Ford School News

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Publication

Michigan's local governments make progress on budgeting, but many lag on long-term planning

May 6, 2026

In a time of economic volatility, relatively few local governments in Michigan report they are doing long-term financial planning—though many say they'd like to be doing more. The findings come in the latest installment of the Michigan Public Policy ...

Michigan's local governments make progress on budgeting, but many lag on long-term planning

CLOSUP Updates

New MPPS Report: Michigan local governments making progress on best practices in budgeting

May 6, 2026

A new MPPS report presents assessments by Michigan's local government leaders of local budgeting processes, including the prevalence of multi-year budgeting, capital improvement plans (CIPs), and long-term financial planning, as well as views on the ...

News

CLOSUP marks 25 years at Lansing anniversary event

Apr 17, 2026

On April 15, 2026, the Ford School's Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) celebrated a quarter century of impact. Approximately 75 current and former CLOSUP directors, staff, students, collaborators, and state legislators gathered in La...

CLOSUP marks 25 years at anniversary event

State & Hill

25 years of CLOSUP

Apr 11, 2026

When the Michigan Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission faced a tidal wave of public input—more than 30,000 comments—the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) and Ford School students stepped in. Their analysis helped the commiss...

News

Government of, by and for people? Sure, but it needs more people to serve, U-M survey finds

Apr 8, 2026

Abraham Lincoln famously spoke of a government of, by and for the people. Yet it's getting harder to find people to serve in government, according to a survey of local leaders across Michigan. The findings come in the latest installment of the Michig...

Government of, by and for people? Sure, but it needs more people to serve, U-M survey finds

CLOSUP Updates

New MPPS Policy Brief: Many Michigan local governments struggle to find residents willing to run for office or serve on boards

Apr 8, 2026

A new MPPS policy brief presents the opinions of Michigan's local government leaders on resident engagement in their communities. One significant area of concern is resident representation on local elected and appointed boards.

In the Media

Leiser discusses CLOSUP at 25 and the Michigan Public Policy Survey to Washtenaw County

Apr 7, 2026 WEMU

Director of the Center for Local, State and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) Stephanie Leiser discusses the Michigan Public Policy Survey that has implications for Michigan's local government leaders from well over a thousand counties, cities, villages and town...

Stephanie Leiser: Helping local goverments in Michigan become healthier and more resilient

News

Ford School marks 45 years as a PPIA host site, welcomes 2026 Junior Summer Institute cohort

Mar 20, 2026

This summer, the Ford School welcomes 18 undergraduate students from 10 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico for the Public Policy and International Affairs (PPIA) Junior Summer Institute (JSI). Chosen through a highly competitive n...

Ford School marks 45 years as a PPIA host site, welcomes 2026 Junior Summer Institute cohort

CLOSUP Updates

New Fiscal Health Project Report: The Fiscal Health of Michigan Local Governments 2024

Mar 16, 2026

A new report from CLOSUP's Fiscal Health Project provides an annual update on Michigan local government fiscal health.

To shore up American democracy, look to city hall

News

Concerns about elected officials’ budgeting expertise emerges from survey of Michigan community leaders

Feb 4, 2026

A majority of Michigan city and village officials say they are concerned about the lack of budgeting expertise among the elected officials in their communities as they deal with rising economic and political uncertainty and challenging state and fede...

Concerns about elected officials’ budgeting expertise emerges from survey of Michigan community leaders

CLOSUP Updates

New MPPS Policy Brief: Challenges to Michigan local government budgeting

Feb 4, 2026

A new MPPS policy brief presents the opinions of Michigan's local government leaders on a set of eight specific challenges that they might be facing in their jurisdiction's budgeting process, including technical or procedural financial management cha...

In the Media

Local democracy is holding strong, but rural communities are falling behind - Leiser

Dec 20, 2025 The Conversation

According to our recent survey of officials in Michigan communities, local democracy is humming along and city hall is taking care of business. The federal government was shut down in October and November 2025, but cities and towns around the United ...

Local democracy is holding strong, but rural communities are falling behind - Leiser

Publication

Fiscal stress rising among Michigan communities, particularly in small, rural towns, U-M survey finds

Dec 17, 2025

Fewer than half of Michigan's smaller and more rural communities report good fiscal health, reflecting a trend of rising financial stress among local governments across the state and growing concerns about having enough money to keep up with increase...

Fiscal stress rising among Michigan communities, particularly in small, rural towns, U-M survey finds

CLOSUP Updates

New MPPS Report: Smaller and more rural Michigan local governments are struggling with increased fiscal stress

Dec 17, 2025

A new MPPS report presents Michigan local government leaders' assessments of their jurisdictions' fiscal conditions and the actions they plan to take in the coming year, given their financial situations.

News, State & Hill

Students build career-ready grant writing skills in Aid & Development Workshop series

Dec 8, 2025

Mastering technical and theoretical content is just the beginning for public policy students.Paulo Quequezana Barrientos (MPP ‘26), and 18 of his colleagues recently completed the annual Aid & Development Workshop series, designed to complement their...

Students build career-ready grant writing skills in Aid & Development Workshop series

Policy Matters

To shore up American democracy, look to city hall

Nov 20, 2025

Recent years have seen increasing concerns over the state of democracy in the US, with a majority of Americans believing it to be under threat. Using data from an annual survey, Stephanie Leiser, Debra Horner, and Natalie Fitzpatrick find that local ...

News

Trust falls among Michigan’s local officials that residents can be responsible partners in policymaking

Nov 19, 2025

The trust Michigan's local leaders have that the residents they serve can responsibly participate in the policymaking process has eroded to alarmingly low levels. Further, the officials' assessments of the tone of civil discourse among residents has ...

CLOSUP Updates

New MPPS Report: Michigan local leaders trust residents less, but say that local democracy remains strong

Nov 19, 2025

A new MPPS report presents Michigan local government leaders’ trust in their residents and their assessments of the tone of discussion in local politics, as well as their views regarding the overall functioning of democracy in their jurisdictions. Th...

Publication

Local officials in Michigan report plummeting engagement with residents despite myriad methods

Oct 28, 2025

From voicemail to email, social media to snail mail—even bulletin boards in public places—there’s no lack of newfangled and old-school ways for local leaders to reach residents in their communities. Still, officials across Michigan report alarming de...

Local officials in Michigan report plummeting engagement with residents despite myriad methods

CLOSUP Updates

New MPPS Report: Michigan local leaders report alarming declines in resident engagement

Oct 28, 2025

A new MPPS report presents the views of Michigan’s local government leaders regarding resident engagement with their local governments, including assessments of the opportunities their local governments provide for engagement, residents’ overall leve...

News

Likelihood, potential impacts of federal shutdown: Ford School experts can comment

Oct 1, 2025

EXPERTS ADVISORY University of Michigan researchers are available to share their insights on a federal government shutdown at the end of the day Tuesday, unless lawmakers break the impasse and make a deal before then. Stephanie Leiser is a lecturer a...

Likelihood, potential impacts of federal shutdown: U-M experts can comment

Publication

Many local Michigan officials say services threatened by faltering local government funding system

Sep 24, 2025

Michigan’s local officials are growing more pessimistic about their ability to maintain—let alone expand—services under the current local government funding system, according to a University of Michigan study. That’s the main takeaway from the latest...

Many local Michigan officials say services threatened by faltering local government funding system

CLOSUP Updates

New MPPS Report: Growing consensus among Michigan local government leaders on revenue inadequacy, but declining support for local tax options

Sep 23, 2025

A new MPPS report presents the views of Michigan’s local government leaders regarding local revenue policy, including whether the state’s current system of funding local government will allow them to maintain or improve services, their preferences fo...

In the Media

Leiser: possibility of state shutdown is difficult to predict

Sep 19, 2025 Midland Daily News

The likelihood of a shutdown is difficult to predict, said Stephanie Leiser, who leads the Michigan Local Government Fiscal Health Project at the University of Michigan’s Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy and has worked as a tax policy analys...

Leiser: possibility of state shutdown is difficult to predict

News

Stephanie Leiser named director of the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) as center marks 25th anniversary

Aug 28, 2025

Stephanie Leiser, an expert in public finance and local government fiscal health, has been appointed the next director of the Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy (CLOSUP) at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. H...

Publication

Local governments in Michigan concerned about problems spurred by state, federal funding cuts

Aug 13, 2025

Many of Michigan’s local government officials—especially at the city and county level—believe a temporary or permanent loss of public funding will cause financial problems, though fewer are preparing for such cuts. The findings come from the latest i...

Local governments in Michigan concerned about problems spurred by state, federal funding cuts

CLOSUP Updates

New MPPS Policy Brief: Many Michigan communities concerned about the loss of federal and state funding, but uncertain how to prepare

Aug 12, 2025

A new MPPS policy brief presents the assessments of local government leaders from around the state regarding whether the winding down of funds from sources such as ARPA, Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), or...

News

IPC’s Aid and Development Workshop series helps students meet the moment

Aug 11, 2025

Grant writing and proposal development, once useful skills, have become essential for international development professionals, according to Ford School lecturer Amy Beck Harris. “As international organizations undergo sweeping changes, the actual ski...

IPC’s Aid and Development Workshop series helps students meet the moment

News

Brian Jacob: Michigan's education system needs structural reform now

Aug 4, 2025

After a year of studying Michigan’s K-12 education system — reviewing the academic literature, analyzing data, interviewing and surveying stakeholders, and examining state practices nationwide — one thing is clear: The current system of state-level e...

Brian Jacob: Michigan's education system needs structural reform now

Publication

Michigan's local leaders express lingering pessimism, entrenched partisanship about state's direction

Jul 22, 2025

Despite improvement since the COVID-19 pandemic, more than half of Michigan local officials say the state is on the wrong track. These findings are from the latest installment of the Michigan Public Policy Survey conducted by the University of Michig...

Michigan's local leaders express lingering pessimism, entrenched partisanship about state's direction

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