“Applications are available now for Michigan State University’s Michigan Political Leadership Program, considered the nation’s premier training opportunity for rising leaders,” the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research announced this week.

“MPLP is distinguished as one of only a handful of multi-partisan leadership training programs in the nation.

“The fellowship program trains 24 people from all corners of the state and from diverse professional and occupational backgrounds for 10 months of weekend training.

“Applications for the MPLP Class of 2015 are due Friday, Sept. 5, 2014. They are sought from individuals seeking new leadership and political skills to serve communities, constituencies, or causes. Applicants must be 18 years of age. …

“Each MPLP fellowship is valued at $12,000. Fellows accepted into the program are asked to pay a $1,000 administrative fee to participate plus some incidental costs like parking and travel. “

For more information, visit the MPLP website.

Lake County Commissioner Dan Sloan was all over Northern Michigan media last week to talk about a $45,000 federal grant the county landed, with the assistance of MAC.

In a Friday report from Channel 9&10 News, Sloan said, “We have over 300 miles of ORV trails in the county. If we can get that out, we know we are going to draw a lot of tourists. That’s going to protect our existing jobs and lead to more employment to the county.”

Sloan also was interviewed by the Lake County Star (see below) about the grant, which the county won through a competitive process with the aid of MAC’s grant service assistant, Gabriel Zawadzki.

County awarded grant to promote tourism industry

By Brendan Losinski

LAKE COUNTY — A $45,000 grant was awarded to Lake County from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s rural development division. The grant will be used to promote the tourism industry in order to increase jobs and grow local businesses. While dozens of counties applied for this grant, only a handful, including Lake County, were chosen.

With the awarding of the grant, a new committee, headed by county commissioner Dan Sloan, has been formed to oversee the distribution of the funds and organize a marketing and advertising campaign for the county. It will be comprised of several local business owners and members of business promoting county groups.

The grant money will be focused on re-branding Lake County as the premiere off-road vehicle destination in the Midwest. This will be done through targeted online advertising, using online analytics and focused ads that will specifically be aimed at ORV enthusiasts in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Ontario, and, of course, Michigan. This marketing campaign is planned to last a year and a half before further steps are to be implemented.

“If this is successful,” explained third district county commissioner, and committee overseer Dan Sloan, “after the first year and a half we can move to a full year, four season promotion of Lake County’s tourist industry. This means moving beyond ORV promotion, and advertising fishing, cross country skiing, Blessing of the Bikes, everything.”

The grant will also go towards designing and implementing a new phone app that will aid tourists and ORV enthusiasts. The app will map all of the county’s trails, provide GPS coordinates, and highlight restaurants, hotels, campgrounds, and other points of interest within the county.

“I’ve been a business owner here since 1980, and it’s pretty evident that tourism is really important to the local economy,” said committee member Jim Faiella. “We’ve got a great resource here with our trails… Any money we spend on advertising the county will be money well-spent.”

Sloan notes that the commission has contracted with the Michigan Association of Counties to help administer the grant, citing concerns about distribution after a low-income resident grant from 2013 was inadvertently mishandled and resulted in complications for the county. He states that every precaution is being taken to ensure that this grant is dealt with appropriately.

The county has over 800 miles of trails, 300 of which are designated for ORV use. The marketing campaign is slated to begin in early 2015, the planning of which has already begun.

 

Lapeer and Saginaw counties are among nine recipients of grants from the State of Michigan to support the re-use of scrap tires in road surfacing projects.

Lapeer will receive $232,712 and Saginaw County $128,063 from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, out of the total allotment of $2.5 million.

Americans generate about 300 million scrap tires every year, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

For more information on the state’s Scrap Tire program, click here.

A 1-cent sales tax increase is the best way to address Michigan’s “embarrassing” roads, MAC Deputy Director Steve Currie told the audience of “The Big Show” on Wednesday.

Currie, continuing MAC’s push to get action on the state’s crumbling road network, explained that MAC’s Board of Directors had reviewed the situation nearly a year ago and determined that a 1-cent sales tax – a penny for a road, if you will – is the best available option.

Unlike other proposed fixes, the sales tax increase will consistently generate the substantial sums Michigan needs – and it requires a statewide vote of the people.

“Let the people decide,” Currie told guest host Kyle Melinn of MIRS News Service.

Currie also noted that the state is working at cross purposes if it continues to attract visitors via the highly successful Pure Michigan ad campaign, but then confronts said guests with crummy roads to travel on.

 

Demographer Richard Florida notes new research on the relationship between serving your community and personal well-being: “Older Americans (65 and above) who reported engaging in community service had the highest levels of well-being. This is also not surprising, since older people in general have higher levels of happiness overall. But, interestingly, younger Americans ages 18 to 29 who reported community service recognition had the second highest levels of overall well-being (70.3), beating both those in the 30 to 45 and 46 to 64 age groups, who reported slightly lower levels.” Across Michigan county governments always are in need of citizen volunteers to serve on boards, commissions or in a variety of other roles. For example, here’s Kent County’s information on volunteer opportunities. Check with your county to see what’s available and get involved.