We Love Where You Live

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

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