We Love Where You Live

In the Heart of Hart, Public Art; & Portage Lights Up the Night

In our series on the 2025 Community Excellence Award applicants, we visit two Michigan communities brightening their neighborhoods—and their spirits—with creativity. The City of Hart’s resident-let “community spirit initiative” is growing its regional reputation as a destination for public art, and the City of Portage is bringing competitive holiday cheer with its annual Tricked Out and Decked Out holiday home decoration contests.

Birmingham Plots the Course to a Greener Future, & Roscommon Puts a Bird on It

In our series on the 2025 Community Excellence Award applicants, we take a look at three Michigan communities making the world just a little bit more sustainable and environmentally friendly. The Village of Roscommon and the City of Southfield created beautiful, educational spaces celebrating important wildlife, and the City of Birmingham developed an all-encompassing sustainability and public health plan for the years ahead.

Live with the League — 8.25.2025 — Live from Clare (Featuring MI Home Program)

We begin this week’s show with a wide-ranging conversation with Clare City Manager Jeremy Howard and Mayor Patrick Humphrey about the city’s downtown revitalization efforts, creative placemaking projects, municipal partnerships, and more. We then turn to our legislative update to discuss our new MI Home Program proposal—a set of tools to address the state’s housing crisis.

Big Rapids “Plays Big” With Hemlock Park, Milford’s Central Park Gets a Glow-Up, & “Doing A Lot with a Little Bit”: Mt. Pleasant’s Town Center

In our series on the 2025 Community Excellence Award applicants, we visit three Michigan municipalities that strengthened community bonds through revitalized third spaces. Big Rapids and Milford breathed new life into aging downtown parks, and Mt. Pleasant turned an unpopular parking lot into a thriving new town square. 

Live with the League — 8.11.2025 — Introducing the Community Growth Academy

Welcome to August with Live with the League! This week’s show begins with a conversation with Luke Forrest of the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity,  discussing the new Community Growth Academy and how it can help communities navigate economic transitions. 

Moving into what's happening (or not happening) in Lansing, we discussed the current state of the ever-ongoing budget process. We finished with some updates from the road (MME, BLAC, MAM, and more), and how these face-to-face, on-the-ground, mano-a-mano conversations with members shape the League’s advocacy priorities going forward. 

The Village of Sparta Sows Seeds for Childcare, & With Dorsey Estates, Ypsilanti Debuts New Attainable Housing

In our series on the 2025 Community Excellence Award applicants, we profile two Michigan communities that linked up with private entities to the immense benefit of their residents. Through public–private partnerships, the Village of Sparta doubled its childcare capacity, and the City of Ypsilanti is unveiling its first new housing development in over half a century.

Douglas Feels the Squeeze and Gets Creative

In our series on the 2025 Community Excellence Award applicants, learn more about a Michigan community’s innovative example of adaptive reuse. With City employees crammed into closets and sharing rooms, the City of Douglas repurposed a disused hospital building as spacious and accessible municipal offices, all while freeing up valuable space downtown.  

Statewide Coalition Unveils Bold & Comprehensive Vision to Invest American Rescue Plan Funding Press Conference - October 14, 2021

Host: Herasanna Richards, Legislative Associate, Michigan Municipal League

A new statewide group, called The Coalition for a Strong and Prosperous Michigan, recently unveiled a bold and comprehensive vision to invest nearly $6 billion in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding to build our state’s future. A news conference took place on Oct. 14 to release the plan, called “From Rescue to Prosperity: A Roadmap to Michigan’s Future.”

What’s Happening Inside MDOT’s Local Agency Program Webinar -August 25, 2021

he Michigan Municipal League invites you to another installment of an ongoing webinar series with the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT). Get the latest updates on:

• Staffing/Covid Updates
• NEPA/SHPO Updates
• 2020 MDOT Standard Specifications for Construction
• New LAP Certification (Coming Soon)
• Construction Manual Update/Project Closeouts
• Upcoming Training
• And much more!

You'll also have an opportunity to ask questions or share concerns about issues affecting your community.

Speakers:
Kelly Crannell, Michigan Department of Transportation
Ryan Doyle, Michigan Department of Transportation

How Municipalities Can Support and Benefit from Expanded Access to Expungement Webinar - August 19, 2021

Safe & Just Michigan has been working in partnership with several organizations and municipalities to advocate for legislation that passes and implements automatic expungement in Michigan. Safe & Just Michigan's Executive Director John S. Cooper will be joined by Amanda O'Boyle, Assistant City Attorney of Lansing, and Frances Walters, Director of the Conviction Integrity and Expungement Unit of Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office (WCPO). They will discuss how municipalities can support and benefit from expanded access to expungement and how they are implementing these programs throughout the state.

Presenters:
John S. Cooper, Executive Director, Safe & Just Michigan
Frances Walters, Director of the Conviction Integrity and Expungement Unit, Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office (WCPO)
Amanda O'Boyle, Assistant City Attorney, City of Lansing