Engaged Learning

In support of the city of Ann Arbor's A2Zero initiative to "achieve a just, community-wide transition to carbon neutrality by 2030,” - Ford School MPA and MPP students provided a presentation and research report with potential policy solutions to combat green gentrification displacement (GGD) that could threaten the Bryant neighborhood. A2 selected the Bryant neighborhood–a historically marginalized and lower-income community–with equity and climate action top of mind. The city wants to funnel millions of investment dollars in renewable energy and residential upgrades, transforming Bryant...

The student worked with Engine Advocacy and Research to evaluate the impact of state-by-state privacy laws on startup technology companies. Currently, data privacy laws are on a state level, resulting in varying definitions of compliance. Through interviewing stakeholders of different startups, the student learned about the impact of the current data privacy laws landscape on barriers to scalability, compliance costs (legal, operational, technology, etc.), and any implications of these costs. The student’s findings will ultimately help inform policymakers and ensure a conducive environment...

Councilmember Tonya Burns partnered with a Ford School MPP student to research municipal home rehabilitation programs and considerations for the City of Flint. The impact of the water crisis, paired with the already existing economic decline the City of Flint has experienced due to the shift in manufacturing from America’s Midwestern cities and towns to overseas manufacturers, has left Flint with a population half of what it was in 1960.  This decline has led to an increase in abandoned commercial and residential structures, as well as a dwindling tax base to provide services to residents....

The team of students continued their work on a project with the Superintendent's Office of the Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD). Last semester, they recommended and drafted changes to the District's administrative policies so they better supported the behavioral and physical health of students in the District. The project included a four-phase process: first, the students researched best practices and policies in other school districts in the U.S.; second, they interviewed DPSCD staff and education professionals about existing practices and the feasibility of potential...

Sanctuary Farms is an urban farm and nature sanctuary in Detroit, with a mission to connect the local community with the environment and food through active participation in closing the food loop. As part of their operations, Sanctuary Farms aims to engage in industrial-scale composting, and this research project involved conducting extensive research to understand the policy and permit requirements for composting in the City of Detroit, as well as at the state and federal levels. The research process involved gathering information from various resources, including the client and the UM...

During the Winter semester, students partnering with Detroit Public Schools Community District devised a list of best practices from nationwide districts on fostering gender inclusivity in schools. The recommendations include policy guidelines, student support, and resources for policy implementation. The policy draft includes student and staff rights, provides definitions for important, relevant terms, applies to staff members, and has a legal basis. It also recommends respecting name and pronoun changes, defines discrimination, harassment, and bullying, and outlines locker room and restroom...

A student assisted Planet Detroit in building an online resource hub to help inform Detroit residents and relevant stakeholders of a wide variety of environmental health risks. Environmental health risk categories included flood, climate, heat, air quality, and lead levels. The resource hub includes a written description of the data and lists the type of data provided. The resource hub also includes relevant information from participating impact partners who provided the research and data. The student helped with data entry and collection to assemble the resource hub and make it discernible...

The Dearborn Department of Public Health (DPH) was formally launched in April 2022, becoming only the second city in Michigan with a public health department, and the first to do so voluntarily. The Department was founded on the principle of “Health in All Policies.” Health in All Policies is a collaborative approach to improving the health of all people by incorporating health considerations into decision-making across sectors and policy areas. The goal of Health in All Policies is to ensure that all decision-makers are informed about the health, equity, and sustainability consequences of...

The Homeless Action Network of Detroit (HAND)’s core mission is to provide leadership to address homelessness in Detroit. One part of executing this mission involves advocacy to promote policies that increase affordable housing stock. For their deliverable, the team created a memo presenting an analysis of federal, state and local legislation relevant to HAND’s interest in the creation and maintenance of affordable housing stock in Detroit. The memo offers a variety of advocacy options at the federal, state and local level. Options include advocating for federal legislation to create...

The research fellow investigated the likely impacts of adopting a nonpartisan primary with ranked choice voting in Michigan at the request of the Michigan Consensus Policy Project (MCCP). The MCPP is a bipartisan working group of former state officials that seeks to identify nonpartisan solutions to the state's most pressing...

Oakland County maintains a high standard of living, but food insecurity exists throughout pockets of the county.  For Oakland County to maintain and further strengthen its economic prosperity, community health, and workforce, it must reconsider its approach to meeting its communities' basic needs. In March of 2021, the American Rescue Plan (ARP) was signed into law, distributing money to states and counties to address urgent COVID-19 response efforts and the systemic public health effects that have contributed to the unequal impact of the pandemic. The students were tasked with identifying...

The team’s research evaluated the economic benefits of three city-government climate resilience projects implemented in the Great Lakes Region (GLR). The case studies are adaptation projects implemented in Toledo, Ohio, Two Harbors, Minnesota and Ann Arbor, Michigan.  The cases indicate climate-resilience focused interventions were cost-beneficial for Two Harbors and Ann Arbor and projected to be cost-beneficial for Toledo. The research illustrates the complexity of climate-resiliency projects and the economic considerations that exist within them. The report provides an overview of each...

The team provided a framework and guide for future policy makers enrolled in the City of Detroit’s Executive Leadership Program. The presentation is divided into three categories: policy making process, influences on the policy making process, and limitation on influences/ethics.  There are six steps identified in the policy making process: proposing legislation; submitting legislation to City Council; public input; committee hearings; voting; implementation; and corporation council review. City Administration may also create regulations, decisions or executive orders. Policy can be...

The Great Lakes Commission’s Action Plan for a Resilient Great Lakes notes, “All members of the Great Lakes community have a role to play in securing a more resilient Great Lakes Basin.” One such role community members can play, and a stated goal across the Action Plan, was to connect existing knowledge on the Great Lakes Basin and ensure community expertise is available. Responding to this need in the community, the Great Lakes Commission (GLC), in partnership with Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, sought to aggregate existing studies and assessments that identify risks related to...

The Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) provides subsidized community service work to low-income Americans 55 and older. The program is unique in that it targets older workers and offers insight into employment outcomes later in life. SCSEP has two statutory goals, providing opportunities for community service and transitioning participants to unsubsidized employment. This report explores how well SCSEP is meeting its dual purpose before turning to whether those proposals are broad enough to capture the important benefits of SCSEP.   The report specifically: Examines...

The Hamtramck Practical Community Learning Project (PCLP) team had three specific objectives: design a one-page resource guide informed by research and merchant focus groups; develop a database of small business resources from local, state, and federal partners; and assist the Hamtramck Community and Economic Department (CED) team in facilitating a city-wide merchant meeting. These objectives were successfully completed by the student team over a three-step effort involving analysis, resource development and design, and resource implementation. The team assisted in the planning and execution...

Numerous factors contribute to special education teacher and paraprofessional shortages in K-12 education in the United States. The project is a comprehensive literature review that examines existing information and data on this topic, identifies gaps in research and access to information, and offers some potential policy solutions or responses.  The team’s key takeaways and conclusions from the literature review: Better certification, recruitment, and retention policies at the local, state, and federal levels are needed to respond to shortages and prevent future shortages in special...

This team of students partnered with the American Heart Association Department of Health Strategies to help develop recommendations for schools to use in developing tobacco policies. The team researched current school policies throughout Michigan and the U.S. to identify best practices of reducing tobacco usage among student populations. The students were encouraged to identify policies that use a lesser or non-punitive approach in terms of punishing offenders within a student body. In addition, the team used their findings to craft policy recommendations for revising current...

The team’s research sought to uncover how to create a more participatory, justice-centered budgeting process for Washtenaw County. Their final presentation summarizes these findings in a way that’s accessible to citizens looking to become engaged around this issue.  The team focused on 1) current county budget processes and 2) best practices for implementing participatory budgeting. They found that while change tends to be incremental, there are signs that trying to create more opportunities to change the budgeting process is viable. If those changes come in the form of participatory...

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...

Friends of Parkside (FOP) is a not-for-profit, community-based organization located on Detroit’s east side in the Villages at Parkside, a public housing complex. FOP has a 15-member board of directors consisting of Parkside residents and representatives from community-based organizations.This project focused on digital access in the Parkside community, specifically identifying residents’ ability to access resources and participate in programs that will enhance their ability to use less energy and save money. The deliverable was a participant pre-survey of the residents in the housing complex....