored by a consortium of universities across the state, with the hope of bringing a voice of academic research and analysis to the topic of municipal water policy in the state (particularly relevant in the face of the crisis in Flint). Faculty will present on a range of issues: from water supply engineering issues to municipal funding needs to health and environmental impacts to state and federal regulation.For more information and to register, please visit http://events.anr.msu.edu/MMWI/  This conference is free, however space is limited so please register early to secure your spot.

Join us for a Community Conversation about Restoring Public Trust in Michigan's State Government. Topics will include state government services, management of the public purse, and oversight of Michigan's political system.  We invite you to share thoughts, insights, and ideas! 

Free and open to the public. Auditorium doors will open at 3:30 PM on March 19. This event will be live web-streamed; a link to the web-stream will be posted here on the day of the event at least 30 minutes prior to the start time.

Universal child care has been a longstanding goal of child care advocates in both Canada and the United States since the 1960s, yet in 2016 that goal remains stubbornly elusive in both federations despite decades of activism. Responsibility for child care delivery has been shared in both countries between federal, “meso” (provincial/state), and local governments with more of that responsibility being downloaded to the state/provincial level since the 1990s. Dr. Collier will present two meso level cases (Ontario and Michigan) to understand how child care advocates have navigated these decentralized landscapes. What factors explain successful policy outcomes and what barriers persist? Are universal programs and longer term social justice advocacy claims viable in decentralized federations?  View the poster.

Richard Buery is President/CEO of The Children's Aid Society. Founded in 1853, CAS serves 80,000 children at 45 locations in New York City and Westchester, and its Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Program and National Center for Community Schools serve thousands more nationally. Mr.

On January 19th, Governor Snyder delivers his 6th State of the State address. And, for lawmakers, lobbyists, and interest groups, the annual speech is the opportunity to create a red carpet moment for their policy goals. So, what does it take to get there? It's Just Politics co-hosts Zoe Clark (of Michigan Radio) and Rick Pluta (of the Michigan Public Radio Network) will talk about the marketing, the relationship-building, the polling, and the background research that’s needed to push some issues past the competing interests to get that rare, valuable mention as the governor sets his agenda for the year.

The Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) invites our Washington DC colleagues to attend a discussion hosted by the Wilson Center/Canada Institute featuring CLOSUP Director, Barry Rabe, and our collaborating National Surveys on Energy and Environment (NSEE) partners, Christopher Borick, Director, Muhlenberg Institute of Public Opinion, and Erick Lachapelle, Assistant Professor, University of Montreal.  The discussion will feature findings from the FALL 2015 round of ongoing survey work in both Canada and the US.  Key themes will include public views on whether climate change is occurring, response to a range of possible policy options across levels of government, and reaction to Pope Francis' recent engagement on the issue.  The U.S. portion of the survey will also include an early look at how Americans want their states to respond to the new Clean Power Plan.  The session is free but requires registration.  Please call 202-691-4000 or email [email protected] to reserve your seat.

Join Domestic Policy Corps (DPC) and the Center for Local, State and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) for a panel discussion with a generation of Michigan governor transition leaders from 1991 to today.

Carl Simon, director of the University of Michigan Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program, moderates this panel on transportation policy featuring Peter Sweatman, UM's Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI); Matthew Naud, City of Ann Arbor; and Shannon Bouton, McKinsey Center for Business & Development. 

This talk will explore policies such as taxation, disclosure and regulation of drilling processes in a comparative manner across the states and municipalities on the Marcellus shale play.

Free and open to the public. For more information call (734) 647-4091. Roland Fryer is the Robert M.

Vann R. Newkirk, II, Staff Writer at The Atlantic will highlight the ways in which democracy and the ballot have been curtailed historically and in the present for people on the margins of society, including post-Jim Crow and post-Shelby County v. Holder legal developments on gerrymandering and voter ID.

The United States has seen dramatic growth in energy development with much of it occurring on privately owned lands, creating a unique raft of opportunity and risk for landowners. The presentation reviews research on the nexus of property ownership rights and regulatory policy, with a focus on Shale and Wind Energy. It introduces the concept of 'Private Participation' in the planning and siting of energy projects and discusses how private property ownership will continue to influence the energy revolution. 

Reception and book signing following the program. Free and open to the public. Panelists: Scott Cannon, son of author James Cannon Captain James M. Cannon IV, son of author James Cannon Moderator: Barry Rabe, J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Professor of Public Policy and Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Environmental Policy, Gerald R.

****Watch the video**** Free and open to the public. Abstract The federal Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) is the premier national example of a non-regulatory environmental policy, and it illustrates well both the potential and limitations of using information disclosure to achieve policy goals. The TRI was adopted in 1986 as an amendment to the federal Superfund law, and since 1988 we have had annual reports on the release of over 650 toxic chemicals by some 20,000 industrial facilities around the nation.

Vivian Thomson will offer an insider’s account of how power is wielded in environmental policy making at the state level. Drawing on her experience as a former member of Virginia’s State Air Pollution Control Board, she narrates cases in Alexandria, Wise, and Roda that involved coal and air pollution. She identifies a “climate of capitulation” —a deeply rooted favoritism toward coal and electric utilities in state air pollution policies. Thomson links Virginia’s climate of capitulation with campaign finance patterns, a state legislature that depends on outsiders for information and bill drafting, and a political culture that tends toward inertia. She extends her analysis to fifteen other coal states and recommends reforms aimed at mitigating ingrained biases toward coal and electric utility interests.