Reaching out to Michigan communities

Updated 11:00 AM November 17, 2003

Reaching out to Michigan communities

By Katie Gazella

Officials in Saginaw were looking for ways to revitalize the city's neighborhoods, so a visit to U-M—where they could meet with faculty experts on urban planning and public policy—sounded like a good way to gather new ideas.

Jeff Klopcic, geographic information systems supervisor for the city of Saginaw, outlines some of the challenges the city faces during a recent discussion with U-M faculty. (Photo by Linda Scharer, Office Of Government Relations)

"We wanted to begin to build a framework for our neighborhood revitalization program," says City Manager Deborah Kimble.

The Oct. 29 visit to U-M turned out to be as fruitful as she had hoped. Based on the ideas discussed that day—both during a session with faculty in the morning and a visit to a developing area in southwest Detroit in the afternoon—Kimble says city officials now are looking at a housing investment strategy and are working with neighborhood associations.

They also know that they can count on U-M faculty for guidance in the future. "The people who attended from Saginaw walked away feeling like we now had a relationship with the U-M faculty," she says.

The event was part of an ongoing effort at U-M to share its expertise with Michigan communities, says Richard Carter, associate director of state outreach. The State Outreach program in the Office of Government Relations offers help to businesses, governments and cultural institutions that might have a use for U-M resources, he says.

"We ask them what they need, and we try to match them up with experts here who can help them," he says.

Outreach events such as the visit by Saginaw officials also are beneficial to faculty members, says Elisabeth Gerber, professor of public policy and director of the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy in the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.

"We both understand that there's a lot to learn from each other," she says. "It's just a matter of getting to the table together."

Gerber was one of the faculty members who participated in the meeting with Saginaw officials, along with Margaret Dewar, professor, Taubman College of Architecture Urban Planning (TCAUP) and chair of urban and regional planning; Robert Marans, professor, TCAUP, and senior research scientist, Survey Research Center; and Gregory Markus, professor of political science and senior research scientist at the Institute for Social Research.

Reaching out to Michigan communities

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