Community and Social Issues

Michigan Redistricting Project

In 2018, Michigan voters approved a ballot initiative that moved responsibility for drawing Michigan's congressional and state legislative districts from the Michigan Legislature to a newly-formed bipartisan Michigan Independent Citizens Redistrictin...

The Functioning of Democracy

CLOSUP’s Functioning of Democracy Project sheds light on the health of democracy at the local level in Michigan, drawing directly from the voices and experiences of the state’s elected and appointed local officials. Powered by the Michigan Public Pol...

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...

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...

CLOSUP Updates

New MPPS Policy Brief: A majority of Michigan local officials continue to say the state is on the wrong track, reflecting partisan affiliation and growing uncertainty

Jul 22, 2025

A new MPPS policy brief presents the opinions of Michigan’s local government leaders regarding the direction in which the state is headed, as well as their evaluations of the job performance of Governor Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Legislature. ...

CLOSUP Updates

Michigan Leaders Back Police Misconduct Database, Not Access

Jul 9, 2025 Mirage News

Michigan's local leaders strongly support a law enforcement database for keeping track of officer misconduct, though far fewer are in favor of that database being accessible to the public. That's a key finding from the latest installment of the Michi...

CLOSUP Updates

Report: more localities implementing policies to improve relationships between communities and police

Jun 2, 2025 State Affairs

Michigan communities have increasingly adopted techniques to improve relations between their residents and local police, a study from the University of Michigan’s Center for Local, State and Urban Policy found, but have seen less movement on making t...

CLOSUP Updates

Navigating the Complexities of Trust in US Policing: A Holistic Approach to Community Engagement, De-escalation, and Independent Oversight

May 23, 2025 Forward Pathway

Your sharp-tongued editor is here to tackle the thorny issue of public trust in U.S. law enforcement, or, as it’s increasingly known, the public distrust in U.S. law enforcement. Because, oh, brilliant, it seems that after years of national conversat...

CLOSUP Updates

New MPPS Policy Brief: More Michigan communities using policies to improve police-community relations

May 20, 2025

A new MPPS policy brief presents the views of local government leaders from around the state, who were asked about policies and practices associated with police-community relations on both the Fall 2015 and Spring 2024 waves of the Michigan Public Po...

MPPS in the news

Survey: Law enforcement surveillance technology is rapidly progressing, but AI raises concerns

Apr 29, 2025 Yahoo News

Usage of surveillance technology by law enforcement agencies in Michigan has exploded in the last decade, but a recent survey conducted by the University of Michigan found that as artificial intelligence tools are developed, law enforcement and local...

CLOSUP Updates

New MPPS Report: Michigan local government leaders report significant increases in police surveillance technology, uncertainty about AI introduction

Apr 23, 2025

A new MPPS report presents the assessments of Michigan’s local government leaders, local chiefs of police, and county sheriffs on the use and value of a range of law enforcement equipment and technology such as body and dashboard cameras, drones, aut...

CLOSUP Updates

Eviction in the U.P. Deserves a Closer Look

Apr 9, 2025 Iron County Reporter

MARQUETTE — As of March 2023, The Eviction Lab reports that Michigan’s eviction filing rate jumped from historic pandemic-era lows to become the fifth worst in the nation, at 16.7%. Read more

CLOSUP Updates

Amplifying local voices: Michigan Public Policy Survey shares insights, experiences of Michigan’s township officials

Mar 21, 2025 Township Focus

For more than 15 years, a statewide survey of local government officials has helped to garner the opinions, experiences and insights of thousands of public leaders. These efforts, in which MTA is a partner, glean important information to help inform ...

CLOSUP Updates

New MPPS Report: Michigan local leaders’ views on policing co-response and alternative response teams

Feb 26, 2025

A new MPPS report presents presents the opinions of Michigan’s local government leaders, local chiefs of police, and county sheriffs on alternative approaches to traditional policing that might involve other professionals, such as mental health profe...

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CLOSUP Updates

Nearly half of Michigan law enforcement officials concerned about funding, according to U-M survey

Jan 23, 2025 Publicnow.com

Survey: Half of Michigan local law enforcement agencies say they are underfunded, while most local governments are satisfied with their appropriations Among Michigan law enforcement agency leaders, concerns about funding levels are widespread, with a...

CLOSUP Updates

New MPPS Report: Half of Michigan local law enforcement agencies say they are underfunded, while most local governments are satisfied with their appropriations

Jan 23, 2025

A new MPPS report presents the views of Michigan’s local government leaders, local chiefs of police, county sheriffs, and county prosecutors regarding funding for law enforcement agencies, including assessments of whether sheriff’s offices and police...

CLOSUP Updates

New MPPS Policy Brief: Pretrial diversion programs work, according to Michigan local law enforcement

Nov 20, 2024

A new MPPS policy brief presents the views of Michigan’s local chiefs of police, county sheriffs, and county prosecutors from around the state on the impacts of pretrial diversion programs and whether they would support diversion programs in their ju...

In the Media

Majority of U.P. local officials agree: Political partisanship is bad for communities

Nov 7, 2024 Read more

MARQUETTE — The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is a fairly secluded place. It’s almost like its own world, often feeling detached from the rest of the country and even from the Lower Peninsula of the same state. However, U.P. local officials have someth...

CLOSUP Updates

New MPPS Report: Michigan local government and law enforcement leaders’ initial opinions of Michigan’s new "red flag" law

Oct 30, 2024

A new MPPS report presents the views of Michigan’s local government leaders, county sheriffs, local chiefs of police, and county prosecutors regarding Michigan’s Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) law, including confidence in training on proper ERP...

MPPS in the news

Challenges in Law Enforcement Recruitment and Retention in Michigan

Sep 19, 2024 Forward Pathway

Local leaders in Michigan are increasingly alarmed about the challenges of hiring and retaining law enforcement officers, as highlighted in the latest Michigan Public Policy Survey conducted by the University of Michigan’s Center for Local, State, an...

MPPS in the news

Local leaders in Michigan sound alarms over hiring, keeping law enforcement officers

Sep 17, 2024 Michigan News

Concerns about hiring and keeping law enforcement officers have skyrocketed among local government officials in Michigan in the past decade. Local law enforcement officials themselves are even more pessimistic about recruitment and retention within t...

CLOSUP Updates

Local leaders in Michigan sound alarms over hiring, keeping law enforcement officers

Sep 17, 2024 My Science

MPPS in the news

Tough job, fewer applicants: Michigan struggles to hire police, survey finds

Sep 17, 2024 Bridge Michigan

Police agencies throughout Michigan are struggling to hire qualified officers, a new study finds, exacerbating an officer shortage that has hit forces nationwide. A University of Michigan study released Tuesday found that 72% report difficult hiring ...

CLOSUP Updates

New MPPS Policy Brief: Michigan local government leaders’ concerns about the health of democracy edge upward, including at local level

Aug 14, 2024

A new MPPS policy brief presents the views of Michigan’s local government leaders on a variety of issues across the state for their assessments of American democracy as a system of government, based on factors like free and fair elections, rule of la...

CLOSUP Updates

New MPPS Report: Michigan local governments’ planning and zoning on energy policy

Jul 17, 2024

A new MPPS report presents the views of Michigan’s local government leaders on a variety of energy issues, including whether energy issues are relevant to their local government, whether their jurisdiction has energy policies or renewable energy goal...

MPPS in the news

Michigan residents more divided than ever on wind power

Jun 18, 2024 Iron County Reporter

When I was a young child, I saw my first wind turbine in the hills of Iowa when my family was driving from Michigan to Colorado. Many people consider them an eyesore, but I thought they looked absolutely wonderful. They were like giant pinwheels that...

MPPS in the news

Brann: Retain college graduates to boost economy

Jun 4, 2024 The Detroit News

Michigan’s colleges and universities are top-notch institutions that graduate some of the best and brightest students in our country. But as tens of thousands of young people in Michigan walked at graduation ceremonies this spring, too many of them k...

MPPS in the news

Support for rooftop solar outpaces other energy infrastructure

Jun 4, 2024 Route Fifty

In November, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a landmark energy law that sets an ambitious goal for the state to generate 100% of its energy from renewable resources by 2040. With the law, Michigan joins its neighbors in Illinois and Minnesota, ...

MPPS in the news

Biden Wants to Send Billions to Rural America, but This Must Happen First

May 26, 2024 The New York Times

President Biden regularly emphasizes how the major pieces of legislation he has signed — the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act — expand opportunities for Americans. This is especially tr...

MPPS in the news

CRYSTAL LAKE Township supervisor views property destruction as political attack

May 24, 2024 Traverse City Record-Eagle

A township official embroiled in a federal lawsuit was the victim of malicious destruction of property after someone threw rocks containing a religious message through her house entry doors shattering glass.