local and state government agencies

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

Acting as legislators, local government officials, business and environmental stakeholders, and journalists, more than 100 graduate students simulated Michigan House Natural Resources and Tourism Committee deliberations on significant legislative ref...

Elizabeth Delgado Garcia's personal story motivates her advocacy for small businesses. Learn more about her role as the economic development project manager for the City of Culver City, CA.

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...

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.

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...

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...

Hilary Doe (MPP '08) says she’s always been a “walking through Michigan commercial,” and she’s got the tattoo to prove it. Doe, the state’s first chief growth officer—and the only one in the country—had the state of Michigan inked on her forearm whil...

A growing number of public policy graduates are opting to work in public sector consulting—public arms of larger firms such as EY or Deloitte, or advisory consulting firms such as Guidehouse, Huron Consulting Group, or Booz Allen. For many years, a s...