COVID-19 insights and action

A survey of Michigan local government leaders on the federal American Rescue Plan Act funding and uses finds the top spending priorities are on capital improvements, infrastructure and public safety.  Further, the state's largest jurisdictions are...

More than half of Michigan's local officials say that moving government meetings online during the pandemic decreased the overall quality of such gatherings, according to a University of Michigan survey. The finding comes from the spring 2021 wave...

Selected as a panelist for Hour Detroit's 2022 political predictions, Tom Ivacko, Executive Director of CLOSUP, weighed in on some of the most burning questions about Michigan's 2022 elections. The first question: How would Roe v. Wade, and...

The Ford School of Public Policy is a top-ranked public policy school dedicated to preparing diverse leaders to take on society’s most pressing challenges and make transformational discoveries through cutting-edge research. Experts from the Ford...

Local leaders from across the state have reported lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report, and worsening outlooks for how much longer some of those impacts will last. While the numbers of local communities reporting on...

Michigan's local economies are still struggling with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic but at a much lower rate than at the start of the crisis in spring 2020, according to a University of Michigan statewide survey of local government...

Many of Michigan's business, political and academic movers and shakers are gathering this week for the annual Mackinac Policy Conference after the coronavirus pandemic forced the cancellation of last year's event. While the number of people...

Most Michigan local government officials have been confident in the safety and efficacy of available COVID-19 vaccines, yet leaders' views on vaccine safety are highly correlated with partisanship, according to the spring 2021 wave of the Michigan...

By Jack Eichner (BA '21) This week marks one year since the University of Michigan’s campus shut down. Questions swirled as students had to adjust to virtual learning while simultaneously adapting to new living situations in a rapidly evolving...

In a Bridge Michigan op-ed, Leiser and Ivacko call for COVID relief to foster greater cooperation, trust in government built at the local level.  "Across the country, nearly three quarters of U.S. adults say they have a "great deal" or a "fair...

"It really jumped out that for people of color in general, and Blacks specifically, how important it is to get a [vaccination] recommendation from a health care provider or government health officials," said Jeffrey Morenoff, commenting on findings...

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Four teams of undergraduate and graduate Ford School students embarked on research and engagement projects this past summer to help the Michigan Township Association (MTA) better understand the state of affairs for local townships and the challenges...

Only five percent of local officials in Michigan surveyed have expressed strong confidence in the Census’ completeness or accuracy, according to the Spring 2020 Michigan Public Policy Survey (MPPS), which is conducted annually by the Center for...

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