By Mayor Susan Baldwin and President Dr. Dennis Bona

Mayor Baldwin and Dr. 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.

A KCC student learns to weld.

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.

A park in downtown Battle Creek.

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.

Downtown Ypsilanti

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.

Here is a great article about residential development in Lansing that again reflects where the housing market is headed as we get deeper into the 21st century.

Now I’m going to say that I and my colleagues at the MML “told you so”, but we have been telling whoever will listen that prosperous communities of this century look and feel far different than those of the last century.

In order to understand why, you have to understand demographics and the market shifts that are occuring. Such knowledge has been central to our message about the use of place-based strategies through mechanisms like the League’s “Center for 21st Century Communities.”

How many more of these kinds of articles are necessary before policy makers and the broader development/real estate community get it.

After a long break, I am glad to get back to blogging.  While researching ideas, I read a great Blog by Rosabeth Moss Kante called Nine Rules for Stifling Innovation.  While we all probably think that we would never engage in these type of activities, don’t be so sure.  You’ll definitely want to read the complete post, but briefly the 9 rules are:

1. Be suspicious of any new idea from below
2. Invoke history.
3. Keep people really busy.
4. In the name of excellence, encourage cut-throat competition.
5. Stress predictability above all.
6. Confine discussion of strategies and plans to a small circle of trusted advisors.
7. Act as though punishing failure motivates success.
8. Blame problems on the incompetent people below
9. Above all, never forget that we got to the top because we already know everything there is to know about this business.

If you’re honest you probably engage in some of these practices from time to time.  recognize it, and take steps to foster, not hinder innovation.

Well it’s the start of a new year, and as with any new year it comes with great anticipation of what might be.  And what might be always starts with us as individuals. That is why I was excited to see a series of articles in the Lansing State Journal featuring viewpoints from several individuals who are high on Lansing.  From Chamber Director Tim Daman, continued recognition about the power of talent and young professionals in creating prosperity. Danielle Robinson of Jackson National Life Insurance reminds us about the importance of a strong core city.  She has committed herself and her family to not just working in one, but living there as well. As a matter of fact there are more than half a dozen articles from Lansing area young professionals discussing what brought them here and what keeps them here today. The themes in each are consistent… collaboration, creativity, a diverse economy being built around entrepreneurs and young talent.

Of course, what is happening on the ground in communities often outpaces what some policymakers seem to think is important to creating economic growth. At the state level that has meant a focus on lowering the cost of doing business through changes to tax policy, labor law, and regulations. However, there are many who believe that only by raising earnings will we create prosperity in Michigan.

One of those who take this view is Lou Glazer, co-founder and president of the non-partisan think tank, “Michigan Future”. In a recent interview with Detroit Free Press Deputy Editorial Page Editor, Brian Dickerson, Glazer argued that it is earnings, not business costs that we should be using to measure economic success. And if we want to increase earnings, we need to recruit and keep talent and if we want to do that, Glazer argues that we should be investing in things such as education and cities, two items that have increasingly been found to correlate with keeping talent at home and creating economic prosperity.

As I noted at the start of this piece, a new year brings with it anticipation of what might be.  It does little good if your unemployment rate is among the lowest in the country, but so is your per-capita income and standard of living.  No, if we want to create prosperity we must be about investing. Such programs as the Michigan Municipal League “Center for 21st Century Communities” and the new “MIPlace Initiative” offer much in the way of guideposts,  Policymakers in other states, cities and countries have understood the importance of investing for far longer than we. I do not want to be known as living in “Michissippi”. Its a new year. Its time to get to work.

By Mayor Pauline Repp & President Dr. Kevin A. Pollock

Dr. Pollock

Mayor Repp

As our community takes steps to prosper in the 21st century, the city of Port Huron, St. Clair County Community College and other partners are working to provide the best opportunities.

Education is essential to revitalizing the Port Huron area. The city and college are involved in initiatives to emphasize the value of higher education. Among them is Blue Meets Green, an effort to increase the percentage of adults with an associate degree or higher; attract jobs that keep educated young people in the community; and become a leader in innovation and entrepreneurship.

SC4’s STEM Institute is preparing students for careers in science, technology, engineering and math. Many local firefighters, nurses, police officers and teachers trained at SC4. The college also works with local hospitals, governments and factories to train employees. The Economic Development Alliance of St. Clair County is housed on campus, providing a natural link between training and jobs.

The St. Clair County Community College Campus on the Black River is an extension of downtown Port Huron, benefiting students and the community. A planned River Walk will further integrate the college and downtown.

Numerous St. Clair County partners, including SC4, have formed a KnowHow2GO initiative to help students and parents prepare for college. Thanks to another initiative, the Blue Water Middle College partnership among St. Clair County Regional Educational Service Agency, SC4 and five local high schools, some K-12 students can graduate after five years with a high school diploma and an associate degree, free of charge.

SC4’s downtown location benefits students and the community. With more than 4,600 students on campus, the college boosts traffic to downtown businesses and restaurants and brings tenants to downtown rental units. The college also serves as the cultural center for the area.

Creating SC4’s downtown campus represents the city and college’s biggest joint project to date. In 1966, the city received a $2 million federal grant and contributed $800,000 of local funds to buy the land that would become SC4.

St. Clair County Community College's Greenway opened in the fall of 2012. A collaboration between the city of Port Huron and SC4, the project closed portions of two streets and created a pedestrian walkway.

The two entities have continued to work together. In 2012, parts of two city streets through campus were closed and turned into a pedestrian Greenway. The project has helped connect campus to the downtown area.

The Greenway will connect to a River Walk being developed along the Black River in collaboration with community partners, the city and SC4. The River Walk will further integrate the college and downtown.

In 2012, when launching a new student I.D. card program, the college worked with local businesses to provide discounts to students. SC4 also partners with local organizations, including local arts incubator Studio 1219, which features an SC4 artist each month and hosts its Hands On Art event on campus.

Recently, while organizing the community’s first New Year’s Eve countdown, the city’s civic center, McMorran Place, reached out to SC4 for help. Four welding students volunteered to build an anchor to be dropped from McMorran’s Tower each year.

As the economy evolves, a strong relationship between St. Clair County Community College and the city of Port Huron will continue to benefit community residents.

Pauline Repp is mayor of Port Huron and Dr. Kevin A. Pollock is president of St. Clair County Community College.

Over the course of one week I had the opportunity to visit two of Michigan’s urban centers, Battle Creek and Pontiac. Once again, I found in both communities passionate people working to use their assets and create prosperity anew in their downtowns and neighborhoods.

Both downtowns have great bones for future development. In Battle Creek I visited with the mayor and economic development officials and was also able to sit in on the first meeting of a new community engagement project being funded by Kellogg Foundation and led by the local United Way. City and community leaders are ready to continue the work that has been started, including an $85 million project to revitalize downtown, a new math and science center that will draw youth, affirming that BC will be the center for Kellogg Company global research operations and development of a national center for food protection. An intense effort is underway to attract residential development to the downtown and there is more than one property waiting.

Pontiac was no less enthusiastic about their future.  New loft developments in the downtown are ready and the private and public sector are working together to make the city the vibrant urban core of Oakland County.  The regional chamber of commerce is providing the catalyzing platform for bringing folks together.  And with a large hospital as an anchor in the downtown the eds and meds strategy is one that might just serve Pontiac well moving into the future.

My visits to these two cities again affirmed for me that there are good things going on in communities across our state. And it really doesn’t make a difference where I go, the key to bringing new dreams to fruition lies in the ability of both public, private and non-profit entities to work together and engage the greater community in their efforts.

An aerial view of Sault Ste. Marie and Lake Superior State University.

By Mayor Anthony Bosbous and President Tony McLain

The eastern Upper Peninsula is home to the Michigan’s oldest European settlement, Sault Ste. Marie.  Founded in 1668, Sault Ste. Marie has a population of nearly 15,000 people.  Sault Ste. Marie is also home to Lake Superior State University, founded in 1946.  The University is known for its academic programs in such fields as fisheries and wildlife science, fire science, engineering, chemistry, and environmental science.

Mayor Bosbous

Dr. McLain

Sault Ste. Marie was recently selected by the Michigan Municipal League as one of five pilot communities in the State to demonstrate what local actions can be taken to enhance the community’s attraction in the eyes of today’s workforce.  The Michigan Municipal League, through its Center for Twenty First Century Communities, has identified eight assets that can create a vibrant city.  These assets include one, physical design and walkability; two, green initiatives;  three, cultural economic development; four, entrepreneurship; five, multiculturalism; six, technology; seven, transit; and eight, education.  As a result of the pilot project, and by focusing on the list of assets above, Sault Ste. Marie identified a primary goal of evolving from simply a town with a university into a true university town.

Since the project began over a year ago, a steering committee was established and named “Sault United.”  Sault United is composed of community leaders representing the City, the University, War Memorial Hospital, the area and intermediate school districts, the economic development corporation, and the downtown development authority.

Lake Superior State University campus

Sault United has already taken great strides strengthening the town-and-gown relationship.  Four sub-committees have been formed to put ideas into action; a student/parent welcome committee, a sporting event coordination committee, a transportation committee, and a community arts promotion committee.

The student/parent welcome committee assisted this year in engaging new and returning students with the City in a number of ways.  First, over 300 local businesses and organizations participated in “Lakerpalooza,” a vendor event hosted by the University.  Second, the University offered free shuttle rides during “Laker Week” (orientation week) to allow students to “Sample the Sault.”  Downtown Sault Ste. Marie collaborated with the University to host the first ever photography scavenger hunt in which students had to complete objectives like getting their picture taken with a local business owner, for example.  Over 50 students rode the shuttle into downtown to participate in this event.

Another successful event was the first ever Lake Superior State University “haunted homecoming parade.”  For years the City held its downtown Halloween festival separately while the University held their events on campus.  This year, Sault United worked to connect the two.  As thousands of children and their families “trick-or-treated” at downtown businesses, Lake Superior State University clubs and student groups paraded “haunted” floats through the crowds

One of the best outcomes from these beginning stages of town-gown efforts are the direct connections being made between businesses and student groups.  Sault United board members frequently hear new stories about how students are collaborating with businesses and local organizations to complete class projects, raise money, volunteer, or find future employment.

Sault Ste. Marie’s evolution into a true university town will continue as Sault United’s subcommittees make progress in the areas of student involvement, sports, arts, and transportation, and the Michigan Municipal League’s support has been invaluable in these efforts.  However, the Michigan Municipal League’s involvement doesn’t stop here.  The City of Sault Ste. Marie has recently been chosen for a visioning and planning grant to develop a critical portion of the downtown that is currently composed of a number of long-vacant and obsolete properties.  The City and the University, along with the other members of the Sault United committee, will be collaborating on this visioning project.  One of the primary goals of this visioning process will be to lay out area plans that will aid in fulfilling town-gown goals.

Sault United is enthused to continue the work of transforming Sault Ste. Marie into a true university town, and looks forward to a maintaining a fruitful partnership with the Michigan Municipal League.

Anthony Bosbous is the mayor of Sault Ste. Marie and Dr. Tony McLain is the president of Lake Superior State University.