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.
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.
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.
The Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) conducts, supports and fosters applied academic research to inform local, state, and urban policy issues. One of the Center's key programs is the Michigan Public Policy Survey (MPPS), the...
The Honorable Lori Lightfoot, the 56th mayor of Chicago, reflects on her background and preparation for public service, the challenges she faced as mayor, and lessons about leading in crises. February, 2024.
Two leading voices for rural prosperity: Tony Pipa (Scholar, Center for Sustainable Development, Brookings Institution, and Host, Reimagine Rural Podcast), share his experiences visiting rural communities across the country, and Sarah Lucas (Direc
The 2023 Mayors Forum will focus on topics particular to Big Ten college cities including development of infrastructure that promotes social cohesion, challenges and opportunities of creating an infrastructure for urban technology, and campus and
Former Michigan Representatives Andy Levin (D-MI) and Peter Meijer (R-MI) and Amb (ret) Susan Page, Michigan Law and Ford School professorwill explore the bipartisan challenge of restoring faith in o
In a final webinar in our redistricting series, a panel looks back on Michigan's new approach to redistricting by an independent citizens commission. November, 2022.
The tumult of the first years of this decade has played out in our nation’s cities and thrust the challenges and opportunities for mayors and their leadership into the spotlight. September, 2022.
Join us for a lively discussion on Michigan’s new redistricting approach and new maps that will shape elections and decision making in Michigan for the next decade. January 19, 2022.
This webinar analyzes the testimony the Commission has received from citizens and Communities of Interest about their mapping preferences, a discussion of the timeline for creating final maps, and useful tips for the public. September, 2021.
Jacqueline Patterson, Founder and Executive Director of The Chisholm Legacy Project, and Kyle Whyte, Professor of Environment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan, discuss environmental and climate justice. September, 2021.
Tom Ivacko discusses Michigan's innovative approach to political redistricting by a citizens' commission instead of by the legislature. September, 2022.
Stephanie Leiser, lecturer in the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, discusses the Local Fiscal Health Project, an initiative of the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy to help local governments navigate fiscal challenges.
In this webinar, MICRC Commissioners Douglas Clark, Rebbeca Szetela and Dustin Witjes introduce themselves and discuss plans for their first public hearings, which will take place all over the state in May and June.
Learn how to participate in the process of drawing the new district maps in Michigan, the role of "communities of interest", and how to engage with the new Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission in the redistricting process.
