Michigan Economic Development Corporation

Upgrades include three new bathrooms with adult changing tables, a bicycle pump track, a new mural, equipment storage, and updated signage.

The project was funded through a Michigan Economic Development Corporation grant awarded last year.

Nearly $4 million has been invested in revitalizing the Civic Center over the past four years, including improvements to walking trails, fitness stations, and parking.

The Michigan Supreme Court is turning away a lawsuit from state and national Republicans challenging how local election workers handle absentee ballots.

The DCFS deputy director, they did approve this extra pay for themselves and also for others.

for over five years and in one case the department's director got an extra pay while they were on leave as the deputy director of dcfs the deputy director later resigned now another employee the deputy director went ahead and approved extra payments for still working but got a 15-day suspension after the report came out illinois state representative cd davidsmeyer wondered who would be paying back those improper payments back to taxpayers and also question what's being done to ensure that type of wasteful taxpayer spending and inappropriate approval of this type of payment doesn't happen again you want to see how the michigan economic development corporation spent taxpayer funds well it's going to cost you The Center Square's Elise Apel reports, following allegations that more than a million of the $3.4 million grant from the agency went missing, a response to a Freedom of Information Act request resulted in a fee of more than $2,400.

Now, the MEDC told the Center Square there were around 3,000 pages of information that it would have to gather, and to do that, it would take more than 55 hours to fulfill that request.

Now, the agency said they're requiring a good faith deposit of one half of the approximate total labor costs that the taxpayer funded state agency would have to charge a taxpayer in order to get that documentation showing where those dollars went.

Now, all of this comes as the corporation continues to face scrutiny and how it doles out those taxpayer dollars.

There's going to be a big, big shift in how this looks and how my generation then hands it off to the next generation because the greatest indictment on if I did a good job helping build Macomb County is if I can get a 10-year-old and a 9-year-old that currently live in my house to want to live here in another decade.

And I think that's something that we discuss every single day, that whether it's the MEDC, I think it's we discuss as those that are major executives and major corporations, or even our state legislature figuring out what this place is gonna live and grow into.

I think that's gonna be a major, major, major element where we all, that whether you sit in the public sector or private sector side, are gonna try to figure this thing out.

And the other one that I also think is a major wild card is infrastructure.

yes.

And I have word that the Michigan Economic Development Corporation announced through their Michigan Strategic Fund approval for funding for the North End Landing Redevelopment Project in Detroit that'll construct 177 residential units for affordable housing.

They approved what will be up to $3 million.

in tax capture eligible activities.

You'll hear firsthand accounts on how the state is driving job growth and business investment, supporting a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem, building vibrant communities, and helping to attract and retain one of the most diverse and talented workforces in the nation.

The Michigan Opportunity is brought to you by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

To hear more discussions like this, visit themichiganopportunityatthegreatvoice.com. We'll be right back with more on the Michigan Opportunity.

Welcome back to the Michigan Opportunity.

But who's covering all this?

Yeah, so this is actually being funded through MEDIC, so the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, and then also by the Michigan Economic Development Foundation, which is kind of an independent nonprofit branch of that kind of government agency.

So according to the governor's office itself, these two agencies kind of supported the trip.

A number of the delegation that went with Whitmer were officials from MEDIC.

So I thought that was another interesting just thing that they're doing on these trips.

And you mentioned

it before, too, with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.

There's some controversy, especially bipartisan agreement on the use of funds and how even Governor Whitmer's previous trips are being used.

No.

Well, so we conducted a new initiative that the MADC, Michigan Economic Development Corporation, gave us resources for, and it's called Fish Tank.

And what it is, is a community pitch competition, not a competition, a community pitch opportunity for small businesses.

They can come, it moves around the county, and they can come and pitch with their community and they give feedback.

So I've said a number of times that Michigan may have the most competitive and effective startup ecosystem in the country.

Two major players in that space are the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, or the MEDC, and the Michigan State University Research Foundation, or MSERF.

Here to share the details of the 2026 Pitch Me event details, which is in full swing, is the Director of Portfolio Management at Red Cedar Ventures, Mr. Pete Martin.

Welcome back to the show, Pete.

Right.

Um, you know, the other piece that they talked about is, and this was more of a leveraging piece, so Michigan Works, which is basically our American Job Center here, and then of course the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, along with the workforce boards, um, they talked about there was a study, a feasibility study done on careers.

And so we said, how do we take what they've already done, and then how do we talk about that so then, again, that can be another attraction of a job or a career that a young person may not know.

But then if we can, you know, kind of talk about, hey, here are the top five or top three jobs, along with here's their, um, salary, that may be-