MML #2 – As Population Declines, State Works on “Growing Michigan Together”
(Crystal A. Proxmire, March 21, 2024)
Lansing, MI – Michigan’s population continues to decline, and the state is working to reverse the trend. In December the Growing Michigan Together Council released recommendations to encourage people not to move out of state, and to attract residents from other places to become Michiganders.
Hillary Doe, Talent and Growth Strategy Executive of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, gave a presentation to elected officials from across the state at the Michigan Municipal League’s Capital Conference on March 13.
She and a panel discussed why the population is declining, why that matters, and what the plan is to address it.
“Michigan has negative out migration,” Doe said. “We loose more folks than we gain. Most are working age. We aren’t great at retention.”
She also noted that Michigan’s population is aging faster than other Midwest states. “65 and older increased by 87% in Michigan between 1980-2020,” Doe said.
The Council held community engagement sessions across the state, and conducted surveys. The factors they learned were driving population change are housing availability, the cost of living, education and job opportunities, infrastructure and economics.
There is a cost in declining population that people may not realize. And there is some resistance in communities from people who don’t want to have more neighbors.
“One of the things I hear in Grow Michigan is, grow Michigan, but don’t grow it here,” she said.
If tax revenue falls, services get cut, infrastructure deteriorates, and there are fewer resources for local governments and school districts to operate. Lack of talent and labor can prompt companies to move their businesses elsewhere, costing jobs and reducing opportunities. As local governments scale back, it can impact the quality of life in communities.
The Council is aware that different areas of the state have different needs, and the panel emphasized that the current residents’ needs are part of the measures being considered.
“The people that are here – both the young and the seniors – are just as important as the people we want to attract,” said Aidan Sova who is secretary of the Ann Arbor District Library Board.
“The solution for goring the state is textured and nuanced. It won’t look the same in Grand Rapids, in Detroit, and in the UP,” Doe said.
For example, Marty Fittante, CEO of InvestUP shared that across the 15 counties of the Upper Peninsula, the k-12 aged population is down 48% from 1970, which not only equates to fewer young people preparing to enter the workforce, it also impacts the amount of funding to UP schools, as they are funded on a per-student basis.
One selling point for residents is knowing that keeping people in Michigan means something to families. “This is an emotionally resonant issue,” Doe said. “People want their kids and their grand kids to stay here.”
So, how does the state make that happen?
A work group of 70 people from across the state came up with recommendations.
The first is to “establish Michigan as the innovation hub of the Midwest,” by targeting efforts to attract and retain young talent, including entrepreneurs.
The second is to “build a lifelong learning system focused on future-ready skills and competencies.” This includes looking at the educational system. “There are challenges to how we fund Michigan schools,” Doe said. “Only 33% of students are proficient in reading and math in third grade… It was clear to this group that you need to go hard around education.”
The third recommendation is to “create thriving resilient communities that are magnets for young talent.” Sova shared some details including robust regional transit, improving housing stock, and working towards climate resiliency.
“When we talk about transit, the thinking is this is something only young people want,” he said. “But really seniors want more options for how to get around.”
“The old school thought is we need great jobs, and people will come. That’s not what we find in Michigan or nationally,” she said. Looking at all of the factors, and making progress on them, can help entice residents to stay, and new ones to come.
“It’s the kind of thing you can’t solve in six weeks, or six months,” Doe said. “We should go slow, to go fast.”
To learn more about the Growing Michigan Together effort, visit https://growingmichigan.org/.
This story is part of a series of stories from the Michigan Municipal League Capital Conference which took place in Lansing on March 12-13. Learn more about MML at https://mml.org/. Read more Oakland County Times stories from MML trainings and conferences here.