Center for Local State and Urban Policy

Staff

Debra Horner

Senior Program Manager

Debra Horner is on staff with the Ford School's Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) where she is a Senior Program Manager on the Michigan Public Policy Survey (MPPS) program. She has been a regular lecturer in U-M's Political Science D...

News

Ford School students turn policy training into practical support for Michigan communities

Jun 22, 2026

For local leaders, extra strategic capacity matters. Teams from the Ford School's Consulting Clinic students took different policy challenges facing Michigan communities.

Six people stand together in front of a Wayne County Economic Development Corporation sign during a visit with Ford School Consulting Clinic students.

State & Hill

Faculty news, spring 2026

May 7, 2026

Ford School experts are publishing research, sharing their knowledge, and getting recognized.

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Publication

Michigan's local governments make progress on budgeting, but many lag on long-term planning

May 6, 2026

In a time of economic volatility, relatively few local governments in Michigan report they are doing long-term financial planning—though many say they'd like to be doing more—according to the latest Michigan Public Policy Survey report.

Illustration with a house and money symbols balanced on a scale

News

CLOSUP marks 25 years at Lansing anniversary event

Apr 17, 2026

On April 15, 2026, the Ford School's Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) celebrated a quarter century of impact. Approximately 75 current and former CLOSUP directors, staff, students, collaborators, and state legislators gathered in La...

A group of people in front of large '25' balloons, holding celebratory signs, foam fingers, and pom poms

State & Hill

25 years of CLOSUP

Apr 11, 2026

When the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission faced a tidal wave of public input—more than 30,000 comments—the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) and Ford School students stepped in. Their analysis helped the commiss...

News

Government of, by and for people? Sure, but it needs more people to serve, U-M survey finds

Apr 8, 2026

The latest installment of the Michigan Public Policy Survey, conducted by CLOSUP, found that Michigan leaders believe not enough residents are running for elected office.

Michigan State Capitol is the legislative government of Michigan State, at 100 N Capitol Ave, Lansing, Michigan MI, USA.

News

Ford School marks 45 years as a PPIA host site, welcomes 2026 Junior Summer Institute cohort

Mar 20, 2026

This summer, the Ford School welcomes 18 undergraduate students from 10 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico for the Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) Junior Summer Institute (JSI).

In the Media

Local democracy is holding strong, but rural communities are falling behind - Leiser

Dec 20, 2025 The Conversation

CLOSUP's Stephanie Leiser reflects on local democracy in Michigan

Publication

Fiscal stress rising among Michigan communities, particularly in small, rural towns, U-M survey finds

Dec 17, 2025

Fewer than half of Michigan’s smaller and more rural communities report good fiscal health, reflecting a trend of rising financial stress among local governments across the state and growing concerns about having enough money to keep up with increase...

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News

Students build career-ready grant writing skills in Aid & Development Workshop series

Dec 8, 2025

Faculty experts Amy Beck Harris and Stephanie Leiser coached students in grant writing and strategic budgeting for a real-world UN/EU education project in Moldova.

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Policy Matters

To shore up American democracy, look to city hall

Nov 20, 2025

CLOSUP's Stephanie Leiser, Debra Horner, and Natalie Fitzpatrick discuss the Michigan Public Policy Survey and how it has shown that, although there is concerns over the state of democracy in the United States, democracy remains strong at the local l...

Photo of a stone building with a large "City Hall" sign

News

Trust falls among Michigan’s local officials that residents can be responsible partners in policymaking

Nov 19, 2025

Recent results from CLOSUP's Michigan Public Policy Survey show that local leaders have less trust in residents responsibly participating in the policymaking process while the health of democracy at the local level has improved slightly

Publication

Local officials in Michigan report plummeting engagement with residents despite myriad methods

Oct 28, 2025

Officials across Michigan report alarming declines of engagement with their constituents despite more widespread use of various outreach methods and activities in the latest installment of the Michigan Public Policy Survey.

News

Likelihood, potential impacts of federal shutdown: Ford School experts can comment

Oct 1, 2025

EXPERTS ADVISORY University of Michigan researchers are available to share their insights on a federal government shutdown at the end of the day Tuesday, unless lawmakers break the impasse and make a deal before then. Stephanie Leiser is a lecturer a...

Publication

Many local Michigan officials say services threatened by faltering local government funding system

Sep 24, 2025

Michigan’s local officials are growing more pessimistic about their ability to maintain—let alone expand—services under the current local government funding system, according to the latest installment of the Michigan Public Policy Survey conducted by...

In the Media

Leiser: possibility of state shutdown is difficult to predict

Sep 19, 2025 Midland Daily News

The likelihood of a shutdown is difficult to predict, said Stephanie Leiser, who leads the Michigan Local Government Fiscal Health Project at the University of Michigan’s Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy and has worked as a tax policy analys...

News

Stephanie Leiser named director of the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) as center marks 25th anniversary

Aug 28, 2025

Stephanie Leiser, an expert in public finance and local government fiscal health, has been appointed the next director of the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. H...

Publication

Local governments in Michigan concerned about problems spurred by state, federal funding cuts

Aug 13, 2025

Many of Michigan’s local government officials—especially at the city and county level—believe a temporary or permanent loss of public funding will cause financial problems, though fewer are preparing for such cuts. The findings come from the latest i...

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News

IPC’s Aid and Development Workshop series helps students meet the moment

Aug 11, 2025

Grant writing and proposal development, once useful skills, have become essential for international development professionals, according to Ford School lecturer Amy Beck Harris. “As international organizations undergo sweeping changes, the actual ski...

News

Brian Jacob: Michigan's education system needs structural reform now

Aug 4, 2025

In guest commentary for Bridge Michigan, Brian Jacob highlights findings from his recently released a rigorous, independent study commissioned by the Michigan Department of Education (MDE).

Publication

Michigan's local leaders express lingering pessimism, entrenched partisanship about state's direction

Jul 22, 2025

Despite improvement since the COVID-19 pandemic, more than half of Michigan local officials say the state is on the wrong track. These findings are from the latest installment of the Michigan Public Policy Survey conducted by the University of Michig...

Publication

Michigan's local leaders support database tracking police misconduct, far fewer favor public access to it

Jul 8, 2025

Michigan's local leaders strongly support a law enforcement database for keeping track of officer misconduct, though far fewer are in favor of that database being accessible to the public. That's a key finding from the latest installment of the Michi...

News

U-M develops free tool to empower municipalities, modernize financial reporting

May 19, 2025

Free webinar June 4 will demo the Excel to iXBRL Conversion toolA free, open-source tool designed by the University of Michigan's Ford School of Public Policy is now available to help local governments make financial data more accessible. Developed ...

Alumni spotlight

Building tech to support small towns: U-M team develops digital tool for SEC compliance

May 9, 2025

When Congress passed the Financial Data and Transparency Act (FDTA) in 2022, it required all municipalities in the U.S. to modernize and digitize their financial reports. This is a heavy lift for small towns and school districts, most of which still ...

Photo collage of Katrina Wheelan, an example budget, and screen shots from the conversion tool

Publication

Many local officials in Michigan uncertain about the use of AI or other predictive policing tools

Apr 23, 2025

The Michigan Public Policy Survey, conducted last spring by U-M’s Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy, found most officials are unsure about the accuracy of public safety risk assessments made by automated tools such as AI. However, sheriffs an...

Publication

CLOSUP’s second annual report analyzes local government fiscal health

Mar 27, 2025

In March, CLOSUP released its second annual report analyzing the fiscal health of local Michigan governments. Using financial data reported to the State of Michigan in 2023, the researchers developed a set of indicators to look at cash, budgetary, lo...

News

Lacking a playbook for dealing with economic decline, leaders of smaller cities opt for pragmatism, flexibility

Mar 10, 2025

The challenges facing big cities such as Detroit and Cleveland have been widely examined by experts over the decades, as each has dealt with the loss of population and major industries. Stephanie Leiser chronicled the situations in small- to medium-s...

News

Most Michigan law enforcement officials back some use of mental health workers, others in 911 response

Feb 26, 2025

Most of Michigan’s county sheriffs and local police chiefs support some type of alternative or hybrid approach for responding to 911 calls beyond traditional law enforcement officers. However, a majority of them believe it would be difficult to imple...

News

Nearly half of Michigan law enforcement officials concerned about funding, according to U-M survey

Jan 23, 2025

Among Michigan law enforcement agency leaders, concerns about funding levels are widespread, with almost half of chiefs of police and county sheriffs saying the local governments they serve do not provide sufficient money for their agencies.