On Thursday, July 11 the Great Lakes Commission with MML and several other groups as co-sponsors will be hosting a workshop in Muskegon to discuss place based strategies for waterfront areas.

This workshop will focus on placemaking opportunities in coastal communities and illustrate examples of how leaders are leveraging Michigan's bountiful water resources to advance economic growth and build a higher quality of life in their communities.

This is an introductory workshop to the principles of placemaking and is intended for those involved in economic development, tourism, waterfront development, watershed management and coastal restoration.

Registration will be open shortly, so save the date and come back to this blog for further information.

Arnold Weinfeld is Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Michigan Municipal League. He can be reached at 517-908-0304 or by e-mail

Across the country, local governments have unleashed a new approach to anti-poverty work through the practice of municipal financial empowerment – collaborative community-based initiatives that connect residents with financial education and counseling, affordable financial products and opportunities to save.

On Tuesday, May 14 from 11 am to 12:15 pm a free webinar featuring Ingham County Treasurer Eric Schertzing, City of Lansing Treasurer Antonia Kraus and Megan Kursik from the Community Economic Development Association of Michigan (CEDAM), is being offered as they discuss municipal financial empowerment in the Greater Lansing community and the new Lansing Financial Empowerment Center. Over the next three years, the Lansing Financial Empowerment Center will provide 4,000 individuals free, one-on-one financial counseling.

You will learn how your community can begin this work through a similar approach and with support from the Michigan Communities for Financial Empowerment (MCFE) network at CEDAM.

Learning Objectives:
1. What is municipal financial empowerment and is it an effective anti-poverty tool?
2. Deep dive: Financial Empowerment Center model
3. Support and technical assistance available to Michigan local governments from the MCFE network

Again, the cost of this webinar is free. Register here.

Arnold Weinfeld is Director of Strategic Initiatives for the Michigan Municipal League. He can be reached at 517-908-0304 or by e-mail

For details about Michigan Modern: Design that Shaped America, visit michiganmodern.org.

Physical design/walkability is one of eight assets the Michigan Municipal League has identified as making desirable and vibrant communities for the 21st Century. But strong physical design didn't happen by chance.

Michigan Modern: Design that Shaped America is a symposium and exhibit hosted by Michigan's State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) that will show how innovative, chance-taking designers and architects left an indelible mark on the American cultural landscape. The event is to tell the story of Michigan designers and architects who met the challenge of a new century with optimism and spirit. They defined the look of the twentieth century with iconic pieces like the Eames Lounge Chair by the Herman Miller Furniture Company, the expressive styling of automobile details like the fins on a Cadillac, and the corporate campus image and office environment of the General Motors Technical Center.

The State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) is hosting a symposium June 13-16 that will bring together national experts in design and architecture who will provide their own unique insight on the people, places, and events that populated Michigan’s design world and about why Michigan should take its rightful place as a twentieth-century design powerhouse alongside New York City and Los Angeles. The SHPO is also partnering with MPdL Studio of Ann Arbor and Cranbrook Art Museum on an exhibition that will showcase Michigan’s outstanding contribution to Modern design. The exhibition will be open to the public June 14-October 13, 2013.

For details about Michigan Modern: Design that Shaped America, visit michiganmodern.org.

Matt Bach is director of media relations for the Michigan Municipal League. He can be reached at (734) 669-6317 and mbach@mml.org.

Bikes Belong, a national organization that promotes more bicycling, is accepting applications until May 24 for Community Partnership Grants, which are designed to foster and support partnerships between local governments, nonprofit organizations, and local businesses working to improve the environment for bicycling.

Grants of up to $10,000 will be awarded to fund the construction or expansion of bicycle facilities such as bike lanes trails, and paths. The grants committee also will consider advocacy projects that promote bicycling as a safe and accessible mode of transportation.

To be eligible for a grant, a partnership must include collaboration between at least one city/county government office or department; one nonprofit organization with a mission specific to bicycling, trails, or recreation; and one local business.

Luke Forrest is a Project Coordinator for the Michigan Municipal League. Contact him via email or Twitter.