We Love Where You Live

Accept your American Rescue Plan Funds BY TUESDAY, July 27

Join us for a Facebook Live chat where we talk with communities about their experience filling out the application.

11:30 am, July 22, 2021

American Rescue Plan funding is on the way: Learn how to access it and maximize it

New possibility is coming to town and you are one of the first to greet it. Maximizing the benefits of the American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding requires more than a little planning. Greeting these new dollars with good government practices, some strategic blue-sky thinking, and broad community engagement can help you grow possibility into real, long lasting benefits for your community and its people.

Join us for an information-packed webinar where you’ll hear from experts on:
-Strategies for coordination activities between different units of government
-Leveraging state, private and philanthropic dollars to maximize your ARP funding
-Navigating the Michigan Department of Treasury ARP application portal
-Reporting and auditing requirements

-How to access assistance in seeking, planning for, and utilizing your ARP dollars

Presenters: Plante Moran, Michigan Municipal League, and the Michigan Association of Counties

Building Community Wealth and Economic Resilience

Join the National Coalition for Community Capital (NC3) as they explore the use of Community Investment Funds (CIFs) as a way to strengthen local economies. The webinar, on July 14th from 12pm-1pm EST, will feature attorney Brian Beckon from Cutting Edge Capital; Janice Shade – founder of The Initiative for Local Capital; Deborah Frieze from the Boston Impact Initiative; and Helen Johnson – President of the Michigan Municipal League Foundation.

Moderator Chris Miller, a founding board member of NC3, Michigan State University Economic Innovation Fellow, and initiator of MILE, Michigan’s Investment Crowdfunding law, will lead the panel through a discussion of the existing CIF structures as well as a look at NC3’s proposed 21st Century CIF. NC3’s proposed CIF eliminates some of the challenges of the existing structures and opens up opportunities for consequential individual and community wealth-building through investment and ownership of community businesses, real estate, green energy and more.

Short-term rentals press conference - June 14, 2021

Learn more about current state legislation that aims to restrict the power of our local communities and citizens to make decisions on short-term rentals. The League's Dan Gilmartin will be joined by guests including property owners, and local leaders to discuss the negative impact of these bills, resolutions and what you can do to keep local power local.

Stop big government from taking away local control - May 24, 2021

Stop big government from taking away local control from your communities!

Listen to the MML's virtual news conference about our opposition to the short-term rental bills pending in the state Legislature. https://bit.ly/3fzA8I9

Send a letter opposed to the bills using our Action Center! https://bit.ly/2T1cufW

Contact your state lawmakers today and tell them to oppose HB 4722 and SB 446.

Go to https://blogs.mml.org/wp/inside208/ for details.

Michigan's Lead and Copper Rule: Making Hard-to-Understand Issues Understandable

Presenters:
Rich Donley, President, Mort Crim Communications, Inc.
Michelle Franzen Martin, Account Director, Mort Crim Communications, Inc.

With:
Tiffany Jones and Bryan Peckinpaugh, Detroit Water & Sewerage Department
Trisha Bruzek, Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner's Office

Michigan’s revised Lead and Copper Rule has renewed public interest in the dangers of lead -- and with it, it has raised questions from residents about water safety, lead line replacement and test results. But making a complicated issue such as the Lead and Copper Rule understandable requires proactive messaging and a solid communications plan. Michelle Franzen Martin and Rich Donley of Mort Crim Communications Inc. (MCCI), with their partners from the Detroit Water & Sewerage Department and Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner's Office, will provide you with the steps necessary for communicating complicated issues to residents -- and, most importantly, making sure you use clear, consistent messaging to make sure they understand.

Creating Equity Through Opportunity: CEO Workforce Development

Presenters:
Ashley Blake, Regional Director, Mid-West, Center for Employment Opportunities
Pamela Lachman, Director, Strategic State Initiatives, Center for Employment Opportunities
Michelle Rafferty, Chief Strategy & Operating Officer, Detroit at Work

Equity in our community relies on access to opportunity. Too often, our justice-involved neighbors experience immediate barriers to employment, housing, and the resources to assist them as they transition to a stable, safe, and consistent lifestyle. Leading the way for over four decades in employment-centered reentry is the Center for Employment Opportunities.

CEO partners with localities to help the government meet its labor needs while increasing employment opportunities for individuals returning from incarceration to the community. This brings a two-fold economic and public safety impact - increasing employment prospects and reducing recidivism.

Join the Michigan Municipal League for a conversation with the Center for Employment Opportunities on how their partnership assists those with the most significant barriers to employment and the highest risk of returning to the criminal justice system. You'll learn how CEO's program helps participants reduce their likelihood of returning to jail and prison, successfully reconnecting them to the workforce and community. Also, you'll hear from the City of Detroit on how the partnership has supported the city's needs and created meaningful employment and value for residents across Wayne County.

State of Wellbeing in Michigan

Host:
Shanna Draheim, Director, Policy Research Labs

Over the last month, our colleagues at The Wellbeing Lab headed out into the state of Michigan to measure the wellbeing of 1,500 people representative of Michiganders.
They asked the question, “How are we doing?” and delved into how people were boosting their levels of thriving and reducing their levels of struggle at this time. The survey data shows valuable forms of wellbeing support that their families and community had been providing and what actions their workplaces and bosses were taking that were having a positive impact.

The Wellbeing Lab will give highlights of the report. Discover the roles that struggle, psychological safety, families, allyship and vaccinations have played in helping people care for their wellbeing, and the practices you can implement in your own community. And we will discuss ways of intelligently applying these findings as a network.

Bridge Builders Mainstreet Microgrants Webinar - MML Foundation - April 23, 2021

Presenters:
Danielle Beard, Associate Program Officer, Michigan Municipal League Foundation
Helen D. Johnson, President, Michigan Municipal League Foundation

 

This webinar will provide details on how to apply for the Michigan Municipal League Foundation’s Bridge Builders Main Street Microgrants. Details on eligibility, timeline, and process will be provided. Time for questions and answers will take place at the end of the session.

In 2020 the MML Foundation launched the Bridge Builder microgrants to support innovative work that intentionally & creatively brings people together, while socially distant, and repairs broken relationships in the community.

In 2021, the program will offer two categories for funding:
1) The Neighborhood Microgrants will offer ten $500 grants across the state.
2) The Main Streets Microgrants will offer grants of $5,000 in four pilot communities in eligible regions (1 per region). These grants have been generously funded by the DTE Energy Foundation.

The Bridge Builders Project began with a pilot in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The microgrant program launched was intended to encourage the acts of creativity, selflessness, and connection that we were seeing in Michigan in response to the isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, we have an opportunity to re-emerge from the pandemic as co-creators of the future we want to see. We invite Michigan residents to imagine a future for their communities where trust and belonging thrive, individuals’ well-being is valued, and diversity and culture are celebrated community assets.

 

Bridge Builders Neighborhood Microgrants Webinar - MML Foundation - April 22, 2021

Presenters:
Danielle Beard, Associate Program Officer, Michigan Municipal League Foundation
Helen D. Johnson, President, Michigan Municipal League Foundation

 

This webinar will provide details on how to apply for the Michigan Municipal League Foundation’s Bridge Builders Neighborhood Microgrants. Details on eligibility, timeline, and process will be provided. Time for questions and answers will take place at the end of the session.

In 2020 the MML Foundation launched the Bridge Builder microgrants to support innovative work that intentionally & creatively brings people together, while socially distant, and repairs broken relationships in the community.

In 2021, the program will offer two categories for funding:
1) The Neighborhood Microgrants will offer ten $500 grants across the state.
2) The Main Streets Microgrants will offer grants of $5,000 in four pilot communities in eligible regions (1 per region). These grants have been generously funded by the DTE Energy Foundation.

The Bridge Builders Project began with a pilot in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The microgrant program launched was intended to encourage the acts of creativity, selflessness, and connection that we were seeing in Michigan in response to the isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, we have an opportunity to re-emerge from the pandemic as co-creators of the future we want to see. We invite Michigan residents to imagine a future for their communities where trust and belonging thrive, individuals’ well-being is valued, and diversity and culture are celebrated community assets.