Linked by both history and geography, Hope College and the community of Holland aren’t just neighbors, but family.

The key to understanding the relationship is in the college’s very name. As the young town began to grow from the woodlands of West Michigan, founder Albertus C. Van Raalte knew that education would be crucial in assuring a bright future for the community and its people. Accordingly, he set aside land at Holland’s heart, making Hope College a central part of the city.

Even as both have grown, the dynamic has remained, with Hope and Holland shaping and strengthening one another in ways innumerable as they have traveled together for nearly 150 years.

“Having Hope not just physically in the center of the city but metaphysically in many ways at the center of the city helps create the unique community that we have,” said Kurt Dykstra, mayor of Holland. “There might be other communities that have as good a relationship as Hope and Holland, but I can’t imagine that there are any places where the relationship is stronger.”

The positive relationship is fostered by the 6,000 Holland-area residents who are alumni, but it goes deeper than that. Faculty, staff and students are active volunteers, committed to serving their community in many ways. Area residents frequent arts events, scholarly presentations and the college’s athletic contests, many of them offered free of charge. The college provides a range of community programs like CASA (Children’s After School Achievement) and TRIO Upward Bound for area students, and the Hope Academy of Senior Professionals (HASP) for retirees. Student-athletes are involved with Special Olympics programs and the entire student body has raised over $1.1 million for the Children’s Miracle Network.

Hope and the city have worked amicably together in addressing long-term property development that benefits all parties. The college’s campus acreage has increased three-fold in the last decade.

“This could not have happened without cooperative city officials,” said Hope College President Dr. James E. Bultman.

The college recently purchased from the city the municipal football stadium, upgraded it considerably and is allowing local public schools and the city to use it rent-free. The college has a significant presence in the nearby central business district.

“Not infrequently, other colleges and communities ask Hope and Holland how to develop this positive town-gown relationship,” said President Bultman.

“One of the first things that I say is that this didn’t happen overnight,” he said. “It’s gone on for years, decades, with the involvement of many people in both the community and the college that worked hard to establish such a strong relationship.

While Hope frequently earns national attention for the quality of its academic programs, Holland, too, has been recognized multiple times through the years. Accolades in the past decade alone have included recognition as a one of the country’s “happiest” and “tidiest” communities, one of the country’s job-growth and manufacturing leaders, as well as inclusion among the “smartest” cities based on education and acclaim as a “distinctive destination.”

These recognitions have benefited the college as it recruits students from around the country and internationally.

“A significant selling-point to prospective students and their families is the quality of life evident throughout the Holland community,” said President Bultman.

The first days of every school year are intentionally focused on the town-gown relationship. Since the mid-1960s the college and city have co-sponsored a Community Day picnic that draws thousands.

The second weekend of the school year is declared Time to Serve with hundreds of students, many of them new to the college and community, undertaking community service projects.

The award-winning Holland downtown, with its mix of student-friendly stores, coffee shops and restaurants and located a block from Hope’s campus, is a popular destination for Hope’s undergraduates, their families and other visitors to campus, as are the Lake Michigan beaches just a few miles to the west.

Even as Hope students benefit from the outstanding Holland community, the college and Hope people contribute significantly.

A recent study estimated the overall economic impact of Hope on the Holland region to be $213 million annually. The college is a significant economic engine, with 80.5 percent of its revenue coming from outside the area.

The study estimated that $1 in every $40 spent in the region is spent because of Hope, and that one out of every 40 people is in the region because of Hope, which creates 1,000 jobs in the area.

“We have a deep commitment to and understanding that Holland is a better place because Hope is here – and we also think that Hope is a better place because it is located in the heart of Holland, Michigan,” Dykstra stated. “I really cannot imagine what Holland would be like without a strong Hope College… and, working together, I am confident that we will never have to find out.”

A series of articles about the financial plight of Michigan cities is being posted from the online-publication, Bridge Magazine. Two of the best entries in the series are a guest viewpoint by Michigan Municipal League President David Lossing, Linden mayor, about the concerns municipalities have over the Economic Vitality Incentive Program (EVIP), formerly known as revenue sharing, and an article about city financial stress that prominently features comments from the League’s Anthony Minghine. These are must reads for anyone who cares about Michigan communities. There are also posts about how vibrant urban centers are able to lure young talent, the financial ratings of Michigan’s communities, what communities like Kalamazoo and Muskegon have done to stay financially solvent, a column by Mitch Bean about how the state has worsened the struggles faced by cities, and why it’s important to know the financial condition of your city.

In addition, Detroit Free Press Editorial Page Editor Stephen Henderson wrote a column about Mitch Bean’s guest viewpoint. Check it out.

Matt Bach is director of media relations for the Michigan Municipal League. He can be reached at mbach@mml.org and (734) 669-6317.

UPDATE: The 4.8 percent increase is now included in the latest budget agreement so the sample letters to the lawmakers have been removed. Read more about this good news for Michigan communities.

Michigan Municipal League Board President David Lossing sent letters to state senators and representatives Tuesday (May 21, 2013) asking for their support of the Senate’s Fiscal Year 2014 general government budget recommendation, which includes a 4.8-percent increase in funding for statutory revenue sharing, now known as the Economic Vitality Incentive Program (EVIP).

The League is asking you to also contact your state lawmakers today on this extremely important issue. To make it convenient, you can use the League’s automated letter service by going here to our Action Center. It is imperative you contact your lawmakers today or tomorrow as we expect a vote on the budget this week or early next week.

While this Senate proposal does not come close to replacing the $6 billion in local revenue sharing cut by Lansing legislators and governors since 2001, it will at least help stop the bleeding and provide desperately needed funds for local police and fire protection, road and bridge maintenance, and other essential local services.

Here is an excerpt of the letter from League President Lossing, mayor of Linden:

As the state’s economy slumped over the past dozen years, past decisions made by the Michigan Legislature to cut local revenue sharing were used to make up for the difference in the state’s budget gap. Now that Michigan is on the rebound, this modest increase to statutory revenue sharing adopted by the Michigan State Senate is reasonable and begins the process of ending fiscal pain felt by many of our communities. Cities and villages across our great state, including the city of Linden, have been tightening our fiscal belts for several years to weather this financial storm.

Now is the time to begin making strategic investments in our communities by increasing statutory revenue sharing in the FY 2013-14 budget, to make “Better Communities, Better Michigan.”

View a version of the Senate letter here. View a version of the House letter here.

The League encourages all our members to contact their lawmakers today on this issue. Feel free to write your own letter and/or use the sample letter provided in our Action Center. You can go here to get the contact information for your state officials.

Matt Bach is director of media relations for the Michigan Municipal League. He can be reached at (734) 669-6317 and mbach@mml.org.

By Diane Goddeeris and Lou Anna K. Simon

Few communities can match college towns for sheer vibrancy. Students contribute great energy to a place and, with a diverse group of exceptional faculty members and a rising international student population, there is an added cosmopolitan—even global dimension—to university communities such as East Lansing.

“Town–gown” tensions are always the other side of the coin, but they can be managed through close cooperation between a university and its home community. We’re proud of the working partnership we’ve formed to promote the development of citizen-scholars among the student body and integration of Michigan State University into local civic life.

At the strategic level, MSU and the City of East Lansing partner on planning and economic development activities, such as a planning exercise the university is funding focused on the corridor that forms our border. The greater objective is to examine what it will take to make this a world-class university community, which might help form the framework for the city’s upcoming comprehensive plan update.

Some of our most innovative partnerships involve creating jobs and retaining talent in the community—initiatives that helped us earn recognition as one of Entrepreneur Magazine’s “Best College Towns to Start a Business.”

East Lansing in 2008 developed the Technology Innovation Center (TIC), a downtown technology business start-up incubator, directly across from the MSU campus. Within six months, the TIC was occupied to capacity and has since served as a model for others around the country. Many businesses there stem from MSU research.

The university and city next cooperated to launch The Hatch, an adjacent student start-up business incubator. One enterprise it houses, TempoRun, is based on a mobile music/fitness application that in March won this year’s national Student Startup Madness business pitch competition at the South by Southwest Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas.

Michigan State reaffirmed its commitment to growing businesses locally by placing the MSU Innovation Center in the same commercial building housing the TIC and The Hatch. The Innovation Center is composed of MSU Technologies, the university’s technology transfer office; Business-CONNECT, its corporate and business liaison group; and Spartan Innovations, which supports faculty and student business start-ups with talent and financing. The TIC/Hatch/Spartan Innovations cluster helps bring MSU technology to the marketplace as rapidly as possible and puts university resources within closer reach of the business community.

In tough budget times, the university and city naturally look for ways to share resources to maintain high-quality services. Campus and city police do joint training, for example, and recently partnered to form an emergency Special Response Team. East Lansing operates our jointly owned wastewater treatment system and recently began providing water service to a portion of campus.

What could become the most iconic symbol of campus and community integration opened just last November. Michigan State’s stunning Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum was intentionally sited at the campus/city boundary along busy Grand River Avenue and designed to welcome visitors from both the campus and the city. The city embraced the new museum, providing signage, promotion, and activities to supplement the museum’s programming.

Now we’re both actively engaged to recruit new businesses to complement the museum and add cultural vibrancy to the community.

To mitigate the inevitable conflicts arising between students and permanent residents, the city and university formed the Community Relations Coalition (CRC) to engage students residing off campus and local residents in programs designed to promote mutual consideration.

The CRC, which sponsors activities such as neighborhood cleanups and community conversations, was honored with the East Lansing Crystal Award for outstanding voluntary service to the community in 2011.

We work to get students and East Lansing residents on the same page—literally—right from the start of the school year with our One Book One Community reading program.

Students also are engaged with the community during Fall Welcome with special shopping promotions and opportunities to support local charities. Another MSU–city event worth note is the annual East Lansing Welcomes the World program, which is a great example of our community and international students coming together.

Community service is a value Michigan State strongly encourages. Registrations at the MSU Center for Service-Learning and Civic Engagement, the nation’s oldest center of its kind, more than tripled in the last decade.

Some 18,900 student registrations for volunteer service were recorded there in 2011–12. Students are volunteering at hospitals, youth organizations, and many nonprofits in Lansing and East Lansing. More than a thousand students were placed in area schools in the fall 2012 semester to work as tutors, classroom assistants, reading and recreation group supervisors, and more.

Michigan State’s 158-year heritage as the nation’s pioneer land-grant university means that community and stakeholder engagement—in East Lansing and indeed across Michigan—shares primacy with education and research imperatives.

East Lansing has grown up with the university, forming its own school district in 1900 and incorporating as a city in 1907. It now includes more than 25 neighborhoods with a number of active neighborhood associations and, with the university, produces popular summer art and folk festivals.

Diane Goddeeris is the Mayor of East Lansing and Lou Anna K. Simon is the President of Michigan State University.

By Mayor Mel Nyman and President Jeff Abernathy

Since its founding in 1886, Alma College has stood as a vital community partner, dramatically affecting the lives of those living in mid-Michigan and beyond. The college’s founding was made possible by Ammi Wright, a lumberman, businessman and civic leader who gave 30 acres of land and more than $300,000 to found and sustain the institution in its early years — a sum equivalent to more than $6.2 million today.

More than 125 years later, Alma College continues to value its role in the mid-Michigan community. The campus hosts the annual Alma Highland Arts Festival, which brings thousands of visitors to mid-Michigan to celebrate their Scottish heritage.

As part of its mission, the college also promotes a “culture of service” in which students meet local needs through participation with numerous community agencies and organizations.

One of the key questions in the college’s most recent planning effort was how it could leverage its presence to ensure that the college can thrive together with the community. The resulting plan, while establishing important educational goals, includes an emphasis on creating a sustainable campus and community. It states directly: “We will assist our city of Alma — where we aim to create a seamless environment between the downtown and the campus— as well as communities across Mid-Michigan in order to help our region thrive in the decades to come.”

There is much to be thankful in our small community of Alma. Business is growing in the downtown. Within view of town, the largest wind farm in Michigan has risen, with 167 monuments to the new economy. The efforts by community leaders in collaboration with Alma College professors and students to address environmental challenges caused by a chemical company that left the area decades ago continue to make meaningful progress.

All this good news is especially welcome in Alma, where we have had our share of challenges. The most recent economic downtown hit mid-Michigan hard, and in October 2010, a ruinous fire all but destroyed a prominent landmark at the center of our downtown, Alma’s former Opera House. In such a close-knit community, nearly every citizen felt the impact of these and other challenges.

And yet, the values and benefits of living in a college town still appeal to many. Recent developments are evidence that collaborative college-town partnerships are making a difference. Those developments include:

• In 2011, the college purchased a vacant building and moved its bookstore off campus and across the street into a location that formerly represented a geographic divide between town and gown. The college also partnered with Stucchi’s — a successful ice cream store that was destroyed in the downtown Opera House fire — and brought it in under the same roof. The new business is thriving, a welcome addition to the downtown where students and community members come together.
• Kurt Wassenaar, an investor with local roots committed to revitalizing the downtown Alma business district, bought the burned Opera House and determined to save it from demolition. Today, the building is undergoing major renovations that will restore its historic features while providing new retail opportunities on the ground floor and, in a leasing partnership with Alma College, student apartments on the second and third floors.
  

  Alma Fall Festival helps bring the city and college together.

• Alma College has set an aggressive goal to place a large number of interns across mid-Michigan in an effort to help non-profits and governmental entities that lost so many resources in the recent downturn. Such work is hugely beneficial to Alma students even as it will help to sustain the communities across our region. Alma College students can learn how to leave positive footprints in Alma and wherever they go in the future.
• Alma College’s Center for Responsible Leadership and the Gratiot Area Chamber of Commerce sponsor an annual Fall Festival in October in downtown Alma. The purpose of the event is to strengthen the connection between the college and community and to encourage community members, merchants and students to meet and interact in a positive and education atmosphere. Activities include merchant specials and giveaways, raffle drawings, face and pumpkin painting, kids activities and more.

Reaching out to the community is a part of Alma College’s mission to “prepare graduates who think critically, serve generously, lead purposefully and live responsively.” We remain committed to the exciting work of building and nurturing community partnerships that will be key to the college’s future as well as that of our town and region.

Mel Nyman is the Mayor of Alma and Jeff Abernathy is the President of Alma College.

By Dan Gilmartin

Town-Gown partnerships and the important relationship between communities and their adjacent colleges and universities is the theme of this month’s Prosperity Agenda radio show on News/Talk 760 WJR.

The show airs 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 27, 2013, but you can listen anytime here.

During the show, we discuss how cooperation between city and high education institutions can lead to the economic vibrancy of the entire community.

My co-host for the show is Marjory Raymer, community news editor for the Flint Journal and mlive.com.

Our guests are Chris LaGrand, deputy director of Housing for the Michigan State Housing Development Authority; Sault Ste. Marie Mayor Anthony Bosbous; and David Lossing, President of the Michigan Municipal League, Mayor of Linden, director of government relations for University of Michigan-Flint, and founder of the League’s Town Gown blog.

For more on this topic, be sure to check out the Michigan Municipal League’s Town-Gown blog.

The Prosperity Agenda is a monthly radio show that challenges listeners to help make Michigan a better place to live, work and play by creating vibrant and prosperous local communities. It airs on News/Talk 760 WJR on the fourth Wednesday of each month.

Our March show is scheduled to air 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 27, 2013, however and you can listen to it anytime at the League’s website or by subscribing to the FREE iTunes podcast. Learn more about the placemaking concept here as well as on this blog.

Dan Gilmartin is CEO and executive director of the Michigan Municipal League and host of the monthly Prosperity Agenda Radio Show on News/Talk 760 WJR.

By Mayor Susan Baldwin and President Dr. Dennis Bona

Battle Creek has an interesting and unconventional past. Our rich heritage includes former slave and abolitionist Sojourner Truth; Seventh-day Adventist visionary Ellen White; Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, who transformed health care in the nineteenth century; and cereal industry magnates C.W. Post and W.K. Kellogg. We have always held education in high regard, so it is no surprise that our city is home to Kellogg Community College.

Whether you are strolling on the brand new sidewalks and Wave Square of downtown Battle Creek or walking around the beautiful campus of Kellogg Community College just a mile north of downtown, it’s easy to get a sense that everyone is focused on the future.

Young professionals are hustling between office buildings or gathering to discuss their latest innovative ideas on new lighted benches downtown. On KCC’s campus, students are becoming future nurses, engineers, teachers, police officers and entrepreneurs.  Professors focus on new technology and educational methods.

The history and future of Battle Creek and KCC are intertwined with strong partnerships and shared goals. KCC partners with the City of Battle Creek and a range of employers, organizations, and educational institutions.

Just a few of the connections between the city and KCC include:

• KCC has teamed with Battle Creek Unlimited, the city’s economic development arm, as well as Michigan Works and Goodwill Industries to develop the “Family Economic Stability” initiative with a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.  This important initiative brings together critical components to assist low-income families in Battle Creek with essential skills and employment opportunities.
  

  Historic signage in downtown Battle Creek.

• KCC provides work-based learning experiences for students through the Battle Creek Police Department, Bronson Battle Creek, Kellogg Company, Denso Manufacturing and others.
• KCC’s campus on North Avenue contains a portion of the city’s Linear Park Path and the College has an agreement with the Battle Creek Parks and Recreation Department to make athletic facilities available.  KCC’s international-sized soccer field, for example, is used for the city’s summer youth soccer leagues.
• City and KCC officials regularly serve together on community boards and initiatives for the purpose of providing better economic opportunities for area residents.
  

  Downtown Battle Creek.

Highlights of KCC’s contribution to the Battle Creek community include:

• The Regional Manufacturing Technology Center, where programs are designed for continuing education and certification or recertification for people in industrial skilled trades. The RMTC is an innovative, community-driven training facility located in Fort Custer Industrial Park. It is home to three KCC programs: Lifelong Learning, Workforce Solutions and Industrial Skilled Trades. Training programs are designed to meet the employee training needs of area business and industry as well the life-long learning needs of community members.
• The Legacy Scholars Program, which provides educational, emotional, social and financial support and opportunities for Battle Creek Public and Lakeview School District students to graduate from high school and obtain a college degree. KCC plays a major role in the Legacy Scholars Program, which provides a scholarship to KCC for all Battle Creek and Lakeview graduates.
  

  KCC campus in the fall.

• KCC’s Dental Hygiene Program, which operates a dental clinic on the North Avenue campus to provide low-cost dental hygiene treatment for the community. The program also goes off-site to provide oral health education and some limited mobile dental hygiene treatment.

All of these important programs are integral to our quality of life and part of what makes Battle Creek a great place to live. But we can also talk hard numbers.

• Direct wages, salaries and benefits of KCC faculty and staff, plus routine college operations, increase incomes in the KCC service area by at least $21.9 million annually.
• About 37 percent of KCC’s students come from outside the region to attend college in the KCC service area. The effects of these out-of-region students account for around $1.5 million in added regional income.
  

  KCC campus.

• College-trained workers deepen Battle Creek’s human capital. This results in higher wages for students, greater returns for property owners, increased tax revenues and higher incomes due to economy-wide multiplier effects. Altogether, it is estimated that the productivity of KCC’s past and present students contributes $217.1 million to economic growth in the KCC service area.

The City of Battle Creek and Kellogg Community College long ago realized that, by working together, we both thrive and prosper.

Opportunities for life-long learning, workforce training and quality community programs through KCC help Battle Creek become more attractive to the young adults of the knowledge economy.

Our city efforts to address neighborhood improvements, entice new shopping and entertainment proprietors and re-build our downtown make our city more appealing to students looking for educational opportunities.  This is the spirit of the Battle Creek area, our relentless optimism. Together, we will build our bright future.

Susan Baldwin is the Mayor of the City of Battle Creek and Dr. Dennis Bona is the President of Kellogg Community College in Battle Creek.

The Live Ypsi loan program will be available to Eastern Michigan University employees again after it was re-funded for a second year.

Read the full article here.

Matt Bach is director of media relations for the Michigan Municipal League. He can be reached at mbach@mml.org and (734) 669-6317.