How we’re approaching change: Michigan’s three values
The Transition Office’s approach is grounded in community engagement, data-driven capacity building, and cross-sector collaboration. These three values drive every aspect of our work. Discover how.
1.
Community-driven design
Effective strategies must be grounded in deep local engagement.
The Transition Office launched its work with statewide listening sessions, virtual roundtables, and regional convenings to identify high-priority needs and resource gaps. These insights shaped the Office’s early pilots and programming. An ongoing Advisory Committee representing labor, business, education, local government, philanthropy, and more informs strategy and provides feedback on implementation.
2.
Bottom-up capacity building
Most communities, businesses, and workers have a vision for their future, but lack the data, tools, or coordination mechanisms to turn it into action.
Rather than imposing top-down, one-size-fits-all solutions, the Transition Office serves as a source of actionable data and technical support to help stakeholders define, design, and pursue their own economic goals.
3.
Collaborative problem-solving
By creating incentives for collaboration, we can align business, labor, local government, philanthropy, and community partners around shared goals.
The state plays a critical role as a convener and catalyst. By leveraging modest public investments to align business, labor, local government, philanthropy, and community partners, the Transition Office fosters collaboration and helps overcome fragmentation. These public-private partnerships have proven to be among the most powerful tools for driving meaningful, community-aligned economic change.
Two approaches for programming:
Data and infrastructure
By creating a single source of truth and eliminating information silos, we can increase collaboration toward shared goals.
Built-to-scale pilots
Launching pilot initiatives that meet emerging needs allows us to quickly utilize our existing budget, refine and improve as we go, and build the case for expansion and replication.
Differentiators for Michigan
What sets Michigan apart isn’t just these programs or initiatives themselves — it’s the way they’re built. By working across sectors, engaging local voices, and testing ideas through real-world pilots, the state is creating a model for inclusive, long-term economic growth.
Coalition building: Why it matters
- Cross-sector collaboration: We work within state government and build relationships with local, regional, and statewide organizations whose goals align with our office to identify gaps, craft solutions, and implement our programs. We collaborate between and across sectors to add capacity and ensure the long-term sustainability of our work.
- Regional equity and shared prosperity: Resilient communities are better positioned to attract and retain residents, foster new businesses, and compete for state, federal, and private investment. They are more likely to maintain quality public services, support thriving local institutions, and create the kind of vibrant, opportunity-rich environments where people want to live and work.
By empowering communities to build from their strengths rather than managing from their vulnerabilities, we not only increase the stability and prosperity of individual regions, but we also enhance the overall competitiveness of the state. More communities moving toward growth means a stronger, more resilient Michigan for everyone.
Advisory Committee: How it works
The Office formed an Advisory Committee, made up of volunteers, to help inform the state’s economic transition strategy and provide feedback on programming. The committee includes 75 members and reflects the diversity in background, expertise, and regions of our state, with over 60 organizations and 40 counties represented.
In monthly meetings throughout 2025, we worked with committee members to develop recommendations for how to align and target existing resources, identify new programming areas for the office, and co-create policy suggestions to share with state and federal leaders to serve our transition-impacted communities, workers, and businesses.
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